If you do, I hope you will visit two blogs to learn about a project that involves granny squares.
Janet, at Life in Westcliffe, has a blogging friend who is asking people to donate 6″ granny squares to be used to make afghans for kids who will attend cancer camp next summer.
Janet has jumped in whole-heartedly, and you can see the results of her efforts over at her blog today. She inspired me, so I started making the squares and hope to have five or six to share.
But….beyond my own work, I’ve asked the ladies at my exercise group, my mother and several other relatives, and two of my blogging friends, if they would be interested in participating in this endeavor. I’ve heard a resounding “YES!” from everyone! I’m going to ask my mother’s Empty Nester group if they would do blocks, too.
The idea is that a LOT of people contributing make the load light.
Go read what Shelly has to say about what they need. If you go to the main page, you’ll find a button to click to “Share a Square”, but the link here should take you directly to that page in her blog. She is accepting the squares, and finding people to assemble them into afghans. They are doing the lion’s share of the work. All we have to do is make a square or two and mail them off. You can make a square while you watch your favorite TV show, or while you sit and talk to your sister, or while you wait at the doctor’s office. Use yarn that you have on hand, as long as it’s washable, in any color.
This is the best kind of generosity, to me. First, the exercise for your hands is GREAT! This is going to keep your hands mobile, longer. Secondly, you get to use up scraps of yarn that might otherwise go to waste. Remember, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” Let’s not make these kids “Do Without.” Let’s show them that we care, and that they have our prayers and best wishes.
Join us, won’t you? Share a Square!

My youngest sister, and her daughter, who live in the wilds of Indiana, came to visit for the weekend. We were lucky that they were able to fit most of three days into their schedule because we wanted to celebrate our niece’s eighteenth birthday!
We asked her what she wanted to do. Her requests were amazingly reasonable. She wanted us to go with her to the mall nearest us so that she could shop. She wanted to eat pot-stickers at a restaurant that’s just a few miles from us, and when we offered, she also wanted to see the new Harry Potter movie.
It’s roughly a 4 hour trip when they come to visit (five going home, because of the change in time zones). They arrived about 2:00 on Friday. We chatted, got dinner ready and then my sis, my niece and I piled into the car to accomplish the shopping trip. We split up, agreeing to meet at the same place in an hour, and my sister gave me their cell phone numbers, just in case anything happened. I am SO not into technology. I should have had my niece put the numbers into the phone and show me how to retrieve them.
At any rate, I had a battery put into my watch, picked up what I needed, and started back to our meeting place. I was one door away from my goal when I realized my sister was still shopping in the first place she had entered, and things were going great! She was so excited about what she’d found that everyone in the store was infected with her pleasure. She found the most incredible linen jacket that paired perfectly with pants she already had. Then she added several tops and a skirt for an incredible range of mix and match in mostly neutrals or earth tones. The best part of it all was that she got seven wonderful items for SIXTY-FIVE DOLLARS! Gawd, can that woman shop!
My niece also did well. She found a top that went with things she already had, and proudly wore it Saturday. It’s the cutest design that only a young woman could wear well….sort of a bustier with a halter top and wide lapel, in red and white plaid, and black. Really cute!
Saturday started early. I had a hair cut at 8:00, so I made everyone get up early to go to breakfast at 6:30. While I was being clipped, Dear Husband drove the ladies around to see some of the jobs that our company has just finished. When they got home, my sister took my mother to the mall, to the same shop where she had been the night before. I think the two of them must have bought everything in the shop! Lunch was a pick-up affair. If you were hungry, you ate. If you were not hungry, you held out for theater popcorn.
We were able to get tickets at the Omni-Max for Harry Potter. We sat at the very top of the theater, which was considerably smaller than I thought it would be. I’m guessing, but I think there might have been 200 seats. We enjoyed the movie. My niece and I discussed the changes and omissions from the book, but agreed we liked what they had done.
Despite the popcorn, we headed out to dinner around 5:00. Pot stickers were the appetizer of choice, and I think we should have ordered one more tray of them! *G* We were all so full that we brought home FIVE containers of Asian food. I don’t have to cook tonight. YEAH!!
This morning we got off to a slower start. We chatted over coffee and tea. Breakfast was strung out over several hours, as everyone got what suited them, when they were ready. We tried to remember all the details that needed to be shared before parting.
I know that my family has to get back to their regularly scheduled lives, but I hate to see them go. I had a great time this weekend. Perhaps because I knew they were coming, I made more effort to get things done early for this coming week. I have a little bit of office work that has to be finished, but I’m probably more relaxed than I would have been if I had worked all through the weekend.
Thank you for coming, ladies! I had a lovely visit with you. And…..Happy 18th Birthday, sweetie! Enjoy the coming year. *S*