As many of you will know, we recently exceed our £40,000 target for donations raised through Pennies Per Hour of Pleasure for Médecin Sans Frontiéres/Doctors without Borders.  We were totally thrilled by this amazing achievement and THANK YOU all very much for helping us to achieve it.  Of course, we can’t just leave it there though… oh no!  We must set a new target.  Not just a target though, this time we have a target with a deadline!!

In November P-Hop will be 5 years old!  It’s come a v long way from Natalie‘s kitchen table and the single Flowers in the Rain pattern.  We now have over 40 patterns, with lots more in the pipeline (if only there were enough P-Hop hours in my donated day)!  So what we propose is to raise our target to FORTY FIVE THOUSAND pounds with a hope of achieving that additional £5,000 by our 5th birthday.  Five for Five – get it?

We’re really hoping that you can all get involved to help and we’ll be letting you know how, over the next few weeks so you can get planning.  In the meantime, perhaps you could let us know what you fancy doing?  Holding a crafty meeting where you all donate, perhaps you could organize a yarn or book swap with donations for taking part… what do you think? There’s a new Ravelry thread so you can let us know -  It’s over to you!

Well, we are back from Fibre East and have recovered from the busy weekend.  We had a great time catching up with supporters and meeting new ones.

I was there all day on Saturday and Clare all day Sunday and quite a good chunk of Saturday too.  I had a great time, even though it was scorchingly hot.  I was ever so grateful that our part of the marquee had a “window” in it, so we did manage a little bit of a breeze.  The “window” also set off our shawl samples really well, which were blowing in the breeze on a washing line, with the sun shining through the lace stitches.

As usual, we were helped by an army of supporters on both days.  I would like to give special thanks to Liz (aka Lzi on Ravelry), who drove Clare, me and all our stuff to Bedford, helped us set up and did a stint on the stand, and helped to pack up (make the stall rain safe) before driving me all the way home again!  I would also like to thank Judith (Jude00) and Mandy (Millywipstash) for helping set up and for folding lots of patterns and Jo (aka Shinybees) for helping on the stand, not forgetting Jane (ProbablyJane) who was a big  help at the end of the day.  I’m sure that Clare would like to thank lots of people too and will probably do that in the comments below!

It really wasn’t the weather to be wearing your knits, but the lovely and brave Tiger Bee donned her Spiral Socks, by Jane Lithgow, especially for us to take a photo!

Natalie (artandcraftlover) cleverly got around the heat wave by wearing a Teeny Tiny Teddy pinned to herself for us!

An the lovely Terri (designer donator of the Jacob Beanie) stopped by  to show us her knitting…

It wasn’t all fun and catching up, we also raised over £460 for MSF  – all in the name of yarn!

We’re very hot and busy in the MSF/P-Hop office this week, but we’re also very very excited! Not in the least because we reached our latest target of £40,000 last week after we added our £744.55 total raised at Wool Fest. The MSF peeps were so very excited about this that they got us a card and bought us cakes! Not just any cakes but gorgeous personalised P-Hop cakes!!

Aren’t they gorgeous? We are bringing them with us to Fibre East – if you’d like one, come see us on Saturday and make a donation for a cakey!

Here are a few MSF peeps from the office donning P-Hop knits and eating cake!! Hurrah – thank you everyone for celebrating with us!

Following the success of Wool Fest, we are now fervently preparing for FibreEast, printing off patterns and sorting table clothes, pegs, pins, wires, stands and posters for the stall. I (Kate) will be there on Saturday with Clare (P-Hop stalwart) and Clare will be coming back on Sunday with her partner Alex who has offered her a helping hand.

I am both excited and a little apprehensive about this wonderful show. I can’t wait to go, but it’s also my first show for P-Hop (or as any stand holder) so I’m a tad scared! :/ I’m hoping you all pop over to say hi and put me at ease! We will be in marquee no. 1.

 The Teeny Tiny Teddy

The wonderful Jo of the Shinybees podcast and blog is very kindly hosting a P-hop  knit/crochet along on her Raverly forum.  We are very grateful to Jo, for choosing to have a KAL of any p-hop pattern, which will spread the P-Hop love to people who may not have heard about us yet.   So, if you knit or crochet, want something quick and simple, or something a little more challenging, we’re bound to have a pattern for you, so that you can join Jo and me (Katestwirl on Ravelry and Twitter) in the knitalong.

We are also tweeting as we go.  The hash tag is #phopkal – sorry crocheters, but having a tag of phopcal at the same time would be tricksy so we would like you to use the same tag as the knitters – after all, a lot of us do both anyway!

Here’s what Jo had to say about it at the top of her thread:

“I’m starting a new KAL/CAL on 1st July 2013 – the phopkal.

