Knitting for Good, or just for me?

I am always up for a good excuse to cast on something new.  Not that I need any excuse whatsoever.  It's just that if there is a reason (better than whim) perhaps that smoothes over the guilt I have or should have about suspending one project to start another.

Lately I've been working on 12" afghan square blocks for a special purpose.  I first saw a request for help posted on Ravelry and then checked out the author's "Spreading Love" blog entry for more information.

I've been trying to think of any additional toys or diversions I might be able to whip up and send along with the knit blocks.  But the 100% cotton criteria is proving a bit of a challenge for my limited brain.  That would work fine for toys, but I'd thought it might be fun to send something a little different to play with, like an assortment of disguises.  If I were young and very ill I think it would amuse me to have a supply of eye patches, hats, masks and wigs and such.  When an adult would come into my room to I'd slip on a snout or mustache and very loudly ask, "WHO?, who are you looking for to give that shot to?"  And then continue to profess, "I'm very sorry, you've clearly got the wrong room; as you can see, there are no little girls here at all."  But then I suppose inspiring obstructionist frivolity is probably counterproductive.  I'm also concerned that items made from 100% cotton would quickly stretch out of shape and just be disappointing.  That's not even considering that blocks are what was requested and I have not completely finished one yet.

Well, I have nearly finished one block (and am a third of the way through a second).  It's just that I made a stupid mistake with resizing a cloth pattern.  I added stitches to the side borders but forgot to knit extra rows at the bottom to have a comparably wide bottom border.   Still haven't completely figured out how to remedy that, although I have tried a few slow and tedious approaches and failed with them.  It would have been a lot less fuss and work to just have frogged and started over when I noticed it rather than continuing to the end and expecting that surely I'd think of something.


A few weeks ago I stumbled onto a pattern for a picc line cover (Ravelry listing and Finding Jenn project blog).  I was just looking for an example of something knit up in a yarn I wasn't familiar with and found the same yarn had been used in that unexpected pattern.  It caught my attention because my dad is getting IV antibiotics at home (administered by guess who and for an astonishingly tiring six weeks already).  I considered making a few for him, but realized his arms are not small, he is not chilly, and something thicker than the mesh netting that comes with supplies is far too likely to make him sweat.  Wetness and sweat are very dangerous enemies of picc line dressings.  Still this is something that makes sense for people less sweaty than him and people whose arms get chilly.  When I'm a little less stressed and looking for something small to do, this is on my to do list.

Recently I was surprised to see both knit and crochet patterns for bandages for leprosy patients.  And someone in Oregon, inspired by the number (1617) of homeless students in her area, has organized a huge campaign to provide one hand crafted item (hats, scarves, mittens) for each student.  The BSD Project has arranged clinics to teach people to knit and teach children how to care for their items.  There's just so much need everywhere.  It makes me realize how little I really need socks and vests and sweaters for myself.  And my pumpkiny-pumpkin bag can probably wait for next Halloween.