Wonkey Donkey?

So, with being in National Lockdown due to Covid-19 I have everyone at home and can't concentrate on knitting or crocheting lovely lace shawls but I need to do something.  I hit on the idea of using up some of the scraps and left overs and knitting some donkeys for the Donkey Sanctuary, one of the many charities that I support, as they sell them to raise funds for the care of the Donkey's and these charities need our support even more at the moment as they are unable to have visitors and so their income has all but ceased.

They supply a pattern for both knitted and crocheted donkeys so that they are all made to a standard pattern but leave the colours up to the crafter so that each donkey will have its own personality.

I've had the pattern for some time but never got around to making it so I set off working on it and I have to say that, despite making many toys in the past in my teenage years  (all of them were Jean Greenhowe), this was the most horrendous pattern I have ever encountered.  My plan was to make several of these donkeys but I have to say that I stopped at one and sent it off to them.  I have since ripped the pattern up and binned it to make sure that I never get that idea again.  Maybe in the future I may try the crochet version but never the knitted version!

To me this does not look so much like a donkey as donkey-in-stein.  Even the feet were knitted separately on this one.  Why????  There really is no need to knit the feet separately, they could have been done in one piece instead of 3 pieces!

Anyway, I hope that somewhere there is someone who has fell in love with this ugly donkey at whichever Donkey Sanctuary it ended up at, bought it and is giving it lots of cuddles.

Brave the Shave 2016

No, I'm not shaving my hair for charity but my husband is.  We have had a number of friends and family that have battled Cancer, some of them have pulled through, some of them have pulled through more than once and sadly, some of them have not made it.

Garry decided some months ago that he was going to take part in Macmillan's Brave the Shave Fundraising Campaign and contacted the landlady of a local pub, The Railway Inn in Whitacre Heath, to ask if he could hold the event there.  The landlady, Maxine, not only agreed but she also decided that she would shave her hair and help out with the fundraising.

Money came pouring in from regulars at the pub and so did donations of prizes for a raffle that would be drawn on the night of the shave event, which was set for  17th September.  They even had an article in a local newspaper, which created even more of a buzz about the event and on the night the pub was packed to the rafters and a local man, know as Bear, also shaved his hair off.

I managed to get a video of my husbands shave, it is quite noisy with people shouting and talking but its good, no swear words or anything, or at least I didn't hear any.

In total Garry raised £401.95, I'm not sure how much Maxine and Bear raised but that is a nice boost to Macmillan's Fundraising.

The Long And Short of It - Part Two

This is further to my post of 19th October 2012, which you may want to read before you read this post.

I made a sacrifice two weeks ago, a big sacrifice.

At the end of September last year, I made a decision about what I wanted to do to mark the occasion of my 40th birthday in March.  I didn't want a party and I wasn't particularly interested in presents either, its just more "stuff" to clutter up the house, and I need that like I need a hole in the head.  I decided to grow my hair even longer than usual over the Winter and then donate some of it to Little Princess Trust a charity that makes real-hair wigs for kids with Cancer.

After choosing the original style that I liked and blogging about it, I found another one that I liked more.  It was even shorter but I loved it so much more than the other one and so this is THE ONE that I chose.

I was fundraising all over Winter, even donating 25% of the item price of all items sold from my online shops between October and up to and including 31st March 2013.  I put these donations through my Just Giving Page on behalf of, and in the name of, the customers who made purchases.

I had a little problem with my usual hairdressing salon in December.  My stylist had not managed to get into work that day and so the salon owner was to cut my hair that day.  I told him that all I wanted was a 1/2 inch trim to keep it healthy as I was growing it longer than usual so I could have it cut and donate it to charity.  He told me how he didn't agree with people donating their hair to be made into wigs when there are perfectly good synthetic wigs available and he was quite nasty about it and his attitude really upset me.  He cut my hair and I left the salon with a bad taste in my mouth.  It was not the usual enjoyable, relaxing, pampering experience that I am used to.  It was only when I got home and saw myself in the long mirror that I discovered he had cut about 3 inches off the length of my hair!!!  The air turned blue, as you can imagine, because it was now very doubtful that I would be able to donate the 12" or more that I should have been able to donate.  I vowed there and then never to patronise his salon ever again, even though I had been going there for 15 years!

