February Focus - Beanie Knitting

February Knitting Challenge 

for Kindred Bloggers

Use your crafting talent to help kids deal with their cancer by making fun beanies and totes.  

Craft Hope - {spreading seeds of hope one stitch at a time}

Project 16 :: the littlest warriors

From the Craft Hope Website:

So are you ready?!? For Project 16 :: The Littlest Warriors, we will be collecting handmade beanies and bags for kids like Pierce who are fighting cancer. Pierce’s mom, Melanie, has graciously volunteered to collect and distribute the items to the kids who need them most.

Here are the details:

We need BEANIES (hats) for babies through teenagers. All noggin sizes. They can be knit, crochet, fabric. You name it. They can be embellished with flowers and bows. But don’t forget about the boys. They need hats too. It’s very difficult to find adorable hats and we think this community is the best place to get them. There are a hundred and one patterns online for beanies/hats. If you have one you’d like to share post it in the comments and I’ll put up a post to share with everyone.

And…

We need BAGS for the kids to take with them to the hospital. They can be simple tote bag style or whatever suits your fancy. And if you are so inclined fill them up with goodies for the kids. Some ideas are books, puzzles, crayons, coloring books. The opportunities are endless.

As with any Craft Hope project, don’t get lost in the details. Make a bag or a beanie. Make twenty. Get a group together and make bags and/or beanies. It’s totally up to you!
Melanie lives up in Minnesota and will be distributing the beanies and bags to the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, the Miracles of Mitch Foundation, and the Ronald McDonald House.

Please mail the beanies and bags to:
Melanie Bimson
16026 Temple Drive
Minnetonka, MN 55345 

Time to pour another cup of coffee and get started on my beanie knitting!

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Charitable Giving - According to C.S. Lewis

I pride myself on being a pretty good money manager.  I watch my pennies and try to make the most of my dollars.  But I’ve noticed something lately (helped out by the writings of C.S. Lewis).  When it comes to spending on me and my personal life style I do cut myself an awful lot of slack.  When debating whether or not to purchase something – I don’t spend hours on end weighing the pros and cons of that purchase; I pretty much make a quick analysis of the situation and then either buy or not buy – with “buy” being the choice as often as “not buy”. 

But when it comes to charitable giving, the story is a bit different.  Oh, I think I’m generous; I make it a point to set aside a monthly amount for church and another monthly amount for the various causes and collections that present themselves. But that’s pretty much where my analysis ends.  In my reading Mere Christianity, however, I found I’m really not even close to reaching a charitable life style. 

Lewis writes in answer to the question of how much should a person give:

“I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.   In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc. is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little.  If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small.  There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”

Talk about some food for thought!  I think Lewis has presented a banquet here - for both thought and some serious prayer!

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