Crochet for CANSA 2019 – Unforgettable!
I had the wonderful fortune of being invited by a friend (and immensely special person…my sister-from-another-mother) to join her and a friend at the Crochet for CANSA 2019 fund-raising event in Pretoria on Saturday. What an unforgettable experience! Worth every second of the drive from Johannesburg. I do believe that, having been to this one, I’d be willing to travel from even further away, if I had to.
A number of cancer-warriors and cancer-survivors attended the event and it was eye-opening that most, if not all who were there, had a friend or family member (most often more than one!) who’d had cancer. So, with more than a third of the ticket price donated to Cansa, it was a truly feel-good cause. Eskom also made an appearance, in the form of the growing, festering blight called load-shedding. But luckily, this didn’t affect the enjoyment of the day.
Hosted at the beautiful setting that is Anja’s Tea Garden in Pretoria, I was in awe of the amount of effort, love and dedication that Marlene Jordaan and Elza-Marie Van Lille (the amazing organisers) put into this event – months of preparations and arrangements; weeks and many, many late nights to get everything ready and set up for the day.
The goodie bags and the huge yarn buckets were filled with so many fabulous treats. Somehow, the sweet little crochet bracelet I got didn’t make it into my pic below. The lunch was delicious (gone before I even thought to take a photo), and the prizes and give-aways were non-stop until the end of the day. Every single attendee won something. It felt like we were little kids at Daddy Warbucks’ Christmas party. All the sponsors and, where possible, links to them, are at the end of this post. They certainly deserve a HUGE shout-out!
The talented and inspiring Karen Adendorff was there with an assortment of her beautiful crochet books. She generously gifted everyone with patterns for two crochet bags and provided a full day of support and assistance to make them. We all got a comprehensive kit in our yarn buckets to make one.
On top of all that, Marlene also arranged a mini yarn festival, hosting a variety of wonderful people and their irresistible yarn & fibre-craft accessories… The Cotton Life by Stef, ColourSpun by Dana, Umbala by Karen, Loopy #6 & The Yarn Room by Jennifer, Colours of Amalfi by Marietjie, Boho Yarns & Ilaya Crochet Hooks & LJ Craft Creations by Linda, Knotty Habit by Miensie & Morgan, BrilliantMommy Bags by Helene, Hooked on Wool by Jennifer & Samantha, AND, all the way from Cape Town, Gina with her Stellar Fireworks yarns and some other goodies from her shop, Natural Yarns. A delectable buffet of fabulous yarn-related goodness for all yarn-craft-lovers. And such awesomely talented, inspiring people to meet and chat with!
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this amazing day! Benice (my friend and “sister” and all-round unicorn-slash-magical person) thank you for inviting me (mwah!). I’m sure the retirement home must have appreciated and enjoyed the beautiful cake you won (made by Drienie) that you donated to them. Such a beautiful gesture and so true to your kindness and generosity, and the spirit of the day.
Benice on the right, with her magical smile. One of Karen Adendorff’s beautiful bags is in front 
Lucy on the right, whose talented daughter, (Morgan) and friend (Miensie) form the creative duo behind Knotty Habit
And to Petra, Lucy, Miensie, all the other wonderful ladies at our table, and everyone at the Mini Yarn Festival, thank you for a lovely day. Hope to see you all there again next year!
If you couldn’t be there this year, keep an eye out for details of next year’s Crochet for Cansa event on my Events, Facebook page or Instagram account. You won’t want to miss out!
And Anja’s Tea Garden will definitely be getting another visit from me, with my daughters this time, before then.
(The Pretoria East Rekord published an article on Sunday about the Crochet for Cansa 2019 event, which you can read here.)
Thank you to all the generous sponsors:
- Bahia Art
- Btrix Yarns & Dsigns
- Be Inspired
- BrilliantMommy Bags
- Charming Wool
- ColourSpun
- Cowgirlblues
- Crochet Crazy Girl
- Deon van Wyk Photography
- Design Chest Jewellery
- Drienie (cakes)
- Dyehouse Yarns
- Elle Yarns
- Faws
- Finesse Tydskrif
- Green Olive
- Hooked on Wool
- Jaarn
- Karen Adendorff
- Katy Kruger
- Klippenbosch Spa
- Knotty Habit
- LIG Tydskrif
- Linda’s Treehouse
- Loopy #6
- Maribu Leather
- Miss La Motte Yarn
- Moloto Superspar
- MoYa
- Natural Yarns
- Nelis Bezuidenhout (RealNet)
- Nova Chocolate
- One of a Kind Yarns
- Pretoria North Wool Centre
- Pumba Bags
- Red Bush Jewellery
- Silky Milky Moon
- Soetkoekies
- Spar North Rand
- The Barnyard Parkview
- The Cotton Life
- Umbala Yarns
- Vrouekeur Tydskrif
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6 Comments
Lucy
It was such a pleasure to share the table with you Brenda, Bernice, Petra, Sonja, Miensie, and all the other ladies. Much admiration for the amount of effort that was put into this event to make it really special! To see the amazing generosity was truly heartwarming, Bernice you are indeed a special person - giving your beautiful prize of the gorgeous cake to Tannie Antoinette to share with the retirement home was so touching and just illustrated the theme of the entire day. Much love & appreciation xxx
Yarntails
Thanks for sharing that Benice gave her prize away for the retirement home. How could I forget that?? It really was such a special day!
Hanneli Lemmer
How can I get involved in this project
Yarntails
Hi Hanneli. I think the best option would be to contact Marlene Jordaan on Facebook... www.facebook.com/marlene.jordaan.77. All the best!
Estelle Müller
wanneer geniet ons weer so 'n heerlike dag? Ek gebruik my emmertjie steeds elke dag. 😊
Yarntails
Hi Estelle. Het jy dalk Crochet for Cansa hierdie jaar bygewoon? Ek het dit so baie geniet! Ek seen uit na volgende jaar wanneer daar hopelik weer een sal wees!