Letters
Support for Texas
Dear readers,
The situation in the Houston metro area is dire. The news reports are overwhelming. There is heartbreak and heroism in equal measure, and it’s hard to watch helplessly from far away.
As we’ve come to expect over the years, the online knitting/needlecraft community has gathered to raise funds to support those who are suffering in the aftermath of this terrible storm. Their generosity makes us proud to belong to this community.
We want to do our part. From now until Friday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, we will donate 100% of all ebook and pattern sales* in our Ravelry store to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, a fund established by Houston’s mayor and housed at the Greater Houston Community Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity.
This includes all four Modern Daily Knitting Field Guides, and patterns in our Ravelry store by Julia Farwell-Clay and Bristol Ivy, bighearted designers of the Eddy Wrap and the Nesting Wrap.
(*What’s that asterisk? In 2011, we committed to donate all proceeds from our Mitered Crosses Blanket pattern to Mercy Corps, so obviously we are sticking to that promise for that pattern.)
Next week, we’ll let you know how much we raised together.
Look for the Helpers
Other designers and crafters are doing similar online fundraisers that are beautiful to see. (We will update the list as we hear from people, so do check back.) For example:
Elizabeth Elliott: all proceeds from sales of her designs on Ravelry through Saturday night to be donated. (Details on Elizabeth’s blog.) So many beautiful choices (including Dionisio Point and Fissure, two patterns that we’ve knit here.)
Nicole Daksiewicz, aka Modern Handcraft is auctioning off a large selection of her modern quilts and cushions on Instagram; auction ends on Tuesday, September 5, with 100 percent of sales going to benefit relief organizations.
Mary Lou Egan’s Ravelry Store.
Michele Bernstein’s Ravelry Store.
Lesley Robinson/Knit Grafitti.
If you known of any designers doing similar fundraising efforts, please shout them out in the comments. (Reminder: links are much appreciated!)
Of course, the quickest way to help is to donate directly to local and national organizations.
Love,
Kay and Ann
Lolo Did It dyeing special color, all proceeds to Houston. Ends 8.31.17 at 10pm
Lesley Anne Robinson of KnitGraffiti.com lives in Corpus Christi and is donating 100% of Ravelry sales through Sunday to the Red Cross.
You are so generous and I am so glad to know a local organization that is more likely than Red Cross to spend the $ on relief and know what to do so I could make a direct donation to them.
Thank you for this. You have hearts as big as Texas.
Your group page on Ravelry could use this offer as well.
Thanks for that, Carol!
xxx
I’m in – was trying to figure out an announcement, but you did it. 100% of my sales from now through Labor Day will go to the Hurricane Harvey Relief fund. http://www.ravelry.com/designers/mary-lou-egan
Thanks. Off to shop!
Woo! Mary Lou! Let’s do this thing.
Mary Lou! Excellent! Will add you to the list!
Thanks for doing this. I’ll be shopping this afternoon.
Thank you. I live in the Houston metro area. My home and my family are ok, but this is a disaster of epic proportions. It will take years to recover. We here in Texas appreciate all the help we can get.
Thank you, Kay and Ann.
Not even noon and this is the third time today I’ve been all choked up. So much goodness in this old world.
Living in Galveston County south of Houston, you have left me speechless. My house and neighborhood were lucky to sustain no permanent damage. But the terror of never ending rain, tjunder, tornados and ever rising water is hard to explain. You remind me how wonderful the crafting community is. Bless you.
I knit furiously all day Saturday, waiting to hear whether my cousin and her three kids had been rescued from their house in Houston. We finally got the news that a police boat picked them up and that they were safe. I was still recovering, when a few hours later I looked at the NYT on my phone and saw a picture of their rescue….
Thank you for this. I will be shopping!
Oh Aileen! That kind of knitting is the worst! So glad you family was rescued but what an ordeal.
Thanks for this. I’m following your lead and donating all Ravelry proceeds through Sept 1, 2017. Blog post here: http://pdxknitterati.com/2017/08/31/hurricane-harvey-relief-fundraiser/
And Ravelry link here: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/michele-bernstein
Also purchasing your beautiful Nesting Wrap pattern. I need a relaxing brioche pattern for public knitting!
Per the designer, Martha Wissing, ‘proceeds from the sale of the McKittrick Canyon pattern will be donated to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. I have chosen the local Texas company, HEB. They provide meals and supplies to thousands in need.’ http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mckittrick-canyon
I will need to go buy that, too! HEB (which is a San Antonio-based grocery chain) is a wonderful organization, always so supportive of the community AND the best supermarkets I’ve ever shopped at!
Thank yo so much for doing this! I have never felt farther from my Texas friends than I have this week – I spent Monday practically immobile, unable to do anything except constantly update the weather radar and Facebook, hoping my friends were all okay. Thankfully, they mostly are (although even the ones who didn’t evacuate have leaky roofs!). I’m so glad I put off buying the last two field guides!
Thank you for spreading the word, and many thanks to all the fibre people who’ve supported everyone’s fundraising and made this thing work. Y’all are amazing.
This is great, thank you. I grew up in Texas, and have siblings, and their kids, in Houston. They weathered the storm well, thank goodness, but their reports of others less fortunate, are heartbreaking. I will try to do some shopping once I am on a desktop computer later today. XOClare
Thank you guys for this. I just made my purchases.
I am hoping that down the line there will be info on where to donate blankets, knit or crochet squares for blankets, etc. I guess one thought is to donate to Warm Up America. Does anyone know if there are other such causes?
Phooey, I pretty much only have time to check blogs on the weekend (job, four kids…) and I just saw this 9.5 hours too late. Let me know if you happen to extend it. Obviously there are other ways to donate, but this was lovely of you and I’d like to support it.
Alas, I had time to put a couple of things in my cart, and then life distracted me and I also missed the deadline.
Our knitting group started making Hero Hats and we have been donating them to all the First Responders that helped so much during Harvey. We are now making 500 Hero Hats for the Firefighters in CA. If you want to help us make red, white and blue hats to hand our please see our facebook groups Hero Hats and Helping Hands Ladies Of Cypress as we reach out nationwide for knitters and crocheters that can help us in Honoring Heroism