Thank you!

The raffle is now closed - we have raised a whopping £605, so a HUGE thanks to all of you who donated.

The winners will be announced tomorrow, Friday 7th August, initially through the weekly newsletter. The names of the winners will also be posted here, just in case you miss the email...

You can view a video of Joy's hour on the plinth here - I'm sure you'll agree it was most impressive, especially when you see the long-distance shot that shows exactly how high up she was standing.....gulp!

Knitting Goddess Charity Raffle

The Occasion

This summer, sculptor Antony Gormley is creating an astonishing living monument, by asking the people of the UK to occupy the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London, a space normally reserved for statues of Kings and Generals. They will become an image of themselves, and a representation of the whole of humanity.

Every hour, 24 hours a day, for 100 days without a break, a different person will make the Plinth their own.

On Thursday 6th August, Joy McMillan, also known to the knitting / spinning world as The Knitting Goddess, will be taking her turn between 3am and 4am GMT! You will be able to watch this live at the official One & Other website.

The Prize

To mark this momentous occasion, Joy will be creating a special, one-off sock yarn celebrating the London Underground - in other words, the wool will feature the colours of the many London tube lines (and there are 11, so that's a lot of colours!). Needless to say, this yarn will make some fantastic self-striping socks!

During her hour on the plinth, Joy will be re-skeining 10 skeins of this yarn. These skeins will then be added to other London- and yarn-related goodies to form 10 very special raffle packages, including a set of coordinating stitch markers designed by Natasha Cox-Abeysinghe. (We can't tell you more about the other goodies at the moment, because it would spoil the surprise, but suffice it to say, if you are one of the lucky winners, you will feel thoroughly spoiled!). UPDATE: the lovely Nic from NicsKnots has donated a project bag and needle roll - you can see examples of her goodies on here

Entry into the raffle is GBP£5 per ticket - in other words, you will get one chance in the raffle for each ticket you buy.

Tickets can be purchased up until 6pm GMT on Thursday 6th August. The winners will be announced the next day both on this website and in Joy's weekly Friday newsletter.

NB: If Joy is unable to actually stand on the plinth for whatever reason (weather, illness, London is swamped by a flood!) - raffle winners will still receive their yarn and other goodies.

The Charity

All the proceeds from this raffle will go to the Mirasol Project. As knitters, a lot of you will know (and love) the Mirasol Yarn Collection. A percentage of every sale of Mirasol Yarn is invested in the establishment and running of a boarding-house for local children in the remote area of Munani in the region of Puno. The proposal is focused on an infant and child-care programme and after-school support for older children so that the alpaca shepherds' families at Mallkini have a secure place where the children can develop their potential. The boarding-house will be built to provide accommodation, meals and health-care and support the children with their school-work.

The Mirasol Project is named after a young Quechua girl who, with her brother, tends 350 alpacas. Its aim is to fight poverty and encourage community development. As well as providing accommodation, meals and health-care, the boarding-house will be a centre where the children can develop personal, occupational and communication skills and study techniques in specialised after-school workshops. The centre will foster the principles of peace, tolerance and equality with a respect for human rights and basic freedom. As well as an awareness of other cultures, the centre will also focus on the preservation of the language, culture and tradition of the children and their families. In addition to preserving local traditions, the centre has a creative and innovating function in preparing its children for a changing and challenging future.

More information on the project can be found here