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thankyou

Home

thankyou

Give us strength to play these tricks

with yarn and hooks and flying sticks,

that we can make a winter fix.

Welcome to volume one of the world's first three-volume collection of original poems, prayers and songs dedicated EXCLUSIVELY to knitting and crochet.

You'll laugh out loud, you'll nod in silent agreement, you'll identify with the spiritual sentiments that bind millions of knitters and crocheters around the world.

My armchair is my church, my needles, prayer;
though I can swap the furniture and the place
and take my meditation anywhere.


Dip into it again and again, each time finding something new and inspiring to take you ever deeper into your enchanted world of knitting and crochet.

You could be at risk of crying when you see the connection between this funny, poignant and sometimes sad first volume, and some seriously disadvantaged children.

You see, this book is not only unique in being the first of its kind EVER to collect and present original poems, songs and prayers exclusively about knitting and crocheting.

But, the author has also dedicated it to the AIDS orphans, abandoned babies and children of southern Africa, and the world's knitters and crocheters who support them. 

What are his reasons?

Simple. YOU. The knitters and crocheters of the world!

Now you can extend your love of knitting and crochet with Heart Yarns, a funny, moving and poignant three-volume collection of original poems, songs and prayers devoted
EXCLUSIVELY to knitting and crochet. 

In our house knitters reigned supreme.

It was every knitter's dream.

The dog, the cat, the gold fish too,
were urged to knit a row or two.

Four great benefits

These are the FOUR  great benefits you'll get when you own Heart Yarns or give it as a gift:

Anyone who knits or crochets will tell you about its power to relax, restore a sense of well-being, and spark your creative inner being.

It's why Crochet Today magazine in the United States lists crochet and knitting in the top five hobbies in the US, with 53 million Americans involved in the craft or having the skill. That's more than double the number of people who played any golf at all in the US in 2005, according to the National Golf Foundation.

The Craft Yarn Council of America (CYCA) reports that their 2007 research showed that knitters and crocheters lifted their average number of projects from 17.3 in 2005, to nearly 21.2
in 2007. According to the CYCA evidence, the trend continues. Younger knitters are returning to the craft in growing numbers.

And it's partly why we've had the great fortune to be joined by more than 2,500 knitters and crocheters from 33 countries around the world.

This is the story of knit-a-square.com

There are an estimated 1.4 million AIDS orphans and abandoned children in South Africa alone. That number grows by 500 children A DAY.

Hundreds of thousands of children live in slums and squatter camps where the head of the family may be no older than 10 or 12. They care for siblings, relatives, and other waifs, with almost nothing. They are critically short of the basics we take for granted: education, clothing, food, warmth.

Other charities are striving to help with some of these. Our mission is to inspire the knitters and crocheters of the world. We simply ask volunteers to knit 8"/20cm squares and send them to our volunteers in South Africa. There they are joined into blankets for these children who are among some of the most disadvantaged on earth.

In an amazingly generous response from YOU the knitter or crocheter, in our first eight months online, a FANTASTIC 33,000 squares and thousands of knitted and crocheted garments have reached our Soweto, South Africa volunteers.

Heart Yarns is a response to these orphans and abandoned children and to YOU who knit and crochet.

It is a tribute to an adored craft and the magnificent people
who have taken up the fight.

Knit-a-square.com knitters and crocheters around the world are saying to these little ones, in colors and textures from the heart: 'Our squares are small, but made by many they are your currency of hope.'

. . . A virus doesn't carry arms; it wears
no uniform or rank, but still declares
its lethal conflict on these innocents.
Your knitted army may not win the war
tomorrow, or before.
Keep on. You stand for their last stitch defence.

In a WORLD FIRST, poet and author, Roger G McDonald has created not one but THREE beautifully designed and illustrated volumes of entirely original material covering ONLY knitting and crochet. It shares not just the joy of knitting, crochet and needle-arts, but the poetry, emotion and music that go with them. Listen to the author's own words as he describes the impact this tragedy, and knit-a-square's heart-rending response to it, has had on him.

