warm the preemies project...

so a couple of weeks ago ... right before christmas ... i was making a new baby hat with a new pattern ... only it didn't turn out to be very big and i couldn't figure out what i had done wrong ... and then papa god put this thought in my head that i should be making hats and outfits for the preemie babies at the nearby hospital.

now i used to sew little burial gowns for the preemies who didn't make it when i was part of the UMW, but that was always with the thought that the babies that used them would be the ones who didn't make it. and although i knew that those little gowns were very much appreciated, it wasn't something i felt i was supposed to do.

i only had a little bit of baby yarn left over from making some baby blankets and wasn't sure how i was going to make this project happen when i have no job and no income. so i put it on facebook that if anyone wanted to donate a skein of yarn, they should lmk and that i would appreciate bright colors. before i knew it i had several ppl sending me money for yarn. i hadn't asked for money, i had asked for skeins of yarn, but these women sent me money and said to buy what i needed. it was confirmation that papa god wanted me to do this...

i set up an account in my quicken to keep track of the incomes and outgoes, and went to buy yarn. imagine my surprise when i had coupons and yarns i wanted were on sale. i was able to get more yarn than i would have been able to -- and i did that on two separate shopping trips -- not just one. so instead of spending $75, i would be spending less than $50 ... again, another testament to the favor papa god was putting on this project.

i've been crocheting like crazy since then and my goal is to get quite a few outfits done and then take them to my church to have them blessed before delivering them to the hospital. and i won't stop there -- i have so much yarn that i will continue to do this until i run out ... but i have a feeling i won't run out, because i have a feeling that papa god is blessing this project and i will keep doing it for not only this teaching hospital, where most of the preemie and NICU babies end up, but also another smaller local hospital as well. i know that papa god is in this project and it makes me feel good to be using my god-given gifts to do this for papa.

how one becomes a hoader ....

i have always believed that the minute i throw something out because i thought i wouldn't need it or hadn't used it in eons, i will suddenly need it. and today i proved that point. a little while ago, i gave away a bag of stuffing. i didn't think i would need it. figured i was past the pillow making and/or stuffed toy making stage of my life. so i gave it away. i had used a smidgeon of it to make a muffin shaped lion for my daughter and figured that was the end of that.

but said daughter has been chatting about owls a lot lately. this is significant for a few reasons. first of all, her grandmother (my mom) who passed away 22 years ago this june, loved owls. anything with owls. so i had this plethora of owl items in my house that my father basically told me to get rid of after she died and i couldn't bring myself to throw away because they were my mom's. this was probably the beginning of my semi-hoarder stage. at any rate, i kept the ones that had a huge sentimental attachment, and gave a few of the others to a then friend (who was like a sister to me) but who later turned on me during my divorce (go figure). so the fact that said daughter, who bears her grandmother's name as her middle name, and who i wanted so desperately to have the same sort of relationship with as my mom, likes owls is to me -- some sort of sign.

so after i made the little muffin lion (he wasn't supposed to be a muffin -- he was supposed to be an egg cozy but something was off in the pattern and he ended up being too big), i started looking for owl cozies (i never did find one) or little amigurumi (which literally translated means little knitted or crocheted stuffed doll or something close to that) owl that i could make her for graduation. after all, owls r a big symbol of graduation and becoming wise, etc.

i found a pattern and put it aside thinking it wouldn't take long. amigurumi animals r usually pretty small and don't take even a full ball of yarn most of the time. the other day in my cleaning, i found the pattern and decided to start on it. thinking i could probably finish it quickly. then i read the pattern -- 10.5 inches high. right, well, then ... let's get to work.

it hasn't taken me all that long, although its hard on the eyesight as its all done in single crochet with an F hook -- so old eyes have a tough time with that. but now here i am needing to stuff this 10.5 inch high thing and i have no stuffing. and i'm kicking myself for having given it away, because its not cheap stuff. and i have enough plastic shopping bags that i could stuff it with that, but then it would make crunching noises when she cuddled it and she would hate that, so it wouldn't be a very fond reminder of her mom when she's away at college.

now i've proved my point about not throwing things away because eventually u will need them and then what will u do?? of course, proving my point doesn't help me at all with the lack of stuffing issue -- so off to joann's i go ....

***************
UPDATE: I actually found a bag of stuffing in the closet of the spare bedroom -- so was saved from buying one at Joann's. however, i had to go there to buy eyes to finish the owl. and here's the finished product!