We had to have a mini photo shoot for something today, so I thought I’d include a photo of the Loopy Elves for you to see! (Do you like how I’m knitting them all together from above? I had fun tangling the all up in yarn.) So the middle row – Sue, Kathy, Wendi and Diana, and sitting down – Susan and Vicki. Wendi has taken over doing the photos for us (although WH still does alllll of the color correcting on the computer every week) and Diana does the bookkeeping. (My least favorite thing in the entire world.) Aren’t they wonderful? 🙂
Today is our weekly RAK Reporting Day! Have you done any RAKs that you can comment on and inspire us with? Remember, although we all love doing them secretly, when you share it on the blog, it gives others some good ideas about things that they can go out and do, too. I’ll do the weekly Loopy Gift Package drawing on Wednesday before I blog that day. I did the “pay for the Starbucks in the car behind you” a couple more times this week. Although I’ll keep doing that, I want to come up with something else for this week, just to keep it fun. So I’ll be interested in all of your new ideas! I loved the ideas that people had about giving out knitted items. Back in my “just getting back into knitting after 20 years” days, I knit sooooo many scarves. Many have been worn once (or …. not at all) and I thought I should wash them all and then be on a mission to give them away this month.
I also wanted to give you a Sneak Peak at the new Dream in Color colorways – their 400 series! (And a special thanks to Veronica at Dream in Color for sending the photo so that I could share it with all of you on the blog!) We’ve had these on order forever (it seems like) and they’ll be here this month, as soon as they can get them labeled and shipped. (It will be a fun Dream in Color month with more Smooshy, more Classy, all the new Lace, and all of the new colors!) The colors, starting with the orange/peach and going counter clockwise: Flamingo Pie, Butter Peeps, Go Go Grassy, Lunar Zazzle, Pansy Golightly, Punky Fuschia, Into the Mystic, and Midnight Derby. YUM!
Sheri hadmylastspinningclass&nownotspinningalickuntilsomeknittinggetsdone
Yeah Loopy Elves! What a great picture! Knitting them together… to cute. My random act of kindness was letting a women with a crying toddler cut in front of me and my kids at Target. I have so been there before. Well back to the knitting.
Ooh – yummy colours.
My most recent RAK would have to be a bunch of hats that I knitted up and donated to StreetKnit, which distributes knitted winter wear to people in need in Toronto. I knit up four hats in bulky blue yarn, throwing in some random cables for interest. I’m looking forward to doing a few more of these – they’re a lot of fun.
What a lovely group of elves (and their fearless leader elf, too)! I bet it’s fun being a Loopy elf! The best job I ever had was working for a yarn wholesaler, up to my elbows in skeins, daily. Yum.
No ‘special’ RAKs to report. I regularly let others go ahead of me in line at the grocery store, esp when they have seven items and I have…well…exponentially more than seven items, as I always do. If it’s just a regular RAK, does it still count?
LOVE the new DIC colours. Hmm…it may be time to acquaint my dh with the ‘wish list’. 🙂 Except, he thinks I have enough yarn. Enough? What is this ‘enough’ of which you speak?
I so love this idea because it inspires me to be kinder. Since I have retired and so many of my friends still work I have decided to bake their cookies for them for the Holidays. I will surprize them all with a tray of their favorites. I still have lots of kintting but I love to bake,too..
Those colors look great! My RAK this week (I would’ve done it anyways) was to let a woman behind me ring up her one pack of gum in front of me since I had a bit more than her. I’m glad I did because afterwards she said that she was late for a hair appointment.
I bought breakfast for the young family in line behind me at Chik-Fil-A this morning…a crying newborn, a harried looking daddy, and a very tired mommy were very appreciative!
Aw, neat to see the elves! 🙂
Sigh – more DIC choices. I think I might need all of them eventually…
So fun to see all the elves. How lucky are they to touch and feel the yarn all day!
The new DIC colors are dreamy!! Love the “Flamingo Pie” and the great purple-y ones. Oh, dear.
My latest RAK was to give a skein of cashmere sock yarn (Posh) to a co-worker who mentioned she loved the yarn I had given her a year ago (when I was in Posh’s sock club). I have so much yarn, and still have some left (un-knit) from being in that club, so I just left it on her computer keyboard one day. She wanted to pay me but I told her it just made me happy to know she would knit it up into cozy socks for herself.
