Hi Kate, and welcome to the Square Circle Forum, home of Knit a Square.
My name is Amy and I am one of the Moderators from the USA.
We hope you enjoy the different discussions that cover all aspects of KAS. We hope that you will get to see your work arrive in The Barn or better yet wrapped around a child during a distribution.
Please feel free to add a comment or two to photos or discussion. This site is a little challenging at the beginning but with a little practice it is very easy to navigate.
I look forward to seeing some of your work on the Forum.
There's no reason why you can't send your squares in a box. I usually send mine in bags because they're lighter, but when I have a suitable box, I use it to send my squares. A box is useful for sending toys.
When I send bags, I use the storage bags so that I can vacuum out the air. This means that I can get more into the bags. Then I pack the storage bag into a heavy duty garbage bag. I find this is the easiest way for me to pack a maximum of items to make up my 5 kilo packages. I send 5 kilos as it's much more economical than sending smaller packages. We used to have a 2 kilo small package rate in France. However this was abolished and the 2 kilo parcel went up by 250%. 5 kilos is a manageable size for taking to the post office and cheaper than several small parcels. I work with several retirement homes and, therefore, often have a great many squares to send.
Please make sure that when you send a parcel that you do not declare a monetary value on it. In France I can declare 0 euros. Some countries insist on a minimum of 1 £ or $ (or whatever the local currency is). You should also mention that it is a donation to charity. We have to pay a handling charge of nearly 4$ for each parcel that arrives in SA whatever its size. This is another reason for sending a larger parcel than several smaller ones. If a monetary value is declared on the customs slip, a duty tax is slapped on the parcel. Unfortunately we cannot afford to pay the heavy duty costs and the parcel has to be refused.
This seems like a lot of info, but it just makes things easier for the SA team. We're a small charity and depend almost entirely on donations, so we have to be very careful to keep our expenses as low as possible and concentrated, as far as possible, on benefitting the children.
Welcome to Knit-a-Square. I'm sorry about the delay in replying to your request for membership, but with lockdown in various countries, everything seems to be a little disorganised from time to time.
We have members from all over the world, and are a friendly group. If you have a quick look through the discussion categories, you will find answers to any questions you may have. If you can't find information that you require, there is certainly a member who will be able to help.
Each month we have the Snippets, where all the latest information is explained, and reminders of important points are given. It provides a good introduction to new members, with links to the most important items of the month.
Comments
Hi Kate, and welcome to the Square Circle Forum, home of Knit a Square.
My name is Amy and I am one of the Moderators from the USA.
We hope you enjoy the different discussions that cover all aspects of KAS. We hope that you will get to see your work arrive in The Barn or better yet wrapped around a child during a distribution.
Please feel free to add a comment or two to photos or discussion. This site is a little challenging at the beginning but with a little practice it is very easy to navigate.
I look forward to seeing some of your work on the Forum.
I'm very pleased to have you as a KAS friend, Kate.
There's no reason why you can't send your squares in a box. I usually send mine in bags because they're lighter, but when I have a suitable box, I use it to send my squares. A box is useful for sending toys.
When I send bags, I use the storage bags so that I can vacuum out the air. This means that I can get more into the bags. Then I pack the storage bag into a heavy duty garbage bag. I find this is the easiest way for me to pack a maximum of items to make up my 5 kilo packages. I send 5 kilos as it's much more economical than sending smaller packages. We used to have a 2 kilo small package rate in France. However this was abolished and the 2 kilo parcel went up by 250%. 5 kilos is a manageable size for taking to the post office and cheaper than several small parcels. I work with several retirement homes and, therefore, often have a great many squares to send.
Please make sure that when you send a parcel that you do not declare a monetary value on it. In France I can declare 0 euros. Some countries insist on a minimum of 1 £ or $ (or whatever the local currency is). You should also mention that it is a donation to charity. We have to pay a handling charge of nearly 4$ for each parcel that arrives in SA whatever its size. This is another reason for sending a larger parcel than several smaller ones. If a monetary value is declared on the customs slip, a duty tax is slapped on the parcel. Unfortunately we cannot afford to pay the heavy duty costs and the parcel has to be refused.
This seems like a lot of info, but it just makes things easier for the SA team. We're a small charity and depend almost entirely on donations, so we have to be very careful to keep our expenses as low as possible and concentrated, as far as possible, on benefitting the children.
Welcome to Knit-a-Square. I'm sorry about the delay in replying to your request for membership, but with lockdown in various countries, everything seems to be a little disorganised from time to time.
We have members from all over the world, and are a friendly group. If you have a quick look through the discussion categories, you will find answers to any questions you may have. If you can't find information that you require, there is certainly a member who will be able to help.
Each month we have the Snippets, where all the latest information is explained, and reminders of important points are given. It provides a good introduction to new members, with links to the most important items of the month.