Comb Revelio

Specialis Revelio!

I made a few of these cute hair combs today! I saw them here and had a go! Such a sweet touch to an other wise boring and practical accessory.

I have super thick hair and I love me a hair comb. Helps keep everything in place and now it looks styley too!

I'll be adding a few of these to the Stitch Africa sale I'm doing in December. If you're visiting here from Stitch Africa and want to get your hands on some now just email me on sophie@moo2.co.nz. I'll just be flicking them off for a couple of dollars to cover the costs of the combs :)

Fun!

Good Intentions Tuesday - Round 4

I'm not sure if people are still doing this but one of my last Good Intentions that was inspired by Miriam from Make It Give It blog has come to pass. I finally turned this ball of wool into a mustard scarf. I originally wanted to make a mustard scarf after I saw Hello Fallows.

I liked it so much I'm selling it, in the hopes others will like it too. I seem to get much more satisfation out of giving and selling than I do in keeping things for my own use.

Infact I liked it so much I made another one in an awesome teal colour to sell too. An olive green one is on its way!! 

You can check out my Stitch Africa gallery on Facebook where I am selling everything to make room in my wardrobe (another good intention) and shut up shop in time for the bubs. 

Thank you good intentions. You have been good to me and my home.

A Closing Chapter

About a year ago I started turning my new knitters skills into Stitch Africa. You can read one of my initial posts on it here. I was driven by the idea that what little I had could make a big difference to someone else. Family and friends bought my booties, and I was always super excited when someone I didn't know made contact and purchased from me!

Whenever I sold a pair of booties I made another pair just the same to donate to a child in Africa. Earlier this year I adjusted my plan by bringing the prices lower (in the hopes to attract more buyers) and setting aside a set amount for a fund to be spent on a Church over there.

I made contact with Pastor Rock from Bwera, Western Uganda. He's a young pastor with a wife named Deborah and 2 children, aged 5 and 2. Pastor Rock sends me weekly emails telling me about their church services and what they have been doing in their community.

They have 2 services on a Sunday and attract 500 people from all over their region. Rock's emails are always encouraging for me, and I can see that Gods work is being done in Uganda. He tells me the need is great but they do what they can to try and meet it. Last week they had 6 beds built and bought mattresses to give to 6 children who go to their church programs. He sent me a photo and when I saw it I cried. I forget that some people don't have beds. 

I try and encourage Pastor Rock with every reply email I send, but mostly he is the greatest encourager to me. His emails are inspiring and uplifting and remind me of the value of perseverance and faith, something he has a lot of.

As you know, the due date of our Baby Girl is quickly approaching (4 weeks exactly today!!) and I have made the decision to close this chapter of Stitch Africa. So far in the short time I have achieved what I set out to do. In the future I hope to be able to offer more to the people of Africa.

So, I have a whole lot of booties to send them (did you know some children are sent home from the hospital (if they manage to be born in a hospital) without clothes and wrapped in paper??!!) and also through sales I have some money to put towards a gift to send to Pastor Rock so that he can continue to be a blessing in their community.

I plan on sending...

6x single sheets to accompany their beds they gave out
*Lined exercise books
*Felt tip pens
*Small pencil cases
Childrens educational counting, number and gospel books
Lots and lots of booties :)

*It would be great to have these as packages so they can be given to all the kids who go to their programs!

Please let me know if you have any other ideas for things that could go over and also let me know if you wish to contribute to this. Obviously, the more that contribute the better because it means the more we can add in :)

Stitch Africa will be finishing soon and this week on Facebook I will be having a sale on all of my current stock along with some other things I have been creating this week! Stay tuned for more details on this, and please email me on sophie@moo2.co.nz if you would like to donate anything to Pastor Rocks community :)

Much love and thank you for a great year! x

Good Intentions - Scarf

Last weeks good intentions resulted in this:

Turning into this:

Hehe, well, not really! I did start the mustard ball in this cowl pattern but quickly ran out (who knew scarves took up so much wool!!) As I was on a crocheting roll I got out some yarn I had in greater quantities and made this baby! 

