Okay, so I'm not only a yarnaholic butalso a KASaholic...beyond any hope of a cure. As an obsessional being, I tried to convert others to become as addicted as I am myself.

In October 2012, I was lucky enough to be granted a half-hour interview on a local radio station. I had high hopes for this. However the result was not as tremendous as I had wished. The main benefit from this was several donations of yarn, including one donation of around 15 spools of tapestry wool.

Donation of tapestry yarn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

donation of wool

Undeterred by this feeble result, I decided to beg space at the local Christmas Craft Fair, in order to present info. on KAS. It was a VERY cold day and the space I was allotted was very near the open door. I chatted to a few people, handed out sheets of info. that I'd translated into French and had printed up. The result was, once again, not encouraging. First of all, the Fair was awful. Up until a year ago, it was a really interesting event with some very beautiful craft work. This year was just shoddy-made industrial dross. I could have sold all my hats and vests that I'd brought to show what kind of things we make. And, if I'd really wanted to, I could have taken orders for a blanket or two. This just goes to show the level of things available! One good thing...I raided the Red Cross stand and bought a load of their soft toys.

I got some promises of donations of wool, which have never materialised. One or two people took the info. and said that maybe they'd contribute.

The major result of the whole exercise was that I caught an awful cold and felt royally sorry for myself for a week.

Not to be deterred by this failure, I decided to try and stir up enthusiasm in the ex-pat community here. It's a fairly large community, as a lot of Brit. and Dutch people settle here.

I'd already put an announcement online on an English language site providing info. for people moving to the area. I'd had 1 reply from a very charming lady recently moved to the area. We've kept up internet contact, and should meet sometime soon.

I decided a few days ago to contact our local monthly paper, Creuse News. It's a very good paper, full of interesting news, and widely read in the ex-pat community. I had a very favourable reply, and thought I'd make the March edition as we were almost into February. I had a lovely surprise 2 days ago to find KAS front page news in the February edition. They had checked KAS out on the site and written a very heartening article.

The editor has a spot twice a month on another local radio, and she's told me that I'll be a guest on her programme in March. I do so hope that something positive will come of all this. Julia, the editor, has even decided, herself, to dig out her knitting needles.

 

 

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  • The latest addition to the saga was my trip to Felletin for the National Wool Day Festival. Felletin is a small town about 50 miles from where we live. it's in the heart of the country in an area that once thrived with it's wool mills. There is only one mill left making 100% woollen yarn. However the town is still well-known, with it's neighbour Aubusson, for the beautiful tapestries made in the workshops there. I had been informed that there would be a yarn bombing as part of the festivities and I had tried to contact the organisers to find out if I could have an info. stand for KAS and to know what would happen to the yarn from the yarn bombing after. No reply from the organisers, but I decided to go and see the event and I'm so glad that I did. The yarn bombing was minimal (and I'm being generous in my appreciation here). The wool festival was great however. The were exhibitors from all over France and even from Germany and Holland. It was a riot of colour and creativity.  I went armed with all my KAS info leaflets and handed them out all over the place or left little piles on various tables in the exhibition hall.

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     Here are some of the stands. This first one is a beautiful shawl all in mohair

    This is a stand with felted hats which were really lovely

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    This "granny" sampler was made out of exceptionally fine wool. Unfortunately it's impossible to convey the great delicacy of this sampler and it's feather weight.

    This Dutch lady takes the shorn fleece from Wensleydale sheep, known for the utmost softness of their wool. She cards and cleans the wool then dies the fleece in wonderful colours. She gave me a lovely packet of  different colours.

    • It sounds like it was a wonderful day. You are wonderful to keep spreading the word, Valerie!

      I love the shawl in your second photo. I've seen the pattern on Ravelry. It's in my wish list! :)

    • Looks like a fun time was had by all! Love the colorful shawl. Was that last photo the yarn bombing?

      • Yes, Debbie. It's about one third of the grand total! As I said the yarn bombing was really a let-down, but the exhibition was beautiful. I'll be posting more photos on my page soon. I'm still knocked out by the profusion of colour. I've put other photos on the yarnaholics therapy discussion too.

        • Glad you did not have a wasted journey Valerie, and you will probably have made some KAS converts along the way! 

  • Oh this is just wonderful! I love to hear about positive events like this that raise awareness about KAS, raise some much needed postage money and cause FUN to happen! Kudos to you all!

    • Valerie Viola and Gill congratulations on a job well done. A lot of time and effort but a great result ! Loved your knitted toys, It was very thoughtful of ladies to give you baby clothes to add to your table,

  • Congratulations !  You have done a wonderful job of raising awareness and postage :-)

  • Valerie, it looks like you, Viola and Gill did a great job on your fund raiser.  I know you all put a lot of work into it, so congratulations on a good event.

  • A quick update after our attempt at fund raising yesterday. Our Anglo-french association holds an annual cricket match in the little town where we meet. This is designed to raise funds for the English Library and other needs. This year they very kindly allowed us to have a stand to raise money for postage for all our parcels.We decided to make and sell amigurumi, fondly imagining that everyone would be as enthusiastic as Viola, Gill and myself. In fact we were the only 3 to make any. I'd optimistically decided that I could make 2 a day over the month of July. Oh foolish me! I managed to make about 20 (including some very tiny mice). Gill and Viola made about another 20 between them.2930213251?profile=RESIZE_480x480Viola was the first to arrive, only to find that they had not attributed a table or tent to us. She very ably negotiated everything we needed! Some very kind ladies donated some lovely baby clothes for us to include in the items for sale. They didn't sell as well as we would have wished. It was a great shame because there were some gorgeous hand-knitted jackets. The amigurumi sold very well and we made enough money to send about 50lbs (22kgs) of squares etc. It's not a fortune, but more than we dared hope for.

    The nice part was the generosity of some people who bought animals and then told us to keep them to send in our next parcels. There should be a little article in the local paper about the match and the stands. I also have the promise of a long article in a regional French-language paper as soon as I can get the French translation on site.

    I have to thank Viola and Gill for all their help. I made up info material (English on one side and French on the other) and Viola took a great bundle and walked all round the ground handing them out to everyone she met. It must have worked as we had a lot of people coming to buy, but also just to have more information.

    We've had a series of photos and other intere2868292140?profile=RESIZE_480x480sting info made into a little booklet that people can leaf through to see what Kas is. They all melt when they see the photos of all the children with their hats and blankets and toys.

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