My volunteer/charity thought

Ok, so my thought is, but blogging about this and putting it out there, maybe I’ll actually do something about it. Here it goes.

So, as I’ve posted before, I’m somewhat of a crochet enthusiast. I love it. Seriously. It is kinda scary. So, I’m thinking of how to use my powers for good. I mean, I guess it is usually good. I’d say about 90% of the things I make, I make as gifts for others. I think there are only a few scarves and maybe three small cross-stitch items that I’ve kept for myself. But, I think there is more than giving this stuff to friends/family. I mean, I’d still like to continue with that. My baby afghans always go over really well with people. But I still think there is more.

There are a NUMBER of local and national charities out there that will accept hand made crochet items (FYI, anything crocheted is only ever hand made… they haven’t been able to come up with a machine to do the crochet stitching as they have for knitting).

Here is a list of charity projects and usages:

• “Lapgans” for the elderly that are taken to nursing homes and given to the residents
• Small, medium and large pet blankets that are donated to animal shelters. These are given to the animals in their crates and then the animals are able to take these to their new home with them when they are adopted; it is nice because then they have something familiar in their new home. These are great because they can be made out of hodgepodge scrap yarn.
• Preemie caps babies – sometimes warmth is what is needed most.
• Chemo caps – for children and adults.
• Afghans, mittens, socks, scarves and hats for the homeless
  

So here is my thought. Working for a large company, I’m wondering if I could start in our IT department and host some “stitch and bitch” sessions. These sessions could be for new or experienced stitchers. Hopefully I can find a knitter to pair up with too. At these sessions we could bring our projects to work on and chat, or start new projects. If you are a beginner or don’t know how to crochet/knit, you could learn from the experienced folks. A progression I would see would be starting with a pet blanket to donate, moving up to making a chemo or preemie cap.

Wish me luck!!