IBOL 3: Revenge of the Zombie Yarn

Okay, so I made that subtitle up myself. But you may remember me talking about "IBOL" last year. "IBOL" stands for "Iraqi Bundles of Love," a creative way that a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq managed to connect American sewers and knitters with their Iraqi and Afghani counterparts. The first IBOL took place in 2009, when Major Art LaFlamme leveraged the power of the internet and the enthusiasm of the crafting community to collect sewing and knitting supplies to distribute in Iraq. The first IBOL collected over 3400 bundles of supplies and distributed them in three Iraq provinces. Part of the charm of IBOL was that it was completely grassroots: the program wasn't technically sponsored by the Army, so soldiers volunteered to help with collection and distribution, and bundles were created and mailed by American crafters who relished the idea of making a connection to Iraqi women. Major LaFlamme also figured that a program like this one was a perfect way to implement the Army's desire to make greater connections with Iraqi citizens by providing a friendly reason for soldiers to interact with Iraqis.

The response was so great that Major LaFlamme coordinated a second IBOL, which took place in late summer 2010. This time the State Department did officially sponsor the program, but it was scaled down to match the more limited resources of the group distributing the bundles. Over 900 bundles were sent and distributed.

Now it's time for IBOL 3. The goal right now is to collect 500 bundles that will be distributed in a first "surge." (More bundles will be collected later in the year, too.) So if you've got leftover fabric, thread, sewing supplies, yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks, buttons, or anything that an enterprising crafter can use in a world without a Joann Fabric or LYS or A.C. Moore nearby, please consider pledging to send a bundle or two. You just get a priority mail box (free at your local post office), fill it with fabric, yarn, whatever you're sending that's on the list, bundle it together and mail it out.

The IBOL blog is here, the IBOL FAQs are here, and directions for how to bundle your bundle are here.

Thanks for considering it.

IBOL 2: Clean out your stash for a good cause

I posted last year about a wonderful project begun by a single soldier serving in Iraq. It was called "Iraqi Bundles of Love" and involved the collection of bundles of sewing fabric and other supplies. The soldier distributed them to individuals in Iraq -- women who very much needed the items to clothe themselves and their families. The project took off through the magic of teh Internet and over 3000 bundles (each the size of a large Priority Mail box) were delivered.

Well, it's time for IBOL 2: the sequel. The IBOL founder has found a volunteer in northern Iraq to coordinate distribution of another wave of bundles, this time including KNITTING supplies as well as sewing, and so I am giving you the heads-up in case you, like me, have odds and ends of yarn laying around that you wouldn't miss if you were to send them to IBOL 2.

Here's the link to the IBOL blog, with full instructions on how to participate. Basically you get a large Priority Mail box (free at your local post office -- forgive me, non-Americans, this one is targeted at my American readers, since it was our intellectually-challenged Dubya who got us into this fiasco that is the Iraq War) and place a piece of fabric in the box. Fill the box with crafting supplies: fabric, thread, knitting needles, yarn, sewing needles, buttons, anything you can think of that someone who has never seen a Jo-Ann Fabric or a LYS might find useful. Then you tie up the bundle and mail it off. More extensive instructions are at the link above.

I had a tremendous amount of fun filling up a few boxes last time around. There are always leftover balls or even partial balls of yarn from projects; I realized that now that I have fabulous Addi clicks I don't need a zillion straight needles laying around and threw some of them in; and I was able to pass on fabric and thread from old Halloween costumes and the like.

So if you're in the mood to help, and you've got some extra stash lying around, for the ten bucks or so it takes to mail a box, you can help someone on the other side of the world. Maybe it will help remind all of us that people are people, and our similarities are greater than our differences.