VOLUNTEER KNITTING TIME!
(see below my rambling!)

OK OK! So after a few days of waiting I heard back from the BlogHelp and found out that I'd been the victim of a bug in the works over there at BLOGGER...and my entire template was GONE -- thankfully my posts were OK. So - I had to pick a new template and will now try to recreate it all. I promise to have all of the great Music (albums you MUST own by struggling NYC artists), artists in NYC to support and knitting tip links soon!

New York is begining to get a bit less gloomy - but the gloom is still here. As people begin to prepare for the holidays it seems they are less full of energy - and are definately spending less. I suppose time will tell. I have a number of friends (you know who you are) who have already put in for transfers out of the USA, and others who don't want to leave their house - instead searching for a therapist to help with their unexpected heavy onset of depression.
In speaking with customers, those on the two coasts are still feeling the lack of shoppers... I know I'm holding onto my pursestrings tighter. I certainly am not optimistic about making extra $$$ these next 4 years. I certainly haven't benifited yet from any "tax breaks" in these past four years.

I've been looking into a few new projects, small ones to do between Christmas gifts and wrapping up UFOs.

VOLUNTEER KNITTING TIME:

THE SHIPS PROJECT

#1a: Afghan squares: The Ships Project:
As not to fill up your email with the long story - go to their website for the story of how this one started and what it's all about!

Afghan Square Info:
Squares should be made from acrylic yarn in "guy" colors. Favorites
seem to be red/white/blue and earthtones. They also like purple. No
pastels or neon colors.

Squares can be knitted or crocheted and are to be 7" x 7". If you
knit your squares put a border around them (3 rows of garter stitches
and the first 3 and last 3 of each row).

All 7" squares go to Debbie Hartley
17435 E. Temple Drive
Aurora, CO 80015-1925

#1b: Hat and Slippers for the folks working on the ships:
Reccomended patterns for The Ships Project can be found at:
http://www.theshipsproject.com/

The Ships Project website:
http://www.coingo.net/theshipsproject

ALL questions or comments should be sent to:
TheShipsProject@yahoo.com

Mailing dates for packages containing a mix of Hats, Afghans and Slippers:
January 1-7, 2005
February 1-7
March 1-7

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShipSupport (patterns and archives)
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#2: Head Huggers: donating your time to knit caps for hospitals ( for chemo, alepecia, burn victims etc.)

http://www.headhuggers.org/guidelines.htm
The Above link takes you to the guidelines to submit (including submission form and Sue's address!)

http://www.headhuggers.org has the story of how it began and links to reccomended patterns.
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#3. Warm Up America! (Thanks for the info Claudine!)
How it works...
Warm Up America! (WUA!) works so well because it allows people to make a difference, whether they complete one small section or an entire afghan. Volunteers donate their time to crochet and knit a 7" X 9" rectangle (or more). Sections are either joined by individuals or groups in a community and donated locally or sent to Foundation headquarters for joining and distribution.

http://www.warmupamerica.com/home.html

It's always nice to give to family at the Holidays (and year round)- but thankfully mine are all healthy - so it's time to give to someone elses!

Have a great day!