Knit and Crochet-Along for Romania

Lately, God has been putting it on my heart to use the talents that He's blessed me with for the benefit of others. A few weeks ago I was reading through Scripture and came across this verse:

 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good until all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. ~Galatians 6:10

Last month while in the craft shop with my Dad picking up some yarn, he had a thought. Why don't we purchase some extra yarn to knit and crochet hats for the orphans in Botosani, Romania? Our family has known the Hand of Help orphanage for several years and have been amazed at the work that God has been doing through their ministry. Hand of Help is a nondenominational, Christian organization that is dedicated to " providing spiritual and physical aid to the forsaken of society throughout Eastern Europe". Their orphanage, located in northeast Romania, cares for nearly 100 children and each of them receive the individual care and attention that every child needs. Several years ago when my sister and I were practicing our knitting skills, we made several hat and scarf sets for the orphanage. They appreciated the clothing so much and it made my sister and I feel happy that we had an opportunity to use our God-given talents to be a blessing to others.

So now that I have improved my knitting skills and have learned to crochet, I quickly agreed with Dad and thought this would be the perfect project for my blog's next knit & crochet along project!

Since the friendship afghans project is still ongoing, I didn't plan to start this month. But after discussing my plans with Hand of Help, I learned that their winter container leaves the US in October and I realized that we need to start soon if the hats are to arrive at the orphanage in time for the winter. This knit & crochet along is great for both beginners and pros because you can choose what you would like to make (a hat or scarf), and use any yarn you like. Here are the guidelines, please read them carefully:

{1}  There are almost 100 children in the orphanage and the goal is to make a warm winter hat for each child in the orphanage.You can make hat and scarf sets or just hats.

{2} The children's ages range from 0-18 so the hats and scarfs can be any size and any color. Please remember that it gets quite cold during Romania's winter so the hats shouldn't be lacy or thin. You can use any needle or crochet hook you prefer and all yarns are accepted.

{3} If you finish the hats and scarfs on or before October 15, please mail them to this address:

Hand of Help - Shipping

1012 South 3rd. St.

Watertown, Wisconsin 53094

U.S.A.

Hats and scarves received before the end of October will be placed in the ministry's container and shipped from there to Romania. If you miss the container deadline, you'll have to send the hats and scarves directly to the Romanian orphanage or wait for another container to leave the ministry early next year. You can find the address for the orphanage here.

{4} And if you've read through this looooong post, you can enter my giveaway! Yes, you read correctly. I'm hosting my second giveaway! (You never know where you'll find a giveaway, do you!?!) It's important to spread the word about this knit and crochet-along so we can meet our goal of 100 hats for the orphans of Romania. To encourage you to tell all you friends about it, there will be a free apron (hand-made by me) for the person who refers the most participants! To enter the giveaway, let your friends know about the knit & crochet-along, ask them to join and let me know who referred them. You can write a blog post, mention it on Facebook, and even tweet about it. And to make it even easier for you to refer your friends here, I've made a blog button! 

To grab this code for your blog, copy
the code in my right sidebar!

At the end of this month, I'll announce the winner of the giveaway who will receive a free, custom-made apron! So get started and spread the word! 

If you want join us, please leave a comment below and let me know you'd like to be counted as a participant. All participants will be listed in my sidebar. Once you've finished your hats and scarves, let me know how many you made so I can know when the goal has been reached!

Happy knitting and crocheting!