Hello to everyone,

For those who don’t know me, I’m Lyn, and this is just a quick note to update you on a recent ebay auction to benefit MSF and p/hop.

Here’s the story: I knitted a large scrap yarn blanket (the multicoloured kind – think technicolour dream coat) which ended up being about 5 by 3 feet, made of merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn in lots of little different coloured mini skeins. I used this free pattern from ravelry by Debbie Orr: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/zig-and-zag-sock-yarn-pram-baby-blanket. As I tend to knit because i enjoy the process, rather than because I particularly need the finished product, I decided that someone should have it who really liked it and wanted to use it. with this in mind, I contacted p/hop (you can take a look at this discussion if you like: (http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/p-hop/1515251/1-25) and through contributions from all the members, decided to offer it up for sale on ebay. A very helpful raveler, Jo (aka josp on ravelry) offered to coordinate the actual sale. within a few days, everything was organised, the auction was being publicised on ravelry, twitter, facebook and by word of mouth and all we had to do was sit back and nervously bite our nails in anticipation!

To begin with, the total rose ever so slooowly, but (watched by anxious eyes) it topped 30 pounds, then 50, then 80, and on the last nerve-wracking day, climbed over the 100 pound mark and finally sold, to a very generous person, for the grand total of 122 pounds!

I’d like to thank (ha! I sound like I’ve won the Oscars… but seriously I am really grateful to everyone!) p/hop for first of all taking me seriously, then coming up with all these useful suggestions (someone even said we should time the sale so that it ends on a Friday, apparently people are more generous on that day of the week – where do people come up with these things?!), everyone who read the discussion, contributed to it,organised the auction, publicised the event, bid on the blanket and finally the very lucky successful bidder who now has a beautiful (if I do say so myself!) blanket to enjoy.

This whole experience was a bit of an experiment because to my knowledge, p/hop hasn’t auctioned items off on ebay before, so it was a learning curve for all of us, not only me. but in my opinion, it’s had a fantastic outcome and will hopefully be the first of many successful fundraisers for MSF and p/hop!

Lyn x

My first ever blog post – be gentle with me!

P-hop sucks you in, its tentacles of humanitarian goodness creep out and grab you.

Happily lurking on Ravelry, I pipe up and the next thing I know I am Ebay – seller extraordinaire for the most gorgeous blanket.

Created by Christi1 (aka Lyn) to Debbie Orr’s pattern it has been generously donated for p-hop/MSF and we are auctioning it on Ebay! It is made from hand dyed mini skeins by Xenia Baxter at Art Of Xen, in 4ply 80% merino/ 10% cashmere/ 10% nylon superwash. The yarn alone cost £70 plus the hours of knitting that went into it make it a unique work of art to be treasured for generations.

So, tell your friends, colleagues and everyone with taste about this beauty. The auction ends on Friday 25th Feb at 8pm. Spread the word (Tweet about it, blog about it share the link on facebook or social network of choice, the more the merrier).

If this works for us, it could be the first of many.

That link again – http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170603811385#ht_922wt_932

Happy bidding

Jo

We’re really feeling the love here at p/hop after winning Most Creative Fundraiser at the Just Giving Awards. Thank you to everyone who has sent us messages of congratulations, they are very much appreciated.

I spotted these fab Serpentine Valentines Socks while browsing Ravelry at the weekend, knitted by the designer herself, Hilltopkatie, which I thought would be perfect for today.

Serpentine Valentine Socks Knitted and Designed by Katie Weston

I’m in a pondering mood this morning and while mulling over Valentines Day my mind wandered to p/hop and humanitarian work. What makes us give up our spare time for MSF? A Saturday to volunteer on the p/hop stand at a festival, the hours and days spent writing and test knitting a pattern knowing there won’t be any personal profit, offering yarn for donations instead of selling it?

I think part of that answer is love. Love for our fellow humans who by misfortune of geography are living in appalling situations. There are other emotions involved such as a sense of  justice, equality and fairness which also motivate us to make a difference but love and compassion are pretty high on my list.

Whatever your views on Valentines Day, thank you for taking a little time out to make a huge difference.

On a rainy Thursday evening I squeezed onto a packed bus up to Holloway, skipped over puddles and headed to the mighty Emirates Stadium.

As you probably know p/hop was nominated for Most Creative Fundraiser at the Just Giving Awards, so I soon was transported from rainy London to the swish entertainment room of the stadium.

The evening began with a glass of bucks fizz and a spot of knitting gazing out on to the Arsenal pitch, which had lamps on it to make the grass grow at night. Who knew they did that!

Pete and I pretended to be at a game, I’m supporting Flowers in the Rain (one of our samples which I borrowed for the evening) and Pete looks miserable because Arsenal haven’t won anything for ages.