I’ve been making an effort to let people into traffic in front of me when they’re waiting to come out of a parking lot.
Lovely yarn colors! Can’t wait till they are ready to purchase! I will be cruising the on-line shelves of The Loopy Ewe this month for some delicious yarn for a swap. Better put aside several hours for browsing!!!
My RAK this week is for a friend who is going through a rough time with her husband, excuse me – possibly ex-husband. The details are rough and twisted. She will sometimes stop by for our local knitting group to grab a cup of joe but then always has to rush back to the family. She’s always saying how she wants to learn to knit but never has time because she’s trying to take care of everything at home. Now that she’s got a little more time on her hands, I think I’ll surprise her this week with a set of needles and some lovely yarn from my stash and get her knitting. It’ll help keep her mind off of things at home as well.
For my RAK, we have a refugee family from Samolia that resently moved into my area. There are 9 children ranging from ages newborn to teens. Needless to say they have very little and since I live in Utah and it snows and is cold I thought I would help with some warm cozy hand spun knit wear. I had been making hats of many different sizes for a couple of weeks, I didn’t really have a plan for them, but I knew that someone would be in need if I just kept my eyes and ears open. Sure enough when I heard about this family I knew that here was a family that would cherish these hats. I finished and delivered 10 hats ( one for each child and dad) and one shawl ( for mom) last week. This is one way that wool can warm twice, one the person that wears the item and two, the heart of the giver.
Have a happy holiday season.
It’s freezing cold here (think -5 for all you that think in farenheit) and while I was at the supermarket yesterday, I saw a boy pushing all the carts inside that everyone had left out. He looked frozen. So, I grabbed the last 5 and zoomed them in for him so that he could go inside. He looked so grateful, LOL. Poor kid.
Loving the new colors of DIC!!!
I don’t have any super special RAKs that I did to report, but when I got on the elevators today and was trying to hold onto my two bags and my breakfast a nice woman asked me what floor and pushed the button for me. That was great because I was feeling rather bedraggled.
I did tell a woman at the bagel store Saturday morning that she dropped her glove, but I just didn’t want her hand to get cold.
I think I need some more ideas too, hopefully I will get some here.
I’ve had a temperamental furnace all weekend. When it’s chilly inside, that’s a great time to sort through the stash for yarn to make mittens. I finished one pair and have another almost done. As soon as the weather cooperates and I can safetly get out, I’m going to take them to a local shelter. Warm hands, warm hearts, right?
What a great picture of you and the Elves, I would love to visit some day but am afraid I’d probably drool over everything. hahaha
I have a few RAKs…
After my husband told me that Starbucks revenue was down for the first time ever, I’ve made it my goal to try and save them by stopping by at least once a day. (that isn’t my RAK, I hardly expect anyone to think it’s anything other than me being crazy) On one recent visit, I was headed to have my nails done so I brought my nail tech her very favorite coffee (RAK 1)….and while I was there I paid for the person behind me (RAK 2).
Husband and I were wandering the mall just passing some time when I noticed the local CCA collecting toys for underprivileged children. We headed to the nearest toy store and picked up a couple of items. (RAK 3)
There are a few other things but I can’t remember them all. December is my favorite time of year so I’m always trying to find other things to do. I love the idea of giving out knitted items, I also have a few scarves that I’ve knit up that have never been worn. (ones that the neighbor children haven’t already taken!) I think I’ll take them with me today and see who I can give them to.
Great picture!
Friends of mine are hosting a Christmas party this Saturday. They had the brilliant idea (IMHO) of taking gifts for the local homeless shelter (hats, scarves, gloves) instead of accepting host(ess) presents. Fortunately, I have some bulky wool in my stash and am halfway done with a hat that I love! It feels good to help someone tangibly.
Also, in case anyone else does this: be careful what colors you use to give away hats, etc. to urban areas. Areas that suffer from significant gang violence sometimes have restrictions about what colors they can accept. Neutrals and dark colors are usually fine. But yay for generous hearts!
What a fun photo of you and the Loopy elves!! I just love the red sweaters, but then, Red is my color and I just may be predispositioned to it! : ) And, the new Dream in Color yarn looks fun too!
