It’s the fuzziest time of the year

The Warm Fuzzies are back! This year I was approached again by a high school student Michelle who is collecting unwanted yarn for making warm fuzzies. They are large pom-poms that are used to meet new people during the leadership conference for youth. When a person meets someone new, they “fuzzy” them which means that they tie a piece of yarn from their pom-pom to the string that holds another person’s fuzzy. That’s how a fuzzy would look “before and after the conference”.

I went through the knitting stash that we share with the Fireside Knitters and collected two little bags of bits and odds of yarn. I was only taking small balls since Fireside Knitters create wonderful wearable items that require sufficient yarn supply. For example, the smaller bag is filled with sock yarn leftovers — kind of tricky yarn when it comes to charity knitting. Also, I collected all my leftovers and added them to the pile. (Whew! That felt good).

And now all this yarn will be going places and meeting new awesome people!

At this time, Michelle and her friends need more yarn. If you sort through your stash and find any yarn that you no longer need, please let me know at halifaxknitter@yahoo.com. Thank you!

Yarn Donations Needed — Warm Fuzzies for NSSSA

A few days ago our knitting group, KnitCo, received an email from a high-school student asking for yarn donations. There are two reasons I got excited about it. First of all, some of my yarn with, let’s say, character flaws, will be put to a good use and nobody will have to knit with it. Secondly, six hundred high-school students will spend a few days at the leadership conference wearing fuzzy pom-poms around their necks, called ‘warm fuzzies’, and use them in a friendly ritual while meeting new people. The email was short and sweet, so I will publish it here to provide more details.

‘My name is Luke Coxhead and I am a grade 12 student from Lockview High School. I am also a member of the Metro Regional Cabinet of the NSSSA, Nova Scotia Secondary School Students’ Association. The NSSSA is a non-profit organization run by high school students. We organize leadership conferences for high school students. Our conferences are designed for students to meet new people and learn new leadership skills. 

A big part of our conferences are “warm fuzzies”. Warm fuzzies are balls of yarn (sort of like a pom-pom) tied to a string. At the beginning of every conference, every student is given a warm fuzzy. You wear it like a necklace as you walk around and meet new people. As you go up to different people, you introduce yourself and “fuzzy” them. This means taking a piece of yarn from your warm fuzzy and tying it to the string on their warm fuzzy. Then they do the same to you. This is a very important part of our conferences because it encourages meeting new people and coming out of your shell. You also make lots of friends who you can get to know even better throughout the rest of the conference. 

This year it is my responsibility to create enough warm fuzzies for two conferences held in the metro area (a grade 9 conference as well as a grade 9-12 conference). In total we will have to make around 600 warm fuzzies. As you know, yarn is quite expensive. I was wondering if any of you have any odd balls of yarn or yarn in your stash that you no longer need. If so, I would greatly appreciate any donations.’

I contacted Luke and asked him about yarn requirements (there are none, all yarn is suitable).  Also, I called around and local yarn store owners agreed to collect donated yarn — thank you Kate, Louise, and Rachel! If you wish to participate in this project, please drop off your yarn at Dartmouth Yarns (52 Queen Street,  Downtown Dartmouth — please check their new hours for October),  LK Yarns (5545 Young Street, Halifax, in the Hydrostone Market), or From Ewe to You (546 Sackville Drive, Suite 850, Lower Sackville).

Thanks!