Eye Candy Friday, Comfort Shawl and Afghan Stats!

Since no ECF is complete with baby pictures, here's what we've got.  A pair of cheesy pictures and sweet smiles.  They were each saying "cheese!"

The Comfort Shawl is finished and blocked and here's a quickie photo - I'll tell more about this shawl soon when I can take the proper photo.

Afghan stats!  Yes!  But not stats from this afghan project.... how about a few details from the project that inspired "Rebuilding Greensburg - Block by Block".... the Hokie Healing afghan project.

• Hokie Healing was created as a project to make afghans to provide comfort and healing to the families of victims of the shooting that occured on the Virginia Tech campus earlier this year.
• Hokie Healing was created by one lady*, Gina Bonomo, who is the owner of Mosaic Yarns in Blacksburg, Virginia - the home of Virginia Tech. (*and supported by many others)
• To date the Hokie Healing project has collected 8298 squares!
• The first 32 afghans for Hokie Healing are for the families of the 32 people killed (I think they were all students but I'm not completely sure).  Obviously they have more squares than needed to make just 32 afghans so they will continue seaming squares until they have used them all up - giving the afghans to injured people, then others who were in the classrooms and witnessed the events of that terrible day.  You can see photos of those 32 afghans on display at the VT campus on her blog post here.
• Hokie Healing had a seaming event in June - you can see pictures here and some news video here (why aren't there any news channels in Wichita that even care about the Greensburg afghan project??) showing their seaming event.
• There were over 100 people at the Hokie Healing seaming party.
• The people... over 100 of them... seamed for seven hours straight.
• The people.... over 100 of them... seamed 20 afghans in that time.
• Oh.
• No.
• We need a lot of people to help seam 40-50 afghans in one day.  A LOT OF PEOPLE.
• We need at least 200 people or more!  I hope there's not something else going on in El Dorado that day because I'll be recruiting high school kids, ladies from the hospital auxiliary, every knitter in the state of Kansas, plus Kansas City and major cities of Oklahoma!  OH MY GOSH we need a lot of people.  The pastors.  Their wives.  Their children.  High school kids.  I already said that but OH - maybe I need to contact the 4H people in our county.  The Home-Ec teacher at the high school (if they even call it that any more - I don't even know).  I have to get a lot of help.  OH, I can call the Community College and see if anyone there will help - OH, I know someone in my knitting meetup group who works at the Community College!  That's a good thing.  Okay, it's very very good to know some of these stats so that I can be well prepared for the seaming event.  Hopefully I can get in touch with Gina and get some more specific information from her to help our seaming event be as efficient as possible. 

Whew.  Got a little excited there, or maybe nervous.  This morning I was at the post office mailing something to Suzannah for her birthday (will not be there on time and does not contain the desired cell phone - I'm a terrible mother)... when at another window I heard a lady discussing the patterns she's mailing and how they don't qualify as Media Mail, blah blah blah.  Patterns?  What kind of patterns?  I don't care (well, actually I am curious now that I think about it).  She can probably seam afghan squares!  So I waited outside the post office and attacked this lady when she came out.  heh  I told her as fast as I possibly could about the afghan project and seaming and we need 200 people and blah blah blah and she was so cool and excited about it!  She has an eBay store and said she would link to the Rebuilding Greensburg project from her eBay store front and tell all her sewing friends!  Yay!  So anyway, I'm all about getting enough people to come help seam afghans now.  I wonder who I'll attack next?  heh

Daily Square Report - Thursday and Friday Combined:

Today we're adding 103 squares!  Yippee!!!  That makes 1837 received and 403 still needed!  WooHoo!!  But we have MORE than SQUARES!  We have Other Stuff Too!!  I've told you before that Fridays are FUN DAYS for afghan mail - my surprise today was a delightful box of good stuff from Jackie in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Jackie sent not only squares, but also 1 scarf that I LOVE and want to make one just like it for my son, 1 precious pink hooded baby cardigan, 10 winter hats in sizes ranging from child to adult, and 9 sweet little hats ranging from preemie to infant size.  What a fun package!  And all of the other packages were very generous!  I know I shouldn't do this but I'm getting kinda nervous about this project now - wanting to be sure that it all comes together as smoothly and efficiently as possible.  Some things I just can't control but I'm still very psyched up about it and thinking about details of the project constantly.  I'm always thinking "What's the next step?".

