Archive for the ‘Charity’ Category

Completed! 1/2 Marathon at Royal Parks Foundation

Monday, October 10th, 2011

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend. We had a manic weekend: Saturday Mary and I visited Knitting & Stitching show at Alexandra Palace. Sunday I ran a 1/2 marathon at Royal Parks in London.

So today is all about my running experience on Sunday. I will write a Report on the knitting show after this post this week.

Well, the day of the run did not start well. We woke up at 6am and it was dark and raining…. By the time we arrived in Hyde Park, the rain was clearing but ground was muddy!!!

Arriving at Hyde Park at 8am

Arriving at Hyde Park at 8am. It was hard to smile.

What made me feel so nice was that meeting with all other WWF people at the marquee. They must have had like 10 cups of coffee on that morning, because they were all awake, happy and very welcoming. Some of the actual WWF staff were running on the day – it’s really good that they themselves are also involved in fundraising.

At the marquee. I wrote my name on the vest so that people can shout my name while running!

At the marquee. I wrote my name on the vest so that people can shout my name while running!

People absolutely loved the penguin hat by the way, so thank you so much for getting involved in the vote to choose the funny hat :D

Me, my penguin and a panda. Love wildlife.

Me, my penguin and a panda. Love wildlife.

Before the run, everyone did stretching together…

Mass stretch at Hyde Park... Some of the moves were clearly not a proper stretch but it was fun.

Mass stretch at Hyde Park... Some of the moves were clearly not a proper stretch but it was fun.

I was looking forward to loud fast music while running but it was only this Royal Parks brass bands. They had a cool outfit though.

I was looking forward to loud fast music while running but it was only this Royal Parks brass bands. They had a cool outfit though.

I asked my husband to stay at mile 6 because he will be able to see me at the 6th and the 11th mile. With all the adrenaline going around, I got to mile 6 earlier than expected so I missed him. But luckily he found me just before the finish line. I had to take the penguin hat off towards the end because it was making my head far too hot!

Wesley found me just before I reach the finish line. I was really going for it!

Wesley found me just before I reach the finish line. I was really going for it!

After the run, you get water and a banana followed by some goodies (this year was shredded wheat, oreo biscuits and tooth paste…).

So many bananas ready for the runners. It really helped.

So many bananas ready for the runners. It really helped.

I must say the 11th mile was really hard for me. I could feel my thigh muscle contracting and starting to slow down. But I concentrated that I could do it.

After the run, I got my medal and my bags then met my husband again. I was relieved and soooo happy!!!!!!!!

So happy! So grateful for all the sponsors and all my family and friends!!!!!

So happy! So grateful for all the sponsors and all my family and friends!!!!!

We went back to the marquee and met with all the runners. I made a lovely friend who run with me on the day. We said that we will do it again together.

We had a lovely celebration lunch together with friends. Then Wesley and two of our friends said that they would run with me in the future. I was thrilled felt that I have achieved something good.

Most of all, while I was running, I felt all the positive energy, supports and kindness from everyone not just at the event but through here in the world of Cotton & Cloud. I could not have done this without you and I am thankful for all your wonderful support. Thank you thank you thank you.

Oh, the time? It was 2 hours and 9 min for 13 miles ;)

Cotton & Cloud Annual Charity Run on October 9th

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

As the weather gets cooler, Cotton & Cloud would like to start the new knitting season with a positive charity run. It’s a short post but very important!

charity_run_cottonandcloud

I am running a half marathon on October 9th and I am raising as much money as possible for World Wildlife Fund (WWF). I would be most grateful if you could sponsor my run by donating through my JustGiving page.

In this tough economic times, I am not expecting to raise a lot of money – in fact, I don’t want you to donate me too much money at all (I think WWF staff will hang me dry if they read this! LOL). The most important thing is that everyone gets involved and be a part of it. Just a small amount is more than enough and I would so greatly appreciate it.

This is the 3rd year that I am running for charity. The first year being Adidas Women’s Run 5k, then Bupa London 10K. This year for the first time I am running a half marathon.

