Giving something back......

One of my favourite, leisurely activities is to take a little wander through Blogland - I get lots of crafty inspiration and feed my senses with pretty colours and things. I hadn't done this in a looooong time, so yesterday I took advantage of a momentary lull in the usual weekend madness, and came across a couple of new charity projects which I think are worthy of wider attention / publicity.

First up, there is Crochet a Rainbow - this has been set up by crochet designer, Sarah London, who is based in Australia. Watching the footage of the devastation caused by the recent floods, she desperately wanted to do something to help. She has come up with a devilishly simple, but super effective, plan: she is asking for donations of granny squares in bright colours. (For full details and instructions, click on the rainbow button at the top right of this blog).

So, this morning, I decided to resurrect 'Crochet Sunday' - this was something I started doing back in the summer (i.e. a bit of leisurely crochet while waking up to my favourite day of the week), but which has lapsed a little recently. You may remember that, back in July, I was given some squares and wool by a colleague? Well, I had turned a few of them into the larger 8"squares required for Knit-A-Square, but still had quite a few that hadn't been 'dealt with'. Imagine my hapiness when I discovered that they were all made up of 5 rounds - perfect! Well, except for one thing: they all needed multiple ends weaving in:

Nothing much else to do but roll up my sleeves and get going really......cue a scene of slight chaos and confusion - but it's all crafty, so it doesn't matter!!

Even Miss A got in on the act:

- note how I sacrificed one of my precious sheets of 12 x 12 scrapbooking card??? No, seriously - I love the fact that she seems to have inherited the 'crafty gene' in the biggest possible way - long may it continue!

And here's the final result - 41 squares all tidied up and ready for posting tomorrow!

And the 2nd charity I hear you ask? Well this one is much closer to home - set up by the lovely Mrs Twins, this one is called Sunshine International Blankets of Love (or SIBOL) for short. Basically, Mrs Twins (aka Sue) collects 6" squares of all designs (knitted and crocheted) which she then makes up into blankets for the elderly. This one appeals to me on several fronts - the squares will be quicker to make than the ones for Knit-A-Square, I can plunder my enormous collection of square patterns and it's a UK-based effort. Guess you could say I'm spreading the love! Pictures in due course - once I've actually settled on a pattern / colour scheme.....seriously, that's the hardest part :-)

And what of Knit-A-Square? I will admit that things have slackened off a bit recently, but I have still managed a few bits and pieces:

And then, of course, there are two famous afghans that were started last spring. If you remember, one of them was going to be for the 1st child of some friends (the other is/was for Miss A - but more of that another time). Well, that particular child was born back in May - so then the blanket was going to be for my niece/nephew - well, that child has also now been born! Both babies got other goodies from me, which leaves me without a recipient at the moment. I figured it might be a good idea to actually get it finished so it could go to the next baby to come along - whenever that might be!

I am actually quite a bit further along than I realised - almost 50% of the 64 squares are done. Here's the green square - I need 10 of these, but they're pretty quick. Then (hallelujah!), I get to move onto the pretty colours: blue, pink and purple - yummy!

Centered Square from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton

Patons Diploma Gold DK in Dark Green (6246) & Thyme (6213)

and King Cole Big Value DK in Lawn (11), 4.5mm hook, 6" across

I hope all your Sundays were as crafty and colour-filled as our :-)