First up is this fantastic event this Thursday in London:

What? Cholera treatment exhibition

When? Thursday 19th May, 5-9pm

Where? West Bank London, 133-137 Westbourne Grove, W11 2RS, LONDON

What is it?

MSF are taking a unique and interactive exhibition to Glastonbury festival this year. They are previewing it this Thursday and will feature installations including a cholera treatment centre as used in Haiti, live music, photo exhibitions and live graffiti. There is more information about this on the MSF UK website.

MSF teams treating cholera patients in Saint-Marc, Artibonite region, Haiti. 10 October 2010 Photo by Eliza Currando (Image from msf.org.uk)

It would be great if lots of p/hoppers could go as it will be a fun evening as well as a great opportunity to learn more about the work MSF does with your fundraising money and a chance to chat to some MSF staff.

To attend please email rsvp@london.msf.org

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What? Affinity Yarns Open Studio

When? Sunday 12th June, 2-6pm

Where? AffinityYarns, Whittlesford, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

What is it?

Affinity Yarns are hosting an Open Studio event with proceeds going to to p/hop. You can chat to other knitters while enjoying tea, cake and yarn browsing. Ravelry members can get details here.

Image from Affinity Yarns Open Day in April

Please contact Affinity Yarns for further details.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

We will have a stand at the following knitting festivals:

What? Woolfest 2011

When? Friday 24 and Saturday 25 June

Where? Mitchell’s Lakeland Livestock Centre, Cockermouth, Cumbria

For more information please visit the Woolfest 2011 website.

What? KnitNation

When? 15th-17th July 2011

Where? Imperial College, South Kensington, London

For more information please visit the KnitNation2011 website.

What? Fibre East

When? Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th July

Where? Scald End Farm, Mill Road, Thurleigh, Bedfordshire

For more information please visit the Fibre East website.

What? Fibre Flurry

When? Friday 28th & Saturday 29th October

Where? Kings Norton, Birmingham

For more information please visit the Fibre Flurry website.

As always there will be the opporunity to help out on the p/hop stand for half a day. Please keep an eye on our Ravelry group for requests for volunteers.

If you are holding an event for p/hop we would love to hear about it. If you would like to host an event, eg a yarn swap event or tea party for MSF, but are unsure on how to get started please get in touch, we are more than happy to help.

The lovely people at I Knit London, shop and sanctuary for knitters, in Waterloo, London are holding a Crafternoon Tea Party for p/hop on Saturday 16th April 2011, 1pm-5pm.

Everyone is welcome. There will be tea, craft, knitting and chatting and of course, cake! Please feel inspired to bake a cake and bring it as this is how the event raises money – selling it per slice for a suggested donation. There’ll also be a raffle and some swapping, or as we like to call it, p/hopping. All the money raised will go to Médecins Sans Frontières.

If you can’t make this fun and friendly afternoon why not hold your own event? It doesn’t matter how large or small it is, it could be in your local yarn shop, or with a few friends over a coffee or two. You could make and swap cake for a donation to p/hop or clear out your unloved yarn and p/hop it (swap it for a donation to MSF) with fellow knitters. You can read about a recent p/hopping event here.

When you do organise something let us know as we’re happy to help.

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?

Here’s a quick update of what’s happening with p/hop over the next couple of months.

1) Loop knitting shop in Islington, London, UK are holding a yarn swapping event for MSF on Sunday 3rd October. We’ll be going along with some p/hop patterns and sample knits. If you can’t make the yarn swap you can still use your unwanted stash to raise money for MSF by offering it for a donation in the p/hop group on Ravelry.

2) We’re going to be at Fibre Flurry on 30th October. Yippee. It should be loads of fun.

3) p/hop turns TWO!!! Blimey, where has the last year gone. The blog-a-long worked so well last year that we’re going to do it again this year over the first (and maybe the second) week of November. There are also a couple of new patterns in the pipeline which will be released then.

Just a quick shout about the Old Forge… Open as part of Brighton Festival Artist Open Houses, Rhoda and friends have been knitting tea cosies, which they will be letting go for a mere £20, in aid of you know who (MSF), via you know what (p/hop). Extract from their blog:

Second weekend has already passed and still no pictures! It was rainy and wet on but still there was a wonderful and constant stream of visitors. The Margo Selby cushions and bags sold really well and another beautiful Eloise Grey coat left the building… They are such good value for ethically sourced tweed. We sold our first tea cosy for Medecins Sans Frontieres. With such an amazing choice and so beautifully knitted and for such an amazing cause, I hope we sell all 20 of them.

Still got two weeks, so if you’re local, maybe you might want to pop down and show some p/hop support (and definitely eat a cream tea).

What is Skip North?

After all the wonderful support and donations in the aftermath of the devastating Haiti earthquake we thought p/hop would be fairly quiet until the knitting festival season. It’s always good to be proved wrong by p/hop. I went away for last week and on my return was delighted to see the total has jumped again. Looking at the donations I discovered something called Skip North happened. What is Skip North? Skipping with yarn? Some Northern tradition which has passed me by? After a little detective work all became clear and the answer will be revealed in the near future.

Where is Pete?

Pete is in Russia at the moment working on an exciting multimedia project with MSF Russia which you can read about on his blog. He did forget his knitting though I have a feeling he has been too cold to knit in the sub-zero temperatures in Moscow.

Where will p/hop be spending the summer?

The weather is warming up in London and we’re starting to think about summer. p/hop will be at the following festivals over the summer:

Woolfest, 25th & 26th June 2010, Cockermouth, Cumbria

Knit Nation 29th-31st July 2010, Imperial College Campus, South Kensington, London

I knit Weekender, 10th-11th September 2010 The Royal Horticultural Halls, Pimlico, London

We need you!

We will be asking for volunteers to help us run the stand nearer the time so keep an eye on here or on the p/hop Ravelry group for details. We also need samples of p/hop patterns knitted up. I’m currently putting together a list of what we need and will post this in the p/hop Ravelry group next week. The samples really help sell the patterns and wil also make our stand look beautiful.

How can leftover sock yarn make money for p/hop in Orkney?

If you haven’t been to a real life yarn swap there’s always something going on in the Ravelry group.

Woolgathered is collecting leftover sock yarns in return for donations to p/hop for her ferry knitting blanket project so if you like the thought of your leftovers ending up as a wall hanging in Orkney please take a look at her blog for details. Not only is she knitting the blanket on 2.5mm needles, she is also documenting where the yarn came from and any stories associated with it. I can’t wait to see the finished blanket but I have a feeling it will take a while. Which will be finished first? Pete’s scarf or Woolgathered’s blanket?