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.

Here’s Pete reading all about it!

Hello to any new readers who’ve found us through Yarn Forward. You can keep up-to-date with all the p/hop news here on the blog, via our twitter feed and in the p/hop Ravelry group. Please feel free say hello back to us, we’d love to hear from you.

You may recognise Pete from the article, he’s the one holding* his now infamous scarf for Arsene Wenger.

We’d like to say a BIG THANK YOU to the Yarn Forward team for the feature.

Now back to knitting my scarf for the PHKCOW competition. I’m in the office tomorrow and must beat Pete. My knitting pride is at stake.

*Note that’s Pete holding his scarf, not knitting it

Just a tiny bit of the donations!

The fifth annual SkipNorth holiday hit Haworth in Yorkshire on Friday 12th March, and for the second year running the p-hop swap dominated the first evening. People had brought huge bags of yarn, books, magazines and other craft materials and as the last workshop came to an end people were keen to see what was on offer.

The tables were pushed to the edge of the room and bag by bag the offerings were laid out. On the right went a table full of fleece, perfect for those who had learnt drop spindling that afternoon. Back left was a whole table of sock yarn, where Regia rubbed shoulders with designer brands. In between lay cones of lace weight, bags of novelty yarn, whole packs of vintage Jaeger and current Rowan as well as mountains of odd balls looking for a home.

By the end of the evening the tables were bare (apart from a few lonely orphan balls) and all those who’d taken part were committed to donating their thanks to p-hop. So far more than £300 has been donated from those who swapped that night, and plenty of what we each swapped has appeared in our stashes on Ravelry and even been cast on.

Thanks to everyone who donated to the swap and to all those who took part. You can read more about SkipNorth here and join in discussions about future holidays on ravelry here.

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

Thank you very much to Alex (aka littlelixie) and everyone who took part in the Skip North p/hop swap. Are you feeling inspired to hold your own swap for p/hop? Please get in touch if you are interested as we can help out with flyers and MSF info. If you’ve already been to an event for MSF we would love to hear about it and always welcome guest bloggers. Don’t forget there is the ongoing yarn (and books, DVDs, anything-you-can-think-of) swap in the p/hop Ravelry group.

The beret uses four colours of DK yarn and is a good introduction to Fair Isle (stranded colour) knitting. If you’re new to Fair Isle knitting there are lots of good tutorials on the internet including one on the KnittingHelp.com website (scroll down for the video) or just ask in the p/hop group on Ravelry if you need any advice.

If you want to see what the beret looks like in other colourways take inspiration from what others have made on Ravelry.

To read more about the Chic Spring Beret pattern and download the PDF click here. Happy Knitting!

*Depending on which hemisphere you live in.

On the social knitworking site Ravelry.com, knitters, crocheters and other fibre fans leaped into action, asking where they could donate money and if they couldn’t afford a monetary donation thinking of alternative ways to raise money for Haitian relief efforts.

The Yarn Harlot, famous knitter, writer. blogger extraordinaire and founder of Knitters Without Borders/Tricoteuses Sans Frontières lit the “knit signal” and the word to help Haiti and raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) spread like wild fire throughout the knitting twitterverse and blogasphere.

The p/hop ravelry group has been busy with lots of yarn swaps for donations to MSF. Please take a look if you fancy some new yarn or books or if you need to downsize your stash. Someone is bound to want your unloved yarn in return for a donation to p/hop and MSF.

The Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Swap Group on Ravelry has hosted a very successful auction which some beautiful handmade items as well as yarn being auctioned to raise money for relief agencies, including MSF.

A rather notorious Ravelry group (ahem, LSG) have roused their members into donating and have kept a running total which is currently over US$ 32 000 for various aid agencies.

A specific Haitian Humanitarian Aid group has been set up which is consolidating ways of helping both in the short and long term.

Several designers are donating a percentage of their pattern sales to help Haiti.

