Things have been a tad busy here at p/hop HQ so we’re a little tardy in celebrating our third birthday but there are some exciting things in the pipeline, or should that be on the needles?

First things first, a few weeks ago we reached our UK target of raising £30,000 for Médecins Sans Frontières MSF (Doctors Without Borders) which is marvellous. Here’s a MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who has made this happen!

Our third year has been pretty eventful. We won Just Giving’s Most Creative Fundraiser award back in January (You can spot me, yikes, on the award website and see Natalie collecting our award on their video). p/hop has been on the road to Woolfest (Cumbria), KnitNation (London), Fibre East (Bedford), The Yarn Cake Party(Glasgow), and Fibre Flurry(Birmingham). Knitters and crocheters have also taken ownership of p/hop organising their own yarn swaps, tea parties and knitting surgeries to raise money for MSF which is marvellous. We’ve had 10 fabulous new patterns donated and there are more on the way.  Our Ravelry group has been even busier and now has over 600 members who p/hop yarn online, organise Ebay autions and knit-a-longs, and spread the word. If you haven’t joined yet what’s stopping you?

While we’re on the subject of birthdays MSF turn 40 this year so we’ve decided our next goal is, gulp, £40,000. If you take a look at the donation page you’ll see the target is currently set at a more modest £32,012 to see if we can raise £2012 by 2012!

So here’s to our fourth year. If you’ve made a donation, given us a pattern, tweeted about us and helped spread the word give yourself a well deserved pat on the back, a slice of cake and a glass of your favourite tipple….

…. and then start thinking about how we are going to reach our £40,ooo goal!

I’m not sure how old I am here, but I was young. If you ask Aran who’s in this photo, he’ll tell you it’s him. Actually, nearly all of my baby photos are Aran, apparently..

Variegated yarns are not a new invention… and whatever happened to Rocket ice lollies?

You got it… I’m a child of the Seventies! And now it’s my brother looking like his nephew.

OK, there’s no real woollyness in this shot but it’s worth sharing for it’s cuteness, no?

And to answer some more of those questions? Yep, my mum taught me to knit when I was 3, and my first garment for myself was a jumper that I made aged 9. The woolly genes were passed on, and I’m rather pleased about that.

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Thank you for blogging with us Woolly.

Woolly designed the wonderful Stripey Beanie especially for p/hop last year. It’s a great pattern in toddler to adult sizes and you can also play spot the difference between young Woolly and Aran. You can read more from Woollywormhead and see her fab patterns here.

The blog-a-long has now finished but you can read all the guest blog posts here.

Don’t get you can follow us on twitter @msf_phop and join in the fun in our friendly Ravelry group.

A couple of weeks ago I was at a yarn show in Edinburgh and one of my customers came to squish the yarn. Her husband was with her, and while she and I chatted, he took a small square of paper from a handmade fabric wallet, and began to fold it.

Less than five minutes later, he presented me with this butterfly.

In Autumn 2008, at my kitchen table, I set up a Just Giving page for p/hop and set my own personal butterfly off on a journey. I never dreamed that two years later we would have raised more than £20,000.

TWENTY THOUSAND POUNDS. Just stop for a minute and say that out loud.

If you google “butterfly wing in the forest” (which is what I remember of the analogy), Wikipedia with tell you that …

In 1961, Edward Lorenz was using a numerical computer model to rerun a weather prediction, when, as a shortcut on a number in the sequence, he entered the decimal .506 instead of entering the full .506127 the computer would hold. The result was a completely different weather scenario. According to Lorenz, upon failing to provide a title for a talk he was to present in 1972, Philip Merilees concocted “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” as a title.

The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly’s wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different. While the butterfly does not “cause” the tornado in the sense of providing the energy for the tornado, it does “cause” it in the sense that the flap of its wings is an essential part of the initial conditions resulting in a tornado, and without that flap that particular tornado would not have existed.

I live in an ordinary family. There is no way I could ever conceive of being able to give £20,000 to a charity, but somehow my small idea, this butterfly, has grown and flapped its wings and knitters all over the world have raised this amazing amount.

Every time something happens in p/hop, it is as though a new butterfly has flapped its wings. Every donation, every pattern designed and given, every stitch knitted, every show attended, every friend told, every ball of yarn offered for a donation on trust, every single thing has a positive effect.

