Some 'figures' from K4BN....

Regular readers would know that when I retired I joined a knitting group called Knitting for Brisbabe's Needy. This group provides warm blankets, clothes, toiletries, dog blankets, toys etc to make life a little easier for the many needy in the community. 

I often post photos of donations on this blog. ( all the items in every photo in this post have been made by others...not me!) 

Karen, who started the group over 9 years ago released some figures the other day...these are totals of donations made by members this year to date. These figures are quite impressive! Here's what Karen wrote...

'It is with amazement and much gratitude that we announce that from January 1st 2015 until the end of the financial year, June 30th, 2015, K4BN members, friends etc have donated 18, 420 items ... knitted, crocheted, loomed, sewn, new, brought items. This does not include all the squares, all the toiletries etc.

Then for the time since we started nearly 10 years ago, the grand total so far is 227,274!!!
So far in July we have received another 224 items ...and its only the 3rd July!!
So many homeless, less fortunate people (and animals) are now that much warmer because of your generosity! 

Peter and I are so overwhelmed with the amount of donations, and can never thank everyone enough! We are so proud to be associated with so many wonderful, caring people!! ' 

Pretty impressive huh?

Here are some more photos of donations handed in this year...

My car boot is already packed up ready for tomorrow's Scarborough Knit and Natter...none of it made by me...all of the bags of donations have come from friends. I've become a bit of a gatherer! Lol. 

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