Welcome Back To The Parlor - August 19th

It was an awesome night in The Parlor.  God was with us as we honored Him by celebrating a return to Wednesday dinners, classes, and His work.  What a bounty He brought us.  More yarn was turned into scarves, afghans, and chemo caps than I’ve ever seen and all the seats in The Parlor were full!  There were enough new items for each of us to hold one while we prayed prior to taking them to the Prayer Shawl cabinet.  Ladies, if we keep this up, we may need a bigger room.

In addition, there are new projects in different stages of completion.  The Parlor is a blessed, happy place to be on Wednesday evening with lots of work, laughter, support, encouragement, and stories.   Barbara taught herself several new crochet stitches for her new project and still volunteered for the Granny Squares.  Jenny is making wonderful progress on the knitted scarf she’s making, especially with her longer knitting needles.  Ellen and Ann worked together so Ann could learn to knit.  Martha is working on a beautiful knitted white shawl.  Robin S. is back with a wonderful tan and working on a blue afghan.  Robin B. brought two completed afghans and a yarn donation – thank you, Robin.  Rebecca and Lisa came in to help with prayers – we’ve missed you both.  Susan has a new project going.  Robin L. is completing a bright shawl out of cotton yarn…is this going to be the yarn you warn us about?  Dana came in for as long as she could before she had to pack for the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk in Minneapolis (did you take a pink shawl with you?).  Dee has a couple of beautiful knitted projects going and still spoke up about working on Granny Squares!  Alida was with us in spirit.  She sent four completed shawls, four completed scarves, and at least four dozen Granny Squares! 

Me – I just went from one project to the next, forgot to mention several things I planned to talk about, and forgot to take pictures!  The Chicks With Sticks are such a joy to be with, even making notes about what I plan to do doesn’t work!  Please join us on the 26^th.

Welcome new members:  We’re so happy to have you in this Ministry. 

            Ann O. joined us and is learning to knit!  .

            Meredith J. came in for her first meeting, with knitting and crocheting skills! 

Back to Square One:  Alida is making more Granny Squares!  Barbara and Dee have stepped up to the plate to learn to make afghans out of the squares.  We started on the squares last night.  Alida asked for more yarn last week to make more squares so we’ll have fun putting several items together.  Alida is a great contributor.  We appreciate all you do for the Prayer Shawl Ministry.

September Project:  One of the items I forgot to talk about last night was a September project for those of you interested in participating.  In November, our church sends Care Packages to members of the Armed Services.  From the information I’ve received approximately 10 to 12 packages are sent out each year.  If we have any church members with family on active duty, we choose those individuals first.  We then go to a site called “Any Soldier” and, depending on how many boxes we can fill, we choose soldiers from that site to send the rest of the packages to. 

Ellen did some research as far as items we can make for the packages and found there are some restrictions for items going to members of the Armed Services overseas.  They are as follows: 

USE ONLY WOOL YARN. Helmet liners made of synthetic fibers cannot be worn by Marines in combat areas. Colors allowed by the military are black, charcoal, brown, tan, olive drab.

Given these restrictions, and the fact that we do not know where these packages will go until the last minute, those who choose to make helmet liners or scarves for these packages, should follow these guidelines to be on the safe side.  In addition, the seasons are quite different in the Middle East than here and it can be quite cold. The other thing Ellen discovered is the helmet liners that are knitted are more comfortable than the crocheted helmet liners. 

With that information, the recommendation is that helmet liners are knitted and scarves are crocheted in the wool yarn colors noted above.  We do have some wool yarn in the bins in The Parlor and will go through the bins next week.  I’m not sure how much there is, but we’ll check and use that first.  We will include washing instructions with the items so the recipients know how to care for them.

It would be nice if we can have a helmet liner and a scarf for each of the 10 to 12 care packages be sent out – can we make it an even dozen?  Please let me know if you are interested in participating in this project and if you think you can get one of these items completed by the end of September. 

October Fall Festival:  Just a reminder to save October 19^th on your calendar.  We’ll have a great time at the Fall Festival in our “Tent” from 2:00 to 5:00.  A schedule and organization sheet will go out in a couple of weeks. 

Thanks for all you do. 

Love and blessings,

Beverly

“Faithfulness to the little things will help us to grow in love.  We have all been given a lighted lamp and it is for us to keep it burning.  We can keep it burning only if we keep on pouring oil inside.  That oil comes from our acts of love.” – Mother Teresa