I’ve been inundated with enquiries about p/hop and our number of twitter followers has doubled since last Wednesday. I’d like to give a big thank you to anyone who has helped spread the word about p/hop and MSF.

We’ve got lots of new patterns in the pipeline thanks to the generosity of some wonderful designers. It’s worth reiterating that 100% of p/hop donations go to MSF and no one profits from them. The only people who benefit from p/hop are the people MSF helps.

Photo from MSF UK. Starting to unload the boxes to set MSF’s inflatable hospital on site in a football field in Port-au-Prince. Monday, Jan 18th 2010. Photo by Julie Remy/MSF

The problems the Haitian people are facing right now will continue for some time so please keep spreading the word and doing what you can. Let’s not forget that MSF continues to help people suffering in less “newsworthy” places such as Eastern Congo so please remember we are here all year round.

As always, p/hop is not the product of a few individuals but a community. If you’ve helped out in any way you can allow yourself a glow of humanitarian happiness knowing you’ve helped lessen people’s suffering.

If you’d like to help or have any ideas or suggestions for p/hop please get in touch.

Thank you and happy knitting.

Clare

PS If I’ve missed out anything you’ve done to help Haiti please leave us a comment below telling us about what you’ve done.

PS. Here’s a clue as to what Pete, Natalie and I are up to at the moment…

It’s my second day at the MSF-UK headquarters in London as p/hop’s new co-ordinator. I’m sitting at my desk while someone is on the phone to the Congo. In the corner of the room there is a discrete copy of the Nobel Peace Prize which MSF won in 1999. I’m in awe of how knitting really can make a difference to people’s lives and feeling privileged that we can help in such a fun way.

Anyway, enough of my misty eyed ramblings. I’ve hit the ground running and am busy organising a press release for p/hops first birthday at the end of November. We will have more news on that and how you can help next week. I’m looking forward to getting to know you all better and seeing what projects both knitting and fund-raising you are up to. We welcome any ideas and suggestions. Please do get in touch either via the p/hop ravelry group, the comments section below or by email, p-hop@london.msf.org

I’m sending out a big thank you to my predecessor Louise for doing such a great job in p/hops first year. I’ve got a lot to live up to.

About me, I’ve been knitting with a vengance since my best friend had her first baby in 2005 when I made my first pullover, albeit a teeny tiny newborn pullover. Since then my stash has outgrown my flat and I like to dream we can solve all the world’s problems through knitting which again brings me back to p/hop. I’ve travelled and volunteered in developing countries and have seen first hand how just a small amount of cash can make a huge difference. I think p/hop is brilliant, combining a love of fibre arts with a passion to change lives in the often forgotten corners of the world.

I’m in the office one day a week where I’ll be nagging encouraging Pete to finish his scarf, meeting other members of the MSF team and pulling together fund-raising ideas.  There are also the tentative beginnings of an MSF knitting group…

Happy knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, felting, braiding and any other fibre art I may have neglected to mention.

Clare

PS. Pete really has thrown me in at the deep end and made me make a video. I now understand how actors feel when they can’t watch themselves back. Anyway, I hope you enjoy watching it.

Behind me sits p/hop’s newest recruit. She will will be, at various times, a blogger, manager, inspirer, organiser, contact for all sorts of weird and wonderful queries and *gasp* a knitter. p/hop is a demanding mistress.

“Who is it?”, I hear you ask, your body atingle with expectation…

Well, says I, wait and see, for next week all shall be revealed…….

So, I am advertising for a new Lou… It’s got to be someone who loves MSF (obviously), thinks p/hop is the coolest project around (who wouldn’t) and has the imagination and organisation to carry p/hop to even greater heights.

Also, it would be great if it was someone who enjoyed writing. Oh yeah, and if they knitted it would be a bonus!

If you know anyone like that who would be willing to give a day a week or so of their time, please give them my details.

There is a full job description available on the MSF website, although it is a little vague as p/hop tends to throw the unexpected at us. Please feel free to send it to whoever might be interested…..

Thanks

Pete