So why do I run (many people ask me)? I run because:

Running is my meditation – I can concentrate on my body and mind. After I run, I feel my mind is clearer and better prepared. It’s important for the world of Cotton & Cloud as I want to keep this place pure and full of happiness.

I want to maintain my health – Since knitting can involve not much movement except your hands, I easily get stiff shoulders. Running has completely solved this problem. Now I don’t have stiff shoulders and back.

Above all, I can raise money for a good cause just by running – I run for WWF because they do work so hard to keep our planet earth the way it should be. They are passionate and do everything they can to help protect our environment. All WWF staff and members are so nice when you meet them during the charity events. I want to be a part of such passionate people who work so hard for our planet earth where we live.

I have been training really hard this year. I run various distances 3 – 4 times a week, plus 45 min bicycle afterwards. I am only 5″ tall so even with this kind of training, running 13.1 miles will be hard – BUT I WILL DO IT.

The day of the marathon is October 9th. I will be running with a penguin hat (photo below).

penguin hatI might have to put an elastic band around my chin so that it won’t fall off.

It will be an amazing event and I will definitely be posting photos for the day. Your donation to WWF will be super appreciated and help protecting and improving our beautiful planet earth.

Please sponsor me now.

Wish me good luck! :D

Innocent Big Knit Starts on Worldwide Knitting in Public Day

Friday, June 10th, 2011

Hope you all been having a good knit week. My hands are constantly working and I can’t believe it has been over a week since I last blogged. Today I just had to blog because I wanted to let you all know about the fun charity knitting event.

Have you heard of Innocent Big Knit? AND have you heard of Worldwide Knitting in Public Day?

Worldwide Knitting in Public Day starts from 11th June this year which is the day for the Innocent Big Knit starts.

the innocent big knit 2009

Innocent Big Knit 2001. This is CUTE. If you are big on crochet, you can make crochet hats too!

If you live in the UK you would have seen a bottle of Innocent Smoothie with a knitted hat. It’s a charity knitting event where we knit little hats and send it off to Innocent Drinks. The hats you knitted will be put onto their smoothie bottles. For every hat knitted 25p is given to a charity. This is the basic concept of Innocent Big Knit. Here is a message from Innocent:

We want to raise £160k this year for Age UK by knitting 650,000 little hats which will go on our smoothie bottles and be sold in stores in November.

For every little hat knitted, we’ll give 25p to Age UK to help them make winter a little warmer for older people across the UK.  We need your help to reach this huge target – we have 3 different patterns to start you off and there will be lots more going up on our website very soon.  You can find the patterns by searching innocent’s Big Knit on Ravelry and the pdfs will also be going up on the website next week.

Every hat counts- so why not get together this Saturday with your Knitting chums and make a few hats for innocent’s Big Knit?

Here are some fun images of Innocent Big Knit.
The Big Knit

Big Knit 2010

Carmen Miranda

The weather is getting better which is perfect for a knit-al-fresco. I really would like to make little hats this year (especially after browsing all the fun images!). It’s a great opportunity to get rid of your random stash. Often postage can be a limiting factor for charity knitting for overseas participants. I think Innocent Big Knit is fantastic as the hats are tiny and light the postage won’t cost much (well unless you make hundreds!). This means anyone from anywhere overseas can participate and send them off to Innocent!!

The pattern can be found on Ravelry, I am selecting the stash to use for the little hats :D :D

Mason-Dixon’s Mitered Crosses Blanket Pattern for Japan

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

Our boiler and local internet server broke down during the weekend, which meant we had no hot water and internet. It was extremely inconvenient, but then I thought that is totally nothing compared to what people in Japan (and other part of the world) are going through at the moment. We were able to go to our gym to shower and get a (very poor but) reception of the wifi signal from the nearby cafe.