You – the knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, pattern designers, web experts, show volunteers, show organisers, bloggers, and yarnies – have done this.

p/hop keeps growing, I wonder where we will be on our third birthday?

n
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Thank you Natalie. You can read more from Natalie aka TheYarnYard here.

The blog-a-long officially finished last week but like all the best parties is going on into the small hours. You can read all the guest blogger posts here.

You can help spread the p/hop word by following us on twitter @msf_phop and by joining in the fun in our friendly Ravelry group with yarn swaps, knit-a-longs plus all the latest p/hop news.

Last year we went on holiday to Thailand. As well as enjoying the vibrant culture of Bangkok we learnt to cook Thai food on a half day cookery course. It was great fun and we got to try lots of different Thai food as well as learning our hosts very own Thai cooking song.

Thai cooking often has a reputation for using lots of seafood and fish sauce but it’s possible to make delicious Thai dishes without any animal products. This Thai Green Curry recipe is an adaptation from my course notes. Amounts are given for one person. Don’t be put off by the fancy sounding ingredients, you will be able to find dried or preserved ingredients in most large supermarkets. This is a pretty quick dish to make, taking about 20min from start to finish making it a great fresh and tasty work day dinner.

1) Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan. Add one teaspoon of Thai Green Chili Paste. (You can make your own thai green curry past but I use a shop bought paste. There are many varieties available at most supermarkets with an aisian food selection and you should be able to find variations that do not contain animal products.)

2) Add 1 crushed kaffir lime leaf, 1 slice of crushed galangal, 1 inch of cut lemon grass (If you can’t find fresh ingredients dried work just as well. Galangal looks similar to ginger but tasted very different. I’ve found tubes of Thai blend flavours in most supermarkets which contain lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal making this recipe even easier). Our cookery teacher told us Thais usually leave galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves in the curry when serving. Just watch out when you are eating if you don’t like woody stems.

Add four tablespoons of coconut milk

Add one handful of chopped vegetables (I use what’s in season)

Optional: Add tofu for added protein.

Cook until the sauce has reduced to a thick, creamy consistency

3) Add six tablespoons of water, 1 table spoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sugar and simmer until the vegetables are lightly cooked.

4) Once the veg are lightly cooked stir in 3 tablespoons of coconut milk

Serve with rice or noodles, garnishing the curry with corriander/mint/Thai basil/lime juice as preferred.

Eat and enjoy. Yum yum!

Oh yes, the Thai cooking song. I do have a video clip of us trying to sing in Thai but it’s not going on the internet. It would ruin your appetite.
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Thank you for blogging with us UrbanAllotmenter. To read more from The Urban Allotment click here.

The blog-a-long officially finished last week but like all the best parties is going on into the small hours. You can read all the guest blogger posts here.

You can help spread the p/hop word by following us on twitter @msf_phop and by joining in the fun in our friendly Ravelry group with yarn swaps, knit-a-longs plus all the latest p/hop news.

i love autumn but it tends to get rushed through as a season. i’m barely out of flip flops when people start talking about christmas and all the shops are transformed.

last year i made a mistake. i refused to plan for christmas until december and then, of course, it was too late. this year, because i’m planning for my presents to be almost entirely handmade (so, mainly knitted) or vintage finds, i need a little more planning but to not turn my attention to this until the start of november has been just fine.

i follow a lot of american blogs and chat to american and canadian people on twitter. they really know how to celebrate autumn as a season. they live and breathe pumpkins. of course, there were lots of pumpkin carving sessions and hallowe’en parties here in the uk but they just seem to do it better across the pond – with more gusto.

for me, other than welcoming my much-loved coats and boots back out of the wardrobe, enjoying the crisp sunny days, the leaves and the light (such beautiful light!),  one of my favourite parts of autumn is the food. highlights included pumpkin and chestnut risotto and blackberry, apple and pear cobbler.

carry on reading the p/hop blog to see all of the wonderful things they do to raise money for MSF. i also plan to write about p/hopping on my own blog very soon…

nancy x

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Thank you for blogging with us Nancy. To read more from Nancy click here.

