A Festival of Craft!

It's Festival Time here in Edinburgh again.  The streets are alive with tourists, buskers and a wealth of shows and exhibitions to see and hear.  Our weekly get together turned into an exciting event in itself, with a riot of colour, ideas and  craft tips to show and share.

Ever had some rainbow or self-pattern yarn left at the end of a project?  Knit a doll for a child to love.  This glamorous girl is going to Knit a Square in South Africa  to help with their work with millions of orphaned and vulnerable children.

Hand Puppets in progress ... and hand puppets all ready to play. These have been knitted in pairs so they can double as gloves in cold weather.  Hand puppets are great as props for a child's imagination as well as being a friend to cuddle when feeling sad, lonely or afraid. Pattern link for knit and crochet version here.

Of course up here in Edinburgh we know people need hats and hand warmers in a rainbow of colour and shapes to keep heads and hands warm when the weather turns cold.

And there can never be too many squares. It takes 35 squares at 20cm or 8 inches each to make even a child sized blanket. A blanket can mean warmth, comfort, survival and perhaps hopefully even send a vulnerable person the message that someone cares. Squares are a great project for beginner and expert alike.

If you would like to join us at our weekly Wednesday afternoon get togethers, or are passing through Edinburgh and want to drop in, please use the contact form on the right.  All crafts welcome. We'd love to meet you.

Follow us on Facebook too.  We'd love to hear your comments and suggestions either here on the blog or on our Facebook page.

If you are a local charity and think we can help you through our craft, please contact us.  We'd love to hear from you.

July Parcel Safely Delivered.

Super-speedy DHL uplifted our July parcel last thing on Tuesday afternoon - and had delivered it to Love in the Language of Yarn in Turkey before 10.00 am this morning (Thursday)! What's in our July parcel? A range of things for the hot weather now and the cold weather to come to help Syrian refugee families living in camps:

sun dresses, hats, scarves, slippers, hand warmers, sweater and our first ever rag rug to brighten a tent or container home. 

 

Service with their usual smile from our sponsors DHL!  It's great to know that things are getting to where they are needed so quickly.

Follow us on Facebook Craft Tea for Charity - Edinburgh

 Come and join us or drop in if you are in or near Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoons - whatever your craft, a warm welcome awaits you.
  Contact us using the form on the right.

Keep Cycling - Good for your Wallet, Great for Helping Others!

Upcycling again with another low or no cost project from one of our group who made eight of these pretty sun dresses out of unwanted pillow cases and duvet cover, bits of  ribbon and recycled buttons. You could make up to eleven or so of these dresses from a large double duvet cover. They will be in our next parcel to Love in the Language of Yarn in Turkey to distribute to Syrian girls who are refugees from the war. They can be worn alone now while it is still hot then over T shirts when the weather begins to cool down. The pattern is based on the 'pillow slip' dress on the Sew Scrumptious website listed on our 'charities seeking crafted items' page.  Happy sewing if you want to give it a go!  Just remember to check that your duvet cover fabric is not see through before you begin  - it sounds obvious, but duvet cover fabric can often be semi-transparent.  Warning:  making these dresses is seriously addictive and can result in you begging for unwanted duvet covers from your friends and family!

Follow us on Facebook Craft Tea for Charity  In or near Edinburgh and want to join us? We'd love to welcome you at one of our weekly get togethers. All crafts welcome, as long as you want to craft for charity and can do your craft safely in a cafe!  Do you have a suggestion for a project we are not doing yet? Are you a local charity who would like our help?
Contact us using the form on the right of this page. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Upcycling and proud of it!

It's been a great week for upcycling in our group with a range of no or low cost projects converting the unwanted into the delectable and desirable.  For starters, Leo's Beanery cafe gave us a coffee sack.  Old T shirts and pilled fleecy jumpers (all too worn out to recycle as anything wearable)  transformed the sack into this cosy and colourful rag rug.  We are sending it to Love in the Language of Yarn in Turkey in the hope that it will bring cosiness and cheer into the lives of a Syrian refugee family.

