Knitted items and other Goods being Donated

Thank you Sue S for this thoughtful donation of knitted hats, scarves, and cotton washcloths, as well as the personal care items you've included.   Nice color mix in all your hand knits.  Sue's hit on something I've not thought about before folks, personal care items for women, tompons and the like.  What a awesome idea.  It's not something I need to deal with, hasn't been for a good number of years and so it wasn't on my radar; but a very needed item.  She asked about this after receiving samples in the mail of said items. 

Keep up the good work Sue!

Folks if you didn't get a chance to see it, please scroll back 1 post and read about the happiness challenge for August in addition to our need of mittens and hats....the really tie intogether.  AND scroll back 2 posts if you missed it, I posted some numbers about where we were with donations at this time last year compared to where we currently are.  I think it will help you see where the need lies, as well as see how well we've done in some areas.

Thank you all.

2013 Donations:

Hats: 425+2=427
Scarves: 336+3=339
Socks: 224
Afghans: 32
Slippers: 170
Rain Ponchos: 203
Mittens: 77
Cotton Wash Clothes: 460+8=468
Shawls, Sweaters, Vests, Poncho's, Skirts etc. : 14
Misc. Items: include personal care, headbands, hand-warmers, cowls/gators and all meal prep related items, Dolls &and ; associated items, stuffed/crocheted/knitted toys... etc aren't tabulated.

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.

Sharing Happiness

Today is August 1st, wow..where does the time go.  Seems we've barely gotten to enjoy the summer and we've been seeing back to school sales everywhere.  Really dislike seeing them all summer, can't we enjoy summer first.  Clicking on the above picture will take you to a very different type of blog challenge.  It's different because there's no linky, it's different because there's no sign up list.  Never done a challenge without those items, so it will be interesting to see how this works.  It's a very relaxed challenge, lol.  Relaxed and challenge don't seem to even go to together, but the idea is to do it for fun, not to stress.   Here's a cut and paste of One Gals Musing's blog post about it.

Forget Your Troubles! C'mon, Get Happy!

On August 1, this year's August Happiness Challenge begins. The idea is very simple: "Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world."

Really. That's all there is to it. No rules.

I like finding an icon that will make me smile every time I see it for 31 days.

**Apparently we'll just use the comments as a list to visit from.
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I thought I'd share this here on Bridge and Beyond, because I believe we give happiness with our knitting and our crocheting.  We give happiness to those who receive our items AND it makes me happy to be able to do this.  I'm betting it gives you all who help the cause happiness too.  With that in mind, I'm throwing out a challenge for this month of August, share your happiness.  If you're one that already knits and crochets and donates here, send me a note using the contact form in the right side bar telling me how being a part of this gives you happiness.  In addition, tell one other person...someone you work with, a neighbor, a family member...the best way to be happy is to do for others, let's recruit more happy helping people  If you're not someone who's knitted or crocheted and donated here before, and are here perhaps because of the blog challenge; join us.  Spread the happiness.  If you don't knit or crochet, YOU can still help.  We collect personal care items all year long, take a look at the PERSONAL CARE TAB across the top of the blog, this is something EVERYONE can help with.

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.

Homeless Need Mittens and Hats

ITEM	2012	2013	comparison
Hats	490	425	-65
Scarves	274	336	+62
Socks	122	224	+102
Afghans	30	32	+2
Slippers	125	170	+50
Rain Ponchos	209	203	-6
Mittens	258	77	-181
Cotton Washcloths	369	460	+91

Today's the last month of July, so I thought I show you were we are today with where we at this time last year.  I've included the 8 primary things we knit, crochet, and donate which doesn't include all the personal care items, headbands, poncho's, gators and those types of things.  The good news is of the 8 items you can see we've been able to donate more this year then last for 5 of the 8 items.  We're only behind of last years mark, at this time in the year on 3 items, Hats, Rain Poncho's, and Mittens.  Rain Poncho's is hardly worth mentioning, because we're in good shape there.

MITTENS, and hats were in need of beefing up, so if you're undecided about what you'd like to knit or crochet, please direct your attention there.  We have extensive information regarding sizing for hats in the hat tab, along with some patterns.  Though less information, we also have a mitten tab with available information and patterns you might like to use.

Please remember for both hats and mittens, to label your items with the size you made.  Please also pair your mittens by attaching them together.  If you are one who doesn't necessarily use a hat pattern, please take time to measure it using the various charts available and label with the size.

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.