Mini Stockings Time Again!

Each year I write a post about the stockings that members of my knitting group ( plus other lovely people) make and then fill with sweets. These little gifts are then distributed to those who help the needy in the community have a bit of Christmas cheer. Over the years that I've been with the group the number of stockings needed has steadily risen to over six and a half thousand!

The last Tuesday in October the ladies ( and one man) at Zillmere Knit and Natter got to work and filled stockings for 2 hours!! 

The lovely ladies in my stitching group once again had a lolly drive which resulted in quite a haul to take along to Zillmere. 

And this year I was determined not to make a one off trip to Costco to buy sweets to donate, for two reasons. One is that I have to depend on a Costco member to take me and secondly most of Costco’s range of confectionery is mostly chocolate which is unsuitable for summer which the season that Christmas is here. The first 2 years I made that trip to Costco I was able to buy a big bucket of wrapped lollies but since then it is unavailable. But I did very well buying from selected local shops. 

So here is everyone hard at work filling stockings...

 

A good morning’s work’ with many more packing sessions to come so no group is disappointed and misses out on stockings for their 'clients'.

Keeping busy...

Saturday of last week, the family gathered to celebrate 2 birthdays; my 'little brother's' and also my nephew Rowan's. My brother is a 4th of July baby but Rowan was born on July 16.

My brother with his two youngest sons; Rowan is in the middle and at 17, is heaps taller than his dad.

Lucy and DD2...with the little miss eyeing off one of the birthday cakes!

On Sunday, DD1 and I went to Shorncliffe and lunched at Matthew Thomas restaurant. This place has beautiful food!
I kept calling the place Matthew Flinders for some reason! lol.

Monday I headed off to the Scarborough Knit and Natter...I took along some donations which had been given to me to hand in to K4BN...like this crocheted rug...

And these beautifully warm hats made from polar fleece scraps by Margaret. Margaret attends Sisters of Stitch and has just recently given me lots of other lovely donations for K4BN. 

Also at Scarborough we were shown a knitted teddy which was made from a knitted square! What a friendly looking chap he was! 

Talking  of squares...at Paddington Knit and Natter on Tuesday, Anissa, the owner of Knitch, the yarn shop we meet at, showed us a pair of slippers made from 2 squares...here they are modelled by Anissa!

Anissa had time to sit with us on Tuesday morning between customers, and her fingers were far from idle...

This is what she made in a short time...a little toy that will fit easily into a little hand and can be kept in a little person's pocket. 

Parking is somewhat of a dilemma in this busy part of Paddington. I had 'cruised' the side street near the shop looking for a parking spot knowing that I would have a steep hill to climb to get to the shop. All these side streets around Paddington are 'littered' with parked cars, but surprisingly for an old suburb, these particular streets, although very steep, are actually quite wide (ish). I saw a spot in this street and did a u turn to get to the space then drove past it...darn! So I prepared to drive around the block again when I saw a spot on nearby Enoggera Terrace which wasn't on a hill but is a street that branches off the main street that the shop is on. Sweet! That's my Micra on the left; it looks like it's near the wheelie bin but it's actually a safe distance from the bin and the ever present garbage truck . So I just have to cross the street in the foreground...

And the shop is just down there...

Now I know a hill climb is excellent cardio exercise but I knew that I would be loading up my car with donations as Anissa and her customers are soooo generous to K4BN...
This is what my boot/trunk looked like after the car was loaded  up...

 I moved a couple of bags so I could show the other bags that were hidden. There are knitted and crocheted items, including toys...

And there are bags of toiletry items. These will all be handed over at the Albany Creek Knit and Natter.
So after these few busy days I was ready for a quieter day on Wednesday...that's for sure! :-)

Another milestone for Knitting for Brisbane's Needy (K4BN)...

On Thursday Karen, the founder of K4BN, made this announcement...

******** NEWSFLASH *********
As of 28th May, 2014, Knitting for Brisbane's Needy's members, friends, family, anonymous donors etc have donated OVER 200,000 items since we started this group, 8 years 5 months ago!!!! 
We find this incredible, just think about how many people we have helped with all these fabulous items.
(and things like preloved clothes. toys, aren't counted...neither are squares until they are made into a blanket; nor toiletries until they are in a toiletry bag then only counted as one!)

What an amazing group to belong to. I'm also very grateful to my own family and friends who have given me items for the group to distribute. I often write posts about the group's Knit and Natters, where members meet for a few hours, work on projects and hand in finished items ready for distribution. Regular readers would know that I tend to only knit and crochet blankets, but mostly I join up donated squares into blankets of various sizes. In January this year I decided to focus on joining squares for a few weeks and made 8 blankets that month. It's about time I did some more joining I think :-)

I really admire the ladies who knit/crochet toys for the group...I've made the odd teddy, (and believe me they were odd...their faces had 'real attitude! lol) but I rarely make such items. But have a look at these lovely toys made by ladies at the Grovely Knit and Natter...

Someone commented that the doll that Karen is holding looked like Tina Turner! Lol

Then there were the lovely toys that were handed in at the recent Albany Creek Knit and Natter...

A closer view of that beautiful elephant in the back row :-)

And these lovely throw rugs were also handed in recently...

Dianne's amazing blanket.

Leslie's blanket made of kite shaped pieces...

Sharon's crocheted blanket in my favourite colours...

Val is holding up a crocheted rug made by a friend of hers...

And last week, the Caboolture News did a feature on K4BN and Karen and her husband Peter...this was the front page of that edition. The article inside detailed how the group started and how many people are helped each year by this wonderful couple who put so much effort into helping the less fortunate in the community. 

( I know you will be reading this post, Karen, so I just have to say that for some reason this photo reminds me of a Nativity Scene...perhaps it's the blanket over your head...or the toy animals! Lol