what I was up to these days….
I’ve been working very hard to finish up some projects that I can do with the two small ones around. So for now that means crochet. That’s okay though because I have also squeezed in some cutting time while the smallest one naps. Which means that I have one of the wedding quilts completely cut out and ready to go. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to even get a block or two done before retreat. After all, anything could happen right? Really the best news on that front is that I believe I have found what pattern I am going to do for the final wedding quilt. Next step is to raid my stash for fabrics to make said quilt. Wish me luck!
I’ve been holding tight to my revolutions this time around and have worked myself up to 20 minutes on the elliptical at least 5 times a week. In another week I should be able to work up to 25 minutes and once I reach 30 minutes I’ll work on doing a 12 minute mile. It’s always good to have goals. I hope that you are managing to stick with yours. I’m just hoping that the scale will soon be my friend.
Now, on to project finishing news. You may remember that I was working on crocheting some newborn baby hats for the Click For Babies project. I saw an article about it in a crochet magazine and then I went a little off the deep end buying skeins of purple yarn for that project and I started crocheting them like mad. However, I bit off more than I could chew and burnt out on them and had them in a bag waiting to be finished off and the rest of the yarn turned into little hats. <sigh> I came across them again and decided that this was a great project to finish so I could send them off. I’m almost done. Do you know how may hats you can make out of a skein of yarn? The answer is quiet a few. Like 8 to 10. Right now I’m up to 75 hats and I have one more skein of yarn left to use up. Next step is to finish that skein and get my final count before contacting the contact person in my area to ship them off to the hospital.
If you are not sure what the Click for Babies project is, it revolves around the purple cry and shaken baby syndrome. If you have had a baby in the last 6 or 7 years, you may have had to watch a video about the purple cry before you left the hospital with your baby. There really is no short answer as to explain the purple cry. Previously this would have been known as colic – when your baby cries with no relief and for no apparent reason and with no stopping. It is now seen as a normal stage of development for babies (although not all babies may go through this phase) and not as the babies having something wrong with them causing them to cry. It is also during this inconsolable crying where parents may become overwhelmed with frustration and shake their baby. We would all love to think that this only happens during cases of abuse and while it is abuse, it may also be a case where overwhelmed parents running on little to no sleep make a huge mistake.
Thus the purple caps – a way to bring awareness and education to help parents understand and not feel as though they are alone as they go through this period of the purple cry. If you are interested, you can find more information here. If you are a worker of yarn, there are free patterns on the site for crocheters and knitters that you can download or print for your use. Most importantly to me, on the site you can find hospitals and contact people close to where you live. Then you know that your hats are going to help those in your community.
Just in case you were thinking that you don’t really do anything fancy with regards to yarn work, no worries. There are simple patterns on the site as well. I’ll also include a picture of my work so you can see that I was really going for quantity rather than fancy and I spent time picking out soft yarn in different weights to keep those little heads warm.
So, that’s what I’ve been working on – or trying to finish up I should say so that I could feel some satisfaction for finishing a project and doing a little something for someone else.
I hope your Revolutions are going well and that you are winning your war. Be forewarned, retreat is coming. And the Monkeys are preparing…….
Monkey's on the Porch 