So many words that start with the letter S and make good donations for our homeless friends. SOCKS! Socks, white, gray, black.......colors matter not, but socks are an item needed all year long. Store bought vs hand made socks can make a huge difference is someone's comfort, and their health. Remember anyone living out in the elements has to content with limited if any ability to do laundry and therefore a clean dry pair of socks is like heaven to them. Also think how miserable we all are if our feet are wet and cold. This is a problem spring, summer, winter or fall. Men and women who live out in the elements need socks, as do those with nights here and there in shelters. Socks are also something people who don't knit or crochet can donate.
Scarves.......men, women, and children need scarves. Not babies or toddlers, but school age........teens etc are in need of scarves. Scarves can be knitted or crocheted. They need to be long enough to wrap around as in the pictures below. Please review the guidelines int he scarf tab for information about size, colors, and fibers. It's important our scarves meet the needs of those we serve. No white, no lacy open stitches, and no novelty yarn please. They aren't practical for those trying to stay warm, those without ability to do laundry.
If you have questions, please sing out by sending me an email or by using the contact option in the right sidebar of this blog.
Shampoo is another S word that makes for a good donation. Again, an item that non crafters can donate. You can purchase shampoo, and or save shampoo from your travels to donate.
Will be catching up with donations that were delivered while I was out of town over the next few days folks, so please pop in often. Then I will resume The ABC posting with the letter T.
**The counts on our progress bars are current, the percentages not quite. I'll not be figure the percentages with each update of numbers, but will be updating again next at least by the 20th. I have in fact made a reminder not on my cell phone for the 20th of each month to do percentages. If we're at a milestone, or I just have extra time I may do it more often...but certainly at that scheduled time.
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All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.
This afghan has been designed from crocheted scarves that weren't large enough for our needs. My daughter helped me design this afghan in the works. I like the blend of brown and green. The stripes aren't quite the same size, but with some edging which will be in tan, it should come together nicely. It will need a good size border to make the afghan an appropriate size. As always, I searched for a name for this afghan and came up with Earth and Sand, or Sandy Grass; but wasn't sold on either of those names. A Fitbit friend saw the picture and came up with Rolling Hills. I think that's a good name, makes me think of fields with grass and earth and things growing perhaps in a farmers field.
This afghan to be is currently resting in one of my project bags, waiting it's turn to grow. Please stay tuned. Hoping to get this completed in the near future.
This idea of stripes is a good way to use up yarn in your stash, it's also a bit easier or perhaps quicker than the assembly of an afghan with lots of squares or rectangles. Also, it seems there will be less ends to work in. If you've not made an afghan using this method, please give it a try. We here at Bridge and Beyond would love to donate one of your afghans made this way.
**The counts on our progress bars are current, the percentages not quite. I'll not be figure the percentages with each update of numbers, but will be updating again next at least by the 20th. I have in fact made a reminder not on my cell phone for the 20th of each month to do percentages. If we're at a milestone, or I just have extra time I may do it more often...but certainly at that scheduled time.
** All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.
This is a Christmas Quilt I made years ago for my Mother for a Christmas Gift. After her passing, my Dad returned it to me. I am not a "true" quilter, but have made several family quilts similar to above with no definitive pattern. As I continue to work my way through the alphabet...Q was a stumbling block for me. Then the word quilt came to mind.
We've not really had people making and donating quilts, but...........we could. Why couldn't they be part of our afghans that we donate to Homeless Families Foundation? Though I know making a quilt is quite time consuming and so, I guess I'm asking...is it practical for us to suggest people make and donate quilts? This one is warm, but realistically, I use it primarily for decorations, and obviously only once a year. But, if it weren't a Christmas Quilt, could we do that? Are any of you quilters?
Some of the afghans we've received and donated through the years have looked like a quilt in their design. If this is a reasonable idea, perhaps there are ways to connect with quilters here on the net? Perhaps it's too costly a venture. I don't remember what I spent to buy the fabric, thread, backing, bias tape, or cotton batting...been too many years. If anyone is a sewer and has some idea of costs, please let me know. I like throwing out ideas of things I think might be helpful for Bridge and Beyond, but I don't want to spend lots of time trying to find quilters if this isn't a good idea due to time and costs.
**The counts on our progress bars are current, the percentages not quite. I'll not be figure the percentages with each update of numbers, but will be updating again next at least by the 20th. I have in fact made a reminder not on my cell phone for the 20th of each month to do percentages. If we're at a milestone, or I just have extra time I may do it more often...but certainly at that scheduled time
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All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.
