Love, Loitering and The Law

*clicking on image takes you to the article by Ariel Aberg-Riger

Blogging in Alphabetical Order brings us to the letter L.  Doing a google search for words that start with the letter L that have a connection to Homelessness I came up with a substantial list.  Here are a few that hit me:

• Loitering
• Loss
• Law

Additionally I thought of:

• Loom
• Love

The picture above really hit me.  Though it was made to illustrate some things that have happened lately and the law and loitering, it seemed a worthwhile graphic of the meaning of the word.  So, if you're sitting taking in sun in a park...no one considers that loitering....unless you're sleeping there, or look to be camped there for some time.


But, Homeless often do in fact loiter.  They loiter at fast food restaurants until they are asked to leave, they loiter at libraries until they are asked to leave.   They loiter to get warm, to get out of rain, to get away from the cold, or the hot sun.  They loiter because even if they have a night in a shelter...they're not permitted to be there during the day and so have to loiter somewhere.

There are laws about loitering.  Problem is, there is so much interpretation.  

The last two times I blogged for the letter L I blogged about Looming and Love.

Clicking on the loom picture takes you to one of those posts.

LOVE...I believe everything we do here on Bridge and Beyond for the benefit of others is an expression of LOVE.

Love and Loomed Hats

Love with Loomed Hats?  We get a good number of donations of hats made by various sized looms.  That certainly shows love to me.  People who give of themselves, their time, their talents be it with a crochet hook or a pair of knitting needles, or a loom are indeed showing and sharing the love.  What better gift can there possible be beyond giving and sharing love with another human being.  To give love, to share love with someone you don't know is truly priceless in my opinion.

Looming is a wonderful way to contribute even when you don't consider yourself a knitter.  Looms can be used by a great number of people.  Men, women, and children.  Particularly good for children who might not yet have the skills to knit or crochet.  Maybe you know a teen that might like to contribute and learn a new skill?  Looms aren't expensive and they can be a wonderful gift to start someone on a path of crafting for others.

One word of caution, though this picture shows pastels and whites, those are colors we steer clear of for our homeless friends here on Bridge and Beyond.  When looms first came out there weren't many patterns beyond a very basic hat to make with them, that's no longer the case.  There are looms in many sizes, and shapes that serve a variety of projects.  There are also now pattern books to be had to make a variety of items with the looms, including slippers!  Have you loomed?  Have you purchased looms to teach someone how to craft?  If you're making hats from looms, please remember to check out hat tab across the top of the blog to be sure your hat meets the needs of those we serve.

As always, if you have any questions not addressed in any of the tabs across the top of the blog, please email me or use the contact form in the right side bar.  Thank you.  Our hat goal wasn't made last year, perhaps if we can encourage a new pair of helping hands with a loom, we can improve on that donation number.

**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.

Knitting Looms

A-Z Challenge =L= Loom
These are plastic colorful looms in 4 sizes with the special hook one needs along with a darning needle.  This is what you typically get in a kit.  The kits are inexpensive and easy to use.  They produce knitting and have become very popular.  They're a good way to knit, if you don't know how to knit, as well as just something different to do.  When they first became popular they were primarily used to knit hats.  Some looms are plastic, some are wood and some are super flexible.

The size is consistent regardless of what brand you buy.  The knitting gauge is based on the space between the pegs.  Some folks even make their own looms.  Now looms come in ovals, rectangles, and stripes in addition to these basic circles.  People have tweaked patterns and you can make scarves, mittens and more on them.  We have those who donate to Bridge and Beyond for the Homeless using these types of looms.  They are generally used with double yarn, or bulky yarn and many feel the knitting goes faster on looms then hand knitting with needles.  I confess, that while I have a set of looms (have for years), I've not really used them.  Perhaps someday I'll give them a try.

When we were kids, we used looms...looms made from wooden spools of empty thread.  Yes!  I am that old that I remember wooden spools of thread, in fact I still have a few, lol  You could pound small nails evenly around a large wooden spool and for a hook.........we used a diaper pin.  See told you I was old....diaper pins, mothers today don't even have any on hand.  All we could make back then was a cord, but we did it for hours at a 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.