Project Bags and Orange Julius Afghan

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

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.

Mountain Haze Afghan

This is another afghan designed from stripes.  These stripes are very close to the same size and will probably need less work with edging than some of the other designs.  Mountain Haze seems a good name, with green for trees and perhaps meadows, blue for sky, gray for the smoky mornings and lavender for the haze that we often see with the changing sun light.  I'll be edging and joining the stripes with blue, and then making a reasonable border of the blue which should make the afghan a good size to snuggle under.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you may already know I am trying to get a really good start to the year with making afghans, as we did not make our goal last year.  Have you knitted or crocheted an afghan for Bridge and Beyond?  If not, would you consider making one...nudge nudge.  Remember nothing open or lacey works as well as warm and sturdy.  Stitches don't have to be fancy.  Color can be your interest instead of stitches.  If you have questions, please make contact.  Take time to read the afghan tab above .

Thank you for all you do to help the homeless and Bridge and Beyond and please keep up the good works folks.  YOU do make an important difference in lives of other human beings.

**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.

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.