A lot of knitters, crocheters and crafters give back. It’s just what we do. Recently I stumbled across a couple of new and positive “takes” on the Giving Back genre.
Jimmy Beans Wool, a large LYS and Web presence, and Vogue Knitting have teamed up to create five $800 Beans for Brains scholarships. According to the Web site, “the Beans for Brains scholarship is a merit-based scholarship open to all students attending an accredited institution in the fall of 2010. Applicants must know how to knit or crochet, must provide an original pattern or a photo of a recent project from Vogue Knitting, and must be okay with Vogue publishing their photo in a future issue of Vogue Knitting Magazine.
The scholarships will be awarded for the 2010-2011 year. One award is guaranteed to go to a Reno/Tahoe area applicant, which is the location of Jimmy Beans Wool bricks-and-mortar store. The remaining four awards will go to an applicant in each of the four U.S. regions.
BTW – March 31, 2010 is the cutoff date for applications.
For more information on the scholarships, as well as an application, Click Here. There you can download the Beans for Brains application.
Be Sweet Magic Balls
Cottage industries make a big difference around the world. Be Sweet gives South African artisans (mostly women) “the confidence and the means to support themselves and their families in an otherwise economically depressed region.”
Be Sweet Shoppers
Be Sweet crafts marvelous bags and yarns to produce income for their families.
The MINKA cooperative is a micro industry composed of indigenous Bolivian Quechua and Aymara Indian woman. Organized by a group of Canadian volunteers, the Bolivian women knit beautiful sweaters to support their families and improve their quality of life.
Knitting a MINKA sweater
Now, Kim Cheeley has started Itty Bitty Witty Knitties, 
a wonderful line of cards with knitting and quilting swatches on the front of each card. A cottage industry, the swatches on the cards are “handmade by a group of about a dozen [Chinese] deaf women who participate in the vocational training programs of Bless China International (formerly known as Asia Project Grace) in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in south-central China. 
The deaf women, “heretofore denied access to any education and unemployable due to their handicap, are now being taught Chinese sign language, live in comfortable apartments, make a living wage, and are provided with retirement funds and health insurance.” This is all through crafting the tiny swatches on these marvelous greeting cards.
The cards, which not only contain swatches, but either tiny clothespins or knitting needles, also offer funny and heartfelt sentiments.
Tell me, do you know any cottage industries or giving back involving knitting or crocheting? I’d love to hear and add it to this post.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and kind and joy-filled Holiday Season.
knittingnewsnet.wordpress.com 
Fabulous post, Vicki – really great to learn of these small businesses and scholarships. Thanks for sharing.
xoxoxoxo 🙂 b
great post, although I don’t personally know of any cottage industries. But my LYS DOES stock these cards (and I buy one every time I go in) and the owner also is delivers any “food bank items” that her customers bring in — weekly. It is so great to have a place that you know will do something like this!
Maryjo
Thanks for commenting, Maryjo. Our LYSs are terrific. They sponser so many wonderful events and acts of giving. And you’re so right – it’s great to have a place like that, where you can participate.