W.E.L.L. (Women Empowered and Loving Life) is hosting its first annual Stitch?A?Thon!

We’ll be sewing, knitting, and crocheting pairs of slippers for The Pink Slipper Project, a charitable group based in VA that collects
handmade slippers for women and children in battered shelters. The women and their children recieveing the slippers
have fled domestic violence, and usually do not have time to pack all their personal belongings…. A pair of handmade
slippers is a thoughtful and welcome gift, something that is theirs alone, during such a difficult time. The Pink Slipper
Project has been “warming heart and toes” since 2009, and this is our first event to benefit them. We have teamed up
with 504 Stitches, a New Orleans sewing class, and set a goal of 600 pairs of slippers! Yay! We are also collecting the
following items:

? $1.00 Postage Stamps
? Fabrics, skeins of yarn, and other supplies for slippers
? Funds for The Pink Slipper Project

There are several ways you can help with this event! Pick whatever way is best for you, and pass on the information to
others you know who may be interested. We will start making slippers and collecting goods on July 1st, and going until
the day of the Stitch?A?Thon itself, October 29th, 2011. On the date of the event we will be stitching a solid twelve hours
at a local coffee shop, and at the end of that day our collections will be officially closed. We will ship all collected goods,
funds, stamps and slippers to VA and wish them well.

SPONSORS
In the fashion of a school jog?a?thon, we are asking our family, friends, and neighbors to sponsor us in our goal of 600
pairs of slippers. A sponsor will pledge a certain amount of money (minimum $1.00) per pair of slippers. The slippermaker
will then proceed to make as many pairs of slippers as they can, and as soon as October 30th, the slipper?maker
will contact you with the amount of slippers they completed to collect payment. Slippers will be made throughout the
time from the launch date until the end of the event date. (From July 1st to October 29th at 8pm.) All funds collected will
be sent to the Pink Slipper Project by the end of November 2011.

DONATIONS
You may choose to donate outside of the sponsorship option. That is fine and wonderfully appreciated. Attached are an
idea list for donations and a list of locations where donation boxes can be found. Please be sure that a store employee
and/or W.E.L.L. member has received the donation securely. Please put cash and/or checks into envelopes before
placing them in the donation boxes. Donation boxes will be checked every week and donations collected for the
shipment in November. Make all checks out to: Pinque, Inc, The Pink Slipper Project.

MAKING SLIPPERS
Making slippers is yet another way that you can get involved in this event. The Pink Slipper Project has three original,
easy?to?follow patterns and W.E.L.L. will be posting numerous additional patterns on its website during the course of the
collection period. Slippers can be made at your leisure and should be mailed in for the event date: October 29th, 2011.

Here’s a link to the slhttp://www.makeminepink.com/pink-slipper-project/Pinkslipper-crochet-pattern.pdfipper pattern designed specially for the project (although any slipper pattern can be used):

http://www.makeminepink.com/pink-slipper-project/Pinkslipper-crochet-pattern.pdfLOCATIONS TO DONATE

By mail:
? W.E.L.L.
1207 Carondelet Apt B
New Orleans, LA 70130

In person:
? Chapel of the Holy Comforter
2220 Lakeshore
New Orleans, LA 70122
Hours: Weekdays, 9am-5pm

Event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=228661383821823

BTW, it’s Bastille Day!  Back when I majored in French as an undergraduate, this was a great day for celebration.  Congratulations to our French readers!

Looking for more slippers to crochet? Check out these Slipper patterns we found on Etsy.

Crochet slippers are the ultimate comfort for your feet, they keep your feet warm and add padding to the underfoot of your sole.

Crochet slippers make wonderful gifts as generally they fit several sizes. Slippers are great for donating to charities, as crochet slippers can be handed out to hospitals, aged care facilities, and displaced children.

Did you know the first recorded history of slippers can be traced all the way back to the 12th century?  The Vietnamese had been wearing slippers long before the folks in the West, with its earliest record of a slipper only being traced to 1478.

We also found these great crochet books on slipper patterns to crochet.