Craft: Knitting in Aid of Dementia UK in November 2024

For the second year running I'm taking part in Dementia UK's November Knitting Challenge. The idea is that everyone taking part knits for at least 30 minutes each day and raises sponsorship money for the wonderful charity that helps people with dementia. I cared for my own mum and dad who suffered from dementia, so I know how important it is to have trained nurses who understand the needs of people with the condition and enable them to live happy lives.

Last year, for the 2023 November challenge, I started making what's called a 10-stitch blanket, which is a square spiral of rows with 10 stitches. Click here to see my post and photo of what it looked like at the start.

I enjoyed it - there's something meditative about knitting short rows and joining them to the existing spiral as I go. However, I didn't finish it in the 30 days even though I did knit enthusiastically every day. In fact, I still haven't, which is why my aim for this year's event is to finish the blanket by the end of the month.

My original plan was to use it as a throw to cover my ancient sofa in my witchy room. This is what it looked like a few years ago. However, my cat has now ripped the fragile fabric covering in many places and pulled out a lot of the padding, so sadly I'll be saying goodbye to it. (The sofa, not the cat, I hasten to add.) Instead, the blanket will keep me warm as an extra covering on my bed. You can see from the photo that I still have a few more circuits to go to reach that target.

While this is a charity event, please don't feel pressured into donating unless you can afford it and want to. I fully understand that many of use are skint at the moment. I'm mainly sharing this post to raise awareness of the charity and what it does. However, if you want to sponsor me, here's the link under the name Lucya Szachnowski: https://www.facebook.com/share/1sr9s2oUMRzxYXgh/  

If that doesn't work for you, please donate via the main Dementia UK charity page: https://www.dementiauk.org/donate/

Online Charity Auction with Proceeds to PaganAid

The charity PaganAid is holding an online auction of exciting Pagan items donated by a wide range of Pagan crafters and traders. These include handcrafted jewellery, original works of art, signed prints, a pagan 2020 calendar, Viking-style drinking horns, tarot and books. I have donated signed copies of my books Pagan Portals - Candle Magic, Pagan Portals .- Poppets and Magical Dolls, and Every Day Magic for the auction. You can see the entire list here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/teh_guru/m.html?

PaganAid aims to tackle environmental issues and poverty. Many people are poor as a result of the exploitation and industrialisation of the environment. Some of them have no choice but to deplete their local environment because of their poverty. PaganAid wants to break this cycle of destitution and destruction by helping people to meet their basic needs through living in harmony with nature.

It intends doing this by funding small-scale projects that help poor and marginalised communities to protect and develop their own livelihoods and the environment about them – projects that put equal value on ending poverty and protecting Mother Earth. The auction is part of fund raising efforts towards these goals.

All of the money from this auction will go to PaganAid-supported good causes. It is running on Ebay from the 1st-7th December, meaning you can do your Yule shopping and benefit charity at the same time.

There are more details about the auction on the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2459571671035990/

Charity Gifts: Send a Cow to Africa this Yule

These farmyard animals wearing festive knits are just a bit of a publicity stunt - but it is publicity for a good cause, as they are promoting giving gifts to poor farmers in Africa this Yule.

UK charity Send a Cow is encouraging people to move away from traditional gifts this festive period and instead purchase a gift that can make a tangible difference to the lives of some Africa’s poorest people. The charity has more than 30 virtual gifts to choose from, including goats (£33), calves (£55) and chickens (£8).

This year, Send a Cow is aiming to sell 20,000 gifts, sold through its Christmas catalogue, which can be used across its projects in seven African countries. Select the animal of your choice from the website, make the donation and you will then be sent an ecard or gift pack. Your gift provides a future for families and whole communities.

Head of individual fundraising at Send a Cow, Vickie Wood, said: "The UK spends over £2 billion on unwanted Christmas gifts, many of which end up in the bin or get stuffed in the loft. This year, we’re encouraging people to buy an ethical gift instead. Livestock such as goats and cows can make an incredible difference to the people we work with. They produce milk, which can be drunk by families and sold at the local market to generate an income, and they also produce manure, which can be used to nourish vegetable crops."

Jessica Kabuiso from Uganda is one of the farmers who works with Send a Cow. She was unable to provide enough food or send her children to school and described her life as "miserable". The cow she was given changed her life and the money she made from selling the milk gave her family a future. She said: "First I used my money to send the children to school. Then I saved. Then I bought solar power. This has made a huge difference.”

In the photo at the top, Clover the cow, Paddy the goat and Sage and Onion the chickens modelled the hand-knitted Christmas jumpers for the publicity drive to make people in the UK more aware of how they can help make a positive difference to farmers like Jessica.

The animals were photographed at the St James City Farm in Gloucester, where they are looked after by volunteers Cathy and Ryan. The animals’ jumpers were hand knitted by knitwear designer Elise Hurcombe. She used more than 50 balls of wool to create the jumpers and describes this as one of her most unusual commissions.

She said: I have never made a jumper for a goat before! Fitting the jumpers was quite something, the goat is very cheeky but seemed to enjoy the limelight!”

Note: Cows you buy will not be put on planes, according to the charity. I am mentioning this for those concerned about the treatment of the animals.

Links
Twitter: @SendaCow
Facebook: /SendaCow
Website: www.sendacow.org