One thing I'm thinking about is seaming yarn.  The yarn company I contacted will not be donating the requested yarn for seaming.  So I need to decide how to handle that.  I don't know yet exactly how much yarn I need.  That will be determined more by how many squares we end up with!  And I need to decide whether I will accept random donations of yarn from people (y'all have already been offering)... or should I try to somehow get the money to buy all one kind of yarn?  Blah blah blah.  Oh life is tough when this is the worst thing going on, right?  Well, I'm just trying to get SO MANY PEOPLE to help with this and I don't want to get to a critical moment and realize I don't have enough seaming yarn or it looks like barf because we used random colors or who knows what.  I'm going to have to pull together probably every plastic yarn needle in the city of Wichita to do this thing too.  You probably wouldn't find 100 yarn needles if you bought every one from every Wal Mart and Michael's and Hobby Lobby in a five county area!  I have a lot to think about!  Not every person comes complete with their own Chibi and scissors.  I might just have to do a fund raiser.  Raffle?  Donations with prizes?  I need ideas. 

Any and all suggestions brainstorms and ideas are WELCOME!!  I will be chatting with my knitting group about this subject on Saturday morning at Panera, for SURE!

Today during nap time I have been burning a bit of nervous energy (good for the WLC which I still need to chat about but I don't think this will be the day).  During today's nap time I opened two days of afghan mail, wrote most of this post, and cut down a tree.  Well, half a tree.  But yes - worked on our backyard make-over.  I need to do a post about my favorite tools:  chibi, bamboo knitting needles, magnetic board for holding lace charts, and my chain saw.  Oh I do love my chain saw.  I did take pictures but the babies are waking up so I'm running out of time!

Today's squares came from the following people:

• Lora - El Dorado, KS
• Erin - El Dorado, KS
• Pat - somewhere in Kansas but I don't think I know the city - thank you for dropping your squares at Heritage Hut, Pat!!  :)
• The "H" Family - Wilmington, NC
• M.K. - Iowa Park, TX
• Barbara - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Monica - Hemet, CA
• Theresa - Zip 97402 (Is that Portland?  I don't have time to look it up!)
• Kirk - Lake Havasu City, AZ
• Jackie - Raleigh, NC
• Ruth Ann - Camino, CA (44 gorgeous squares!!!)

In addition to the great Other Stuff that Jackie sent, I got yet another box from the dear ones at Love's Many Cloths.  This time it was Char in Culver, Oregon, who sent a box of little soaps to go with cloths that we've already received!  Isn't that the sweetest idea!?  And the box smells SO GOOD!  heh

Everybody have a wonderful happy safe summer weekend and I'll see ya back here next time with more squares and hopefully a few bright ideas from my grrls at Panera tomorrow morning.  :)

XOXOX

Comments

[Kelly]

awww Cheesey grins are the cutest! I love Lila's little crooked smile :)
Your shawl looks absolutely fantastic! And the striping in the yarn, was that intentional or did it just happen to turn out that way?? Beautiful!!!
What if there are people willing to get the yarn and needles, you could say ok we are all going to use this certain yarn that can be found here or you could do a special order for needles or yarn for that matter at michaels.
Have a great weekend!

[Gina]

Call me at the shop at 540-961-4462...if my employees try and filter the call and tell you I'm busy...pressure them to tell me immediately that the call is urgent. (I get alot of calls). I will help you with your project any way I can.

[Wendy Basil]

Laura,
I have 3 plastic yarn needles right here. I prefer metal. So I am going to put them in an envelope and mail them to you. Also have you tried Brown Sheep yarn about a donation?
Loves Many Cloths.

[margene]

You are SO amazing...look at the gorgeous completely handspun shawl! It's marvelous, just marvelous. And way to go to find people to help you seam. I hope she can get more people to help you. Lila and Emeline are the best eye candy anywhere! XXOXX

[Spinning Jenny]

I will seam as much of my afghan together as possible before sending it out. Hopefully it will be a complete one.