I put the word out that I was looking for a new regular hairdresser and I found one in the form of hubbies long term family friend, Pauline Babbington, who kindly offered to cut my hair and re-style it free of charge seeing as it for was Charity.  I decided that I wanted my husband and my two girls with me at the salon when I had my hair cut off, not only for moral support but also so that I wouldn't have to go through all that nervous anxiety on the way home of having to make a big entrance with my new look.  I set the date of the cut as 7th April 2013, as this was the first date after my 40th birthday that we could all get together.

So, this is how long my hair was the day before the cut.  It should have been touching my belt!!!

And this is the shorter style I chose to have my hair cut into after the donation. 

And now the photos of the event.

Getting it brushed out

Getting pony-tailed up into 3 pony-tails - ooohhh eeeeerrr its finally happening!

Here it goes, its getting cut off - ooooh eck! No turning back now

Before I knew it all 3 pony-tails were cut off, I was treated to a lovely relaxing wash and was being re-styled

All done!

The back.  It's short for the first time ever and look how soft and shiny it is!  

Hubby sat there whilst I had it cut with pretty much that same look on his face the whole time.

I got 2 x 8-9" pony-tails and 1 x 12" pony-tail to send off to Little Princess Trust.

That 12" pony-tail could well have been at least 14" if I hadn't had "hairdresser" problems in December.

I intend to now keep my hair short and I have been having fun drying and styling it in different ways.  I am still fundraising for them, even though I have smashed through my initial fundraising target and donations can be made via my  Just Giving Page  or by texting LOCK52 £(amount greater than £2) to 70070

If anyone is inspired by my story but is worried about going from long hair to short hair, please don't be worried about it, it's the best thing I have done in ages and I feel so good in myself and about myself.  Not only does it make you feel good doing something amazing for someone less fortunate but having all that physical and emotional weight cut off and getting a fab new modern look does wonders for your self-esteem and although my hair was healthy already, I can't believe how soft and silky it feels now.

The Long And Short Of It

I made a decision a few weeks ago, a big decision.

After loosing several friends and family to Cancer, knowing a few survivors and after seeing My Sister's Keeper and then a few days later reading a local newspaper article that a friend had posted to Facebook I decided to do a little bit of research.  The newspaper article was about a hairdresser who had donated her own hair to a charity that makes wigs for kids with Cancer from the donated hair.  I had heard about hair donation before but I had never given any thought to it.  I done a bit of research on-line to find out more about organisations/charities that were involved in hair donation and what the requirements were for each one.  I discovered that the minimum length of the hair donation varied with each one and also that some of them will accept grey hair whilst others don't.

My initial thoughts were that I wanted to make a hair donation but without making an overly big change to my own image and so I looked into the Charities that required the least hair length donation.  I settled on Little Princess Trust as their minimum donation is only require 7 inches and they specifically help children by providing a real-hair wig free of charge to a child in need of one.  Real-hair wigs are so much better than  synthetic wigs because they are more comfortable, feel a lot nicer and they can be washed and styled with heated rollers/curling tongs/straighteners/styling products just like your own hair, something that cannot be done with a synthetic wig.  I thought that I would grow my hair over the Winter and then have it cut in the Spring back to my usual length, which is about level with the back of my bra.

I mentioned my intentions to my husband, who was supportive, and then set about setting up a Just Giving Page and taking some photographs showing how long my hair is and I edited them to mark on them the length that I would be having my hair cut back to in the Spring.

