destroy my sweater = make it better

Yesterday, a friend told me about a project she saw on another friend's blog. Make It Better: A Craftalong for Sandy Relief.

Two New York-based crafty bloggers, Brett Bara from Manhattan Craft Room & Natalie Soud from A Dose of the Delightful, began to think about what they could do to help those Sandy victims without electricity, heat, or even proper shelter. They knew there had to be a way to harness the power of crafters to help–because if there’s anything knitters, crocheters and sewers are good at, it’s making warm things.

They decided to create Make It Better: A Craftalong for Sandy Relief. The goal? Rally crafters to make warm hats, scarves, blankets, mittens and socks – and deliver them to people in need as soon as possible.

So, last night I got to work. Using this tutorial from A Beautiful Mess, I made a stack of cozy mittens to send to the areas in and around New York City.

And then I gathered up a few hand-knit items that I had stashed away and got them ready to send off, too. (You can find the pattern for my hand-knit fingerless gloves on Ravelry – they're super quick and easy to knit.)

HOW TO HELP

MAKE IT. Simply knit, crochet or sew a warm garment or blanket–items most needed are hats, socks, gloves/mittens, scarves and blankets. Use one of the quick and easy free patterns we found below, or any pattern you like. If you’d like to include other small items to help the relief effort, feel free to donate another warm garment (new or gently used, please). We are hearing reports that general clothing is no longer needed, so please restrict your donations to warm winter items only.

SEND IT. Send your finished item to Natalie Soud, 310 West Broadway, New York, NY 10013 as soon as possible. We want to start distributing warm goods within a week or less, so stitch something quick and send it off! Our volunteers will deliver the items to various points in and around New York City. (Although we’ll start delivering immediately, we’ll be accepting donations for the near future, so free free to send projects whenever they’re complete.)

CRAFTALONG. Share what you’ve made and help spread the word! Please, please, please blog, Tweet, Facebook, Instagram, and Pin that you’re participating in the Sandy Craftalong as soon as you can (like today!) so that we can get as many hands stitching as possible. Then, when you finish your project, share what you’ve made by posting it on your own blog and on our Facebook page at facebook.com/sandycraftalong. Also remember to use the tags  #makeitbetter and #sandycraftalong

1. Socks (knitted) via Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller
2. Wool blanket (sewn) via Brett Bara for Design*Sponge
3. Easy bound fleece blanket (sewn) via See Kate Sew - we also found these easy fleece mitten and sock tutorials
4. Upcycled mittens (sewn from an old sweater) via A Beautiful Mess - there’s also an upcycled hat tutorial at the same link
5. Hat (knitted) via Kollabora
6. Scarf (crocheted) via Vickie Howell for Bernat – you just need a free account to view the pattern on the web, or here’s the PDF

(More info can be found here.)