Froggie and Duckie Blankie

Another no-sew blanket to give to Afghans for Angels.

Where you at? ( I've got two turn tables and a microphone)

Hi everyone!

Just doing a check-in for our last weekend of June (already!). How are your Summers going? What projects are you working on, both craft-wise and in the garden?

Enquiring minds must know!

I've got a message for Robyn and Waldo -- I have fun fur scarves for Patty, preemie hats (5), and 10 ferret toys all packed up. I was going to take them to the post office today and send them off to ya. However, yesterday I managed to fall down (ankle gave out) and now my footsy is swollen and purple, so no driving for me :( I will send them off on Monday because I'm sure I'll be able to drive by then, but Robyn, this means I will not make your 7/1 deadline. Argh. Sorry about that!

That's it from here. Hope everyone is well! :)

Something I want you all to remember

I don't know how many of you followed Tim Russert's career. For me, he was a part of Sunday breakfast every day for more than half of my life, ranging from the time when I was a kid who thought he was boring to more recently when I appreciate the insight his show offered, no matter the subject. Tim Russert passed away suddenly this afternoon and I have been watching his friends and his NBC "family" eulogize him for the last several hours.

One of the things people keep coming back to is that Tim Russert strongly believed that we are obliged to help anyone who is less fortunate that us, and that when you do so, it really is proof if not of a higher power than at least of the human capacity to step outside of oneself and consider someone else.

If any of you are ever having a low day or a low time, if you ever have one of those days where you feel like you are not leaving your footprint on this world, please please please consider the following.

Every hat you make and send is warming someone's head that would not have been warm.

Every pair of mittens or gloves that you make is warming someone's hands that would not have been warm.

Every blanket or afghan you make is giving someone comfort and a sense of being cared for that they otherwise would not have had.

Every square you make that you send to people piecing together blankets does the same.

Even though you may never see these people to whom you have sent out these little gifts, you all have participated in changing and improving countless lives.

And let me tell you something else.

For years... YEARS , I have had a dream to work with other people to send out hand-made items to charities that need such things, and to all of you who cheerlead or donate or offer your ideas and suggestions, you have improved my life by helping me live out my dream.

You are all special. Don't ever forget it. Don't ever doubt it. That's my best wish for anyone who has ever been in this community and anyone who may join in the future.

Uhoh!

Did I scare everyone away?

Well, if you are having the kind of weather I am living in, making afghans is not exactly going to be your top priority. So, I've decided that we're going to just keep working on our 50 afghans for Afghans for Angels until we're done, unless anyone has a problem with that. It's just too darned hot!

As for me, thanks to Robyn I got the hang of making preemie hats. I have one of those sampler books where each square is a different stitch, and I've found that if you start making the square according to the pattern and then decrease down when you've got 6 inches of length, it makes a pretty cute little hat! Pictures to come soon :)

Hope everyone is well!

my next project

I have given careful thought of what I want to attack next. In the end, the decision seems pretty obvious.

For the last few months, I have been working on making things for a very local cause. Now, I want to do something for a cause in every single state.

I need your help with this...if you have a cause in your state that is particularly close to your heart, let me know and I will gladly support it.

In this day and age of the internet, the old phrase "not in my backyard" has changed. Surely your country is now your backyard.

I'm calling this project Crafting the Nation.

So here is a list of the states. Help me find a cause in each one.

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona: Ninjasezzy preemie drive
Arkansas
California: Twizittles local oncology ward drive
Colorado
Connecticut: Salvation Army w/Priscilla's Guild
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan: South Oakland Shelter
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska: Robyn's preemie hat drive
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina: Newborns in Need
North Dakota
Ohio: Items made and donated for a local homeless women's shelter
Oklahoma: Crosh-aid
Oregon: Baby Love Blanket Drive
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota: Pretty Bird Woman House
Tennessee
Texas: Prayer shawls for Crazigriffen's mom's church
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming: Homeless Coalition

Call for fun fur scarves!

Is anyone collecting fun fur scarves? I have 3 made and almost a fourth and am kind of on a roll with them...I was going to donate them to my local shelter thingy but ran out of time.

If ya need 'em, I can make more and send 'em to ya. Just let me know.

It's Ready to Go

Hey everyone,

Well, I finally heard back from my contact at the shelter, and all of the donated items I've collected this year for my local drive are going to be saying goodbye to me tomorrow. She is going to use the weekend to take pictures of some of the residents in the stuff that was made in order to make a special card for my dad.

