New Pair of Helping Hands from Connecticut

Thank you Barry Family from Connecticut for this nice warm scarf.  It's a basket stitch and so is very cushy and warm.  It's color is a brownish-red which works well for either a man or a woman.........as does the nice large size!  I'm pretty excited to add Connecticut to our map of donors, thank you Barry Family.

Hope to see you here again on Bridge and Beyond, and please keep up the good work.  We here in Ohio are happy to have you join us.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. 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.

Knitted Cotton Washcloths and More

Thank you Laura J for hand delivering this wonderful donation for Bridge and Beyond.  Laura has been very busy knitting cotton washcloths, as you can see.  Lots of different colors, and several different styles/patterns.  These cloths have so many different purposes and are always well received by those living in the elements, and those at the shelters.

Laura has included a nice variety of personal care items, and a rain poncho!  Tis the season for that for sure.  April showers bring May flowers.

Many thanks Laura for your thoughtful donation and for taking the time to hand delivery.  Much appreciated.  Please keep up the good work.

Stay tuned folks, as this is part I

**The counts on our progress bars are current. 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.

A Cocoon of Yarn, Blogging in Alphabetical Order

 Purchased this ball winder some time back.  And did lots of winding.  You wind hanks or skeins of yarn into yarn cakes.  Cakes are slightly different than yarn balls.  Cakes generally aren't wound tightly, and usually have an inside pull.  Yarn balls can be pretty tight (cause you typically wind by hand), and unroll outside in.

 A cocoon of yarn also seems quite appropriate.  If you click to enlarge you'll see a bit of an indent in the center of these cakes...Something could nestle right down in there......be protected, just like insects are when in a Cocoon

It so happens much of yarn cakes you see above are being used in the afghan Learning Logs I'm currently working on.

Here's a poem, my darling SIL Jan, and her friend Kathy wrote for Bridge and Beyond a few years back.  It's such a sweet poem, thought it worth a share again.

A cocoon of yarn

Awaits the magic of

Hand and Hook

What will I be?

Scarf,

hat,

afghan,

love

*copyrighted

**The counts on our progress bars are current.  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.

Barnacle Bill and Blogging in Alphabetical Order.

Today is letter B. In the last round of blogging in alphabetical order, B=Begging and Homelessness.  Prior to that when blogging for the letter B for the official A-Z challenge, it was Bridge and Beyond, Behind the Scenes

Doing a google search for a B word connected in some capacity to homelessness I came up with this list:

• Basement
• Bearable
• Befriend
• Begging
• Bench
• Blanket
• Booze
• Bridge
• Broke
• Broken

Not sure I see reflances to the word basement.   Bearable.  How is it bearable for so many people not to know where they're going to sleep, or where the next meal is coming from?  A huge question to me, one I don't have an answer to.  Do you?


Befriend, that's a tough one.  I've not befriended a homeless person.  I try to be kind and hope we all do.  Not just with our donations here on Bridge and Beyond, but with our smiles or words when we come across a homeless person in our day to day.

Begging....well that was my previous B post.

Bench, makes me think of people sleeping in a park on a bench, or a bench in a town square.  Certainly something to explore in more detail.

Blanket, that goes along with Afghan I think for us here on Bridge and Beyond.

Booze.  We've talked about that.  Believe in part on the begging post.  Some folks indicate they won't give money because they don't want the homeless to buy booze with it.  I can't say I share that opinion.  If I were sleeping out in the elements, and drinking booze made me feel better..........even though temporarily ....it's hard to say I might not choose that if I had the opportunity.

Bridge..........well that word certainly seems appropriate to us here on Bridge and Beyond.

Broke........financial so perhaps, but also physically and mentally could come into play and something worth a follow up post.

Broken........lots to say here.  But, will explore it in it's own post.  The short version is....The System is Broken, in my opinion.

AND what of the picture?  Me playing mini golf on a week with my lady friends about 6 weeks ago.  We were playing at Pirates Cove...perhaps the gentleman I'm sharing the shade with was Barnacle Bill?  How's that for a stretch to get a B?


**The counts on our progress bars are current. Percentages are current. 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.

Resurrecting Learning Logs Afghan

 These aren't good pictures, as I can't properly lay out the afghan for you to see.  I tossed it down by my foot, and as you can see my broken foot is there as well.

Tried a 2nd time and managed to get my boot a bit further away, and tried to hold down the mint green which is curling in above picture, since it's stockinette stitch.  Quite a few colors here.  Some of you might remember when I started this project last summer.  I named it Learning Logs, as it was a project done through a class (on Crafty's) to learn how to do color work.  Some sections/logs are 2 colors, some are 3.  The pattern for the afghan was to be 6 squares like this (though smaller) and then stitched together.  I thought hooking 6 of these together would be far too busy with all the color and textures together, so decided to use this as a center square and continue with the colors, but in solid sections.

Though I am considering doing some striping as I go.  I've been working on this as I try to elevate my foot as much as possible.  Mentioned in a post a few days ago that I had broken a bone in my right foot.  It's the 5th Metarsal bone.

Have been watching Downton Abbey as I knit.  I never got the opportunity to watch it when it was airing before.  A friend brought over all 6 sessions on CD's to help occupy my time.  I'm really enjoying it, but am in season 5 and already not wanting it to end.  Did you all watch it?  Did you enjoy it?  The period clothes are fun to see.

What's everyone currently working on?

**The counts on our progress bars are current. Percentages are current.  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.

Zneesy, and The Homeless

When I last blogged in alphabetical order and hit the letter Z, I blogged about the word Zen, Finding Zen. Please take a minute and follow to the link to that post.  These last couple of letters  X-Y and Z are quite a challenge to find words that start with those letters that can be connected appropriately to the topic of Homelessness.

The picture above isn't a recent picture, but sadly when I look out the window as I'm typing this post, on April 2 (remember most posts are typed ahead, and scheduled to be posted at the appropriate time; it's what I'm seeing out the window.  It's 27 degrees.  Hard to believe it's spring when it's that cold, damp, and nasty.  These conditions, bother me tremendously and I'm inside drinking hot coffee with the heat on (though the house hasn't yet warmed up).  Homeless, those in the elements, and those in shelters are far less comfortable.  

The word for today is Zneesy.  It means, cold frosty weather, and was used as a slang term in the 18th century.  Some believe the word was influenced by the word sneezy.

With this Zneesy weather we're having still, I do hope everyone is busy with their looms, their knitting needles, and their crochet hooks and lots of warm sturdy yarn making something warm.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. Percentages are current.  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.