Warming China's Children

[HollyM]

Some of you may know I am in the process of adopting a 5 yr old boy from China. Paperwork is still chugging along, at the moment my best guess is we will be able to bring him home near the end of April.

 

I have been corresponding with an American woman living in China who volunteers at an orphanage. The more I have been learning about the needs & conditions of the orphanages over there, the more I want to do more to help. I had mentioned to her that I crochet and I asked if there were any items that would be useful. She told me at the moment, the greatest need are warm, sturdy baby sweaters.

 

The heat in the building is lousy. She said she wears jeans, sweater, long johns and ski jacket INDOORS when she visits and is still a little chilly. They have portable heaters but they only use them when it's bath time. The sweaters she can buy there are thin and very poor quality/construction. Ironically, even though so many of our consumer produts are made in China, they are all for export. The items made to actually sell in China are substandard quality. She said some nice, snuggly handmade sweaters would be fabulous (I had mentioned I crocheted and asked if there was anything they could use). Knit ones would be welcomed too of course!

 

She did request they be cardigan style rather than pull over. It's easier to dress the babies, especially since so many have facial deformities. Buttons, snaps or ties are all fine.

 

Since they are needed for warmth more than show, I'd suggest using worsted weight (or thicker) yarn instead of baby/fingerling weight. Any fiber content is fine. Any baby size is fine, don't worry about an exact guage. Any color is fine, doesn't have to be a "baby" color, though I would avoid solid white since that is the color of mourning in China. It would be similar to making a baby item in solid black here.

 

You can mail it to me and I will ship them to her in China. She will take them in person to the orphanage, so they are guaranteed to get to the little ones that need them. There are usually about 40 babies there at any given time. She said right now there are about 15 under 3 months and about 10 young toddlers..the rest are in between. When a baby leaves the orphanage, they usually are wearing several layers of clothing so they constantly have to replace the items that leave.

 

The Baby It's Cold Outside sweater is perfect, though please use any pattern you like.

I made two this week. It will work without the contrasting trim if you don't feel like adding it , in fact I'm doing mine without the trim on the sleeve ends so it will be

easier to roll up the sleeves if needed.

 

I know this is a busy time of year for everyone and everyone's heart is pulled in different directions, so no pressure. If you want to make it first and *then* tell me, that's fine, that way it's not hanging over your head like a chore

 

Email me at Hollym at comcast dot net for my mailing address.

Any questions, just let me know!!

 

Hooly

 

 

[Jimmie Lu]

Sent you a PM

[pb&j]

Holly, this is a wonderful idea! I recently joined 25 Things for Charity and these little sweaters are definitely a worthy cause. I'd love to make a couple and send them to you. Do you have a time frame in mind? I'll email you.

[Nashville Crocheter]

I would like to help with this project. When are you planning to send the sweaters?

 

I have a friend that adopted a little girl from China last year and just adopted and brought home a "hard to place" baby last month from there. In her blog, she talked about the poor conditions in the orphanages.

 

I am working on some other charity projects now but the sweater does not look like it will take very long. I like to do short projects to take a break from my larger afghan projects.

[crochetchronicles]

I'm sending items for a chinese orphanage. I wonder if it is the same person? I found out about it through Lisa with the Red Scarf Project.

 

Great cause.

[HollyM]

Thanks everyone!

I'm not going to put a specific deadline on this, but of course the sooner they can get them the better, it's getting quite cold over there . I plan on splitting up what I do get over a few different mailings so I'm not sending huge boxes. What I'll probably do is as I get 15 or so, send them over and then send the next box when I collect another bunch. If I get lucky enough to fully sweater this group of babies and get more, I promise I will find a way to get those to other orphanages as well. I can be very resourceful when I put my mind to it

 

The lady I'm talking to doesn't have a blog or anything, I got put in touch with her from a friend of a friend type of thing. There are many great sites out there though, my two personal favorites are Packages of Hope and

Love Without Boundaries

In the "it's a small world" catagory, the folks from The Woolery are in China right now adopting an 8 yr old girl. There is a yellow button on the top their page that takes you to their blog.

 

As far as other small items (hats, slippers, mittens) it's not that they couldn't use them, but they desperately need sweaters so I'm going to concentrate on those for now. If these little ones can use less energy maintaining their body temperature, they can use more energy for growing and developing.

 

Holly

[Jimmie Lu]

I have a sweater almost done and my daughter is making matching hats. I am gonna commit to 2 sets for now if more comes of it fine if not I have not broken a promise

[HollyM]

:manyheart

 

Thank you!

[Nashville Crocheter]

The Baby Its Cold Outside pattern is a great way to use up your partial skeins of yarn. I am using 2 strands or yarn together and have used up several partial skeins of yarn. I am almost finished with my second sweater.

[Nashville Crocheter]

Here are my first 2 sweaters going to China.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/myprojects1/Babyitscoldoutsidesweaters2.jpg

[HollyM]

Barbara they are wonderful!!!!

 

Sue, I saw the adorable one in your blog too!!!!

