Acrylic Yarn Charity Donations

A guest post from Kayla…

I’m so excited about the new friend I found at a thrift shop today! A little backstory…

A few years ago I completed a charity marathon. That was, I knit or crocheted 26 miles of yarn into items to give away to charity. I would guest post occasionally to share my progress with Mom’s readers. Many people sent yarn my way to help me towards my goal.

Now I don’t remember the last time I’ve knit or crocheted. I keep a sock in my classroom for professional development but I have no other projects going. Honestly, if I make the time for needlework now I want it to be something for me personally instead of something to give away.

I’m okay with this because I love my busy life as a mom and am enjoying other hobbies right now. However, I have tons of yarn sitting in my basement. Much of it was donated so I feel bad selling it at a garage sale or something, but I know it could be doing good for someone.

Anyway, I was poking around in the craft section looking for stationary and I overheard two friends evaluating the yarn selection. There was some “This looks like a fun kid color!” and “the ladies will love this!” It sounded like people looking for acrylic yarn to make into charity items, so I butted in and introduced myself. I literally asked a random stranger if she would be open to receiving a trunk full of yarn.

Good news: She didn’t think I was too strange. In fact, she was thrilled! I happened to run into her at the next thrift shop (the first opens at 9 but the other not until 10, so it’s a pretty common route!) and asked her permission to share her contact information with you all.

Here it is:

Mary Trenkamp
Eagle Pointe Place
2700 Matthew John Dr
Dubuque, IA 52002

Mary lives in a retirement community and knits and crochets with a group of people there. They make prayer shawls, children’s items, baby hats, etc. They are always busy and always on the lookout for more yarn. So if you have any to send, I am out of business! Send it to her instead.

They like worsted weight acrylic best but can use lighter yarn held double.

I also added her information to the Quilting Donations! page. This page is an index of where to send supplies for charity purposes. It’s nice to send directly to the people who can use it to save postage on sending it to mom or me first.

She said she was so happy to have met me and I said that my husband will be glad too! He sometimes feels overwhelmed with my craft supplies but now I’m down to one storage bag of acrylic yarn.

I was home with Mom recently and showed her my storage bags. I love these- they hold 23 gallons or 50 pounds but fold flat. They are great for squishy things because they stack and stay neat but aren’t as rigid as a box. I like them for thrifting and storing my fabric and yarn. I thought you all might like them too, so here is a link.

Mom’s posted before about being a meddler, and I think I have picked up that trait. Lucky for us, it usually ends well!