Thursday Thirteen Number 19—I’m Boring, Yes I’m A Square

I wasn’t even going to write again until Sunday, because lately I’ve become a one-note wonder. I thought I’d take a break and catch my breath, so I could write about things that would interest all my readers. I felt a little like my friend SusieJ felt a few days ago and I thought powering down would be good.

But y’all know I can’t shut up, and I didn’t want to miss out on Thursday Thirteen. Especially not on the very first Share A Square Day. I’m a little superstitious, whether I want to admit it or not. I also noticed that my friend Yellow Rose takes every opportunity to tell folks about the project (and she crochets like crazy, too!), so I was feeling guilty. This one is a departure from my usual Thursday Thirteen. I just can’t be funny today, because:

I’M BORING!

1. On June 14th, I posted about a little project to make 140 afghans for children with cancer at Camp Sanguinity. If you haven’t been here before, it’s called Share A Square, and it has consumed me. Trying to keep up with all the loose ends is difficult, because I didn’t think it through before I just jumped right in the water.

2. If you are wondering why it’s so compelling to me, here is one good reason why:

3. I’ve been asking for help, because I want every afghan to have a square made by a different person, so each child will feel the love of at least 40 different people. The help that has come to me has been amazing and heartwarming. You can visit the SASS Blogroll to see that there are a lot of people with kind hearts. If you want to help (even if you can’t crochet) you can link to the project and join the blogroll.

4. But, keeping up with the links on the blogroll got away from me…so if anyone wants to volunteer to be The Bird Dog and sniff out the links so the blogroll can be updated, please e-mail me. I want everyone who helps to be acknowledged. Jenny McB, Teamouse and Janet even put the blogroll on their own sites to share the link love.

5. I also need someone who can do graphics who would be willing to design a card for each afghan with the names of each contributor (not just the folks who crocheted a square). I want those kids to know how many people got behind this project. {Quick Update before I jump in the shower: Jessica the Rock Chick will design cards! Yippeee!}

6. I’ve talked about this crochet business so much that my friend Damien Riley at Riley Central gently teased me about it. Damien, I’ll be talking about it until we have 140 afghans. If you’d like, you can tell people about the project to hurry me along (:lol: I know it’s not a “guy thing,” but some of your readers are women or know women!).
To try to keep from being too much of a yawn to folks who don’t crochet, I decided to make a blog with just Share A Square updates. You can see a lot of pictures there of the afghan squares that have been sent. The link is on my sidebar, so you can check any time. I had hoped that with that page, I could post my regular stuff and you could just check in about the project when you were interested.

7. Today, the Colony Public Library is throwing open it’s doors to have the First Share A Square Day. I’ve been very nervous about it, because I wanted it to go well. The last few days, squares have been pouring into my mailbox. I was still concerned about it. Though there have been many people who sent in huge packages of squares they had crocheted, the goal is to have squares from lots of different people. I needed 10 more participants in order to have 40 squares from different people on the first afghan. Even one square makes a difference.

8. Then, yesterday I received a package that Marcia and her dear husband Leon had spent big bucks to send to me. Marcia had contacted the Ben Franklin Store in her town, and many different ladies had crocheted squares. I was relieved, but I’m not sure the UPS man was. I was running around the house in underwear and a t-shirt, because it’s hot here in Texas. He’s probably seen everything, though. He has “seen everything” at my house. Here is what they sent:

9. To make matters even better, when I called the library yesterday, my contact (Joan) told me that they have collected 300 squares from different people! That’s 1084 squares since June 14th—-and many people are hooking away. The library had posted this article on a local news website. A reporter from the Dallas Morning News responded and said she would come to visit, because she didn’t want to miss a chance to meet The Happy Hookers! They are a group of women who will be putting these afghans together.

10. My friends SusiJ, Teamouse, and FatBloke Thin have all worried about me because I’ve been a little more quiet lately. Thank you, friends, for your concern! Although I will be quieter for a few days while I try to catch up on comments, I’m still here. I have things “yarns” I want to write that don’t include yarn, so please keep visiting!

11. Sandee, at Comedy Plus, awarded me a Thoughtful Blogger Award! She gave me the Charity Blogger Award.

Thank you, Sandee! I’m delighted to get it. But, I never meant to be a charity blogger. I wanted to be “sassy.” I wanted to be intelligent. I wanted to blow your dress up! But, I’ll be a charity blogger if it gets 140 afghans made. I’ll wear that button proudly (when I get a moment to put it in the sidebar). But, if someone wants to design an Ueber Blogger Award and give it to me, I’ll take it, too.

12. I won’t be getting to visit you today, but it doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I won’t be answering any comments on this particular Thursday Thirteen post either(I’m behind in answering comments by more than a week and I hate that!). But, you can leave your comment and be magically linked.

13. My Honda Element, named “Shiftless Hussy.” is packed and ready to go. I’m ready to face the day. Wish us luck! Maybe when I come back I won’t be boring.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS HELPED WITH THIS PROJECT!

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The Share A Square project has ended, and the afghans were delivered on July 7th, 2008. Although we will not continue that project, an exciting NEW endeavor, called the Good Medicine Project is in progress for summer camp 2009. We hope you will join us.]

Related posts:

1. Thursday Thirteen #33 I’ve Been Working On A Chain Gang
2. Thursday Thirteen Number 25. I Just Have to Share
3. Warm Your Heart
4. Share A Square —”The Nekkid Truth”
5. Share A Square Anniversary

Tagged as: awards, Camp Sanguinity, kids with cancer, Share A Square, Thursday Thirteen