Second Chance Afghans

As an individual who avidly loves to crochet, knit, and dabble around in just about every hobby that includes crafting with yarn, one of the saddest moments in my life is when I walk into a Goodwill, Salvation Army, Flea Market, yard sale, or wherever it happens to be, and I see an afghan or other project someone has obviously spent a lot of time making. Here it is, just sitting or hanging there, and some clueless person has a $4 price tag on it or something equally nowhere near the actual value of it when you consider how many hours it took to make!

I picture my own afghans, or my Grandma's afghans which mean so much to me, and I can't help but feel the need to rescue them. I've been doing this for years, actually. Whenever I see them, whether they have holes, are missing pieces I can remake and stitch back on, or even if I know there's nothing I can do to fix them, I don't have it in me to pass them up. A part of me hopes that some day, when I've passed on, someone will take my afghans and do the same for them. The other day, Lori and I were going through a bag of squares and motifs that various people of her family had made and never done anything with. I found myself longing to breathe life into them, to give them a purpose, to finally fulfill the original intent of the person that had begun and for whatever reason not completed them. This may sound trivial, but it's not to me. To me, I see the potential in them where someone else might simply see a bunch of random scrap items.

Fixing or assembling these afghans has become a passion for me, but it's also become something of a burden. I've been running out of room for more afghans, and because of this I've had to slow down a bit and stop collecting every single one I find. I can't tell you how this just kills me, so to speak, because I just know that whoever gets the afghans that I don't will wind up using them as pet bedding. I've really seen afghans in the back of people's cars, filthy and covered in pet hair and other disgusting animal byproducts and obviously falling apart from sheer neglect. I realize that some people intentionally make projects for pets, and I try not to judge. I feel, though, that crocheted projects are worthy of respect, especially if you're not the one who made it in the first place. It's for this reason that I choose not to make pet bedding or even rugs. I'm not even really that crazy about making socks for people, to tell you the truth.

Recently, I've been wanting to do something with these afghans I collect and repair, and I would love to give them a second chance to be useful. I obviously don't need them, but I know there are others out there that might. While I'm well aware of the potential for them to suffer the very neglect of which I'm speaking about, the point is that eventually they're going to dry rot and then they won't be doing anyone any good at all. I much prefer the idea of sending them out into the world, messengers of crochet bringing warmth and hope to those who receive them. This may sound silly and naively, optimistically hopeful of me, but I know from personal experience that crochet has power like many are not aware of. Crochet can light up a life far beyond our ability to perceive. Crochet can inspire you, and above all, crochet let's someone know you cared enough about them to give them something special. Crocheted blankets can be to a child a literal as well as figurative safety blanket they cling to and remember long after it's fallen apart and they've been forced to discard it. There's limitless potential with crochet, and I like to see a world full of potential. Like seeds in the wind, some are carried to fertile soil while others are discarded or misdirected. BUT... All carry within them the power of life and hope for the future.

It's this hope that I want to share with others. Lori and I have been talking about what we can do with these afghans, and together we've come up with the idea of donating them to charitable organizations helping people who might actually need them. I don't yet know what organization, but we've started looking into it. With this goal in mind, I suddenly find myself looking forward with new purpose to the days ahead as we start shopping around for afghans to rescue. I hope that, just like the afghans themselves, we can have a part in giving people a second chance at life. I say all this with the purpose of asking you for a favor. I know there are people out there who maybe have an old afghan or two that they don't use or have any real use for. Maybe you have some with holes in them that aren't supposed to be there, or maybe even an afghan that a family member started and never finished.

If you like the idea of what we're doing with these afghans, please feel free to donate your own afghans to this cause! There's a needy person out there whose life you could help to change. If you don't have any afghans, I would like to encourage you to go looking for afghans for us to fix or to collect for our donation. The more people we have helping us find them, the more afghans we can rescue and the greater chance we have of making a difference with them. Places like your local Goodwill, Salvation Army store, Flea Markets, or even your neighborhood yard sales would be excellent places to go looking for afghans. We're looking into getting a post office box for you to be able to mail to, but at this point we don't have that established yet.  In the meantime, feel free to be collecting afghans for the donation, and I want you to know how much we appreciate any help you can give us! If you're not able to donate afghans but still would like to have a part in this outreach, we have a donate link on the page and you are more than welcome to contribute that way. Also, if you know anyone with afghans to donate, or you think there's someone who might be interested in donating so that we can afford to keep buying and fixing these afghans, please feel free to lead them in our direction!