This will be a knitalong/crochetalong of any of the 45 patterns currently available on the Pennies Per Hour of Pleasure website (and on here) which raises money for Medecins Sans Frontiers. So, it is charity knitting, but not as we know it!

The idea is to choose a pattern, which you download for free, but you make a donation to MSF on the P/hop website. I will be aided and abetted by the new P/hop co-ordinator, Kate – Katestwirl,who is well known for wanton enabling when it comes to KALs.

Let’s get some chatter going about which projects we will be doing on here before the mass cast on on 1 July. There are loads of patterns to choose from depending on how much time you have to spare. We will also be using the hashtag #phopkal on Twitter to keep up to date and have a bit of a giggle too. If there are enough of us, we can even split into teams based on the patterns we are doing.

Who’s in? More importantly, start flashing the yarn and project combos!”

Jo also talks about the knitalong in her latest podcast and about why she supports P/Hop & MSF and in particular their work in South Africa where she lives…. for now anyway!  Don’t worry that the official start date was 1 July – it’s definitely not too late to join – we all have lots of WIPs and deadlines and non-craft lives getting in the way, so don’t feel pressure to cast on right away.  It would be nice if you’d pop by and tell us what you’d like to make though…

I have chosen to knit The Trinity Shawlette, a gorgeous pattern by Anniken Alis.  It’s a rather simple but extremely effective lace pattern and, best of all, you can choose to knit it in 3 different ways! 

Here’s where I’ve got to – photographed very un-artistically on my P-Hop desk!

Jo has chosen the ever-popular Cranford Mitts by our very own and fellow P-Hop volunteer Jane Lithgow.  DQKnits on Ravelry has chosen the Cranford Mitts too, from her ‘short’ list of 8 patterns!  Others included the  Twisted Twigs hat by Sarah Louise McAdie, the Minerva Cowl by Anna Richardson and the very cute Rudolph, that Reindeer! by Judith Baser. 

Carlé has chosen the uber cute Teeny Tiny Teddy, by Alessandra Parsons.  Carlé says  ‘I have a thing about taking a bear to Paris,…. long story’  - perhaps best not to ask!

We have crocheter’s taking part too – gingerbreadbunny is making the Cable Scarf and CarrotyCarrots (her first ever KAL – we are honoured) is making the Mobeius Cowl, both patterns which were kindly donated by Laura Cracknell.

Please come and join us and share your progress and pics (we love pics) as you go and raise a little for P-Hop in the process.  You can donate here!  We are very nearly at £40,000 – it’d be so great if this little craft a long would take us there!!

Hurrah!  Wimbledon starts today!  Why not enjoy some valued knitting time whilst watching Murray, Robson and Watson battle it out for Britain.

You know how stressful it can be watching our heroes – so when you’re too scared to watch, knit a few rows and de-stress…

So grab some strawberries and cream, download the fabulous Wimbledon footlets pattern and get knitting for Britain!  Come on Murray!

Wimbledon footlets by Ros Clark for P/Hop

Crafting humanitarian work

This pattern has been generously donated to the p/hop project by MSF supporter, Ros Clark and is available for your knitting pleasure.

In return, we ask that you make a donation to p/hop based on the hours of enjoyment you will get from our patterns.

Making your donation is easy, just click here for pounds, here for US dollars or here for Euros. Thank you very much.

To download your PDF of the Wimbledon Footlets pattern please click here.

We are delighted to have received a generous donation from Jeanette and her fellow YarnGatherers from their P-Hop/MSF fundraiser in Stone!

Here’s Jeanette to tell you all about it:

“YarnGathering in Stone may be no more but all the wonderful crafters and makers I met are still around so I arranged a get together for us all. An opportunity to sit and craft, share our skills and eat cake

It was wonderful, a lovely mellow relaxed atmosphere with crafters coming and staying all day and others popping in for a short while. Spinning wheels were brought along and demonstrations given, spindles were passed around to try. There were knitters, crocheters, tatters, quilters. And all the while we ate cake, made by Sophie from ‘Eat One – Knit One’, her new business. The Vitamin C cake was just heavenly……

Every occasion has to have a raffle so we had a Chinese Auction, sort of raffle. Crafters donated craft goodies, I sorted a lot of samples from YarnGathering and away we went…….£64 was raised from this and from some donations. A display of the work MSF carries out caught the attention of all and was a talking point, many had not heard of it before. I had worked with 2 doctors during my nursing career who were involved in MSF work and continue to be in awe of the individuals who give their time to this worthwhile organisation. Likewise the profile of p-hop was raised with a selection of the donated patterns and items made up on show.

