A Call to all My Crochet Hookers

You may or may not know, but I am in Grad School for Library Science. One of the classes I’m in this semester is a leadership course where, surprise, we learn how to be successful leaders.  Throughout the semester, each of us has to come up with and present a Collaborative Leadership Project.  I’m not entirely sure if we’re required to actually follow through with the project, but I feel like my “do good” meter is running low so I actually want to follow through on my plan.  I knew from the start I wanted to incorporate my hobby of crocheting and use the resources available to me (my blog, colleagues at the library, and the crocheting community) to do some good.

So here is my call to action:

I’m hoping to collect as many granny squares as possible from anyone who has the time or wants to do some stash busting.  Every granny square I collect will be joined into scarves, and if this turns out to be bigger than I expected, they will also be turned into small baby blankets.  Once I conjoin the squares, the scarves and blankets will be donated to a local women’s shelter on the South Side of Chicago.  I’m hoping to get a nice big batch by December 1st, 2012 so that during the month of December when I’m not busy with school work I can work on joining the squares and donate the scarves and blankets by the beginning of January. Chicago should be in for a cold winter (though considering what we had last year, ya never know!) so I want to make sure these women who deserve some love and care get that love and care.  I’m referring to this project (for now…until I come up with a more catchy name..) “The Warmth of a Granny Scarf”

So as I said, I’m calling out to my fellow crochet hookers! I’ll list the requirements below and the mailing info. Please help me out with this. Granny squares are so simple and even if you only have time to make a few, it will still be a big help!

  • Use medium weight, 100% acrylic, machine washable yarn. If you can’t use this yarn, that’s okay too. Like-squares will be joined together.
  • Feel free to use any color(s) you want! The more color the better. Make them solid, or use multiple colors in one square.
  • Only do four rounds, as the fifth will be the joining round.
  • Use a 5mm/H gauge hook.

If you don’t know how to make granny squares, don’t fret! I’ve found some really helpful patterns and step-by-step instructions from some awesome blogs. So go check those out for some ideas.

Once you have a nice stack, send them to me:

Jenna Harte
2730 W 97th Pl
Evergreen Park, IL 60805
 

Thank you so much in advance to everyone who participates. If you’d like to enclose a little card or something I’ll include that in my package when I drop off the scarves. Otherwise I’ll include your name (unless you’d like to remain anonymous) in a note.  Please pass this along to anyone it wouldn’t otherwise reach and let’s see how many squares can warm the hearts and souls of these women.

Grow Up, Already!

I’ve noticed a theme in my last few sporadic posts, and it makes me sound like a broken record. “Okay, Jenna, we get it, you’ve had a lot on your plate lately!” Honestly, I haven’t posted in a while because I know it’s going to contain a sentence or six about me being stressed and overwhelmed, and I haaaate writing about that. So this is the last one, I swear.
I want to extend a question to whoever is reading this: How do you find the time and energy to accomplish everything? It was beyond easy when all I was doing was going to school and doing the occasional photo shoot. I had time to browse Craftgawker in the morning, fulfill crochet orders at lightning speed, and still have time left over to worry about what trouble I’d be getting myself into on the weekend. I’d be able to do everything I needed with minimal stress.
Now I’ve taken on a part time job at the library, a huge workload for school, a giant crochet order (which I’m almost finished with! Applaud me, please), all while trying to balance time with my amazing friends, boyfriend and family. I’m finding the little things that kept me amused before are taking a back seat for now. I used to take for granted the days when I had no obligations to force me away from the house; now I’m craving a half day when I can lounge around with some hot tea in my mug adorning my coffee mug cozy and a book. Today is one of those days which I’m very excited about! Until I have to go to class this evening. I know I only have a little bit of school left and once that’s over have more time to focus on a career and myself. But for now it’s my time to be angsty and complain about the stresses of growing up.
Anyway, I extend the question one more time: How do you find/make time for all of your obligations? It can’t be any big secret!