You've been patiently waiting for me to tell you all about my little 'seed' of an idea, and slightly sooner than I expected (mainly due to creating my JustGiving page and it becoming active straight away when I thought I could keep adding to it until I was ready for the Big Launch,) here it is!
I'm holding a Great Yarn Giveaway over on JustGiving to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. It's a very important charity to me as it carries out vital research into fighting heart disease and so will hopefully help to prevent other people having to go through what I have following the sudden death of Mr JK in 2016. Two of my friends, Julia and Charlotte, are running the Brighton Marathon in memory of Mr JK and they have charity places to raise funds for the BHF. I had the idea of helping them out with their fundraising by holding a giveaway. So I contacted lots of my favourite yarny folk to ask if they would be prepared to donate a prize. And boy oh boy, what an absolutely amazing response I have had. Yet again the woolly community shows just what a fabulous bunch of people they are. I have been totally overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness shown and I'm sure you will be too when you see all the wonderful prizes that are on offer. You'd better get a drink and make yourself comfortable as this could take a while!
I've listed all the prizes over on the JustGiving page but I want to share them all with you again here.
Prizes have come from all over the place - from Bricks and Mortar yarn shops:
Two cakes of amazingly soft Orkney Angora and a tote bag from Loop.
Two balls of merino silk yarn from my local yarn shop, Norfolk Yarn. Perfect for shawls.
A Stylecraft blanket kit from another local yarn shop, Diss Wool and Craft shop. This is going to make such a cosy blanket for someone.
Lots of gifts from Stylecraft and some of my fellow Blogstars which I collected this weekend:
An Attic24 Cottage blanket yarn pack from Stylecraft. You just can't beat Special DK for blankets and coupled with Lucy's great colour choices, this is bound to be popular.
A wee house brooch and key ring from Julia at Hand Knitted Things. Aren't they just the sweetest things ever?
Some beautiful skeins of yarn and stitch markers from Kathryn at Crafternoon Treats. Kathryn is so talented with her dyeing.
Some review copies of books and yarn from Phil at The Twisted Yarn. Phil gets asked to review books a lot, luckily for us!
A stunning corner to corner rainbow baby blanket crocheted by Heather from The Patchwork Heart. Heather's blankets are always much sought after.
A signed copy of Cute Crocheted Animals from Emma Varnam (and trust me, they really are cute! I've seen them in the flesh, so to speak!)
Some recycled sari yarn from Anne at Crochet Between Worlds. Such gorgeous colours here.
Lots of lovely yarn from Lucia at Lucia's Figtree. Lucia raided her craft room for some real beauties.
And not to forget lots of vouchers for patterns from the lovely Juliet Bernard, Zelna at Zooty Owl, Sandra at Cherryheart, Sarah at Annaboo's House, Justina at Every Trick on the Hook and Angela at Get Knotted Yarn Craft. Three cheers for the Stylecraft Blogstars!
Instagram friends have also been very generous:
A lovely sheep bag from Gilly Makes. Gilly makes the most amazing things with her sewing machine.
An special skein of yarn and some double pointed needles from Sara at Cauldron of Colours. I have been lucky enough to receive skeins from Sara as a gift in the past.
An incredible nine (yes, nine!) gorgeous project bags from Ann at Busy Pottering, as well as a West Yorkshire Spinners mini yarn cake sock box that she's put together especially. Each bag comes with stitch markers, tea bags and sweeties too! How thoughtful is Ann?!
From some of my favourite yarn dyers, I received some beautiful skeins:
Elaine from Fab Funky Fibres sent two self-striping rainbow yarns. I'd love to win these myself!! Stripes and rainbows, what could be betters?!
Victoria from Eden Cottage yarns sent a ball of Milburn 4 ply yarn and a project bag. It's so soft! Perfect for a pair of mitts.
Babylonglegs sent two skeins of yarn, one of which she'd handspun from her own fibre. Someone's going to be in for a real treat if they win these.
Erica from Debonnaire Yarns sent this pretty skein. Really lovely rich colours here.
Rachel from Daughter of a Shepherd sent a gorgeously sheepy skein of yarn along with a tote bag. Her yarn is 100% British and much sought after.
Daisy from Devon Sun Yarns sent this lovely pink skein of yarn. I've done a dyeing workshop with Daisy and it was so much fun. She also does weekend retreats which look a-maze-ing!
Debbie from the Skein Queen sent this lovely vivid skein of Koigu yarn and a really lovely notions case, perfect for keeping all your bits and bobs tidy.
Friends from Fibre-East, John and Juliet Arbon sent me three skeins of their Devonia yarn along with a tote bag. It's got such a lovely lustre to it.
Two of my favourite designers, Woolly Wormhead and Melanie Berg have sent vouchers for patterns. Isn't that so kind of them? That means if you win, you get to pick your own prize from their patterns.
My lovely friend Marianne from Picperfic's Fluff'-n-Stuff has given two braids of her fibre for one lucky person to spin. Her fibre is an absolute delight.
Another old friend, Shiela Dixon from p2tog sent me five skeins of yarn - it's a Manos del Uruguay yarn and there's enough to knit a jumper! It's so soft and the colours are incredibly pretty.
Sock knitting guru, Winwick Mum (aka Christine Perry) sent a signed copy of her sock book. If you've never tried knitting socks before, Christine will hold your hand every step of the way.
Amanda and Emma from Little Box of Crochet sent one of their boxes for one lucky person to win. I've had a couple of these boxes in the past and they are just a delight to open. You feel like it's your birthday and you are crochet queen for the day!
Poppy Treffry is one of my sewing heroes and I asked her advice about running a giveaway as she'd done one previously. She very generously offered a free motion stitched Sheep bag as a prize. Perfect for knitters and crocheters alike!
I seem to have been buying stitch markers from Sarah at Fripperies & Bibelots for almost as long as I have been knitting and blogging. Sarah was very happy to make a special tin of RingOs stitch markers and a stitch saver, themed especially for the British Heart Foundation.
I've also donated a couple of prizes - another set of F&B stitch markers - Sleepy Hedgehog,
A Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok yarn kit to knit an stunning stripy slouchy hat
And a set of mini-skeins from the much missed Natural Dye Studio.
I'm hoping to be able to stitch a cushion or two as well, time permitting. There are still prizes arriving so I will continue to update the JustGiving page and also my blog to let you know of the other prizes you might be able to win.
So let's talk about the nitty gritty - how do you go about entering the Great Yarn Giveaway? You simply have to make a donation of £2 on my new JustGiving page here (and there is also a link at the top of the sidebar). When you make your donation, please make sure that you tick the box which says 'I'm happy to be contacted by' or else I won't be able to get in touch with you if you're a winner. Prizes will be allocated in the order listed on the JustGiving page and winners will be selected by random number generator. The giveaway is open to anyone - I'm happy to post prizes world-wide so please do enter and tell all your friends too! The giveaway will remain open until Monday 30th April and the winners will be chosen as soon after that as possible. Let's try to do something really amazing and raise lots and lots of money for the British Heart Foundation.
Thank you all so much for your support. xxx