This little puppet was photographed some time back and previously posted here on this blog, but I thought I would revisit it with you all. Look how cute it is. This one is knitted, but would think crocheting one would work just as well. Puppets, certainly aren't going to keep people warm, but wouldn't it make a cute item for small children spending a night in a shelter? Small, soft, and perhaps comforting. Something I presumed to be easier for families to hold onto as they move about from day to day with temporary shelter situations. Might it be an item that would help a child through the night of uncertainty? This is something I would suggest we strive to make tons of, but something I do think would be nice for the shelters to have on hand.
When I spotted this on my blog from some time back, I didn't see a pattern for it, but will do some looking around. In the meantime, looking at it might be enough for some of our experienced knitters and or crocheters to wing it and make one.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-knit-a-teddy-bear-hand-puppet/
If above link works, it's to a video and what looks to be very similar pattern for a puppet.
Here's a link to a free pattern on Ravelry. You can create a free account there
Personal Care items is something men, women, and children need and use all year long. There are used by folks living out in the elements, as well as those who obtain a night in a shelter. AND they are needed when families transition from shelter living to a permanent housing situation. Personal care items can be purchased, and collected whenever you visit hotels on business and or vacations. Shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, mouth wash, combs, chapstick, shaving cream, razors, sunscreen, female products, soap are some of the items we donate all year long. These are also items that non knitters and crocheters can help with.
**The counts on our progress bars are current, the percentages not quite. I'll not be figure the percentages with each update of numbers, but will be updating again next at least by the 20th. I have in fact made a reminder not on my cell phone for the 20th of each month to do percentages. If we're at a milestone, or I just have extra time I may do it more often...but certainly at that scheduled time.
**
All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.
Projects Bags. These 3 bags of full of projects. Each bag is an afghan that's been designed and waiting in the wings to be assembled. They've traveled with me to a recent vacation to Hilton Head with the hope of having more time than usual to assemble the afghans.
This afghan waiting in the wings is called Orange Julius. As you can see, there's quite a variety in size and style of squares as well as rectangles. Some are knitted, some are crocheted, so putting them together will require edging, some a row others more to make them a bit more uniform in size. Once edged and joined a nice big border will be needed to make the afghan a good size for a family to keep warm. I'll be using a reddish orange to edge and assemble this afghan. Please stay tuned for it's progress.
**The counts on our progress bars are current, the percentages not quite. I'll not be figure the percentages with each update of numbers, but will be updating again next at least by the 20th. I have in fact made a reminder not on my cell phone for the 20th of each month to do percentages. If we're at a milestone, or I just have extra time I may do it more often...but certainly at that scheduled time.
**
All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.
Neglect and Homelessness. Does neglect cause homelessness? Or are the homeless neglected? Neglect of Veterans and problems related to them coming back broken from service of their country, surely adds to homelessness. Then if they are ignored further, because they are homeless...a vicious circle.
Neglect of any group of people seems to be a central part of the problem. A family in crisis, due to job loss or health issues which causes them to lose their house, and thus makes them homeless...again neglect seems to be at the root of the problem. How do we as a society stop neglecting groups of people with problems? Surely if the cycle of neglect can be broken, problems could be solved before they become as insurmountable as they are. Isn't it a bit like fixing a hole in the roof before hole becomes larger, or before water damaged ruins the whole house? Why have we as a nation not learned this very basic idea? And once we know it, which surely many people do...why have we not fixed the problems when they first begin?
I don't have answers, but questions. Should we all try to get the point across about fixing problems when they're small, before groups of people are neglected and the problem becomes larger to our local and national politicians? This seems like a very worthwhile problem to discuss, and yet...I'm not aware of it being discussed. Are you? Do you feel like your local area addresses the root of problems that cause neglect?
**The counts on our progress bars are current, the percentages not quite. I'll not be figure the percentages with each update of numbers, but will be updating again next at least by the 20th. I have in fact made a reminder not on my cell phone for the 20th of each month to do percentages. If we're at a milestone, or I just have extra time I may do it more often...but certainly at that scheduled time
**
All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.
Where are You and Your Yarn From?
I'm trying to identify where everyone is from, partially for fun. Take a look at the map. Also, believe it will aid me in cases where we have several people with the same name. Please look at the lists of bloggers and non bloggers and see if I have the state you hail from. If not, please leave a comment and let me know.
Additionally, we've had help from Scotland, England, Germany Puerto Rico, Canada, and France! They don't appear on the map, but their help is still greatly appreciated.
