A few weeks ago I had a yarn giveaway on this blog. To enter, readers leave a comment telling me why they should win. I thought it would be fun to see what silly reasons people gave, but the entries damn-near broke my heart.
I got lots and lots of comments from knitters who’d been out of work for months, laid off due to the state of the economy. Others were in college or grad school and just couldn’t afford yarn and text books. One or two were single moms trying to hold it all together.
To a knitter, there is nothing worse than not having yarn. Wait, that’s not true. The death of a loved one is worse. Eviction is worse. Not knowing how your going to feed your kid is worse. But knitting is a small comfort that can help make all those other things slightly more bearable.
I had a seed of an idea and I took it to my ravelry group to see what they thought. As always, I was humbled by their generosity and kindness. As a group, we came up with Yarn Storming.
We’re collecting un-wanted stash yarn and sending it out anonymously to people who can use it. Shareholder Nancy Pope has graciously agreed to organize this project. (Nancy and her family are very dear to me; they are very positive and always willing to pitch in and help. I wish they were my next-door neighbors. In fact, I wish they were everybody’s next-door-neighbors. The world needs a whole lot more of them.)
Secret Agent Nancy is also collecting names (and addresses if you have them) of people you think could use a little yarn love in their mailbox. If you don’t have an address but you have an email, Nancy will email the person on some pretext and get their mailing address.
Along with the yarn, the recipient will receive the ridiculously awesome yarn storming logo above, created by our dear Secret Agent Lisa. (The world needs more Lisas, too.)
If you’d like to become a Yarn Storming Secret Agent, send an email to yarnstorming AT fiberfarm DOT com. If you have stash you’d like to donate to brighten someone’s day, just ask Special Agent Nancy for the mailing address to send it to. Use the same address to submit the name of someone who needs Yarn Storming.
EDITED TO ADD: Yarn Storming now has a ravelry group of it’s very own!
P.S. Spinners are included in this project. Please feel free to donate spinning stash and to nominate spinners as well.
P.P.S As this project grows, we’ll be needing more help to keep it organized. If you’d like to volunteer just shoot us an email at the address above.