Last week, I was chatting with Juliet the editor of The Knitter magazine. She told me about Mason-Dixon’s charity knitting pattern. The sales of their Mitered Crosses Blanket pattern is donated to Mercy Corps for Japan Tsunami Relief. They have already raised $7500 for this!! Absolutely amazing, and as a Japanese person myself I am so thankful for their amazing generosity.

So I bought the pattern too… and it is a fabulous pattern.

I think the trick is to combine a variegated and plain coloured yarn. My plan is to make lots of small mitered squares using much smaller needles.

winding the skein

Quickly I dug up my old stash from under-bed storage. I picked a random maccha green 3 ply which my sister gave to me years ago. Then I saw the gorgeous Celestial Merino Dream sock yarn which I frogged many years back. No time to be wasted, I made the skein into a ball and I am ready!

winding skein into a ball

I have so much other things to knit, but this is something I just had to start casting on. I am using 2.5 mm needles to make small squares ;)

mitred square

I had more verigated yarn than the plain one so I decided to use the pink yarn for the background. I really like the way it came out. For the edging, I “tweaked” the pattern a little bit so that I do it all in one go:

mitred square 2

Isn’t it wonderful that a combination of simple things (i.e. two needles, yarn, garter stitch modular pattern) can make a beautiful blanket? And even better, many thousands of people benefit from us knitting!

If you can, please spread the word about this pattern (and all other charitable knitting patterns too)! The easiest way is to re-tweet, but any other means (blogging, facebook, any other!) would be greatly appreciated!

Happy knitting!

BUPA 10k London Run Completed! – The Aftermath

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Hello! Hope you all had a great weekend. Monday was a bank holiday in the UK and it was the day for my BUPA 10k run in London. I had an amazing experience!
The night before, I prepared all my gear. The orange tag (above photo) was put on the shoes. It measures the time accurately on the day of the run.
On the day, the tube line that I usually use was closed and a large area of London was also closed off for the event. I was very lucky to have Mary and her family to drive me to Waterloo and I took the tube to Green Park station (photo above).
The starting time was 10 am and I arrived at 9.15am. By then Green Park was packed with runners. I knew there will be a massive queue at the ladies toilet at the venue so I decided to invest my time queuing 15 min at the station loo… I think I made the right choice :P

At Green Park, there were loads of charities. I kept looking for WWF but because it was already 9.30am, they had already gone to the running route to prepare for cheering the runners. I also saw two smurfs (above)!. The whole event was well organised. For example, there was a runner’s only area to put our valuables while running (photo below).
By then there was an announcement for people to line up to start. So I rushed to the start line…
Strangely, my running number indicates that I am at the very front group with very physically fit-looking people… I thought there was something wrong. I am not that fast…. Also, I was the shortest person there…
Check out these fit legs! About 80% of the people in this group were men… I was thinking that maybe it was a mistake for them to have place me in this group. Though, what can I do? I just went along and stretched with others.

There was a loud dance music and just before the start, the music stopped.

Then the horn was blown for us to start. THEY WERE SO FAST! I was seriously impressed how fast these runners were. Of course everyone (except one or two) over took me.

While I was running as much as I can, someone cheered me up from behind “Go WWF!”. It was a fellow WWF supporter runner (who obviously over took me straight afterwards) and this completely gave me energy to run more and more.

By 7-8 km point, I was able to overtake some people (yay!).

10km completed!! I looked at the time… 55 min!!? I usually run 10k for about 45 min. What is going on? This is what I discovered later but my iPhone has been measuring the time and the distance short. So basically I was running about 7.5k when my iPhone said 10k!
Anyway, what is important is that I completed the run (with no injuries) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After the run, I quickly went to WWF area and said hi to them. Apparently there were 23 people running for them and I was the third to finish (yippe!). They were so grateful for all the supporters and I really am glad that I run for them. I still don’t know who it is that cheered me running while he was also running (well, over taking me), but thank you so much!
Now, the most important thing – the goodie bag (LOL!)! I must say that it was not as good as the one Mary and I got for last year’s Addidas Women’s run.