So, the day was wonderful, even the weather played along, the venue just right, the cakes…well, the cakes! I think we all went away feeling happy and very thankful for our lot. After all if we are ill we only have to worry about getting better not whether our home or loved ones are threatened too.
Visit Jane’s blog to see the day in action.“

A heartfelt thank you and cyber hug to all those involved.  We’re very happy P-Hoppers!

Woolfest is only a couple of weeks away (28th & 29th June) in Cumbria and we are very busy here at P/Hop sorting out all our patterns so that we can spread the P/Hop love!  The fabulous Woolfest people have kindly invited us to participate once again.  We’re thrilled – Thank You so much Woolfest!  We really do appreciate you donating the stand at your wonderful show!

If you haven’t been to Woolfest, which is a fabulous festival of all things wool (knitting, crochet, spinning, sheep – you name it)  before, you can read all about it: just follow this link!

Sadly I (Kate) cannot be there, but the lovely Jane will be there supported by a small army of friends/volunteers and if you fancy helping out, your assistance will be gratefully received.  Jane and her pals would like some time to see the brilliant stalls that the show has to offer – not to mention the odd sit down and a cup of tea (we are all tea-aholics!), so if you’re going to be around and can spare an hour or so, then please let Jane know on our Ravelry page: here.

If you’ve made a p/hop item before please bring it along as Jane will be capturing photographs of p/hop patterns in the wild!

So come along and say hi, we’ll be in the Milk Stand (J225a) again!  We’ll have new patterns and big smiles!!

Hello!

I am Kate, the newest P/Hop coordinator here at MSF.  We’re building a nice little team, so you can expect our posts, patterns and general activity on the social knitwork to grow over the next few months.

The point of this post is to introduce myself to you all, so you know my knitty credentials and explain how I came to get involved in this fabulous fund raising initiative.

Like almost all other knitters, I was taught as a child by my grandmother, but didn’t really become an avid knitter until the turn of the century when my friend and I were both going through a dodgy job situation and started knitting to pass the time.  Initially, we knitted Easter chicks for charity, but we  soon advance onto other things and now have lives which revolve around knitting!  I tend to be a shawl knitter – they’re quick and small and don’t cost a fortune in yarn.  I love lace and sock weight yarns, and hate casting on hundreds of stitches, casting off hundreds of stitches and sewing up – so you can see how shawls appeal.  I do like a nice top down once piece cardi too….

Some of you may already know me, as I am quite active on the social knitwork already.  I am Katestwirl on lots of social networks: I blog, Tweet, have a Facebook presence (mmmm – it’s a bit weak, but it’s there) I have a Ravelry page and a group and I dabble in pattern design – basically, I already do all the things that I will be doing for P/Hop.

A lovely friend, Jo from the Shinybees blog and podcast pointed out Clare’s post for a new volunteer around a month ago.  I was very excited – some may say over excited!  Here was my chance to do what I already love doing (sharing my love for all things knit) at the same time as being able to help to make a real difference in the lives of those who desperately need it.  See here how MSF spend your donations.

This role was so perfect for me that, I confess, I squealed and then applied straight away!  The application was quite easy, because it was by letter explaining and getting my enthusiasm into the letter just came naturally – due to the over excitement!!  The hardest thing was coming up with a Tweet to show my suitability – probably the most important 140 characters I’ve ever had to write!

Here’s what I came up with: @msf_phop Compassionate and capable, I blog, tweet and knit.  Hoping this make me perfect for it!  #P/hop #volunteer #msf

I am thrilled to have become part of the team and am very much looking forward to getting to you all over the months and years to come.

YarnGathering of Stone may not be there any more but all the local wonderful crafters and makers I know are still around. So Jeanette of YarnGathering invites all to a CrafterDay or CrafterAfternoon or even a CrafterHour.

WHEN : June 1st 2013
WHERE : Stone Station, Stone, Staffordshire. ST15 8ER
TIME : 10.30 – 15.30
COST: £3 & £1 child

Come along and sit and knit, sew, crochet, spin…..whatever is your joy. Share your projects and skills. Pass out your business cards if you are a maker.

There will be a Chinese Auction, (see Wikipedia for how this works) so bring along all your unwanted craft items and supplies. Proceeds will go to Medecins Sans Frontieres via p/hop. You will be able to learn more of p/hop and see their most popular patterns on the day.

And most importantly there will be tea, coffee, cake and cookies

Stone Station Community Centre is a wonderful place, on one level, full of lovely light and so interesting. You can catch a train from Stafford literally to the front door and parking is great.
Children are very welcome to come along and craft.

Look forward to seeing you

Jeanette x

Jane, one of p/hop’s founders and coordinator, gave a great interview about p/hop with Knit Now magazine last month. You can read it online here. Thanks to the lovely people at Knit Now magazine for sharing p/hop with your readers.