Over the next 24 hours or so I got to thinking about how my hair will look after its been cut and whether I would have it layered and graduated again.  I realised that I have had pretty much the same style now since my eldest daughter was born 9 years ago - long layered with a central parting, fringe (bangs), graduated length around the face.  I have had it different lengths over those 9 years but still basically the same style so I began looking on-line at the latest styles to get some ideas.  I found a few that I liked but some of them would require a lot of styling everyday and some just wouldn't work with my hair/face.  Then I found one that I absolutely adored but it was much shorter than I planned to cut my hair so I posted it to my personal Facebook page and asked for opinions on it, specifically asking what hubby thought of it.  He loved it, it would suit me and would be a change for me.  Decision made.  I would now be going much shorter and making a bigger donation of hair which means that a little girl could be receiving a longer wig and feeling like a little princess again whilst she undergoes treatment for Cancer.

I haven't set the actual date for the cut yet, but it will be in March 2013 so that my layers have time to grow enough to make sure they clear the minimum length required and will coincide with my 40th birthday so that I get to mark the occasion by doing something awesome for someone less fortunate than myself and also get a much needed new look at the same time.  I have also decided, after watching numerous hair donation videos on YouTube, that I would prefer to have my hair put into several smaller ponytails for the cut and that I want to cut the first one off myself.  I will be discussing all of this with my hairdresser when I go for a trim in December and I am also hoping that they will kindly donate their services to my cause but if they don't I am more than happy to pay anyway.

The links for my chosen charity and my Just Giving page where donations can be made can be found in the text above but I guess I should also show you some photos of my hair now.

This is the style I have chosen to have after my hair has been cut for the donation.  I have flipped this photo from the original because I have a half-crown in my fringe and so the sweep-over will need to go in the opposite direction for the style to work with my hair.  I will be keeping my own natural colour though.

In Memory of Mom

My late parents at their joint 65th birthday party in 2007

A while ago, my husband Garry, decided that he wanted to do something to honour my late mom's memory.  My parents shared the same birthday, same year, which is very unusual.  My mom passed away just 4 days after her 65th birthday (36 hours after this photo was taken) from heart failure and so it seemed fitting to raise money for The British Heart Foundation who's vision is a world where people do not die prematurely of heart disease and they will achieve this with pioneering research, prevention activity and quality care and support for those living with heart disease.

Garry chose to take part in a 30 mile cycle ride from a list of BHF events and created a fundraising page whereby anyone with internet access can sponsor him and this has been run alongside the more traditional pen and paper sponsorship forms for those who do not have internet.  The online fundraising page will remain open until 3rd January 2011.

The cycle ride was today, Sunday 3rd October, and we had to be at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire early this morning, ready for the 9am start.  The weather has been attrocious and during our journey to the venue we were wondering whether it would still go ahead due to the wet weather.  It did go ahead, and Garry completed the route in 2 hours and 10 minutes.

08:45 The weather is wet and horrible

11:40 Back home and pleased with self

 Garry has already said that he wants to do another cycle ride early next year in memory of my late dad, who passed away from Cancer 21 months ago.  This will be raising money for Cancer Research UK and I will be blogging about that nearer the time.

Fundraising Giveaway

We have had a lot of trouble getting people to part with their cash and sponsor Garry on his cycle ride.  To encourage people to sponsor him I decided to run a prize giveaway for anyone who sponsored him online, with each person receiving one entry for every £1 donated.  The more you donated, the more slips of paper with your name on got put into the "hat".  The prize fund was staggered, depending on what target we hit by the day of the cycle ride.

 If we reached £100 online donations I would donate 1 prize of £10 off any item

If we reached £200 online donations I would donate 1 prize of £10 off any item and 1 prize of £5 off any item

If we reached £300 online donations I would donate 1 prize of £15 off any item and 2 prizes of £5 off any item

If we reached £400 online donations I would donate 1 prize of £20 off any item and, 1 prize of £10 off any item and 2 prizes of £5 off any item

I also made a sponsorship which pushed the online total to £200, but obviously I did not enter my own draw.  I have done the prize draw and the winning names were chosen by my two daughters by putting their hand in a tall narrow bag and pulling out one slip of paper in turn.

First prize of £10 off any item was won by, Ray Froggatt

Second prize of £5 off any item was won by Linda of Uniquely Yours (of Folksy).

A big thank you for all of you who have sponsored the cycle event, we couldn't have done it without you.  Congratulations to the winners, I am sure you will find something to your liking in my shop.