Buckingham Palace was full of people. After finally reuniting with Mary and her family, we went to China town for our celebration lunch. It was truly lovely.

I would definitely do it again (seriously thinking of entering the half marathon for September). One thing I learnt is that I would have to train a little harder since my iPhone was totally giving me the wrong measurements. Although I would still do Nike+, I would get a special watch (which many runners in the front group had) to train properly.

Most importantly…THANK YOU SO MUCH everyone for sponsoring me for this event. I was able to raise just over £350 (on and off lines together) for WWF. Without your support, I would not be able to donate this much money for such great cause (to save wildlife!). The YARN FOR CHARITY PAGE WILL STILL REMAIN for ongoing CC charity activity (and there will be fabrics and other items too), but for now I cannot say thank you enough to all your amazing support. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

9PUUA3X66SEW

Running Prep

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Thank you for loads of interest in my fund-raising activity including the charity yarn sale. Thank you also to Mooncalf Knits who participated in C&C fund-raising activity by destashing her yarn :D I am delighted for anyone to join my fund-raising activity so let me know if anyone is interested.

This is why I want to run for WWF.

This is why I want to run for WWF. Apparently you can write your name on the white band across your chest... I want to keep it as it is...

Yesterday I received a tank top from WWF which I can wear when I run on the 31st. I have always wanted a special WWF T-shirt (I know I am such a nerd!) and I finally got one! It’s not just a T-shirt, it’s made from organic, sustainably farmed bamboo. Isn’t this so cool?

I can't wait to wear it!

I can't wait to wear it!

In order to prepare for my training, I need to eat lots of good healthy food. If I didn’t eat lots, I get really tired quickly. So it’s good that I am now baking fresh bread. They are all my original recipe. Once I know exactly what temperature my oven is, I will be able to share the recipe with you :D

Spinach bread

Spinach bread

This was gorgeous. Bi-colour bread. It's pink outside and butternut yellow inside.

This was gorgeous. Bi-colour bread. It's pink outside and butternut yellow inside.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! :D

Cotton & Cloud is Running – BUPA 10k (and Nike+)

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Woohoo! It’s Friday already. I am loving it :D

Today, I would like to blog about my current charity activity – RUNNING. I am running for BUPA 10k run on 31st May and raising money for WWF through JustGiving. My fundraising plan is:

1) Release a new free knitting pattern in May – I think you will like this one.

2) Update my training progress on my facebook (both my personal and C&C pages)

3) Complete the run on the day – hopefully less than 50min, but I want to aim 45 min… possible? hope so!

4) I may make and sell some of my C&C knitwear to raise money – but this is IF I get a chance.

If anyone could sponsor me for this run I would be SUPER DUPER grateful. I am doing majority of fundraising via JustGiving page as this means I don’t have to handle the money by myself. I will keep you updated on the progress :) .

So, what is currently on C&C plate right now? I have joined Nike+ running community. If you are already a member, I wanna be friends with you :D !

I won't run with these shoes (LOL). Though they were were so colourful!

My best friend in Japan introduced me to Nike+ (thanks Kei, you are the best!) which apparently has been going on for a couple of years now. I love the idea of a running community and making friends (rather than joining a competitive running club – which I usually get left behind anyway!! :D ). You can join or create a challenge to suit your level or interest. So I created a challenge called London to Tokyo which basically means to run 9585km (the distance between London to Tokyo) in total.. over many years!. It’s a great opportunity to get fit and prepare for charity runs.

Before I finish, I have uploaded some more photos of Japan on my facebook page album.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Cotton & Cloud Quarterly Charity Donation – 2010 (1/4)

Monday, February 1st, 2010

So, I hope you had a great weekend. I thought I would write to you about how this whole not-going-to-Japan ordeal happened but there is more pressing matter that I would like to write today. A slightly shorter post than usual, nevertheless an important one.

I have decided that C & C will make an early first quarter donation. It was decided on UNICEF Haiti Earthquake Children”s Fund.

