Knitting Kitsch: Tin Knitting Bank

Seen at Davis Squared:

This bank and others like it are made by Pittsfield, Mass.-based company Blue Q.

Purl for a Purpose Update

The Pine Street Inn's second annual Purl for a Purpose Knit-a-thon was on Sunday. I didn't quite reach my fundraising goal, and I'm embarrassed to say that I only managed to knit two squares before the event. (I ran into someone else who only knitted one, though, so that made me feel a bit better.) In hindsight, pledging 25 squares in the time I had (about six weeks) was probably unrealistic, even if I were a faster and more diligent knitter.

The good news is that the Knit-a-thon broke last year's 25 afghans made. Forty-six quilts were sewn together during the event, and about 15 more bags of squares were taken home by volunteers to be sewn into blankets. No word yet on how much money was raised, but I'll update this page with the info, and maybe pictures of some of the finished quilts, too. Update: $18,000 was raised this year. Photos from the Knit-a-thon are here and here.
The Pine Street Inn's residence program, which was the beneficiary of the Knit-a-thon, currently has 28 residences throughout the greater Boston area that give permanent housing to almost 500 formerly homeless tenants, both individuals and families. The program includes specialized housing for tenants with a history of mental illness or HIV/AIDS. Another 130 units are expected to open within the next two years.