 

Thank you ladies!

 

Tomorrow I should be able to put up the pics of mine. I've got 5 assembled but I need to get the edgings & buttons on them.

 

Holly

[Nashville Crocheter]

I am really enjoying making the Baby Its Cold Outside sweater. I have posted pictures of the first 2 I made. I used 2 strands of WW yarn on those. The next 2 I made, I used one stand of Caron Simply soft. I followed the directions except I used a smaller hook. These are a lot SMALLER and softer.

Now I am working on one using 1 strand of WW yarn. It is turning out a little smaller than the first ones I made (as you would expect)

This is the first time I have used one pattern to make different sizes. It is an interesting learning experience while I am helping children stay warm.

[karin4christ]

Count me in. I'm printing out the pattern now. I have to finish up two scarves that I'm knitting for Christmas presents. I'll be able to start on the sweaters tomorrow because I'm mailing out my Christmas presents then and those scarves will be in the packages NO MATTER WHAT! :cheer I refuse to mail packages out late this year or pay for priority mail. I'll email you for your mailing address later.

[Jimmie Lu]

I have 1 hat and a sweater ready so one more set to go

[HollyM]

Excellent!!!!

 

Holly

[HollyM]

Hey gang!

Looks like I'm going to have enough to send the first box over this Thursday 12/15, if you have any ready to send me now that would be great! My plan is to send a 2nd box two weeks later on 12/29 so don't panic if you aren't ready yet! If I'm fortunate enough to make/get enough for a 3rd box, I'll send another one mid-January and we'll play it by ear after that

 

I'm breaking the shipments up because I've found I'll get the most bang for my buck on shipping if the package doesn't go over 4lbs. Global priority is only available up to 4lbs and the price is only a tiny bit more than surface mail, but the delivery time is 4-6 days compared to 4-6 *weeks* Once you go over 4lbs, you get into airmail which is rediculously expensive.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and just stick my address here. I know I always seem to misplace emails with addresses and if there are any crazy stalkers out there, I'll sick the lizards on them...or worse..the bugs that the lizards eat

 

Anyhoo...it's

Holly Miller

12 Main St

Oceanport NJ 07757

 

Remember...big scary lizards eat big scary bugs.... (Julie...we need a lizard smiley!!)

 

Thanks again for all your support and enthusiasm for this!!

 

Holly

[Monie]

edited

[Scorpio59]

What a terrific charity- very near and dear to my heart.

 

My 8 year old was adopted from China in 1998

 

Good Luck with your adoptions !

[HollyM]

Hey Monie!

 

Homespun is fine, I used it for several of the ones I did

 

And congratulations! We are also waiting for the homestudy write up. Our SW is coming on Wed for the last visit & house tour (can you say panic clean???) and hopefully we'll have it in our hands the week after. Things are done a little faster when you are adopting from the special needs program. Since we are applying for a specific child we don't have to wait for a referral and the whole process is closer to 6-7 months rather than 12+. If you want to chat about anything just let me know. Have you chosen your agency yet? I also can point you towards gobs of yahoo groups if you need them lol!

 

Holly

[Monie]

edited

[HollyM]

Oh that's a cute hat! I have some leftovers from doing 6 mon size that I bet would be enough.

 

And it's not silly at all to be buying/making cute things now! All expectant mommies like to buy stuff I just ordered a Christmas stocking from Lands End for Hank to match the rest of ours. Actually my DS had that idea. He'll be 11 next month, I wasn't really sure where we stood on the Santa thing this year. He came home from school the other day and asked if we could put up a stocking for Hank. I said sure and we picked one out.

 

A few minutes later he asked "Do you think it will work?" I was a little confused since I didn't realize he was still talking about stockings...a little worried, he said "Will Santa know who Hank is and why we put up a stocking even though he doesn't live here yet?" OMG, talk about having to choke back tears!! I assured him that Santa was a pretty smart guy, but if he wanted to be extra sure, he could write a note to put out with the cookies. He thought that was a good plan. So if none of his friends blow it in the next two weeks...he gets one more Santa Christmas

 

Holly

[pb&j]

What a sweet kid!! That is just so nice!

 

Holly, I finished 3 sweaters for you. Originally I was going to make 2 but they're so cute I had to make one more. I posted a pic on my blog if you're interested in getting a sneak peek. I'm packaging up the 3 sweaters and sending them out today. I don't think they'll get to you in time for the first shipment but will make the next for sure.

 

It was a pleasure to participate in this charity project. I wish you the best of luck with it and your adoption. :teddy

[HollyM]

Sue, they are adorable!!!! I'll let you know when they get here.

 

Thank you so much

 

Holly

[Nashville Crocheter]

Hi Holly,

 

I have 3 sweaters completed and just need to make the buttons for the 4th sweater. I should get all 4 out to you by the end of the week. Who knows how long it will take to get to you now since it is Christmas.

 

Barbara

[HollyM]

Barbara,

That is wonderful!!! I'm sure they will get here in plenty of time for the 2nd box

 

Holly