The photo above says everything I was going to say in this blog post.

This is an MSF team outside one of the many clinics MSF runs in Somaliland.

A big thank you to everyone who has made p/hop a success in 2011.

Here’s to a happy and peaceful 2012.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all our supporters.

If you’re in need of a very last minute gift these p/hop patterns are pretty speedy:

Clyd Headband is a great stocking filler and is a very quick knit.

Teeny Tiny Teddy would look cute on a key ring, or knit a few in festive colours and use them as decorations.

If you’re handy with a hook our Moebius Cowl crochets up pretty quicly too.

Of course many of us are too busy to knit at this time of year and most of our patterns require a little more time to make.

If you think you’ll have more knitting time in the new year why not make a gift voucher to give to a loved one, promising to make them a bespoke gift of their choice. You could let them choose from our wide selection of patterns.

Anyway, I’ll stop writing as you’ve probably got sprouts to wrap and presents to peel.

We hope you have a happy and peaceful festive season full of good company and cheer.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Imagine my delight when I woke up to the following tweet this morning

After some twitter based detective work I discovered the lovely Gerard Alt, of long time p/hop supporters IKnitLondon, had been on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme talking about knitting on TV. The main topic was THAT JUMPER from the top Danish crime drama The Killing (or Forbrydelsen) but he also gave our Cranford Mittens pattern and the talented Jane Lithgow a mention. Thank you Gerard.

So if you’ve found your way here from the Today programme, welcome!

We’re a knitting fundraiser for the incredible and inspiring emergency medical aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières MSF (Doctors Without Borders). You are more than welcome to download any of our beautiful knitting patterns. All we ask in return is you make a donation to MSF/DoctorsWithoutBorders based on how much pleaseure you’ll get from your knitting pattern. It’s as simple as that.

If you already know about us but missed the radio item you can “listen again” here.

As always you can follow us on twitter @msf_phop and get the latest news about MSF’s life saving work at @MSF_uk

Clare aka Dragonflyknit is guest blogging about our current Cranford Mitt-a-long. Take it away Clare….

It has been fun this September to participate in another Ravelry knit-a-long for p/hop of Jane Lithgow’s wonderful Cranford mittens: fabulous to knit and to wear, and also very popular gifts. I signed up on August 3^rd when littlelixie suggested the idea, and began planning which yarn to use. Fellow Ravellers signed up to the knit-a-long quickly grew to twenty-eight, and more have joined in along the way. (It’s not too late to join us! Click here for the Ravelry thread).

Right, a confession: I already had a pair of Cranfords on my circular needle, so I had to get the knitting of these completed in order to cast on a new pair on September 1^st. However, the darning in of the ends of the pair I was knitting in August is not yet done, so my plan is do so this week. Thus by 30^th September, I will in fact have completed two pairs = two donations to P-Hop!

As ever, being part of a knit a long has been a very rewarding experience: it is such a pleasure to see the fabulous yarn and colour choices made for the mitts, and to check in frequently to see how my fellow knitters are progressing. It is also great to see the kindness, encouragement and assistance being offered to knitters who ask for help because the Cranford pattern presents them with the opportunity to learn new skills.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us Clare. If you’re not a Ravelry member here are a few of the gorgeous pairs of mittens that have been made. Thank you to everyone in our Ravelry group who has shared their photos.

Extra repeats of the main pattern make for very elegant Cranfords as knitted by OneHandKnits. ©OneHandKnits

DarthKnitty aka Sefronia throwing some Gagaesque shapes with her coordinated Cranfords. ©Sefronia

Another fine pair by ©Crobbles

If you’ve blogged about the Mitts you’ve made we’d love to read about it. Please leave your comments and links to your blog below.

Tempted to join in? Please do. The official deadline is 30th September but as our knit-a-long is for fun we won’t mind if you’re knitting Cranfords into October, Christmas or 2012…

Speaking of Christmas check out this fun and festive pair made by Snail Hannah

Festive Cranfords by © Snailhannah

Happy knitting and as always thank you for supporting Médecins Sans Frontières.