I took your Starbucks (SB as I call it) idea and gave it a slightly diffferent twist. Nearly every morning I make a trip to the nearest SB around 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning and I pass by the nice security guard at our office building. I can’t imagine how many people she sees come and go each morning, yet she is always friendly as wishes everyone a good morning. I see countless people carrying in their SB and thought, she doesn’t have the luxury of being able to randomly get up from her desk and go to SB like the rest of us do – why not give her a treat as well?! So, I did have to ask what she would like and treated her to a morning SB…she definitely appreciated the thought. : )
I haven’t really been out much lately due to my family of 6 with the stomach flu, but I was able to squeeze one RAK in this week. I was at the store this morning and there was a mom with two kiddos doing some shopping. The children were asking their mom if they could have something to drink and she said they would have to wait until they got home because she was out of cash. I asked her if they could pick a drink, on me, from the “cold” section next to the check out and she said “yes”. The kids eyes lit up like I had given them gold. It was so sweet! The clerk couldn’t believe that I had done that. But it was something very simple to do.
This week, Buddy Bill and I are baking cooking and packing them into holiday-themed take-out boxes. We’re leaving them for all the residents in his apartment building. Some of them are older and don’t get out much, or receive company.
This morning I anonymously mailed $50 to my niece. She’s a single mom and over the weekend, at a family dinner (at a restaurant), she accidentally left her purse in the bathroom. Her money was stolen, but everything was recovered. As someone who makes only minimum wage, she was devastated.
Know what? This is fun!
Hi Sheri, love the photo! Wish I could be a Loopy Elf!!
A few times a month for about the past 2 years, I have given away any items that are in really good condition, that are no longer needed.
I tend to think of this as my random act of kindness. This past weekend, I gave away a toaster oven, hardly ever used, but what is the use of keeping something if you are not going to use it, and there is a family out there that will? That’s my motto anyway!!
I helped DH cut up some venison on Friday. Which given that the smell of raw deer meat makes me a little queasy counts as a RAK for me. Well, really not. But we were in a cold garage with no heat for about 4 hours. DH told me that he really appreciated my help, and took me out to dinner.
MY official RAK was sending some money to our local firefighter’s “Shop with a Firefighter” program. The firefighters gather the money and take young boys and girls shopping for Christmas presents. Depending on the money raised, the children get at least one, if not two, presents. Last year, they raised $16,000 and were hoping for $20,000 this year.
It’s so fun to see the picture of the Elves — now I can put faces to names 🙂
Do RAKs count if they’re not anonymous? Last week at my doctor’s office, I got up to open the door for an older man pushing a woman in a wheelchair (in spite of being farther from the door than almost everyone, AND knitting — I even tangled up my knitting and ripped out stitches on the way to the door). I also agreed to take on seven students in an independent study for a class they need to graduate, and then am doing another separate indep study for another student who needs a class to grad in the spring. That’s it for this week — thanks for thinking of such an inspirational project!
Great photo!
My latest Random Act of Kindness was to buy another book at B&N for a needy child. I plan to keep doing this all through the holiday season.
My husband did a wonderful RAK this weekend. We got an ice and snow storm over the weekend and he went out and blew the snow off of two of our neighbors driveways.
I also had someone do a wonderful RAK for me. She picked up and brought home my daughter from Brownies so I wouldn’t have to get the other kids out in the 5 degree temps.
Love the picture, and the Dream in Color is so pretty.
My RAK was that I paid for someone’s shipping last week in the sneak-up.
Can’t wait for the new DIC colors!
My latest RAK is to “accidentally” leave a dollar bill in one of the pockets of a coat or jacket I’m donating to a local thrift shop. I’ve also been known to pass out seasonal goodies to dept. staff members at work. For Thanksgiving it was clementines, for Easter it was fuzzy chenille chicks.
Yes, I AM eccentric. Why do you ask? 😉
We had two RAKs in our house this week. One, we paid for dessert for an older couple while at the local Festival of Trees. They were shocked and didn’t want to accept it, but I insisted and asked that they do the same for some random stranger along the way. We heard them telling others and I can’t help but think of the “ripple effect” you’ve started.
Later that day we won a gingerbread display at the Festival raffle and have donated it to the school for the children’s enjoyment. It was fun to deliver it and watch the kids eyes light up. A photo is on my blog http://krafty1.typepad.com
What a fun photo of you and the elves! As a bookkeeper, I understand that not everyone likes it, and I’m glad you’ve found someone who does.