The sack makes an ideal base as it is double sided, has an inner waterproof lining to discourage any damp seeping through from the floor and comes already seamed to prevent fraying around the borders. The double layer means you can work through the top layer only, leaving the bottom layer as a protective base.

This was our first attempt at a rag rug and a useful learning curve. It uses the knotted method. Fleece is probably better than T shirt fabric because it is lighter, shrugs off moisture better and will be easier to wash and dry. Experimenting with design, drawing a pattern on the sack and then infilling it, rather than just having a random pattern will be the  creative challenge for our next one. Rag rugging is a great project to leave lying around.  Sort of like jigsaws used to be - family members tend to add a few strips in passing.

Contact us via the box on the right.  Follow us on Facebook Craft Tea for Charity - Edinburgh Join us on Wednesday afternoons if you are in or near Edinburgh.  We'd love to see you or hear from you!

Accessorise!

Here in Edinburgh, even in the midst of the beautifully hot summer weather we are enjoying at the moment, we know that winters can be chilly things requiring cosy accessories.  The sun shone brightly and warmly on us this week, but the latest newsletter from KAS (Knit a Square) in South Africa reports that temperatures there have recently dropped below freezing during the evenings in many parts of the country and there have been reports of snow on the mountains.  In the Syrian refugee camps in Turkey the weather will start to cool down by November, which is not long when items have to be shipped to Turkey, sorted, then distributed to the camps. We are lucky to have sponsor our overseas postage to these charities which means we can do so much more to help. So we hoisted up our needles and hooks and turned out our stash cupboards to make loads of hats, hand warmers, scarves and slippers to help people beat the cold ...

children's size. If you would like to make soft slippers there are several versions on our patterns page ...

hand warmers are so easy and quick and use up those odds and ends of yarn, but they can make a real difference to a child trying to hold a pencil in an unheated classroom. See our patterns page if you fancy making some ...

adult size hats in unisex colours plus a soft heathery scarf ...

a super slouch beanie for teenagers ...

and of course we can never get enough squares, so had to have some world cup inspired stripy ones ...

and lovely textured ones for their comforting feel  as well as warmth and colour.


Follow us on Facebook  Craft Tea for Charity for more news and updates.

If you would like to craft for charity our page of charities who welcome craft work (above) might have something that appeals to you.  Many of the projects are  simple, so you don't need to be an 'expert' - 20cm/8 inch squares for example are always in demand. There are also projects for crafters who like to challenge themselves.

If you are in or near Edinburgh and want to join us at one of our Wednesday afternoon craft meetings, contact us via the box on the right.  We would love to welcome you. If you have always wanted to learn how to knit or crochet we can show you how.  Sewers and quilters also welcome.
We are keen to expand our range of crafts and items we make so if you have a different craft that could help others, for example if you can make toys or educational items using other materials, then please do get in touch. 

If you are a local charity who would like our help please email us on craftteaforcharity@btinternet.com or use the contact form on the right. 

Zing and Bling!

Colours and patterns rushed out to play in yesterday's warm Edinburgh sun.

A riot of pattern and warmth  in our blanket squares. We always need squares (plain or patterned) as there as so many children around the world desperately needing warm blankets. 

 Pink and cheerful sweater to brighten a child's cold day ...

wonderful African colours in this 'go-over' top for Knit-a-Square (see our patterns page for a knit and a crochet version if you would like to make one) ...

and  a sequin or two in our hats to reflect the sunlight!

 Find out more and follow us on our Facebook page  Craft Tea for Charity

If you would like to comment, make a suggestion or join us on our Wednesday afternoon get togethers, please use the contact form on the right.

Happy crafting everyone!

Another parcel on its way

Another wonderfully cheerful and helpful DHL man arrived with his van this morning to uplift our parcel for Knit a Square (KAS) in Soweto. Thank you DHL for your generous sponsorship of our monthly overseas shipment which makes a huge difference to what we can achieve and thank you also for having such lovely employees. One of our group spotted this  DHL plane at Basel airport last week - wonder if it's full of knitting for charity and Swiss chocolate - what a great combination that would be!