The blog-a-long officially finished last week but like all the best parties is going on into the small hours. You can read all the guest blogger posts here.

You can help spread the p/hop word by following us on twitter @msf_phop and by joining in the fun in our friendly Ravelry group with yarn swaps, knit-a-longs plus all the latest p/hop news.

A relative holds a child's hand who is suffering from symptoms of cholera at a Haitian government hospital where MSF is treating people. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The situation in Haiti is dire enough that we have launched an appeal from the London office to ask for funds specifically to help us up our game there. More than one thousand staff are working round the clock to treat the thousands of patients we are seeing and to build cholera treatment centres so we have somewhere to treat them and providing safe water to communities and community education and and and…..

There is no doubt in my mind that this work merits a donation from me, from you, from anyone…. But…

But, one of the things that makes MSF special for me is the fact that we don’t often ask for money for specific projects – only when we need to act fast and on a very large scale. And why? Because we prefer to have a fund of money that we can use wherever we see fit – wherever the needs are greatest. Basically, we ask our supporters to trust us.

I was a fundraiser before I worked at MSF and was an MSF supporter before I was MSF staff and one of my proudest moments as a supporter was following the tsunami in early 2005. MSF ran an appeal for funds, to which I donated. Then, once they realised they could not spend it in a meaningful way, that they had done what they could, they offered to give it back. As a fundraiser, this seemed crazy, but as a supporter, it confirmed in my mind that I had made the right choice with my donation.

P/hop is based on an honesty box, and on trust, and this is one of the reasons it fits so well with MSF. The money that knitters raise through this weird and wonderful knitting project goes directly to MSF’s general fund. You are trusting us to spend it where the needs are greatest.

I think a donation to the Haiti appeal is a donation well made, but you guys should be proud that your donations are already at work battling cholera in Chad, malaria in Niger, treating victims of a cyclone in Myanmar, helping victims of domestic and sexual abuse in Papua New Guinea and doing life-saving work in another fifty odd countries.

By the way, this work has interrupted my knitting, but, before you say anything, this post is not an over elaborate excuse for not having done my rows….

As a crafter, Christmas has probably been in my thoughts for a little longer than those of other people. I had completed at least two of my main presents before the kids went back to school in September, although I seem to have become complacent, resting on my laurels after this early start and now I’m wondering how I’ll manage to get everything done in time. I think that maybe many of my outstanding gifts will be foodie ones; I have some mint liqueur and orange brandy maturing in the kitchen, as well as a lovely recipe for onion marmalade which I’m quite sure will go down very well with the in-laws. Add in a couple of boxes of chocolate truffles and everyone will be happy.

Of course, Christmas music is playing in all the shops, and the decorations are getting more and more plentiful. On November 10th, together with my husband and children, I headed into Cardiff to see the Christmas lights being switched on. Doctor Who and his companions would be doing the honours, so my two fanboy children were very eager to go and stand in the cold for an hour to see them. We turned up reasonably ahead of time, but were still later than many hundreds of people who had obviously decided to brave the cold for far longer! Although, with so many people there, and packed in tightly together, it wasn’t actually that cold. We pushed and wriggled our way towards the front, to try to get a good view of the stage. We got within about fifty feet when we had to give up and make the best of where we were. Cardiff Council had erected two giant screens so that those of us a fair way from the stage still had half a chance of seeing anything. However, I am only 5′3″ tall, and my husband is a scant couple of inches taller than that so we really didn’t stand much of a chance.

Undeterred, we hoisted the boys on our shoulders (have you tried carrying nine and six year olds for any length of time? Who needs to go to the gym for weight work?) who then had a wonderful view of everything which was happening. Unfortunately, my six year old isn’t so hot with the camera, so I didn’t get any pictures of the switch-on. But then there was a fireworks display which made up for the poor view and the aching shoulders, so I felt much happier!

I love taking pictures of fireworks; they always look so dramatic. Anyway, once the Christmas lights were switched on, the event was over and the crowd dispersed. On the way back to the car park, I captured a couple of photos of Cardiff’s Christmas decorations;

They’ve gone for a blue theme again this year. It looks very lovely, but always makes me feel even colder! I’m looking forward to when they go back to red and green and gold. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to decorating for Christmas!

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Thank you for blogging with us Jensta79. To read more from Jensta click here.

