Forum

KNIT-A-SQUARE

2009

In 2009, when Ronda put out the call for squares, she had no idea how much love would come pouring in from all over the world.  In the beginning, it was manageable.  She worked from her home, had a few volunteers, and used her own vehicle to make distributions.  Things hummed along nicely.

2013

Then Knit-a-Square began to grow.  It grew because people everywhere wanted to share their time, their talent, and their love to help ease the suffering of the millions of children in South Africa.  We have consistently sent our items to Ronda and she has consistently delivered them to the children. Thank you, Ronda!

2014

So much KAS love arrived on Ronda's doorstep that her home could no longer hold the mountains of squares and items that kept arriving.  More volunteers were needed.  Sometimes they were found, sometimes not, but the flow to the children never stopped.  

Knit-a-Square has grown to such an extent because of love.  We love KAS; we love the feeling of helping the children; we love to knit and crochet and our donations are loved and appreciated beyond imagining ... both by Knit-a-Square and by the children and their care givers.

2016 - 2017

Sadly, Knit-a-Square finds itself in a very difficult situation.  Money is needed in order to keep going.  Having to rent space to deal with the enormous post each week is expensive … but absolutely essential.  Fuel must be put into the KASvan in order to distribute blankets to the children. There are postal costs and customs charges.

We know from the outpouring of love that has come in from everywhere that you have the best interest of the children at heart.  In order to keep Knit-a-Square moving to deliver all this love to the children, can you help?

Choose one or more of the following and rest assured that not one penny is ever wasted!

1.  Make a purchase from our KAS Shop.  All proceeds directly benefit the children.

2.  Make a direct donation to Knit-a-Square.  Just click the 'donate' button on the right-hand side of this page.

3.  Click [HERE] to sign up for an ongoing monthly donation. This is the best way to give Ronda and her team security and peace of mind in knowing their operating costs are always covered.

4.  If you want to help and spread the word to others, we are very excited to introduce our our NEW SHOP ITEMS ... our very own KAS MERCHANDISE created by and ordered from CafePress.  100% of the profits go directly to Knit-a-Square.  Just one more way to help support KAS and the children.

!!!!! NEW !!!!!

 KAS MERCHANDISE

Visit the KAS Shop

* * * * *

SORTED IN SOUTH AFRICA

The KASbarn is a hive of activity on opening days.  

Be sure to keep checking the photos to see if you can spot your own work on the sorting tables as our volunteers gather to open the mountains of parcels arriving each week.

* * * * *

THE BLANKET ROOM COLLECTION

There is no end to the display of beauty in our Blanket Room.  

So many contributors have been 'over the moon' when they spotted their squares and/or blankets [HERE]

* * * * *

Here are a couple of distribution reports to show you where your work is going and how much it means to the children.

Distribution/s in Ikhutseng location, Warrenton in the Northern Cape, by Vivienne Molefe

Here is a distribution report written by Vivienne Molefe, a new board member and the first one to write a distribution report off her own bat.

Vivienne and her brother drove all the way to Warrenton in the Northern Cape, which is an area to which KAS has never been before - after loading up his small sedan at the office.

So, we see this is a ground breaking event in more ways than one.

Vivienne's report continues [HERE] with some lovely photos ...

* * *

Report from Athelé Oosterbroek from Hugh's Haven

What a joy to be able to personally hand out blankets, beanies, soft toys to cuddle, hand warmers, knitted tops, stationery and books to this very needy group of children with Estelle yesterday, a fellow volunteer at the marvellous charity, Knit-A-Square, for whom I'm blessed to do voluntary work.

Fourteen children are cared for by a real live angel who has dedicated her life to caring for abandoned children at Hugh's Haven, in Kelvin, Johannesburg. 

Continue reading and see more delightful photos.

* * * * *

SQUARES LIST

The April 2017 Squares List is available.

Please visit the website: www.knit-a-square.com

Click on 'Received Squares'

Graph “Squares” up until and including April

In April, 68 parcels were received and opened, and the contents were:

3,487 squares (equal to 99 blankets), 219 hats, 231 pairs of handwarmers, 81 toys and many other goodies (marked with an “x”under column "Other" in the Squares list).

To see more graphs and details, please click [HERE]

* * * * *

THE LATEST FINANCIAL

Since March 2017 we have raised $17,484.  This is a combination of donations, monthly subscriptions and shops sales.

We now have 111 monthly subscriptions, providing a regular monthly income of $1,395.

The annual running costs for KAS is approximately $30,000 so whilst the regular income has increased hugely, we still have a monthly short fall just to keep going,

Winter is now setting in South Africa and the team are very busy with the winter distributions.  Your support means we can keep our children warm.

Without all the support you have all given, we could not have got this far.

* * * * *

Please join our

MAY THEME

as we create learning fun for the children

Bev tells us ...

KIDS LOVE TO LEARN

Join in or just browse ... your choice.

JUNE PATTERN OF THE MONTH

Knitted Two Stitch Rib Square

 Helen Flagg (USA)

Another delightful pattern to knit. This square, as well as being warm, will provide the children with a tactile pattern to explore. Use colourful yarn to add a bright square to a child’s blanket.

Helen Flagg (USA)

Louise Tidman (UK)

This two stitch rib pattern doesn’t appear to get used very often so I had a go at knitting one myself, see photo above.  I used two strands of DK yarn on 6mm needles and cast on 31 stitches.  It's an easy to follow pattern that knits up fast and makes a warm and cosy square.

If you haven’t tried this pattern it’s [here] in the KAS Pattern Book where other patterns are available for you to use.

* * * * *

Quality Control

Chris says:  "When ever I'm about to take a photo of a completed blanket, Jess gets excited, then lays down on the blanket! So each blanket passes the Jess test :))"

* * * * *

THAT WARM FUZZY FEELING

by Leanne Hunt

After a month’s break from Knit-a-Square, thanks to restoration of our floors at home, it was good to get back to the blanket room today. The morning was cool and bright, measuring 14ºC at 9am. It’s mild for autumn, although the weather forecast is predicting a very cold snap starting this weekend.

For once, there wasn’t a huge pile of unopened parcels in the corner. Evidently, the volunteers have been hard at work clearing the backlog from the beginning of the year. So, the morning began slowly with tea and muffins, while some of the team delved into 2 big, intimidating-looking boxes left over from last week.

Joel, our trusty driver, was at the post office collecting the latest batch of mail when the local postmaster came in with two of his staff. Of course, Ronda knew his face well from having collected parcels of knitted items from his post office for years. However, it was the first time he had come into the Knit-a-Square home. Not only that; he came with a proposition. He asked if he and his colleagues could participate in our work by running a workshop to teach new volunteers how to sew up blankets. Ronda readily agreed, and the first workshop is scheduled to be run later this month.

Read more about how Knit-a-Square is growing and gathering interest

from around their community

and meet Mabel, another of our truly wonderful KASangels.