Numbers

  • On average, 298 handwork finishers sign up as Loose Ends volunteers every week!

  • Over 2000 individuals have submitted unfinished projects to Loose Ends, but the true number of finished projects remains a mystery. Two factors make it difficult for us to get an exact count:

    1. Often, unbeknownst to the parties involved,, a package will contain more than one project. While we encourage folks to investigate to the best of their abilities, we don’t always know what we have until a finisher starts to dig in. Then, surprise! What we believed to be a sweater, will instead be a sweater and a pair of socks. Sometimes what we think is a quilt will instead be 8 wall hangings. It’s like that.

    2. Often when a project is finished, there are extra materials (fabric, yarn, embroidery floss), and countless times finishers have used up a client’s “stash” by making extra gifts for family members.

  • Knitting a thumb onto a mitten may take half an hour, hand quilting a quilt could take 900… it’s a range, but the average finisher donates 52 hours of their free time to comfort a grieving stranger with their skills.

  • Only about half of the finishers who have completed projects reported hours. We suspect this number is likely double!

  • Some of the skills our finishers offer:

    Amigurumi

    Appliqué

    Bunka Shishu

    Crewel

    Crochet

    Crochet Mending

    Cross-stitch

    Embroidery

    Hairpin Lace

    Hand Quilting

    Knitting

    Knit Mending

    Latch Hook

    Long Arm Quilting

    Machine Quilting

    Macrame

    Needlepoint

    Origami

    Punch Needle

    Quilting

    Rug Making

    Scrapbooking

    Sewing

    Sewing Mending

    Smocking

    Spinning

    Tatting

    Tunisian Crochet

    Weaving

  • Argentina

    Aruba

    Australia

    Austria

    Belgium

    Bermuda

    Brazil

    Canada

    Chile

    Colombia

    Costa Rica

    Cote d'Ivoire

    Croatia

    Czech Republic

    Denmark

    Ecuador

    England

    Estonia

    Finland

    France

    Germany

    Greece

    Hong Kong

    Hungary

    Iceland

    India

    Indonesia

    Ireland

    Israel

    Italy

    Jamaica

    Japan

    Kenya

    Latvia

    Luxembourg

    Malaysia

    Mexico

    Netherlands

    New Zealand

    Nigeria

    Norway

    Oman

    Philippines

    Poland

    Portugal

    Qatar

    Romania

    Scotland

    Singapore

    Slovakia

    South Africa

    Spain

    Sweden

    Switzerland

    Thailand

    Turkey

    Uganda

    Ukraine

    UAE (United Arab Emirates)

    US (+Puerto Rico and DC)

    Uruguay

    Venezuela

    Vietnam

    Wales

  • US
    Canada
    England
    Scotland
    Wales
    Germany
    Mexico
    Netherlands
    Australia
    New Zealand
    France
    Italy
    Switzerland