I thought you all would like to see some tangible evidence of some of the hard work that goes on in this community -- in fact, just a fraction:



I've got approximately 40 items here, including several sets, either of hats/mittens/scarves or hats/scarves.

I am so very pleased.

Snoopingmother, I was hoping I'd get your package today but it wasn't there :( I am so sorry about how suddenly this all worked out. Let me know what you would like done with the items that you sent.

Thank you, everyone who helped. I am really excited to present these items to a local charity in my uncle's name.

Now my big question is: what do I work on making next?!? :)

Tagging and Counting

Ok...still catching on, I did go back and tag some previous post that have pics of projects. Reg. Contest and Personal Achievement? Are they the same thing? Eventually I will get all my questions out there and be up to speed with everyone else. Seems it just takes me awhile.

Come on team Ohio....knit, purl, crochet...let's get er done! lol

Some more to add to the count, 3 more pairs of slippers and a ghan I'm calling A ghan of many colors or shall I stick to bright blocks ghan? Ideas? I do for some reason name most of my ghans. Anyone else do that? The 3 slippers are boxed and heading to Michigan with some of the other stuff shown for a Battered Womens Shelter, Caring House (through a group Crafters in the Attic), the ghan...bright blocks or ghan of many colors is heading to Victory Junction (Victory Gang Camp)

My local HMPCWD drive and other updates

Hey all,

Just wanted to make a quick announcement that there is a slight possibility that I will be turning in my shtuff at the end of this week. The contact from the local shelter would like to take a picture of some of the residents wearing our donations and then have them hold up a thank-you sign and have that be a present for my dad...since she is willing to pick everything up, I am going to work around her schedule. Therefore...if you were going to send stuff to me later this week and with this info you'd rather send the stuff somewhere else, that is fine. If you send me the stuff and I get it after the donations have been turned in, I can forward your stuff anywhere you want (within reason) :)

Thank you in advance for everyone who sent me stuff. I am very very pleased with what I will be able to present and it helped me kind of deal with my uncle's passing in a constructive manner.

Additionally, I am very pleased to announce that we are now up to 22 afghans for our Afghans for Angels drive! We are almost halfway there!!!

Additionally additionally, I'd like to point out that we have now donated around 1575 items. Just let that roll around in your heads for awhile :) Compared to last year, we would already be over the halfway point. With our goal this year, we are already dangerously close to the halfway point.

To sum up....you are all wonderful and amazing. I could just shmush you all (and that's a good thing!) :)

1 More for Afghans for Angels

I am posting this blanket separately because I believe that it will count for the Personal Achievement contest. I had started it I believe in February, but I did the bulk of the knitting on it in May, and I finished it on June 1st. (If it doesn't count because it was started earlier, please let me know and I will take the tag off.)
I used about half of a skein of Lion Brand Pound of Love and the Lion Brand pattern for a diagonal baby blanket. It is approximately 24" square.

(I also have a box of items for HMPCWD to send out this week, but I need an address to send them to. Margietheladybug, I will message you on Ravelry for your address. Thanks!)

3 Blankets for Afghans for Angels

Here are 3 full sized baby blankets that I am going to donate to Afghans for Angels.
These will not count for the personal achievement award, because I finished all 3 long before May 2008. I would like to make a few more smaller blankets to fill up the box, and then I thought I would just send them directly to the Iowa address.

Regional Summer Contest Week 1 Update

Here is the update for the first week of competition:

Team Ohio:
12 items!!! This total comes from 1 mobius posted by Jorie and 11 beautiful items posted by Sandy!

Team Godzilla (a.k.a Team North):
**15 items! This total comes from one crochet/knit quilt from Snoopingmother and 2 quilted Afghans by Zortified!

Team New England:
**13 items!! This comes from 8 items + 1 Afghan from Ascelline :)


**For clarification, knit/crochet/individually quilted Afgans are counted as 5 items because of the time/labor that it takes to make just one. Correspondingly, quilted Afghans with donated squares are counted as 4 items for the same reason. The point is not to penalize individuals/teams for choosing to make more time consuming/labor intensive items. Obviously, an afghan takes more time than a scarf or square!

PLEASE READ!!
People have been posting items without the Personal Achievement tags. If you do not tag your posts, then the items will not be counted! I have to be a stickler about this because there are members NOT participating and I do not have the time to personally ask and/or assume which members are or are not participating. Please go back and tag any posts from May 1 forward if you want those items to count!!!