We enjoyed a delicious meal and good conversation with the other nominees at our table. I managed to squeeze in our unofficial motto, “p/hop the less sweaty way to give” while talking to someone who organises charity bike rides.

As well as Flowers in the Rain being at the awards Natalie had a gorgeous Trinity Shawlette which her friend Paraknit had made especially for the occasion, again demonstrating how generous knitters are.

After dinner there was a superb and heartfelt performance by the Choir With No Name which is made up of homeless and vulnerably housed people. Please take a moment to visit their website as they are truly inspiring.

Then the nerves set in as it was award time. Being part of the Just Giving Awards was a humbling experience as we were among wonderful and inspiring people and many of the stories of how people started fund raising brought a tear to my eye. The other finalists in our category were great fund raising ideas (You can read about the Davenant Slum Survivor Team and  Gabrielle Latham & Joanne Hall’s Big Wheel Lock-in fundraiser on the Just Giving website) so I had no idea who would win.

I was caught completely unawares when Natalie’s name was called out so only got this photo of her collecting it. She made a brilliant acceptance speech about how knitting a jumper starts with just one stitch, then you knit another, and another and it grows, which is how p/hop has happened. It’s thoroughly deserved and well done to Natalie for coming up with such a brilliant idea. Keep an ear out on your local radio as you might hear Natalie talking about p/hop as she’s done loads of interviews over the last 48 hours.

I did get a better photo later on once we’d calmed down…

and we had to show the award with some knitting!

Awards aside, something just as momentous happened last night. Watch this video to see more…

It was a great evening and we’d like to thank Just Giving, firstly for helping to make fund-raising so easy and secondly for a lovely event.

Finally we’d like to say a  HUGE thank you to everyone who has made this happen. I hope you know p/hop isn’t about a few people, it’s about a whole community, so if you’ve done something, no matter how small, pat yourself on the back and say “I did this”.

BRILLIANT! Now what’s next?

…you will see our new video made by Ghadas who is a nurse working for MSF in Nigeria who is also a fan of the fibre arts.

Once you’ve watched Hadas’s video scroll down and check our current out UK total. Not bad eh? I was hoping we’d reach our £23,000 target in time for the Just Giving Awards but didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. I suspect this has something to do with a knitterly meet up in York last weekend (more on that coming soon!).

I took a moment to gaze at the percentage total at 101%, but like MSF we don’t sit still for long (unless knitting or crocheting of course) so I’ve upped the target to £25,000.

When you watch Hadas’s video you may notice a slight irregularity, though looking the the granny squares in the video brings me on to what’s happening in our Ravelry group. Every year the group comes together making blankets for the festivals we attend. Currently there are four, yes four, on the go covering 3 weights of yarn and two crafts. If you like knitting or crocheting please feel free to join in. The main blanket thread is here which has links to the four projects at the top of the page.

I wonder how much p/hop will have raised by the end of 2011, sending more brilliant and committed people like Hadas into the field. Nice work knitters and crocheters.

Like all the best teams we’re off to the finals at the Emirates Stadium, no, not for a footie final but the finals of the Just Giving awards. You may remember we were shortlisted in the Most Creative Fundraiser category in the 2011 awards, which was thrilling enough, but to make it to the final three is very, very exciting and also a great honour.

The awards are on Thursday 10th of February at the Emirates Stadium. Pete is giddy at the thought of Emirates as he’s a huge Arsenal fan and Natalie and I are both excited yet wondering what to wear as we don’t go to smart events all that often. I may well wrap myself up in the p/hop samples. I’m going to try to find a way of tweeting at the event so I can keep our lovely supporters, i.e. YOU, involved.

Our Ravelry group has produced some wonderful reasons why they think p/hop is special on hearing the award news. Here are a few of them:

Ros said ” I was just looking at the other nominees in the JustGiving awards and it made me realise the thing I like most about p/hop: I get the pleasure and so I give in response whereas so many fund-raisers are about sponsoring other people to do fun or interesting things.”

Jael said “p/hop is also very inclusive (if you like yarn) – by its very nature it can potentially involve so many more people.”

Purletta said “The other good thing about p/hop is that not only do we get pleasure from doing the knitting but often we also give pleasure to other people by making gifts of the knitted object. For example, loads of the Cranford mitts were knitted for other people. It seems so much more productive than going on a sponsored walk or something like that.”

We also went on to discuss how many fundraisers involve exercise and therefore sweating which resulted in Probably Jane coining the following p/hop slogan:

p/hop, the less sweaty way to give.

Pete might dispute the sweaty nature of knitting. Will he finish that scarf in time for the award ceremony?