Crafting for Charity – *Happy Dance!* I’m done!
I’ve got just bunches of stuff to show y’all this week, but first, since it’s Charity Tuesday – My Share-A-Square Afghan is finished, complete, done, and over!! It’s on its way back to Shelly with a little cloth bag for the tags when the recipient removes them. Whee!
I’m extremely pleased to have taken part in this project, and so happy I found it. What a great experience! I have pleasant memories of receiving my box and connections made across the world. I know that with my limited time I wasn’t able to contribute as much as I might have otherwise, but at least I got off my butt and contributed 
At this point, Shelly has more squares than they need, and over 100 afghans are now complete. Two side projects have developed – one that’s making cloth bags to go with the afghans to store the tags.
The other project is actually collecting donations to send the kids with cancer (who are receiving the afghans) to Camp Sanguinity in July. Her last post indicates that they have enough to send 2 kids to camp at this point [update: 3!]. So if you feel inspired, the button for the PayPal donate thingie is there to the left.
I wish I could send a picture of the blanket to all the people who contributed, but I don’t really know who most of them are!
Without further ado, here’s my blanket. Here’s also the little cloth bag with drawstring that I made for the tags from the blanket. Such fun!
Below, bottom left, is the square I made for it. You can also see the border I made. I’m divided between calling it the bumblebee border and the taxi border. I thought yellow might be a nice, cheerful color for a kid.
And the polka-dot bag I made for the tags. I wanted tie ends, and so there are bells, too. My cat tried to attack them immediately. She’s a big bell fan. (That’s one huge pic of the bag. I believe that’s nearly actual size).
How do I fix this?
I’m sewing diligently on my charity blanket these days, hoping it will be completed before I turn gray. So I finished sewing together another 2 rows and was straightening it out, looking at the seam, when I see this:
That, my friends is a granny square that has started unraveling. Turns out the unknown crocheter didn’t tie it down as well as it could have been, and it’s started coming undone. Problem is, it’s sewn into the blanket already, that’s the seam above it. Oy vey.
That was not a fun fix. Or as my coworker might say, a Phun Phix. She likes to have Phun with Words.
In related news, I think that most things on earth are easier than trekking through afghan projects. They never seem to end!
Crafting for Charity: The Preemie Project
This post is inspired by a friend of mine, Monique, who recently had a baby. Not so recently, now, Jose was born about three weeks ago now. The thing about Jose is that he was 1.5 lbs, and wasn’t supposed to be born until June 20. For a baby that was born three months early, he’s doing really pretty well. He had a hole in his heart and a hernia, but it could be a lot worse. He started breathing on his own just a day or so after he was born! So in honor of Jose and other preemies, let me introduce you to …
This lovely charity donates handmade items to preemies and critically ill infants at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. Items are donated to the Neonatal ICU and the Pediatric ICU, and include such volunteer-created items as little hats, booties and blankets. The charity was started in 2005 by Iowan and knitter Laura Aker. You can subscribe to their blog and keep up with current news items. They have workgroups (like the June 2007 one pictured here), an annual craft-a-thon and other events.
The Project has expanded over time: there’s a branch in Michigan now and they also collect donations of supplies for children to send home with folks – diapers and clothing and the like. Finally, they have a special project to provide handmade bereavement and remembrance items for families who have suffered a loss.
Some Stats
The site states that they have “received donations from over 250 volunteers totaling over 1,700 hat and bootie sets, over 1,500 blankets, and 300 bereavement packages.” Wow!
Help Out
They have volunteer information, guidelines and accepted items, including a suggested yarn list for those interested in donating some lovely items of your own. DO note the yarn requirements – preemies have very soft, thin, delicate skin, and all yarns much be machine washable and not wool.
You can also choose to donate using their list of needed items. They need not just funds (though appreciated!) but also sewing and crafting items, and some items such as printer cartridges for their fundraisers.
(Must confess, warm fuzzies for the University of Iowa, where both my parents graduated!)
