For some reason, I have gotten out of tune with one of my on-line crochet groups who does a monthly charity challenge. I some how don’t see the messages that announce when they start until it’s too late to join in, and I think they now require that you pledge a certain number before you can get any real info on what’s going on. Because I’m usually so busy, I don’t like pledging. I make what I can make and send what I can.
As a result, I have not been doing much charity crochet lately and have been trying to find other options (other than the squares I still make for Handmade Blessings). Then I saw Global Knits mentioned in a recent Lion Brand Yarn newsletter. One focus of this group is to make wash clothes and send them along with soap to help the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. You can find more information about it here, but basically you use 100% cotton yard (which I happen to have a lot of right now for some reason) and use that to make a few wash clothes, put them along with some soap in a zip log bag, and mail it to the organization in Ohio. They then send them onto Haiti.
I love this idea because it is so practical as far as meeting a need and doable for most knitters or crocheters. As far as crochet goes, while there are all kinds of wonderful wash cloth patterns out there, you can also just simply double crochet pieces to the required dimensions (1 – 10″ x 10″ washcloth, 1 – 12″ x 18″ hand towel). It is one of those no-brainer type projects you can do while watching television or waiting in a doctor’s office or whatever.
Once I get my current crochet projects just about done, I think I’m going to start in on some wash clothes and hand towels.
June 15, 2010 at 11:01 am
ooooh, what a great idea to make wash cloths and send them along with a piece of soap! They would certainly be put to good use over there. Fab idea!
June 16, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Hi Wezz, yes I think this is brilliant.