Giving Out

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." -- Morrie Schwartz

The Crafty Angels got together for fiber, fun, and food on Saturday, July 17 -- and they did a LOT of giving out! I could not believe all the yarny goodness and love that came in my front door and got piled up on my dining room table -- it was truly amazing. The Angels' handiwork just keeps getting better and better. I took so many pictures that I ended up having to only show a selection to you, otherwise it would take you too long to open this blog post and you'd be spending all day looking at the yarny goodness. So what you see here are my favorites - editor's preogrative!

Want to see who was there?

Angels Debbie Kreusch, Angie Lyke, Sandy Rice, and Joann Larson

Angels Joann Larson, Lorie Nienke, Doris Ahlstedt, and Peggy Kingsley

Angel Carol Flowers

Spa cloths rule -- especially when it's too hot to knit or crochet anything else! Just look at these lovelies:

These came all the way from Angel Alexis Leuth in Winter Springs, FL. She said she found it easier to crochet these round beauties instead of square ones. Aren't they great?

Angel Carol Flowers has discovered the joy of crocheting spa cloths on her lunch hour, and our women in homeless shelters will benefit!

Angel Joann Larson experimented with knitting in patterns on her spa cloths - she did a GREAT job!

Lori Nienke's friend from work, Heather Groh, made these - they are also just great! Remember -- we're shooting for 800+ this year, so keep on making them!

Angel Angie Lyke used spa cloths as an opportunity to experiment with knitting -- these are her first knitting efforts. I think she did excellently!

As we talked, we realized that we were focusing on "small" projects, due to the heat. Those projects came in all sorts of flavors:

Carol Flowers made hats and scarves -- another great summer choice!

Joann Larson worked on socks for Afghans for Afghans -- another great summer knitting choice: small and portable. And more hats and scarves for the folks at Cornerstone Community Outreach and A Just Harvest.
Another of Lori Nienke's friends made chemo hats for Swedish Covenant Hospital -- a great summer crocheting and knitting choice.

Debbie Kreusch made more AWESOME toys -- my favorite is the aqua monkey in the back on the left. Debbie make him look like a sock monkey -- and he is made out of LEFTOVER SOCK YARN!! Is that appropriate or what?!?!?! These will be just great for the children served by Parenting Progress.

Doris Ahlstedt stayed inside with the airconditioning on to make these beautiful baby blankets and hats for Swedish Covenant Hospital.

Some "big" things were made, too -- just look!

Debbie Kreusch made some wonderful afghans for our seniors at Friendly Towers -- but she wanted you to note that in the summer, she only makes afghans that can be made in strips, which are then crocheted together. This way, she only gets hot when she is finally finishing off the afghan. I think that is a wonderful piece of advice!

We all just LOVED this afghan that Debbie made -- and she wanted you to know she started it BEFORE it got so hot! The bears are made separately and then appliqued onto the afghan. We decided that this baby blanket should be set aside to be raffled off at our fundraiser at Christmas time -- it would be a wonderful gift for a grandparent to give to a grandchild for Christmas!

Angel Angie Lyke has been trying all sorts of new crochet stitches and projects - she was an inspiration to us all! Check out this prayer shawl she made from scrap yarn - wonderful!
And isn't this baby set for one of our newborns at Swedish Covenant Hospital just precious? This was one of her first baby sweaters, and we think it turned out excellently!

WOW!!! Can you feel the heat from all this crocheted and knitted love?? I surely could as I carefully packed away all these love gifts after the Angels left. All of you Angels are very, very good at giving love out -- and I hope you can feel all the love coming back your way. You've certainly got mine, and lots more from the people we serve, the folks who run the organizations we serve, and each other. So when you have trouble sleeping some night, just remember that there are more people than you can count, or even know about, who are very thankful for YOU and love YOU! Let that feeling just wash over you and bask in it a bit -- YOU are worth it!