Share a Square

At this point, my friends, we have ALL of the squares we need to make 140 afghans plus several for children who won’t be at summer camp. In fact, we have them all together. I’m leaving this list of Frequently Asked Questions so that you can see what we have done. We DO still need people willing to rim afghans or put them together EXTRA afghans (I got more than 3,000 extra squares), so contact me, if you would like, at the address listed below.

1. What is Share A Square?We are working together to create 140 “granny” afghans for the children at Camp Sanguinity Cancer Camp (Texas) in July 2008. Each afghan is made of 48 squares; each square is from a different person. You can see the first post about the project, made on June 14th, here.
2. How many squares do you need?A total of 6720. As of October, we have over 4157 squares from all over the world. Pretty good for 2 and a half months work. I keep a running count at the top of the update page.
3. Are the squares crocheted or knitted?Both. Most of them are crocheted granny squares. You can find a pattern for simple squares here. Some people get more creative. If you get bored with granny squares, Thorne’s World has links to some lovely patterns as does Tricotene. Here is a pattern for knitted squares sent by Marcia at Tumbled Words.
4. What kind of yarn should I use?That’s your choice, we have a wide variety that has been used. Acrylic is best. Please don’t use wool, because children who are ill might be allergic (and moths are the pits).
5. Can the square be one color? What colors should I use?Get creative. Solid color ones are a good place to rest the eye. Kids like bright colors. It’s probably better not to use black, because they will be rimmed with black to make them all look like a stained glass window.
6. What size are the squares?Six (6) inches. You send them to me, and I find volunteers to crochet a black rim around the edge and put them into afghans.
7. Why can’t I just send them to you with the black already around them? Wouldn’t that save time?Everybody doesn’t seem to be using the same ruler. Sometimes, because of the size of the square, the rim around the edge is double crochet, sometimes I have to use single or triple (again, depending on the size of the square). I’m using black Red Heart yarn (with no dye lot) so that they match, but some of the volunteers who are putting together afghans have chosen to use different yarn. All of the squares on the afghan should match.
8. Why do you need a name tag on them? So the children will know who made the square. If you need proof that this is important, visit this site. The young man got an afghan from us, the very first one we made (the ONLY one that will be given before July), and was delighted by the name tags.
9. What should the tag say? Put your name (just a first name is fine) and your location (you don’t have to give your address).
10. Do I need a tag on every square?YES! Please put a tag on every square. I’ve spent a full week of work putting tags on squares. Each square will be in a different afghan.
11. Where do I send the squares? Shelly TuckerP.O. Box 2241Denton, TX 76202
12. What’s the last date you will be accepting squares?I hope we will be making 14 afghans a month from August through May. I need the last squares here by late March or early April. [UPDATE: AS OF JANUARY 21ST, WE HAVE ALL THE SQUARES WE NEED---BARRING ANY CATASTROPHES!] We did meet the goal for August!
13. Should I wait and send a large batch at once? No, please no! I’d rather have a steady stream of squares. Here’s why: I keep the squares in stacks according to who made them. When it’s time to make an afghan, I pull squares from 48 different stacks. I must have squares from 48 people at all times. I know it isn’t an efficient use of postage, but if a volunteer will put together an afghan, I want the squares on hand! Here’s a suggestion: Get a package of brown envelopes (one will hold 5 squares easily). Determine the amount of postage you need to send one package to me, and then put postage on each envelope. As you finish the five squares, send them on.
14. How many squares should I send?If you were sending them today, I’d only need 116 squares from you (24 afghans are either made or in the works). You could get some other folks to make squares, too if you would like. Or there are other ways to help.
15. Can I put together an afghan?That would be “May I?” And, yes you may. Just e-mail me and let me know and we will make arrangements. Another huge help (if you don’t want to bother with the whole afghan) is letting me mail some squares to you for putting the rims around them. You mail them back to me and I’ll get them popped into an afghan.
16. What are the other ways I can help?

You can spread the word. Tell your friends about the project and get them involved. If you blog, you can put this button on your blog or in a post. Let me know and I will add you to the blogroll (I don’t have time to chase links).You can either save this picture, upload it and link it to the Share A Square page or copy this code, paste it, and remove the three asterisks (*).<*a href=’http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/’ title=’sas_logo_new.jpg’><*img src=’http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/sas_logo_new.jpg’ alt=’sas_logo_new.jpg’ /><*/a>