Good feels! Loose Ends’ year in review (a long, juicy newsletter)

“I have done things for others, but this one was an experience I could never put into words.” — LEP Finisher

Hey Friends,

Wow, 2025 was a lot.

We at Loose Ends were grateful for the chance to show up in small, personal ways last year. Stitch by stitch, project by project, we had the privilege of helping people feel less alone and a little more cared for. We are deeply thankful to you — our volunteers, project submitters, donors, and partners — for making it possible.

As we welcome 2026, we are holding a simple hope: to continue offering comfort, connection, and kindness to others. Thank you for being part of this work with us.

With gratitude,
Masey Kaplan and the Loose Ends Team

Our most-watched and shared story of 2025: Ezra & Gramma Pam

With more than 10 MILLION VIEWS, Ezra opening his “Pirate Gramma Pam,” crocheted by the most amazing Lisa of @gettohookingcrochet, was 2025’s most shared and viewed video on our social media. Why a pirate? Why a tattoo? Why the extra clothes? You’ll have to watch to find out, but be warned, if you haven’t seen this yet, (or even if you have), grab a tissue first.

PS: You won’t see 10M views on the post when you click because this was Ezra’s second appearance!

Our work is almost completely funded by individual donations.

Donations are fee-free, and gifts of any amount are appreciated.

DONATE TODAY

A couple more things about Lisa:

She has a book coming out.
She re/designed a crochet lotus pattern (a foil to AI-generated patterns), as a fundraiser for Loose Ends.

You can pre-order Lisa’s book here and be first in line for her snarky, PG-13 pattern book when it comes out this June. We wrote a review because we love Lisa and everything she makes.

If you missed this on Instagram, Lisa crocheted a lotus flower pattern originally “designed” by AI, and it looked like you’d expect (bad).

Then, she created a REAL PATTERN based on the photo, and is selling that pattern as a fundraiser for Loose Ends. Her efforts (and your support) have already resulted in a $778 donation. You can get the “Robot Me Knot” Lotus pattern here.

2025 Stats, the year in review:

Wow, it was a year of big growth over here!

5,418 new finishers signed up in 2025, bringing our total number of willing volunteers to 36,000+
1108 new projects were submitted.
86 countries have finishers registered and ready to help!
12 countries had active projects last year!
66,000 hours est. of donated crafting time were volunteered.

Want yarn? A warehouseful of quality Finnish yarn is available at Swanson’s. 50% benefits Loose Ends Project.

HUNDREDS of styles and colors of high-quality Finnish yarn are available on Swanson’s website, with 50% of all sales benefitting our nonprofit. Buy Some Here.

A special message to our finishers: Please send regular updates!

Hey there, volunteer finishers! Don’t forget to send those regular updates along to both your project owner and to your Loose Ends project manager (ie: Jean or Angelica). When we don’t hear from you, we need to chase you, and we are a VERY TINY TEAM, busy with so many things. So, so many things. When you send updates without being reminded, we really, really love it, and we say things like, “Wow, that finisher is pretty great,” and “I think that finisher is my favorite.” (thank you)

Our end-of-year campaign went swimmingly!

With your help, we raised $116,000 (thanks in a big way to Toni Lipsey and TL YarnCrafts)!

The impact of your donations: Thanks to your support, we were able to hire a second part-time project manager. This means we can match even more unfinished handwork and reach more families.

We are hard at work starting the first-ever Legacy Quilt to honor everyone who donated. Stay tuned!

One more amazing story:

“I never told Adam this, but there were times when the dress was on the bust form, I felt as though I was talking to Kate. There came a moment where I had to carefully rip out a few of her hand-stitched pieces, and I said aloud, ‘Kate, you worked really hard on this, and I want to keep as much of your work as possible. Since you are my client, I want to create the best dress possible for you, and I know you would want it done properly.’

I did preserve her original hand stitches and showed Adam where they were located. I had to tap into all my skills are this project: pattern making, sewing, garment construction, beading, embroidery (hand and machine), and cord-making using a lucet (think 16th century French knotting technique, akin to macrame). There were few words exchanged, as I know the dress was an emotional experience for both of us. I diligently worked on piecing together the dress from fragments, notes, previously cut pattern pieces, and notions left behind. — Elizabeth

Elizabeth, Loose Ends finisher, spent 120 hours carefully and lovingly finishing this dress.

“Kate was my partner and best friend. We’ve known each other since high school and were together for almost seven years. We loved cosplay and dressing up for various reasons. This was to be a ‘magnum opus’ kind of project for her. She was sad that she didn’t get to finish it. I intend to build a display of some of our favorite outfits/costumes. It is a piece that I will treasure for the rest of my life because I know how special it was for her.” Adam

Come say “Hi” at Vogue Knitting Live and New England Farm & Fiber!

We will be here Jan.29-February 1. Special thanks to our friends at VKL and Knit the Rainbow for including us in this event! And thanks to Beth T. for being our boss on the ground! Join us at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, NYC.

