On a recent Sunday afternoon I joined the volunteers of the monthly "Got Yarn" project to break out my old knitting needles. The volunteers of this project graciously give countless hours crafting scarves for foster children, hats for premature babies, socks for seniors, and even teddy bears for kids in Africa. I'm afraid that I am not a skilled enough knitter to put together one of those projects, so I decided to make a 12"x12" blanket for a cat shelter. One of the leaders of this project, Amanda Stiffler, gave me some yarn and helped me get started (I only had to knit--no purling, yay!). According to Amanda, the shelter sometimes runs out of old towels and my little blanket will be placed in a cat cage.
I'll be honest here and admit that as I was knitting away on this cat blanket I thought to myself that I have plenty of old towels that I could donate to the shelter. I was spending quite a bit of time creating a blanket by hand for a cat and I was trying to decide if this was an efficient way to contribute to the community. Ultimately, I realized that it is not only a cat who will receive this blanket, but also the workers at the shelter. I believe that my little cat blanket will show the people at the shelter that I appreciate their efforts to keeping homeless animals safe. As I came to this conclusion, I was able to relax and enjoy the simple act of knitting.
The "Got Yarn" project takes place on the third Sunday of each month at a very comfortable coffee shop. There is a group of regulars who provide not only basic instruction for beginners, but also great conversation once the needles start moving. Here's a photo of some of the Got Yarn group's wares:
Anna Schulz is a member of the Flex program and a volunteer blogger for Volunteer San Diego. She also writes for her family blog, The Full Catastrophe.
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