Receipt

When you live in a safe and earthquake-free country like the UK, it is hard to really understand the devastation of Haiti earthquake even when you watch the news… BUT that should not be my excuse. I tried to put myself in the situation and remember how it felt to have a large earthquake when I was child in Japan (and I even had a nightmare about it last week) and I felt very scared. It really is very scary to be in Haiti right now. If I were scared, what about all the children who don’t know where their parents are, what to do, where to get help, who to get help.

So the answer was clear. I decided to make C & C quarterly donation to UNICEF which has been one of my favourite children’s charities.

Here is an article by UNICEF. If you are interested, please check it out.

UNICEF Image
UNICEF
Crisis response continues in Haiti, with an eye on challenges that pre-date the quake

NEW YORK, USA, 24 January 2010 – Aid is reaching children in parts of Haiti devastated by the 12 January earthquake, but huge humanitarian challenges remain. Many of the disaster’s worst effects – including its impact on child health and safety – are aggravated by the country’s longstanding impoverishment and instability.

FREE PDF Knitting Pattern – Knitted iPhone Purse

Thursday, January 7th, 2010
knitted iPhone purse

FREE iPhone Purse Pattern

Hope you’ve all been having a great first week of 2010. Today as promised, I would like to share with you my brand new FREE knitting pattern for an iPhone (well, you can put anything you want :D ).

My cool electrical gadget must travel in style. So I made this retro-style iPhone purse for me to take everywhere I go.

knitted iPhone Case

My knitted iPhone case.

This Knitted iPhone Purse…

has an external pocket where you can put your earpiece

is seamless

is knitted in one piece (i.e. no joining required – grafting is involved but this is optional as you can cast off and join the bottom anyways you like)

Is double-layered for extra protection

has flexy internal purse frame to securely hold your precious gadjet

is very simple, very fun, very stylish

works really well with tweedy yarn

involves Judy’s Magic Cast-On method. Her site is here and my short blog post is here.

knitted iPhone case open

Inside view. The purse is double-layerd for extra protection.

You can dance with it.

You can sing with it.

You can sing with it.

You can dance with it.

download now

Finally…

If you like this pattern, please “retweet” it by clicking the re-tweet button next to the post title.

I write FREE patterns to raise money for charities (currently raising for WWF). So if you really like this pattern and my work, please donate directly to my JustGiving page (I have set it so that you can donate anonymously) or you can just donate to your favourite charity instead! :D

Have a wonderful weekend! ;D

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

This is the last C&C blog post for 2009! I wanted to wrap up by talking about our quarterly charity donations.

Many of you have already read my previous post about this and I am very proud to announce that we have fostered an elephant from David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (charity registration number 1103836).

It was very hard to select which elephant to foster. Though I think the money will be used for helping all the elephants even when you select one, so I decided to foster Dida. Although Dida is not one of the newest elephant to be introduced to the sanctuary I wanted to foster her because she is the victim of human/wildlife conflict. She fell down an open man-hole on the border of East and West Tsavo National Parks, illegally opened by the local people in order to help themselves and their livestock to water. The lid was never replaced. Four other of their orphaned elephants have also suffered the same fate. I wanted to raise awareness that one’s action, no matter how harmless it may seem at the time, could lead to tragedy if selfishness is the underlining reason of action.

Reading the keeper’s diary for Dida, although she missed her lost mother and cried all night on the first day she arrived, she quickly made friends and settled well in the sanctuary. :)

So here is the certificate for fostering Dida.

DSWT fostering certificate

Also, I created this post for used stamps for charity. Hope you find it useful. I decided to send my stamps to The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Under the “Happy Factoid” section (on the right column) I am hoping to add more posts like this (i.e. something that is good for the world) the coming year.

All the unwanted yarn stash have been donated to Preemies UK. :)

That’s it for 2009. I look forward to seeing you again in 2010. Thank you so much for all your support and kindness. I am always inspired by you all and I couldn’t have done this without you guys! ;)

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year!

Christmas