"Back on the tracks, the trains are in~"

EDIT: Please note that the correct address for sending in your stuff to the WUA is as follows:

Warm Up America! Foundation
2500 Lowell Rd.
Gastonia, NC 28054

If you poke around on their website, you might find the address mistakenly written for Ranlo, NC. Gastonia is the correct city.

♪Where in the world in your head have you been~♪

All Spies for the Moon lyrics aside, I have been writing, cleaning, and bumbling around with string/yarn; IE, not committing acts of blog. Sorry.

Here are the things I've being doing instead:

I made a little blanket...

...and some silly panels for an afghan...

...and a cup muffler.

I also danced Bon Odori (盆踊り) on stage for the first time, and didn't fall down. :D

Let's back up to those afghan panels. The following is targeted at all the knitters and crocheters (or "hookers," as is the term in vogue) out on the internet, as well as to anyone who would like to learn.

Would you like to help the needy AND get some stitch practice AND ALSO use up the dregs of your yarn stash?

If so, my friend, then the Warm Up America project says hello and good day to you, sir or ma'am; I believe we shall be excellent company for one another.

The IDEA:
Make blankets (and other stuff) for people in need.

The METHOD:
Knit or crochet 7" by 9" panels. Make as many as you want. Any stitch, any yarn.* Send them all in to the WUA, or find a local site that is collecting them. (Our local library is doing this - I've seen it at the hospital and a bank counter, too.) The folks at the WUA will put the panels together to make full-sized afghans for shelters and support foundations. (Alternately, you could put them together yourself if you find you've made enough.)

The WINNER:
Everybody. People who need warm stuff get warm stuff. You get to knit/crochet. Old yarn gets used up = you have room (and an excuse) for new yarn. You don't bury your friends in eight billion more knitted things than they could possibly ever use but are too kind to give away.

I'm gonna chart the pattern for that cup muffler and put it up here. Good practice for working in the round. Until then, 楽しみしてね！

*the WUA asks that you please don't combine wool with non-wools in any single object, and that you kindly label panels made of real wool, because wool felts and shrinks if you throw it in the wash. (Superwash wool is probably okay.)