Need Has No Season - April/May

This month's post coincides with the baby blanket I am making for a cousin to be born in June. She will receive a Project Linus blanket. See previous post for a picture.

"Project Linus is a 100% volunteer non-profit organization with a two-fold mission:

First, it is our mission to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer "blanketeers."

Second, it is our mission to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children." (from the Project Linus website http://www.projectlinus.org )

I know just how important a security blanket is to a little kid. As a child I depended on my security blanket when I had to call the hospital home for a little while. While there "George" (the blanket) and I became fast friends, "George" remains with me today despite my age and marital status. Surprisingly though, Project Linus has the greatest need for blankets for teenagers. One situation in which teens desperately needed the comfort and security of a blanket was in April of 1999 in Littleton Colorado when Columbine High school erupted in gunfire (Knitting for Peace, Christiansen p. 84). Project Linus responds to situations that need the healing powers of comfort and peace found in the threads of a blanket.

Well that is about all you need to know for becoming a "blanketeer". See the organization's website for local chapters. Also, watch your local newspapers/TV and listen to your radios for information about Make a Blanket Days usually the third Saturday of February.

Peace, Alison

On the needles

My family seems to be growing and growing. Which works out well for me since I love to give them hand-made gifts! Specifically we have a new cousin on the way so I thought I would make this new little one a blanket. Initially I planned to give the Warm Up America Afghan but when I found out it was a girl I decided to make something a little more pinkish-purple. The pattern comes from the Knitting for Peace book as a suggestion for a Project Linus afghan. Easy to make, you only have to remember one line of pattern stitch, everything else is just knitting and purling.

(More on Project Linus to follow in the "Need Has No Season" edition for April/May.)

It's been a while...

So, about this whole blog thing. I heard from someone when I started a blog that many blogs don't make it past the first month. It's like taking home a new puppy. So cute and fun when you get them, even the nasty parts seem cute. (Believe me I know what I am talking about. Today the cutest puppy visited me at the library. She piddled on the floor, note the cute term for pee, and it didn't even bother me. Had my old, big, male dog done the same thing on the floor it would not have been cute at all. Good thing my library has hard floors.) Anyway, so I got this blog and it was so cute and fun in the beginning that I posted daily I think. That turned into weekly blogs, which turned into once month, and now dontcha ya know I missed an entire month and a half! So no promises on the blog but keep checking back once in a while, this old dog might just have learned a new trick about blogs.