Our Charity Crafting Group's 2013 Distribution Totals (and then some)

Preemie Blankies

I was shocked at how little I posted to the Charity Crafting section of my blog this year. My lack of posts doesn't mean there was no activity in that area. The opposite is true. I just finished doing my totals for the year. I hand out a sheet for our Friday morning charity crafters to show them what we've all accomplished with our small but steady little group.

There are rarely more than 8 of us altogether, and sometimes we've had just 5 or 6. I started the group back in April of 2009.

Here's what we did this year, and I compared it to the previous two years, just out of curiosity. Below that is a grand total of what we've done since we started almost five years ago.

TOTAL                       2013    2012    2011

Hats                             274      164      112

Scarves                        119        85        53

Gloves                          138      107       30

Preemie Hats                179      186      111

Preemie Blankets          125      109       42

Newborn Blankets        11       

Lap throws                   36        64         51

Shawls                         10        44         88

Slippers                        12       64           6

The totals from Day 1 are here...

2009 through 2013

Hats                          788

Scarves                     326

Gloves                       394

Preemie Hats             471

Preemie Blankets       274

Lap Covers               168

Shawls                      198

Slippers                       82

Amazing, isn't it? The whole thing is that we are committed to doing this only 2 hours a week. What we didn't count on was the fact that charity crafting is addictive. Most of our ladies cannot help but work throughout the week, at odd moments. 

As you can see, most of our projects are small. This means we can easily work on something while a load of laundry is working, or while we are cooking. Several of us keep a small bag with a project in our cars so that we can also work when waiting at medical or dental offices, and one gal even crochets at her bowling sessions.

We make it clear whenever anyone comes into the group that it must be fun for them. We promise each other to never stress over this. We want to enjoy it, and hopefully, the love spreads into each piece we make for those in need.

 
We are all on fixed incomes and therefore, we get creative when trying to get supplies (yarn) for our projects. I've posted in the past about how to look in thrift shops, Craigslist, Freecycle, and other places. Somehow, we always manage to "find" some and the cycle continues.