Polychromatic Purlers Homepage

Bye Bye

2007-06-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't noticed, this site isn't active anymore. We've switched to MySpace completely due to the fact that myspace lets us reach out to people faster and it has more options available.

If you still wanna check us out, our myspace URL is: myspace.com/polychromatic_purlers

Hope to see you there!

An Article On Child Abuse Prevention Month

2007-03-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I found this article on the internet, talking about Child Abuse Prevention Month (which I didn't even know existed prior to today) and I thought that I'd share parts of it with all of you. I put dots in places where I removed things (If you want to read the read the entire article, however, here's the link: http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070331/NEWS01/703310316/1006 ) Enjoy!

~Danielle

Preventing children from being abused is everyone's responsibility
Reggie Dogan
rdogan@pnj.com

The only way to stop child abuse is to prevent it.............April's observance of Child Abuse Prevention Month is the right time to remind ourselves of our responsibility to prevent the abuse and neglect that robs so many of our children of their childhood, their sense of security and their future.

..................

It is unconscionable that three children die each day as a result of abuse or neglect, and countless others remain silent, their pain unnoticed and unreported, according to the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect. In Escambia and Santa Rosa counties last year, more than 7,000 cases of abuse and neglect were investigated.

..................

Child predators are increasingly using the Internet to lure young children into their trap of abuse, and it is incumbent upon parents and guardians to closely monitor their children's Internet usage and the sites they visit.

.........Child abuse prevention is everyone's responsibility. You can protect children by empowering yourself and getting involved in awareness and prevention efforts..........

Knowledge and education are power. Empower yourself and children with the techniques to protect every child.

Through prevention and education, together, we can stop the violence before it begins and keep our children safe from abuse and neglect.

Polychromatic Purlers Mission Statement

2007-03-31T09:26:00.001-07:00

Dear Knitting Enthusiast,

Polychromatic Purlers is a knitting group with a purpose. The purpose is to help raise awareness about child abuse through the act of knitting. Once a year, beginning in Winter 06, our group will take projects that we have created and vandalize the nation with them. This sounds confusing, but let me clarify. You, the knitter make a knitted thing (scarves, gloves, booty's, etc.) that would be used by a child (by this, I mean that no bras, undies, or adult wear are acceptable). Everything that is knitted by us Polychromatic Purlers are things that would benefit children. On Jan. 2, we knitters take these items (that will all have an informational card on child abuse attached to it by string or whatever) and place them around our city (these cards are necessary, so please don't forget them; the information that needs to be on these cards is listed under the "CARESTITCH CARD" post made on Dec. 30th).

It doesn't matter if one lives in a city or the suburbs, we creative knitters can always find places to put our creations. In a way, we are infusing our town with knowledge, and helping to make a difference by doing so. I mean, think about it-if you found a knitted scarf tied around your car's side mirror with a little paper attached, wouldn't you be a little more interested in reading it than you would if it was just some boring pamphlet under your windshield wiper? And, what if you drove through town on your way to work and found them all over the city? Wouldn't you take notice? We're not saying that we expect the streets to be lined in hoody's and sewn bears, we're simply saying that by getting all of us knitters behind this cause, we CAN make a difference. All you need to do is make ONE item, attach our card, and put it in the city, wherever you want, on Jan. 2nd.

Please help us raise awareness on this very serious issue, and speak out by knitting a garment for a child that can't speak out on his/her own.

Thankyou for reading this mission statement. Now, go forth to better serve the world with your knitting!

Sincerely,
Danielle,
founder of the Polychromatic Purlers

March Meeting

2007-03-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

Soooo...here's a play-by-play of last night's meeting:

KNITTY TIME!!!!! (knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, purl, purl, purl, purl, purl, purl, purl....you get the idea)
Time to create the treasurer! Celia was appointed treasurer last night, after we decided that it would be best to have a checking account for the group. We're thinking of going to commerce soon, and setting it up. This way, we'll have somewhere to keep the money that we'll spend on knitting supplies and advertisements. Eventually, when we get big enough, we'll be able to save up money to donate to organizations. IDK, we'll have to wait and see.
Knitting Olympics talky time! We're thinking about renting out Loose Park for a couple of hours this summer so that we can have the event, but we don't really know how that process works as of yet....and so I'll be doing some research for a little while. :) We didn't add any new events to the program, but we did discuss sponsors, donations, and food. Right now, we aren't sure whether or not we'll have an entry fee...it depends on what sponsors we can get and what they'd like for us to do. As for having a picnic at the event, the details on that can't be decided upon until we decide whether or not we'll charge an entry fee. Soooooo...that means that we're going to be looking into finding sponsors for a while since we can't do anything until we get some.

