This upcoming Sunday would have been our monthly volunteer run Give Back Sunday event at the store, but as with so many other things change is afoot. Although there are no in-person knit togethers, we would like to invite you to continue considering fibre-crafting-for-others on a regular basis and hope you may join me in casting on a charity project this Sunday.

Lots of updates to share today on the many donation knitting/fibreworks initiatives that we have been launched though our monthly Give Back Sundays. We have exciting news about our 52 pairs of sock goal, an update on our bias blankets and a call for volunteers to host virtual Give Back Sundays in the upcoming months.

Drum roll, please…

Donation socks for an East Vancouver temporary modular housing project.

52 Pairs and Counting…

We are thrilled to share that together we have reached our goal of collecting 52 pairs of hand knit socks that will be donated to yet another temporary modular housing project in East Van! Thank you so much to everyone who donated yarn, cranked sock tubes, and knit cuffs, toes, heels and/or full socks! We appreciate all the time, effort and care that’s put into each of these beautiful pairs.

Over the past few months we have been hanging donation socks up at the front of the store and seeing the rainbow of socks reveal itself as each pair was dropped off has been heartwarming. This stunning collection of socks will leave the store for their new homes soon and we will miss seeing them everyday. However, we already have 15 pairs of socks donated towards our next project!

So, what’s next? More sock knitting! We are renewing our goal and committing to collect another set of 52 pairs of socks for new temporary modular housing unit. Now more than ever combating homelessness is a primary concern for those living in our community, and the City of Vancouver has committed more resources to continue growing the number of modular housing spaces available. They also come with two meals a day, and opportunities to connect with community groups, volunteer work, and social events. As the City of Vancouver continues to build new temporary modular and supportive housing units, a small gift of a pair of hand knit socks seems like a warm and welcome gesture. I look forward to seeing the next collection of 52 pairs of beautiful socks!

If you are interested in knitting some socks for donation to help get us to our goal of 52 pairs, we need socks of all shapes, sizes and colours, but most needed are large-sized in neutral colours. You can knit socks from yarn you have in your own stash or you can come pick up a sock tube at the store and add cuffs, heels and toes to them. If you can’t make it into the store to pick up a sock tube please email us at baaad.annas@gmail.com or call the store at 604-255-2577 and we will see what we can do to get one to you.

We are also accepting donations of:

• Sock yarns: Any (full skein/ball) washable yarn with some nylon in it for circular sock machine cranking (we have someone who is offering to crank out sock tubes for us)
• Any already completed under-loved hand knit socks FOs (finished objects) in like-new condition.

We also have a collection of over 60 pairs of donated handknit hats which I plan to put towards a welcome package donation to this 96 unit of temporary modular housing that has been announced to meet some of the immediate needs of Vancouver’s east van homeless community.

Bias Blanket Project Update and Call for Volunteers 

The bias blanket project continues! We received enough bias squares to make at least two good sized donation blankets and we are now looking for community volunteers to help sew the squares together. We can provide the yarn to seam them together as well as guidance on what techniques might work best if you are new to seaming blankets. Each blanket has about 48 squares that will need to be seamed together and you would have creative freedom to arrange them in whatever pattern you like.

If you are interested in picking up a set of bias squares to sew into a blanket please email us at baaad.annas@gmail.com or call the store at 604-255-2577 to arrange details.

Hunger Bites!

We are happy to again partner with David Thompson Secondary School’s student led knit club that is focused on teaching knitting to empower students to create a ‘warm-things’ donation to their community (along with other community growth activities such as food drives). The Hunger Bites Club work on various philanthropic ventures, and over the past few years they used their lunchtime club as a knit group to produce hand knit items for others. Last year they chose to support the Downtown Eastside Womens’ Centre.

As Baaad Anna’s has a yarn donation/upcycling program we were able to prove yarn, needles and finished objects from our Warm Things Drive to help with their efforts; if you know any other philanthropic or non-profit knit or crochet group that can benefit from such support, please let them know they can reach out to us via email at baaadannas@gmail.com for similar support.

Give Back Sunday Zoom Volunteer Host

We are also calling for any volunteers who may be interested in hosting our regular Give Back Sunday virtual knit togethers. In the past, our Give Back Sundays have been the second Sunday of the month from about 1-3pm. If you love Zoom and charity knitting and have an interest in volunteering to host once a month, drop us and email or give us a call, we’d love to hear from you!

If you have any donated fibre art pieces (hats, mitts, socks, scaves, shawls, baby clothes etc) that you wish to drop off, please know we will find a loving home for all. Please check our open hours and you are welcome to drop them by any time that the store is open. Baaad Anna’s has a long-standing commitment to serving the community, we happily and gratefully collect knit, crocheted or woven donations all year round.

We are so grateful to everyone that contributes to these ongoing community projects – you are making a difference!