RAK – I let a lady trying to juggle an armload of things in front of me at the grocery store. I continue to let cars merge on my daily commute too. Short as I am, I was still able to reach something on a top shelf at the store for someone.
My RAK this week, took a meal to a sweet friend who’s son had just passed away. I also took breakfast foods. When my FIL passed that was something someone did for us. So nice, especially with young kids in the house. Everyone thinks of cakes, cookies, desserts…but there still needs to be nourishing, healthy food there.
I am also taking a meal to an elderly couple at church tomorrow. The wife is not doing too well and the husband just seems lost. So a little visit with dinner is just the ticket.
I have to RAKs to mention today.
Every once in a while, my husband leaves my favorite kind of donut for me at the front desk as a special treat. I had teased him that it was very unkind to leave goodies for me, but nothing for the security folks that have to sit there and look at it until I pick up my treat. So, last week when he dropped off my donut, he brought a dozen more donuts for the security crew at my office.
The other night I went to the local Handweavers Guild sale with 2 friends — K & H. Well, K found a wonderful pair of twist stitches mittens and a large skein of handspun/handpaint yarn. She decided she could only splurge on one or the other and was trying to choose. Without even saying a word to each other, I grabbed the mittens and H grabbed the yarn, and we bought K a Christmas treat. I’ve promised that I will design a special circular yoke sweater to show off the yarn, too.
Instead of the usual $10 stocking stuffers for everyone in my husband’s family (in addition to the regular Christmas presents), I bought a “Flock of Hope” from Heifer International (www.heifer.org) and will put a little note in each stocking.
I knitted hats and mittens (2 sets) for my husbands “mitten tree” at his club to be given to needy for Xmas!!!
Mine isn’t all that random, but my neighbor at work has had some crazy deadlines lately and mentioned how tired she was of ordering lunch in from the one place that delivers. I went out at lunch to run my errands and picked her up some lunch from a different take out place, so she could have a little variety.
Those colors look gorgeous! I can’t wait to see them in a sneak up.
My random act of kindess happened at Macy’s this time. At work we get certificates for the friends and family event of 20% everything with no exclusions. I took several more that the one I was going to use and walked around handing them out at the registers to customers who did not have one. I am a believer in random compliments too. It is wonderful to give the gift of a smile to someone when you tell them something you like about what they have on, such as that is a great color on you. The smile never fails. Sometimes it is a shocked smile and that is even better.
What a great picture. And all in red, how festive. I made the picture big so I could admire all the CTH in the background yum. I so envy the elves being able to handle alll that yummy yarn every day : )
The new dream in colors, colors are so pretty.
RAK you know what it is already Sheri.
I have a good friend who has a “troubled” daughter, 19, that has had several issues and a hard time growing up (much like many kids her age, including my own!!!) Anyway she saw me spinning and was looking at several examples of my handspun. She jokingly said “I want this to make a beanie”….well, it was a skein of wool and silk, one of my favorites. I gave it to her and she was thrilled. Hey, if i can encourage her to do something positive, and its knitting to boot, its a small price to pay. Made me smile to see her so excited.
I love this “theme”….has made me appreciate how full my life is.
I’m feeling inspired by everyone’s stories of RAKs here on the blog, so last week i made a special effort to take time out and donate blood. This time of year is when donors are so busy with family and finishing up end of year projects in work – so the blood stocks can become low.
Also, it was a lovely ‘time out’ for me to sit and relax for 20 minutes, plus staying in that night and knitting in front of the TV was me following medical advice to take it a litlte easy after the donation!
Oooh, I so want the Go Go Grassy DIC Smooshy! Yum! My RAK was a blessing to myself, too – I injured my foot in January and had just purchased 10 pair of new dress shoes that I will no longer be able to wear because I have to have special insoles. I gave all the new shoes that were taking up closet space to a teacher friend of mine who is going to give them to a couple of her students who really need them.
Oh how I wish I could work in the Loopy room. I can dream, can’t I?
In the RAK department, I’ve been using the CVS coupons ..”spend $20 get $4 off” to buy presents for http://www.thehome.org/site/PageServer?pagename=events_big_wishes Christmas Drive. I’ve also used them to buy items for
http://www.womenslunchplace.org/
Funny thing is often when I use the coupon in this way, another one is generated at the register. (It’s kind of like Pay it Forward).
