The I Knit Tea Party for Haiti last Saturday was great fun and a huge success.

The plan for the tea party was simple, knitters brought along a cake which was then available for a suggested donation along with tea or coffee. I should have known, knitters being as generous as they are, that there wouldn’t have been just two or three cakes to choose from. People really went to town and I have never seen so much cake. There was pumpkin cake, cup cakes, chocolate beetroot cake, flapjacks, rum cake, brownies, fruit cake, yarn cake, you-name-it cake, all of it delicious.

Photo from I Knit London

As well as the huge variety of cake there were several other ways to take part and raise money. Before the tea party the lovely staff at I Knit asked yarn and book companies as well as local businesses for raffle prizes. They were so overwhelmed by people’s generosity that the prizes went further than the raffle. There was a game of pass the parcel with a small knitterly prize in each layer as well a prizes for the most popular cakes as voted for by the guests. As knitters chatted and sampled cake a fuzzy old teddy bear was passed around, the challenge was to guess his name for £1 a go.

Photo from I Knit London:  Ness and the Bear

There was also a wordsearch and a quiz which were also £1 a go with a prizes for the winners.

Knitters also used their own initiative and organised a lucky dip bin with people donating a skein of spare yarn. It was a lovely afternoon. I met lots of new knitters as well as old friends and spread the word about p/hop with samples knits and patterns.

I’d like to give a BIG THANK YOU everyone who came and took part, who donated a raffle prize, ate cake and of course I Knit London.

We raised £650 which is fantastic. MSF can provide four surgical kits and more with that which will certainly make a difference to the Haitian people’s recovery.

Most of the cake was eaten on the day however Ness brought the leftover cake into the MSF UK office. It was very much appreciated and didn’t last long!

If you’re feeling inspired to host your own tea party or event please do get in touch (P-HOP@london.msf.org). It really is brilliant that tea, cake and knitting really can make a difference!