Quick Catch Up with Janie Crow

At Janie Crow we are supporting the UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency). We have a link to donate via our homepage, or you can follow this one if you want to make a contribution.

Over the last couple of weeks we have also made donations to The Disasters Emergency Committee and to The British Red Cross.

Many other charities are doing vital work, however I have noticed that many of them have stopped asking for items such as blankets and warm clothes and are now focusing on monetary contributions as this will have the fastest impact on the people of Ukraine. I know that it can be really hard to find some spare money to give away, especially as we are constantly being told about how the cost of living is set to soar, but even the smallest contributions make a difference. 

Sarah mentioned to me that a friend of hers is making some crochet sunflowers which she plans to put on a wreath to display in her front window. Throughout Ukraine's history sunflowers have been a symbol of peace and solidarity, so creating something which involves them is a great idea. The national flower is being adopted by protesters - some are carrying bouquets at rallies, others are displaying the floral emoji to show support online.

For the month of March we will be donating the profit on the download and paper patterns for my sunflower design, Fields of Gold to the UNHCR as well as continuing to make our own donations. You can find more information about the design by following this link.

Looking at my sunflower design has got me thinking that a single flower motif would make an amazing mandala, which I could hang on the front door. I had planned to make a new pompom wreath, but maybe this is a nugget of a new idea....

If you don't fancy making something as big as my sunflower, perhaps you could make some small brooches and sell them to friends and give the proceeds to charity, or maybe you could make a wreath of them to display to your neighbours like Sarah's friend Linda. You can find some patterns and ideas by following this link to Etsy. Some of the sellers have patterns or readymade items that include a charitable donation, so do take a look.

The team at Love Crafts have suggested making crochet or knitted hearts using the blue and yellow shades of the Ukrainian flag. You can find a free pattern by Annemarie Bentham by following this link or by clicking on the image above. ​

On both Etsy and Ravelry you can sort designers based on the country they are in. Ravelry have provided a link for Ukrainian Designers here. 

Etsy have created a Ukraine landing page, which you can find here and they have also waived all balances for Ukrainian based sellers. Etsy CEO Josh Silverman wrote in a recent blog post:

'Being part of a community means that when one part is suffering, the rest of us must step up and offer our support'.

According to Etsy, it is waiving a total of around $4million in fees, which includes listing, advertising and transaction fees. If you want to directly contribute to citizens of Ukraine you can do so as follows:

Go to the Etsy home page.
Click the 'All Filters' button and scroll down to 'Country'.
Click 'Custom' and type Ukraine into the box.

The results you get will include all digital files created and sold by Ukraine based Etsy sellers. Digital download file transactions allow Ukrainians to earn money without having to produce anything new or process physical orders during this unbelievably tough time.

When I did my search I found a lot of downloadable cards and postcards, like the one shown in the image above which I chose, but there are also lots of knit and crochet patterns on there too.

We are all aware of the sanctions being imposed on Russian businesses and individuals and so I was interested to read how many UK based supermarkets have made the decision to remove Russian produce items from their stores. It seems that this mostly means vodka, which is predominantly made in Russia, but there are a few other items that we could avoid too, such as Russian grown sunflower seeds and charcoal. If you shop at a certain store then you might want to check their policy. It made me smile to read that Sainsburys have also changed the name of their Chicken Kievs to Kyivs - the preferred way of spelling the Ukrainian name.

Many yarn companies, shops and designers have come out in support of Ukraine and lots of them are offering to donate profits from sales to the charities involved in helping. Below I have highlighted a couple that Sarah and I have found over the last few days:

Love Crafts are donating 100% of profits from Debbie Bliss pattern sales on a selection of reduced designs.

Quinton & Chadwick are holding a raffle for the beautiful sweater shown above. Tickets are £10 each - The retail price of the sweater is £190!

Laine Magazine have started a fundraising page 'Knitters for Ukraine', which you can find here.

Knit and crochet designers Arne & Carlos are supporting Save The children and have a dedicated pattern sale.

If you are shopping around for anything else and want to be sure you are doing the right thing then you might want to check out the following article, which I found 'These Brands Let you Support Ukraine Just by Shopping.

You can write to your MP and ask them to put pressure on the Government to provide more support for the people of Ukraine. If you want to find your local MP's details follow this link and you can find a template letter here via the Ukrainian London website.

There is a petition you can sign asking the Government to provide more help to refugees - you can find it here.

When posting on social media use the hashtag #StandWithUkraine

There are lots of events planned for the weekend, both nation and world-wide. If you are interested in joining a march, then check out the following sites for some guidance:

Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain

Ukraine Solidarity Campaign

Stop The War Coalition

Stand with Ukraine

As we head into the weekend I am praying that we start to see some calmer times. Hopefully by the time I am sending my usual style newsletter next Friday we may have seen a de-escalation of aggression, but in the mean time I hope that your knit and crochet is bringing you some peace and that you can find solace in knowing that you have helped in some way.

I hope you all understand the reason for my break away from a usual Janie Crow news heavy email and that you will understand that my motive is humanitarian and not political.

Stay safe ​