The event started at 8am Saturday morning and continued until somewhere around 3am on Sunday.  The store was packed with food donated by local restaurants.  I foolishly bought food the night before thinking we would not have enough, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.  A Super thanks to Nadine’s Gin Joint, Ferraro’s Pizza, Soulard Coffee Garden and Carondelet Bakery for keeping the girls fed!

And now for the super big thanks… Thank you to all of the forty some people who came out to knit/crochet for St. Louis Children’s Hospital. And a special thanks to Holly from South City Studio for helping me plan the event.   We created over seventy pieces to be donated.  With all the ohhs and ahhs one would have thought we were holding a baby shower here at Paste.  From blankets and bibs to booties and burial gowns and even some pumpkin hats.  We had everyone ranging from beginner to expert.  The stuff is so cute I have to admit it’s going to be a little tough handing the boxes over.

What was most spectacular were the women who gave up their time on a Saturday to be here doing something for a good cause.  There was such a feeling of community all day long here at the store and I would be lying if I said it doesn’t make me a little teary thinking about it.

Since Needles for Newborns was such a success we’ve decided to launch a sorta-monthly series of gatherings at Paste for charity called Crafting With Purpose and have Needles be the big annual event. The next event will be on December 13 from 10-8 and will benefit The Haven of Grace, a shelter and rehabilitation center for homeless pregnant women and their children. In addition to needle artists, we’ve decided to invite the scrappy/card making folks as well. When you’re starting a new life, words of inspiration are important! I hope you will join us and bring your big hearts!

One million thanks for not only supporting this event but for supporting Paste.

Katie

So again, and this time more so than others I am SO EXCITED!  Paste is teaming up with South City Studios and Girls Guide to the Galaxy to present Needles for Newborns.  It’s a 24 hour needle event to benefit St. Louis Children’s Hospital.  Paste will be open 24 hours welcoming local knitters and crocheters willing to donate a little time to make hats, mittens, and blankets for newborns.

Local crafters can sign up in two hour slots (or more if your super wonderful!) to get the needles working.  And if doing it for charity isn’t enough we’re being supported by some very wonderful local restaurants.  I mean girls gotta eat right?  Food will be donated by Nadines Gin Joint, Soulard Coffee Garden, Feraro’s Jersey Style Pizza and Carondelet Bakery.

And of course a special thanks to Cara McKinlay for designing this awesomely cute flyer.  I kind of want to print it out and cuddle with it!  Also to the Ink Spot for giving us a super good deal on printing.

To participate or donate email pastesoulard@gmail.com or call 314-577-6930

Paste is super excited to stock needle felting supplies! We’ve been told finding needle felting supplies in St. Louis is like looking for that dang old needle in the haystack! So, We’ve stocked up. We have over thirty colors of wool roving and more on the way! We also offer a variety of 100% wool felt. We are also super excited to offer needle felting classes.

What is needle felting you ask?

Needle felting is a process which uses barbed needles to interlock wool fibers to form a more condensed material. Wool fibers have scales which when rubbed against each other catch and lock into place to create this denser material called felt. Felting needles are used to entangle the fibers. As the felting needle is moved up and down, the barbs on the needles catch the scales of the wool and entangle them into place.

In other words you can make super cute stuff like this:

Or this:

Nikki is a chunky weight, multicolor, thin and thick texture 100% wool from Cascade. Perfect for felting too!