The blog-a-long officially finished last week but like all the best parties is going on into the small hours. You can read all the guest blogger posts here.

You can help spread the p/hop word by following us on twitter @msf_phop and by joining in the fun in our friendly Ravelry group with yarn swaps, knit-a-longs plus all the latest p/hop news.

I have a secret to reveal. I know Santa,  very good, I might say. Here is a photo to prove it.

So he really knows are you good or bad! I’ll be again helping him out, in December.

I love the idea of p/hop. Its so simple, but it can make a difference.  As I told to my eldest daughter once, when the nation wide hunger day- action by Finnish Red Cross was going.  It does not matter how much you donate, it matters that you do donate. Big rivers starts from small becks.   You give what is suitable for you, and this idea comes lovely true in P/Hop.  Some of us donates a pattern, I donate  because I like to use pattern.  Simple but working.

So let me wish to all of you, from all of us.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Jaana, with some hours of pleasure in p/hop.

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Thank you Jaana/Muoriska. You can read about Jaana’s life in Lapland here.

The blog-a-long officially finished last week but like all the best parties is going on into the small hours. You can read all the guest blogger posts here.

You can help spread the p/hop word by following us on twitter @msf_phop and by joining in the fun in our friendly Ravelry group with yarn swaps, knit-a-longs plus all the latest p/hop news.

I had a knitterly birthday this year, with a whole weekend spent with two fabulous knitting buddies, doing little more than eating, talking, and playing with lots of yarn.  Sounds like a perfect birthday for a knitter, doesn’t it?

We spent countless hours marvelling at the endless boxes of yarn that our friend has stashed away (I won’t mention names in order to protect the privacy of stashers-anonymous).  I’d been starting to think that my own stash is getting a bit out of control, but after seeing this collection (for collection truly is the right word for it), I’ve been put back in my place.

We took it upon ourselves to bring the yarn out in to the light.  We pulled out box after box, rummaging through shelves and climbing in to the loft to discover more goodies.  It’s amazing how many hours can be spent just sorting through luscious skeins, gathering inspiration from different colours and textures.  I felt like a kid in a sweet shop.  The yarn was spread too far and wide (and hidden in all sorts of places) to get a comprehensive “before” photo, but after a weekend of much fondling, here’s how the stash looked when we’d finished with it:

not a bad collection...

Of course, that’s only the sock yarn collection (excluding Wollmeise, which has its own category) and is now known amongst the local knitting community as my friend’s  own personal yarn shop!  My friend and I have quite different colour preferences, but nonetheless she had a perfect little something in her stash, and I went home cuddling the most delicious skein of Casbah.  I’ll have to do some serious queue-hunting to choose just the right pattern for it.

Happy woolly birthday p/hop!

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Thank you Larissa. You can read more of Larissa’s adventures in travel and yarn here.

The blog-a-long officially finished last week but like all the best parties is going on into the small hours. You can read all the guest blogger posts here.

You can help spread the p/hop word by following us on twitter @msf_phop and by joining in the fun in our friendly Ravelry group with yarn swaps, knit-a-longs plus all the latest p/hop news.

I am still teaching about vaccination to Year 9 students, who still don’t know what it means to have the diseases we vaccinate, for that I’m thankful as it means that the world hasn’t crashed and burned and we do still vaccinate against diseases!
However that’s not the only thing that hasn’t changed, there are still millions of people in the world who don’t have access to the most basic of health care, which is of course why the work of MSF, and p/hop is so invaluable. I can’t believe how much money we’ve raised in a year, but it’s a drop in the ocean in terms of the work that MSF do around the world.

As for me, some things don’t change, I’m still knitting away, and still getting ideas for things that I don’t fully have time for (someone has to teach Y9’s about vaccination!), Christmas is coming, who would like a Christmas stocking pattern?

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Thank you for blogging with us HilltopKatie. You can follow the adventures of HillTopKatie here.

Katie’s festive stocking pattern will be published here soon. You can see Katie’s other fabulous sock designs for p/hop

here and here .

The blog-a-long finishes today so if you’d if you would like to join in make haste. Details of how to take part are here.

You can get all the blog-a-long updates by following p/hop on twitter and in the p/hop Ravelry group.