"It made me aware of the terrible and growing catastrophe of AIDS orphans and abandoned children in Africa. But instead of loading me up with despair, knit-a-square people re-awakened in me an almost childlike hope in humanity. And they re-sparked a faith in sheer, cussed goodness, even in the face of calamity.

"I used to dabble in poetry when I was younger and softer. I even got a fair amount published. It wasn't for the money. If it was, my family and I would have starved. But then running our business and providing for ourselves and employees took over. I gradually lost the muse.

"Then along came knit-a-square.com. One day in March, reading some of the amazing and beautiful posts on the Forum, some words just popped into my head. They finished up like this, and became part of my first post, Net Effect:"

a hand-sung hymn, a symphony of clicks

performed by nimble fingers (unlike mine),

a wall of hope in yarn instead of bricks.

How many different ways do you love your craft?

Do you adore the sensual feel of the yarn flowing through your fingers?

Are you mesmerised by the craft itself, finding it meditative and relaxing in your often frantic life?

Do the colours and shades of the yarns entrance you?

Are you captivated by the the infinite combinations you create as you blend them?

Are you fascinated by the variety and complexity of patterns?

Do you wake up at night thinking of how to challenge yourself to tackle ever more intricate examples?

Do you overflow with an almost spiritual joy, not just in producing beautiful and practical items with your own hands, but giving them with love and pride to others as a gift of your heart?

All these sensations and emotions are captured in Heart Yarns.

Come, all you knitters of the world

and stitch your best, both plain and purled,

for poor AIDS orphans who are hurled

towards cold death.

Add to that glow, by purchasing this first volume of Heart Yarns for just $12.95

Heart Yarns is about the love of knitting and crochet. And bringing comfort and warmth to the orphans and abandoned children of South Africa and the extraordinary joy this brings to knit-a-square people. More, it's also a work of art in itself.

In the harsh world of orphan-hood, illness, poverty and destitution, it celebrates love and beauty surviving and bringing hope where there was only despair.

Craft has its locus in the heart.

Art needs a focus of the mind.

Craft, we can see, is of the hand:

simple, rhythmical, refined.

HEART YARNS is volume one of three, each totally dedicated to knitting and crocheting in all their moods and manifestations. That it's also dedicated to the AIDS orphans and abandoned babies and children of southern Africa, and the world's knitters and crocheters who support them, somehow it makes it more special.

It's a classically laid out 48 page e-book, magically designed by talented young Australian designer, Matt Emery. To capture the visual lustre and sensuality of of knitting and crochet, it includes inspiring images by an equally talented young artist, photographer Patrice Liem.

Volumes two and three are already written and designs are underway. We expect to release them in October and November respectively.

How much should a unique work like this sell for? Just think, the world's first volume of a completely original trilogy devoted solely to knitting and crochet. Our research tells us we could ask for $29.95.

But Roger believes the spirit of the knitters and crocheters should be our guide.

He feels that their generosity, and their reaching out to the lost, the poor, the ill and the abandoned, should be the benchmark. 

For that simple, beautiful, reason, and to help the unpaid volunteers of knit-a-square.com continue their work, he's suggested a price of just $12.95.

Knit-a-square is built on the complete trust  of strangers the world over doing what they can for some of the most marginalised children on this planet. Maybe we ought to listen to him.

As a Knit-a-Square Square Circle subscriber or Forum member, if you choose to buy Heart Yarns, 100% of the purchase price will be donated to Knit-a-Square on your behalf.

Here's how to order

The book is 7MB, and will download in .pdf format, which you can view using Adobe Acrobat.

Within a few seconds you will be enjoying the heartfelt sentiments of Heart Yarns.

We greatly value and respect your feedback. Please contact us at info@heartyarns.com with any comments you may have or issues with receiving your copy and we will attend to it promptly.

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