RENO, NV, JULY 05, 2007: Jimmy Beans Wool provides knitters with a new way to knit for charity: online.
Charity knitting has long been a common activity among individual knitters and knitting circles, but this month it has taken a new form: online charity knitting has begun! Online yarn store Jimmy Beans Wool will collect knitted items for charity and provide knitters with discounts on materials used, effectively donating its profits to the charity of the season.
Charity knitting is a widespread phenomenon, with many of the estimated 53 million knitters in the United States involved in charity knitting. Charities range from international causes like the Dulaan Project, which has knitters creating warm clothing for children in Mongolia, to domestic concerns like knitting caps for chemotherapy patients, warm clothing for the homeless, and sweaters for soldiers in Iraq.
For the first four months of the Jimmy Beans Knit for Charity program, items will be donated to Stitches from the Heart, an organization that donates hand knit and crocheted clothing for newborn and premature babies to hospitals around the country. The hospitals send the clothes home with needy newborn and premature babies. Stitches from the Heart's volunteers number over 6000, and the organization has distributed more than 220,000 items to over 432 hospitals and charities around the country. The store will be donating to a different charity every few months.
"We have been looking for ways to give back to the community, which in our case includes people from all over the country" says Jimmy Beans Wool owner Laura Zander, "and since we try to encourage knitters to learn and make new connections, knitting for charity seemed like a great way to do that." The store will give customers a 25% credit for yarn they use for donated charity projects and provide free patterns and help for knitters. "We hope that this kind of organization and support will inspire people to come together and knit for charity," says Zander. "Knitters have always had a philanthropic outlook, and we're excited to be able to encourage and support them."
Jimmy Beans Wool was founded in 2002 with the goal of providing online knitters with a community comparable to that of a local yarn store. The site includes instructional articles, project ideas, and many other resources for knitters.