As we begin the year 2012, we celebrate the fact that every garment created for the children served by Wool-Aid is knit or crocheted with love and care in every stitch. This Valentine campaign should be able to warm many a cold child.

• FOCUS: Knitting from the heart, with a focus on smaller items (socks, hats, mittens)
• SIZE: Most needed sizes (measured lying flat) for these items are as follows: socks, 6.5” to 9.5” foot; hats, 16” to 20” in circumference; mittens, 5.5” to 8.5” wrist to fingertip (not counting the cuff)
• Use 80%+ wool or animal fiber content. Wool is warm, and it stays warm even when it gets wet. Superwash wool is not required.
• Create a warm, dense woolen fabric. Clothing is often worn indoors as well as outside, because homes are often very cold. Patterns used typically call for worsted weight, aran, or bulky yarn. You may need to use a smaller needle size than is usually recommended in order to produce a dense enough fabric.
• The most needed sizes fit children 8 to 16 years old, because the need is greater for older children.
• All hats and mittens must protect against the harsh temperatures and extreme weather conditions, so they should be thick and dense, not lacy. A bit of extra length on the cuffs of mittens and hats can make a big difference. Please tie mittens together at the cuff.
• Socks should be knit in yarn that is worsted weight or heavier, unless specified otherwise. (You can strand worsted weight yarn with sock yarn for some lovely effects, and the sock yarn also adds durability. If socks are knit from bulky yarn, they should be knit on smaller needles to create a dense fabric.) Socks should have standard heels. As a rule of thumb, the leg of the sock (cuff to bottom of foot) should be as long as the foot of the sock (heel to toe), up to about 10 inches. Please tie socks together at the cuff.

Notes: Smaller items such as hats, mittens, and socks are always in high demand by all of our recipient organizations. Even when we send larger items like sweaters, smaller items can be tucked in around the edges! Hats, mittens, and socks can be sent to Wool-Aid at any time during the year, but this “Valentines … From the Heart” campaign puts a special focus on them as we begin 2012.

One of the main projects every year for Mittens for Akkol is to provide a pair of socks for each of the children in two orphanages in Akkol and Urupinka. This year the Mittens for Akkol group met their goal of 422 pairs of socks, but knowing that socks are always needed, Wool-Aid sent 50 pairs of socks to Mittens for Akkol that can be distributed as needed — and we’re certain that they’ll be needed!

Here are 50 pairs of socks lovingly knit by our Wool-Aid members that will soon be warming the feet of children in Kazakhstan:

Wool-Aid was also able to send 67 hat & mitten sets (plus neckwarmers and a headband) to the kids in Kazakhstan, too:

Many thanks to all who contributed these lovely handknits that will help warm children in Akkol and Urupinka in Kazakhstan. This wasn’t an announced campaign, but when Wool-Aid focus items (hats, mittens, socks, vests, sweaters) are received that are not designated for a specific recipient, Wool-Aid is able to send warm, woolen clothing to children who live in places like Kazakhstan, where it can be 40 degrees below zero a good part of the winter and where resources and help are scarce.

Wool-Aid is pleased to have been able to help three communities in Canada this fall through the Warm Hands Network: the Innu in Sheshasuit in northern Labrador, the Cree in northern Ontario, and the Inuit in Nunavut.

We received a request to provide sweaters for young people in Sheshasuit before they headed out on their ice fishing and hunting trips. In addition to 45 sweaters, were able to send 10 vests, 84 hats, 21 pairs of machine washable socks, 12 pairs of mittens, and 6 pairs of neck warmers and/or leg warmers:

We sent additional items to the Cree in northern Ontario, including items from the Baby Shower campaign that are not pictured below. All in all, we sent a total of 68 hats, 19 baby sweaters, 6 baby sweater/hat sets, 1 pair baby socks, 4 vests, and 1 machine washable blanket to the northern Ontario community.

And last, but not least — even though these items were the littlest — are the hats and mittens that were sent to Inuit Daycare Centers in Nunavut. We sent 101 hats and 86 pairs of mittens to the children from Wool-Aid:

Heartfelt thanks to all of you who made these shipments possible, whether through your lovingly knit or crocheted handiwork or your contributions toward the cost to ship them up north. You truly make a difference in the lives of many children.