This week is National Wool Week in the UK with lots of yarny events happening all over the country.  To coincide with the celebration of wool we’ve got some exciting new patterns ready for launch so keep an eye on our blog and twitter feed for the latest news.

Knitting teacher and designer Karen Wessel aka Quesselchen is holding a knit surgery in return for donations to p/hop. Can’t kitchener? Confused by cables? Pop along to Big Knitters on Wellfield Rd in Cardiff from 11am to 2pm on Saturday 10th September where Karen will solve your knitting problems. In return it’s the usual p/hop ethos, make a donation based on how much pleasure/perseverance/persistence/insert p-word of choice you gained from your new skill.

Our Ravelry group is busy this month with a Cranford Mitt-a-long. It’s very easy to join in and littlelixie is even throwing in some challenges such as writing a Cranford haiku to add to the fun. All the details are here and there are badges and project pictures you can use on the pattern page here. If you’re not already on Ravelry it is well worth joining. It is free and a great resource for knitters and crocheters.

I designed these socks in Cambridge and from the first I thought of them as ‘Cambridge socks’. The travelling cables remind me of the gentle meander of the river Cam around the backs of the colleges. My sample socks were knitted in a colour that is almost Cambridge blue (a sort of strange greenish -grey). But I am an Oxford girl through and through, and I wanted to reflect that in the name of the socks too. The official designation for a Cambridge degree is Cantab. (short for Cantabridgiensis), but in Oxford we always scathingly refer to Cambridge students as Tabs. So, when you are feeling kindly towards these socks, you may call them your Cantabs, but when you want to throw them across the rooms in frustration, they will be Tabs, spoken with all the scorn of an 800 year old rivalry to back you up!

The pattern has been designed to fit as many different shapes and sizes of feet and ankles as possible. The rib gives it lots of stretch, the heel flap and the horseshoe heel turn give some extra room, and the travelling cable adds interest to the pattern. The construction of these socks is somewhat unusual and there are times when you just have to blindly trust the pattern, but I promise it works.  I would say that this pattern is intermediate difficulty.
I hope you all enjoy knitting and wearing these as much as I enjoyed designing them.  You can download the (Can)tab pattern here and don’t forget to make your donation to p/hop too.

P.S. Thanks to Ruth (Grandy on Ravelry) for her beautiful photo of her gorgeous (Can)tabs.

Dear Knitter,

As you might have realised from the name of the socks I am a Harry Potter fan. What we knitters always look out for is the latest Christmas offerings from Molly Weasley’s
needles, both in description in the book, and visually on the films. It has always seemed that her knitting for the boys of the family, and often Harry, are a little hurried
and done because there was not a huge amount of money in the house hold.

After the battles and the wars, and the family had grown up and left home, I began to wonder what Molly and Arthur Weasley would do with their time. I knew that Arthur would be happy in his shed with his Muggle bits and pieces, but what about Molly, with time and stillness on her hands, what would she knit? She’d often knitted for her boys and Ginny too, but what could she knit that was a little bit special? What could she knit for the possible daughters in law? Socks seemed to be the perfect answer, and for all the daughters, what better than lace socks? Or perhaps during a lull in family life Molly treated herself to a pair of these?

Molly Weasley's Gift Socks

The lace pattern was based upon one in the Barbara Walker Treasury series of books, and charted to be knitted in the round. While it is a pretty lace pattern it is not complicated, and I and my test knitter found it a joy to see the pattern emerge. I have one other sock pattern donated to P/hop and always had this in mind when I wrote this pattern.

Close up of vine lace pattern

Everyone in life needs a little help, even in every day life, but when disaster strikes they need all the help we can give them. So I hope you enjoy the socks, and the pleasure of knitting them, and I know that the money raised is going to a wonderful and worthwhile cause, Doctors Without Borders, MSF.

