One of the projects that I've decided that I want to work on this year is to do something to give back.  I had thought about several different things that I could do to give back and I kept coming back to the idea of making afghans for the local nursing facilities in the area.

Many times you hear of people that put family members in a nursing home then rarely ever see them.  There are people who have no family, or have little to no personal items of their own.  I thought that it would be a nice gesture to make a lap afghan for someone and donate it.  There are ways to find a quick and easy crochet afghan pattern, something that you can work up quickly and make several of easily.

As soon as I thought of this, I shared the idea with my mother who is also a crafter.  She thought it was a fantastic idea and it's not overly costly, especially if you use left over yarns from other projects.  You can make some of the prettiest afghans with scrap colors, and never have the same thing twice unless you want it to be.

In many cases, you can contact your local art and craft supply stores and ask them for donations of yarns or other materials if crochet and knit isn't your thing.  You can even contact the yarn suppliers directly.  Some will send you supplies at no cost, or for shipping cost.  So give it some thought and see if you can come up with some sort of design for a craft project you can do to give back.

If this is something that you think you'd be interested in, contact your local nursing facilities, or even the local red cross, or mission to see if they would like to have donations.  Give back, it's good for your soul.

In my next post, I'll be writing about another crafting cause.