Those of you that follow me on Twitter have probably seen all the messages in the last few days about testing out different lace motifs for a design project. You've probably been wondering what exactly I'm working on! Well, I don't have photographs of a finished object or a pattern for you (it's lace--it'll be a little while!), but I can at least explain what I'm doing and tell you why I'm doing it.
I had some handspun set aside that was destined to be a shawl, but I really wanted it to be MY shawl--my first big lace design of my own. I was dithering about what I wanted to do for this shawl when I heard from my high school friend Sarah about the damage her town in Chile sustained in the recent earthquake. She and her family were back home in the US when the quake struck, but returned to find vast damage to much of their town:
She is now leading a fundraising and rebuilding effort for the town if Curicó, Chile. One of their primary goals is to raise enough money to buy and erect study, prefabricated homes like this:
They initially were quoted a price of $1600 (US) per home, but in the week after the quake the demand for building materials spiked and prices have now doubled! They have a goal of buying and building at least 20 homes, plus they are also providing aid to the town government and donations of food to the townspeople.
How does this relate to my shawl, you may ask? Well, I started thinking about the Ravelry "Help for Haiti" program in which designers were able to tag patterns whose sale would benefit MSF, the Red Cross, etc., and thought it would be nice to do something similar. So, when it is ready, my pattern will be for sale through Ravelry and the proceeds will all go to the Rebuild Curicó efforts. Because Curicó is in Chilean wine country, my plan is to design a Chilean wine-themed shawl.
Unfortunately, as I said, lace doesn't move quickly and I do want to get the pattern right before I put it up for sale. So if you are moved to help out Curicó in the meantime, here are some links for you:
Rebuild Curicó Facebook Group
Torres Foundation--the winery's foundation is coordinating the rebuilding efforts. You can give directly via the PayPal link on the bottom right
Ambassadors for Christ International--This faith-based group is also raising money for Curicó. 90% of your contribution will go directly to rebuilding, 10% to their administrative costs.
In the US, checks can be mailed to the NC Baptist Men, who will be giving 100% of all contributions directly to relief efforts. The address is NC Baptist Men, PO Box 1107, Cary NC 27512. Please put "Chile earthquake" in the memo line of your check.
I had some handspun set aside that was destined to be a shawl, but I really wanted it to be MY shawl--my first big lace design of my own. I was dithering about what I wanted to do for this shawl when I heard from my high school friend Sarah about the damage her town in Chile sustained in the recent earthquake. She and her family were back home in the US when the quake struck, but returned to find vast damage to much of their town:
She is now leading a fundraising and rebuilding effort for the town if Curicó, Chile. One of their primary goals is to raise enough money to buy and erect study, prefabricated homes like this:
They initially were quoted a price of $1600 (US) per home, but in the week after the quake the demand for building materials spiked and prices have now doubled! They have a goal of buying and building at least 20 homes, plus they are also providing aid to the town government and donations of food to the townspeople.
How does this relate to my shawl, you may ask? Well, I started thinking about the Ravelry "Help for Haiti" program in which designers were able to tag patterns whose sale would benefit MSF, the Red Cross, etc., and thought it would be nice to do something similar. So, when it is ready, my pattern will be for sale through Ravelry and the proceeds will all go to the Rebuild Curicó efforts. Because Curicó is in Chilean wine country, my plan is to design a Chilean wine-themed shawl.
Unfortunately, as I said, lace doesn't move quickly and I do want to get the pattern right before I put it up for sale. So if you are moved to help out Curicó in the meantime, here are some links for you:
Rebuild Curicó Facebook Group
Torres Foundation--the winery's foundation is coordinating the rebuilding efforts. You can give directly via the PayPal link on the bottom right
Ambassadors for Christ International--This faith-based group is also raising money for Curicó. 90% of your contribution will go directly to rebuilding, 10% to their administrative costs.
In the US, checks can be mailed to the NC Baptist Men, who will be giving 100% of all contributions directly to relief efforts. The address is NC Baptist Men, PO Box 1107, Cary NC 27512. Please put "Chile earthquake" in the memo line of your check.
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