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A big thank you to Susan for another great pattern (click here to go to the pattern page) which will help MSF weave their humanitarian magic around the world. If you like this pattern please take a look at Susan’s other p/hop pattern, the popular Ruth’s Harvest Socks.

Back in December the lovely people at The Knitter magazine invited us to feature in their gallery pages. Issue 28, featuring p/hop, is now in the shops and you can find us on page 82, nestled amongst some gorgeous patterns and interesting articles.

The Gallery features a knitting group  with items individual members have knitted so I asked our Ravelry group memebers to send their items in. They look fabulous. We would like to thank the marvellous team at The Knitter who are always so supportive.

The patterns featured in the article are Cranford Mitts, Flowers in the Rain Scarf, Trinity Shawlette, Hydrangea Scarf and Ruth’s Harvest Socks and you can browse all the p/hop patterns on our main pattern page.

If you’ve found us for the first time after reading the article welcome to p/hop. Please join in the fun in our friendly Ravelry group and follow us on twitter @msf_phop to help us spread the word about p/hop and MSF and feel free to leave us a comment below.

If you would like to know more about Médecins Sans Frontières, which is the reason why we are here, please take a look at their website. They do some pretty amazing work and have an excellent ethos. I love the way we can help this happen through knitting. If you would like to make a donation for a pattern or yarn swap or just because you like us please click on the Just Giving widget on your right. (You even add this to your blog to spread the word even further). Thank you.

We have a new festive pattern for you to enjoy in the run up to the holiday season.

Tis The Season Stocking by Katie Weston uses DK weight yarn to make a cheerful enticement for Santa to come down your chimney. The pattern is very versatile and can be knitted in heavier or lighter weight yarns.

If you’re busy knitting away for Christmas/Channuka/insert winter festivals of choice here’s the best of our quick patterns.

Elizabeth’s Scarf is superfast using chunky yarn and 7mm needles.

Liz Lovick’s Snowflake Hat and Mittens are also a quick knit using chunky yarn. The pattern comes in a range of sizes so are great for all the family. I’m in the middle of making my own pair of mittens after, ahem, borrowing the p/hop samples a little too often.

The ever popular Cranford Mitts use small amounts of sock or 5ply yarn and once you’ve got the hang of the Shetland horseshoe pattern knit up in no time at all. Take a look on Ravelry to see the variety of pairs which have been made in the Cranford Mitt-a-long.

Quick and Easy DK Socks make wonderfully cosy bed socks, perfect for chilly winter evenings and are knitted on 4mm needles so knit up faster than you can sing the 12 days of Christmas.

If you fancy a challenge why not try the beautiful Poinsettia Shawl pattern, perfect for this time of year.

If that’s a tad daunting why not try the Trinity Shawl which uses one 100g skein of sock yarn making it a beautiful yet affordable gift. It’s a great beginners lace pattern as it comes with written instructions as well as charts.

Have you made any of these patterns? Let us know what you think in the comments below or join in the fun in our friendly Ravelry group.

Seeing as Pete took his knitting up a mountain in Lesotho I took mine on holiday to Kenya. While  I was too hot or too busy to knit most of the time I did finish a Without Borders sock for p/hop’s festival display.

A few of us in the p/hop Ravelry group have signed up for knitting 52 pairs of socks in one year and we’ve been wondering how to use it to raise money for MSF. I made a little video while on holiday and though I look a tad weary as I’d spent the previous night fighting a mosquito net in a traditional hut I had a great time.

While I wasn’t there for MSF I was aware of the work MSF do in Kenya. Kenya has suffered from droughts for the last two years. Luckily there was lots of rain while I was there and the people I spoke to were very relieved about this as their crops are growing well, unlike the last two years.  There’s a new MSF campaign to raise awareness about malnutrition called Starved of Attention which is well worth a few moments of your time.