My advisees and I bought a gift for a DSS child for their Christmas party next weekend, I agreed to drive an extra swimming carpool, pledged to knit some slippers for the Soaring Eagles Project (do you know about this effort?) and I have bought some goodies to donate to d#2’s classroom (extra kleenex top on the list!). My mom’s exploit of last Friday still tops the list of recent RAKS done for me … yay, Mom!
Flamingo Pie? must must must watch for sneakup of that one. I have a credit burning a hole in my jeans.
RAK — I guess not so random. With my cat being so sick over the last month and the vet’s office being so nice to me, I’m taking them in another batch of homemade peanut brittle “just because”.
RAK: It’s a sneaky one. A coworker joked that I needed to knit him a hat for a trip he’s taking soon. I don’t normally knit for coworkers, and he was only kidding, but I’m going to knit him the hat anyway. I like knitting RAKs 🙂
And I know this was last week’s discussion topic, but I have to mention a HUGE RAK that was done for me this week. Actually, a number of RAKs – I have a lot of good karmic retribution to exact! One of my two dogs had an unplanned and pricey emergency surgery last week, and when I blogged about it, suddenly I had a bunch of readers/friends/bloggy people offering the most uplifting kind words of support and sweet sentiments, and even donations! There was a total run on my Etsy shop, my destash benefit sale totally sold out, a Ravelry group took up a collection, and a few fellow Etsy artists sold items to benefit my doggie – it was completely amazing! All those RAK people totally blew my mind! (I love you all, RAK people!!)
I do my RAKs on the roadway. Not in a position to buy items for others, but I can slow down and allow someone to safely enter the highway, I can signal to let that person know I’m holding back so they can go. I’ll make things easier for a large truck, knowing he’s got more gears to go through than I do! I LET people get over when they need to change lanes. I do what I wish drivers would do for me.
Let’s see… as an individual, I give my grocery cart to others, and do not accept the quarter that is needed to use the shopping cart while at the grocery store. It’s a small thing to do. How many times have I forgotten my quarter and used a basket for heavy items.
As a family, we adopt a family at church and buy gifts for Christmas.
My personal RAK that I do every day, is to use nice language, and to be cheery for clerks at W-Mart and the grocery store, regardless of how cherry (or not) they are.
I try so hard to ingrain this into my children! To be kind and giving!
Love he picture of you and the elves.
My RAKs for this week are actually things I’ve been doing for a while.
1. Our church always has a “giving tree” with tags listing gift items for the needy in the community. I always pick a few and try to select something nice so they will have gifts for the holidays.
2. This one stems from something that happened to me, and I’ve tried to carry on the sentiment. When I was a cash-strapped student, I once found a grocery coupon that someone had left on the shelf next to the item I wanted. Every penny counts when you’re on a budget, and I was thankful for the help. Although it’s just a small gesture, now when I grocery shop I routinely leave coupons on the shelves so that someone else can benefit. 🙂
I was at the fabric store and the woman ahead of me was getting her farbric cut but didn’t have a 50% off coupon so I gave her an extra one that I had.She was very grateful.I felt great in helping her out!
Also I had a coupon for a free turkey but donated it so that a family that couldn’t afford one would have one for the holidays!
These small things do alot to brighten my days!
Lovely Dream colors!
My RAK this week is to get the christmas presents to my elderly/nursing home friends and family done this week. I sent an amarylis bulb kit off to an elderly friend last week, in hopes it would help her anticipate the holidays coming up. She doesn’t get out much – or put up a tree so i thought this would be just the right amount of cheer. Also sending a christmas cactus( much less care) and two $5 coffee shop gift cards to another friend in a nursing home – the gifts card are for her family to treat her to some coffees on us and the small denominations are so a couple of members can have them to treat her with their visits. Spread the cheer early!
I stayed up till 3am with a friend who had just lost his grandmother, even though I had to be at work by 7 the next morning.
After having been up the whole night, I told a coworker to go home to be with her family who is out of town, even though it left me as the only technician in the hospital.
I bought a coworker breakfast, since she didn’t have the money to put in a order with everyone else.
I LOVE the photo of you all! So cute! And I can’t wait for those DIC yarns to come. I think I’ve got a spot in my stash for some Classy!