Recipients and Mailing Dates for 2009

I will be sending preemie items made for Doernbecher Children's Hospital in June and to the Madigan Army Medical Center in December. I'll be mailing knitted wool hats and mittens (and perhaps socks)to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation at the end of February and again in September. I will be knitting six-inch squares to be made into lap blankets, also for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. I will be knitting these of wool and mailing them in batches of 36, along with a bit of money to help with mailing costs.

Here is the information for making the squares:

The Pine Ridge Reservation is the poorest spot in the USA. The average life expectancy for residents is only 47 for males and early 50s for women. The unemployment rate is 90% and the teen suicide rate is four times the national average. Basics such as running water, heat and food are scarce for many residents let alone jobs and health care. These challenges are particularly difficult to deal with given the geographical isolation of the Rez and the incredibly harsh climate.

We accept blanket squares of all sizes and fibers. No square goes unloved or unused. The squares are sent to Pam, a Lakota woman and seamer-extraordinaire, in Louisiana.
After seaming, she sends the finished afghans to Pine Ridge Reservation social service agencies or individual families who request them.

This group is a “sister” group to Pam’s Yahoo group which she created five years ago. You can visit and/or join that group at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/loveafghans4prr/

Please send your squares to:

AS4PRR - Pam Wingard
1756 Starboard Drive
Apt #2
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
70820-8045

New Year

I've been mulling over whether or not to make any New Year resolutions or goals for my knitting. I have a tendency to be overly-ambitious and then compulsive. I knit to relax and enjoy the process and if I start making deadlines for myself I ruin it all.

My resolution, then, will be not to make a resolution. I won't require myself to knit a certain number of items in a a certain amount of time or spend a minimum amount of time knitting every day. I'll just knit.

Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit, either. When I say properly practiced, I mean executed in a relaxed manner, without anxiety, strain, or tension, but with confidence, inventiveness, pleasure, and ultimate pride. ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

2009

I am finishing up as many of the projects I began but didn't finish this past year that I can in the next few days--socks, hats, mittens, baby sweaters--and on December 31st mail all the preemie items to DeWitt Army Community Hospital and all the children and adult ones to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

I want to begin 2009 fresh with new projects, new recipients, and maybe even some goals for the year.

Two More Preemie Hats

Now that I am finished with library school and things are beginning to quiet down a bit (well, except for the holidays), I hope to begin knitting more of these little hats. I also hope to knit booties and little sweaters as well as mittens and socks.