However, I own a bazillion scarves and have no use for this one, so if you would like to buy it (its actually really awesome) you can see more of it on Stitch Africa and donate money to a church in Uganda while you're at it :)

I will still make the mustard cowl as I really want to give it to a particular person, but alas, having no job and no income means spending money is very tight (non-existant). (thankfully though, we have set aside enough to go to Hanmer this weekend on a Babymoon!! Woo!!!) So you should buy this scarf, and then I will have money to purchase more wool to finish off my mustard one ;) haha

So really, I guess this mustard cowl neck is still on my good intentions list just in a different form. It is 1/8th of a scarf instead of a ball of wool. Progress!?!?

Excitement Plus! +++

This week I finished 6 new pretty Love Bootie colours, you can see them all in the Gallery here

I am also having fun business cards printed this week for Stitch Africa and am attending Girls Night Out where I am advertising the Booties that are Love <3  If you're in CHCH come along, it will be great!!

I have also been applying for an abundance of Jobs recently as I will be moneyless as of December. So far no luck, just very quick prompt rejections. There's only so much rejection this girl can take, especially when I am so filled with pride and think I'm AWESOME.

I guess this is a little slap on the wrist for thinking so much of myself. Wish me luck on the employment front, and if you're that way inclined, prayers too :)

The Beginning of Stitch Africa

One morning when in the shower, I poured my heart out to God through frustrated tears. Why was I not living out the scriptures that I was sure he had called me to? Preaching and teaching in homes in distant nations, I was sure I was called to this.

Instantly I received a download from God. With it I saw Stitch Africa. I saw the name, the logo, the booties, the website, the prices, the mission, and the love. Everything.

I jumped out of the shower straight away and wrote everything down. That day I started on the "to-do list" and everything fell into place. It looks exactly as I had seen it that morning.

Now, a few months on, I rely on God for the inspiration for fresh ideas, the motivation to complete old ideas and the people to buy into the mission.

I am pining for the day when I get to go to Africa and meet these beautiful children. I can't wait for my husbands heart to be broken for the injustice and a passion to rise inside of him. I can't wait for the day that God will use me to spread his love in a bigger way.

For now, I'm just doing what God has allowed me to do and can't wait to see how it grows and develops in the coming months.

Searching For Beauty

This weekend I took a bunch more photos and uploaded them to my website, Beautiful World. My favourite is this velvet feel skirt. I tried it on to figure out what size it was and had to wear it for the rest of the day. It's so different! Head over there and check out the other clothing options that you can swap for!

Also, this week the Stitch Africa Facebook page exploded! If you aren't a fan already, start following! We got 50 new fans overnight because some lovely ladies posted discovered it and posted it on their websites.

In fact, one of them loved it so much they are donating their handmade baby toys for every Bootie that is sold! So that means for the usual price, you are getting Love Booties and an African child is getting a pair of Love Booties and a sweet well made learning toy! More details, photos and recognition will come in the future :)

Isn't it exciting when people do what they are good at to help others? Loving it right now.

Today I am off to Spotlight for some new yarn and ribbons, and I have -finally- found a supplier in NZ who can sell me big enough PVC boxes to display Love Booties in! Yay!

Launched! Exclusive New Summer Collection

These are the newest Love Booties in the new Summer Collection on Stitch Africa. They are all 100% cotton and very lightweight and flexible. I love them to pieces! The colours are so adorable, they look edible! I can't pick which one's my favourite, do you have a favourite?

New Summer Collection!

I took a trip to Spotlight yesterday and bought some adorable new yarn for my new Summer Collection for Stitch Africa!

The yarn is 50% cotton - which means that its very light weight (excellent for summer times), super easy to wash, and wont irritate a baby's soft skin like some wools or synthetic fabrics can.

Aren't the colours so sweet?! And when knitted, they look this adorable!

I'm so excited to finish off all the colours and show case them on my website! Stay tuned :D