That's pretty much all that happened last night! It was really fun, and I'm glad to note that we have a new addition to our immediate group-Tosha! Now, our regulars that come to the meetings include: Celia, Amanda, Ross (absent yesterday! tsk, tsk), Ashlie, Tosha, and me. Yay for us!!!!

Oh! Last note=If you live in the Kansas City area, please stop by at our next meeting. *cute puppy dog face* I'm sure that you'll love it, if you enjoy knitting, talking, and hanging with friends. Half of our time is spent knitting, and half of our time is spent discussing stuffs. It's really fun, and I hope you can make it. Our next meeting is on April 24th @ 5:00 pm. The meeting is at the Trails West Kansas City Public Library (11401 East 23rd Street Independence, MO 64052), in meeting room A. Hope to see you there! (psssst...we have snacks, too!!!!)

~Danielle

last night's Polychromatic Purlers meeting

2007-02-21T08:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm writing this post so that anyone who missed last night's meeting (Ross) will know what went on and everything.

Um.....Amanda was knitting a cute scarf, Celia was sewing something (I'm still not sure what), I was sitting there doing nothing of importance, Ashlie was playing on her compy, Luke was sleeping under my chair (my puppy is SOOOOO cute!), and some freshman chica was sitting at the corner of the table, not talking to anybody.

We sat around doing that for the first hour but, once 6:00 rolled around I tried to get to an actual agenda.

We went over how much money we should ask the lady from Kansas for, we went over the Knitting Olympics (check out the new blog post on our myspace for more details), we went over how many people would be joining us on our summer trip to Kansas, and we went over the making of some new flyers.

This meeting involved a lot of talking, and discussing of stuffs. We didn't DO anything, but we got done a lot of good ideas to get stuff started. At our next meeting, we can DO some of those things that we talked about-like the flyers, for example. I'd like to start making some at our next meeting. And, I'd like to get the details down on the Knitting Olympics. Plus, I'm going to try to introduce some Child Abuse Programs that we might sister with. We'll talk about all of that at the next meeting, though. : )

~Danielle,
founder of the Polychromatic Purlers

myspace

2007-01-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, the day that I should have written this post has come and gone, but here it is anyway:

We Polychromatic Purlers now have a myspace!! Amanda started it up but now we're all doing our part to keep the site up and running. So, if any of you have a myspace, check out our site! Our myspace URL is http://www.myspace.com/polychromatic_purlers . We've got some nice music and a cute background, but we want to have soooo much more. The goal of the site is to reach a wider number of people and get them into our cuase.

Hope to see you there!

~Danielle

ps-Don't worry; our Blogger will still be up and running.

blogger = a place to put all of our updates (more professional)
myspace = a place to keep in touch with all of the Polychromatic Purlers (more social)

The List of Ideas

2007-01-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

Here it is, the list you've all been waiting for! Maybe....

These are the things that Celia, Ross, and I thought should be done differently next year around:

brighter colors should be used on the garments (it makes them waaaay more noticable)
we need to start making garments much earlier than December (we were thinking October would be a great time to start)
we need to go to more places than just the Plaza (Independence Square, Downtown KC, Crown Center, and Westport were some ideas)
contact should be made to news crews way in advance, so that they might do a story on it or something

~Danielle

ps-We'd love to make this list longer. If you guys think of anything that we should do differently please leave a comment. Thanks!!!!

Congratulations, everyone!!!!

2007-01-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

The day has come and passed, and it was AMAZING, was it not? The small group that I went with hit the Country Club Plaza, and left a total of 14 items, plus a large number of CareStitch cards tied to poles and trees. If you'd like to see one of the items we left, look down, because we got a picture in the paper!!!

Yeah, that's right, that's a picture of the statue that wore one of Ross' (a great Polychromatic Purler) scarves. This was in the Local section of the KC Star's Wednesday paper. I'm not kidding you! We didn't get a story, but this is still something, people! The more news we get spreading about us, the more people we can round up to help us raise awareness on child abuse.

Slowly but surely, we will make a difference.

---------------------------------------------------------

I wanna thank all of you guys for taking time out of your busy schedules to knit something spectacular and display it in public, with one of our CareStitch cards. We can't do much of anything without your help, so thanks a million! I hope that all of you decide to stick around for a very long time; this season may be over, but now we've gotta start planning for next year!

Speaking of which: if any of you have suggestions for what we could do better the next time around, please tell us. I'll make a list of ideas that Celia, Ross, and myself thought up yesterday and I'll post them on the site tomorrow.