[Ren]

i wouldn't mind sending a few yarn needles or a skein of seaming yarn with my box of squares if you needed it (and, from all the generosity i've seen around here, i'd venture to say that others would do the same). i'd love to be able to help you seam the blankets, but living in FL makes that pretty impractical!

[skeetshooter]

Thinking while typing. Maybe put the word out at some retirement communities or "rest homes" in your area. I'll bet you could find some willing hands.

[PlazaJen]

I think if you have a specific yarn you'd like to use, and you're ok with having a variety of colors in that yarn? People will send you a skein or three of the yarn you need. (I'm disappointed already in whichever yarn company you contacted.) Will you have space for all those seamers? I'm going to check our calendar and see if that weekend's open - I'd love to help, and if I can seam with a crochet hook, I'm the John Henry of assembly. :)

Love your shawl, too!

[Carole]

Is there another company you could contact? Or a few yarn stores that would make some donations of the same yarn? I bet your knitting group will have good ideas.

[Wool Winder]

Maybe you could seam together one afghan on your own. That way you can estimate how much yarn you'll need and maybe how long it takes for the sewing process. You might even send squares home with people from your knitting circle so you can get a jump on seaming day. Sewing 40 afghans in one day sounds like a lot.

[Carola]

I'd love to send yarn to help out. Are you going to sew them together or crochet? What kind of yarn would you need for that. Any particular kind, such as wool or acrylics or cotton? Thickness?

I havent sent any squares, but am contemplating sending a baby blanket that's already been put together. And I could include some yarn to go with that same package.

Carola, Sweden

[Suzanne]

I'd be glad to send some yarn needles and seaming yarn especially since I can't be there for seaming day. If you post a wish-list I'm sure supporters of the project will take care of it. :-)

[jules]

I have some plastic needles I can send, too, if you'd like. And I agree with Suzanne - if you post a wish-list, you'll get what you need! :)

[Miss Scarlett]

Hmmmmm....now I am thinking there has to be a way that we can help you more.
Maybe simultaneously held seaming parties in different locations? And then seamers send the completed afghans to Greensburg or you directly?
Let me know whatever you need (the wish list is a good idea -- who the deuce wouldn't help? What a Grinch company - wish we knew so we could let them know how we feel about that, let them know with what they clearly value most Our Money -- as in not spending it with them anymore -- anyways, rant over....Now) and I will do my very best to send it on to you.

[Pat]

Do you have a date set yet for the seaming party? I'll come if I can! How about asking the high school or Butler Community College if the gym floor would be available? Do either have more than one gym? It would be great to spread them out and yet have plenty of seating room for people who don't want to work on the floor. Perhap everyone could bring either knee pads or kneeling foam pieces (like I use in my garden)to make it easier. If tables are available, long ones could be set side by side for each afghan and keep us up off the floor! With this awesome project and the number of people involved, it could become a media event as well! How about a flyer to every yarn store in the state...there aren't that many (unfortunately) but they have great connections!

[Pat]

One more thing - your eye candy girls are the sweetest things I can think of to see on Friday (or any other day) They're just beautiful!!

[Amy in Western MA]

*delurks*

I'll be more than happy to throw in a couple of packets of plastic yarn needles and whatever seaming yarn you need with my squares when I ship them out. The wish list is a great idea - going by what I've read in comments during the project, I'm certain all the fine folks participating will make sure the seamers have whatever supplies they need!

You're absolutely inspirational - I'm glad to be a part of this! :)

*relurks*

[Marisol]

Hi Laura,

I have been thinking about this and while I can knit 2-4 squares... I am not sure if this tiny ocntribution would help... I would be more than happy to send you yarn and darning needles if this would be of more help than the squares. you could also start a papal contribution kitty for this special cause and I would be happy to donate it to it you want to make the purchases... Another idea is to post a list of what you need and we can hit our LYS and mail these items out to you.

I'll keep reding or let me know what you would prefer.

[Char]

I just wanted to let you know that the Angels at our The Angel Company seminar helped me gather the soap from their hotel rooms and other places they have been and gave them to me to send......just so I am not taking ALL the credit!! ;-)

I gave out the address for the church to many Angels, so hopefully you will be receiving more! And, several asked about your blog so that they could help crochet/knit.

Thanks for letting us help in such a small way!!!!