We will be here Feb. 8, 10am-4pm, at Cyclorama in Boston. We are grateful to Farmer Tam of Wing & a Prayer Farm and New England Farm & Fiber for gifting us a space. This event is FUN.

DONATE TODAY

We depend on donations to do this work. Please consider a gift today.

Donations are fee-free, and gifts of any amount are appreciated.

She has a book coming out.

She re/designed a crochet lotus pattern (a foil to AI-generated patterns), as a fundraiser for Loose Ends.

You can pre-order Lisa’s book here and be first in line for her snarky, PG-13 pattern book when it comes out this June. We wrote a review because we love Lisa and everything she makes.

If you missed this on Instagram, Lisa crocheted a lotus flower pattern originally “designed” by AI, and it looked like you’d expect (bad).

Then, she created a REAL PATTERN based on the photo, and is selling that pattern as a fundraiser for Loose Ends. Her efforts (and your support) have already resulted in a $778 donation. You can get the “Robot Me Knot” Lotus pattern here.

5,418 new finishers signed up in 2025, bringing our total number of willing volunteers to 36,000+

1108 new projects were submitted.

86 countries have finishers registered and ready to help!

12 countries had active projects last year!

66,000 hours est. of donated crafting time were volunteered.

HUNDREDS of styles and colors of high-quality Finnish yarn are available on Swanson’s website, with 50% of all sales benefitting our nonprofit. Buy Some Here.

With your help, we raised $116,000 (thanks in a big way to Toni Lipsey and TL YarnCrafts)!

The impact of your donations: Thanks to your support, we were able to hire a second part-time project manager. This means we can match even more unfinished handwork and reach more families.

We are hard at work starting the first-ever Legacy Quilt to honor everyone who donated. Stay tuned!

Elizabeth, Loose Ends finisher, spent 120 hours carefully and lovingly finishing this dress.

We will be here Jan.29-February 1. Special thanks to our friends at VKL and Knit the Rainbow for including us in this event! And thanks to Beth T. for being our boss on the ground! Join us at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, NYC.

We will be here Feb. 8, 10am-4pm, at Cyclorama in Boston. We are grateful to Farmer Tam of Wing & a Prayer Farm and New England Farm & Fiber for gifting us a space. This event is FUN.

“I have done things for others, but this one was an experience I could never put into words.” — LEP Finisher

Hey Friends,

Wow, 2025 was a lot.

As we welcome 2026, we are holding a simple hope: to continue offering comfort, connection, and kindness to others. Thank you for being part of this work with us.

With gratitude,Masey Kaplan and the Loose Ends Team

Our most-watched and shared story of 2025: Ezra & Gramma Pam

Our work is almost completely funded by individual donations.

A couple more things about Lisa:

She has a book coming out.

She re/designed a crochet lotus pattern (a foil to AI-generated patterns), as a fundraiser for Loose Ends.

You can pre-order Lisa’s book here and be first in line for her snarky, PG-13 pattern book when it comes out this June. We wrote a review because we love Lisa and everything she makes.

If you missed this on Instagram, Lisa crocheted a lotus flower pattern originally “designed” by AI, and it looked like you’d expect (bad).

Then, she created a REAL PATTERN based on the photo, and is selling that pattern as a fundraiser for Loose Ends. Her efforts (and your support) have already resulted in a $778 donation. You can get the “Robot Me Knot” Lotus pattern here.

2025 Stats, the year in review:

Wow, it was a year of big growth over here!

5,418 new finishers signed up in 2025, bringing our total number of willing volunteers to 36,000+

1108 new projects were submitted.

86 countries have finishers registered and ready to help!

12 countries had active projects last year!

66,000 hours est. of donated crafting time were volunteered.

Want yarn? A warehouseful of quality Finnish yarn is available at Swanson’s. 50% benefits Loose Ends Project.

HUNDREDS of styles and colors of high-quality Finnish yarn are available on Swanson’s website, with 50% of all sales benefitting our nonprofit. Buy Some Here.

A special message to our finishers: Please send regular updates!

Our end-of-year campaign went swimmingly!

With your help, we raised $116,000 (thanks in a big way to Toni Lipsey and TL YarnCrafts)!

The impact of your donations: Thanks to your support, we were able to hire a second part-time project manager. This means we can match even more unfinished handwork and reach more families.

We are hard at work starting the first-ever Legacy Quilt to honor everyone who donated. Stay tuned!

One more amazing story:

Elizabeth, Loose Ends finisher, spent 120 hours carefully and lovingly finishing this dress.

Come say “Hi” at Vogue Knitting Live and New England Farm & Fiber!

We will be here Jan.29-February 1. Special thanks to our friends at VKL and Knit the Rainbow for including us in this event! And thanks to Beth T. for being our boss on the ground! Join us at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, NYC.

We will be here Feb. 8, 10am-4pm, at Cyclorama in Boston. We are grateful to Farmer Tam of Wing & a Prayer Farm and New England Farm & Fiber for gifting us a space. This event is FUN.

We depend on donations to do this work. Please consider a gift today.

With gratitude,
Masey Kaplan and the Loose Ends Team