~Danielle,
founder of the Polychromatic Purlers

ps-the next couple of posts will include some stories from Polychromatic Purlers and their exploits that went on yesterday (some pictures included). If you have a story you'd like to share, email it to me at puppydls@hotmail.com and I'll be sure to put it on the blog soon. Happy knitting!

CARESTITCH CARD

2006-12-30T22:46:00.000-08:00

[Copy down the following things, typed in red, on one side of your card. On the other side of your card, put down the things typed in blue. For more information, check out the "CareStitch Card Update" post made on Dec. 30th, or leave a comment and I'll respond as soon as possible. ~Danielle]

Child Abuse is a serious problem facing our country today, and we must do whatever we can to see to it that it stops. These following organizations are helping to make a difference. If you, or someone you know needs help, please contact these sites.

*nationalcac.org
*www.preventchildabuse.org
*www.childabuseprevention.org
*www.dss.mo.gov/cd/can.htm
*childhelpusa.org

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"Every day in America 2,482 children are confirmed as abused or neglected." (Children's Defense Fund [CDF], 2005)

"The World Health Organization report....concluded that an estimated 57,000 children die each year form physical abuse." (David Williamson, University of North Carolina, October 2006)

"[Worldwide] 150 million girls and 73 million boys under the age of 18 experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence during 2002. Estimates form 2000 suggest that 1.8 million children were forced into prostitution and pornography, and 1.2 million were victims of trafficking." (UN Secretary General's Study on Violence Against Children. 10/06. jimhopper.com/abstats/#unrpt )

This item was knitted by ___________________, a Polychromatic Purler who still cares about the children of this world. Polychromatic-Purlers.blogspot.com/

CareStitch Card update

2006-12-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, everyone's been asking about where to get the carestitch cards. Here's the story: the Card was finished a couple of weeks ago on a Publisher document but I was unable to figure out how to transfer it to the internet in a way that it would have it's own link. So, I got hold of some computer savy peoples, hoping that they could solve the problem for me. Well, they couldn't. Now, the document was somehow deleted or misplaced on my computer, so I've got to redo it. It'll be typed up (what would have been on the Publisher document) by tonight, Dec. 30th.

Soooooo....what all of this means is that the stuff will be there for everyone, but not in a nicely printable form. So, that means that everyone'll have to write it up on their own.

I'm terribly sorry about all of this. I thought that this would be a simple enough thing to do. Sorry times a billion, and thanks for waiting on the update. I'm sorry it took so long to come.

~Danielle,
founder of the Polychromatic Purler

ps-If you would rather just have the Publisher document, please send me your email address and I'll email it you. That's the only other option that I have for you at this time. Once again, I'm sorry.

Meet some of our Core Members!

2006-12-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

Boys can Knit too! This is one of our very own Polychromatic Purlers, and also a member of our
teen knitting group at Trails West KCPL (Purrlers), Ross. He's making a Xmas gift in this picture but he's planning to make a pumpkin pie hat for Jan. 2nd. It's going to look soooooo cute! Once he's finished with it, we'll get a picture of it up on here so any of you that might want to make
one like it will be able to.

Here's another picy of the boys.

This is me, Danielle, and Luke. I WAS knitting (that's my yellow yarn on the table, if you can make it out) a pastel yellow and green striped scarf for Polychromatic Purlers but I wanted to check the web for a bit so I pulled out my laptop. Luke's making a wristwarmer in this pic., just going to show that you don't have to do something elaborate for this group. It's the thought that counts! Hope you enjoyed seeing some of our core members that get this thing going!

~Danielle

Statistics on Child Abuse

2006-11-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

The following statistics are all legitimate, and can be looked into further by following the link provided after each one. These statistics are here to show how big of a problem this issue (child abuse) really is. Thank you for taking the time to look at these.

For Federal fiscal year 2004, an estimated 3 million children were alleged to have been abused or neglected and received investigations or assessments by State and local child protective services (CPS) agencies. Approximately 872,000 children were determined to be victims of child maltreatment..... Children in the age group of birth to 3 years had the highest rate of victimization at 16.1 per 1,000 children of the same age group in the national population
-http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm04/summary.htm

An average of 5.5 children per 10,000 enrolled in day care are sexually abused, an average of 8.9 children out of every 10,000 are abused in the home
-Finkelhor & Williams, 1988. http://www.prevent-abuse-now.com/stats.htm#Child

Each week, child protective services (CPS) agencies throughout the United States receive more than 50,000 reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. In 2002, 2.6 million reports concerning the welfare of approximately 4.5 million children were made.....As a result of these investigations, approximately 896,000 children were found to have been victims of abuse or neglect—an average of more than 2,450 children per day.
-http://pediatrics.about.com/od/childabuse/a/05_abuse_stats.htm