I'm Back!

It's unbelievable, I know, but I am really back!  One of my New Year resolutions is to get back to my blog.  I thought I would take the little bit of time before the new year to get caught up!  So what's kept me so busy that I didn't have time to blog?!

I have been knitting, of course, but not as much as I would like to.  I've spent the past two months mostly working on items for The Preemie Project.  This project really expanded in the past two months.  I've had many additional volunteers from my area join in as well as many additional national volunteers.  We had our first local event on 10/28/05 at the Iowa City Senior Center.  Seniors from my community joined myself and other volunteers for a presentation about the project.  We gained many great volunteers that day.

We had our second Iowa Chapter meeting the following weekend, on 10/30.  It was a lot of fun.  We were joined by many new local volunteers.  We spent the afternoon chatting about knitting and making beaded Memento Bracelets for our Angel Program. 

Recently we have been lucky to have the help of two local girl scout troops.  One of the troops is made up of 8th graders and the other of high schoolers.  They've been a huge help and I'm looking forward to working with them in the future.

Here is a picture of Girl Scout Troop #2019.  I attended their meeting in November.  They spent the evening making beaded Memento Bracelets and cutting out flannel teddy bears and bunnies.  Thanks girls!

Some other groups that we've teamed up with locally are the following:
-Cedar Rapids Embroidery Guild
-Iowa Smocking Guild
-Story City FCCLA
-Saint Thomas Moore Knitting Ministry

I hope that this list will continue to grow in the coming months.

The Iowa Chapter has made a couple of donations since October too.  We made our Pumpkin Push donation on 10/21/2005.  It consisted of pumpkin hats with matching booties and pumpkin themed blankets.  I was told that the nurses and families really appreciate these items.  The donation was picked over, by the nurses, in 20 minutes!  Here's a picture of the whole donation.  These items were just too cute! 

Included:

80 Hat and Bootie Sets

57 Blankets

Then in November we made a donation to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) Touching Hearts Program.  We made our regular bi-monthly donation to the UIHC NICY on 12/5/05.  We donated hats, booties and blankets. 

Finally last wednesday, 12/21/05, we made our Winter Holidays donation to the UIHC NICU.  We donated winter and Christmas themed items, including santa hats.  Here is a picture of that donation.

Included:

112 Hat and Bootie Sets

62 Blankets

Next year we plan to start making items for the holiday donations as early as June or July.  Hopefully this will put less pressure on everyone and make the donation totals larger too.  We want to bring a little piece of happiness to as many families as possible during the holidays.

That pretty much sums up everything that has happened with The Preemie Project.  I've also been working quite a bit on the new website.  It still needs quite a bit of work, but it is coming along.  I am still looking for pictures of premature and healthy babies for the site.  Please contact me by email if you're interested.  Any pictures will have to be sent to me in email.

www.thepreemieproject.com

If you have a link to the old website on your blog, you can now change it to the new site above.  It's the one that will be kept up to date.

I'm working on some upcoming events, meetings and donations for The Preemie Project as well.  Here's a list of what is going on:

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Upcoming Donation:

Iowa Chapter Donation- University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics NICU and Touching Hearts Program.  (February 1, 2006)

Upcoming Events:

-Martin Luther King Day of Action
The University of Iowa, Iowa Memorial Union
Friday, 1/20/2006
10am to 4pm

-Spring Semester Volunteer Fair
The University of Iowa, Iowa Memorial Union
Wednesday 1/25/2006
11am to 4pm

(Our Organization is now signed up with the 10,000 Hours Show through the University of Iowa.  We hope to team up with many students to continue our mission throughout Iowa.  I know there are a lot of college students who knit!)

-Knittin' 4 Preemies: A Community Knit On 
Beads and Beyond
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Saturday 2/4/2006
10am to 4pm

Upcoming Meeting(s):

Iowa Chapter Meeting, my home
Date and Time TBA (end of January to beginning of Feb)

Iowa Chapter Work Group Meetings
Place TBA
Date and Time TBA

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If you're interested in making items for the project, or becoming involved in local events, please feel free to contact me.  You can also take a look at The Preemie Project's yahoo group for more information:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thepreemieproject/

We are ALWAYS looking for more volunteers to help us with our mission.  Please join us!

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Well, that's pretty much what I've been up to.  Things have definitely kept me pretty busy, but I am really enjoying it.  I wish everyone Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year!  I'm looking forward to posting often again.  I haven't forgotten about anyone.  I still read all of your blogs even if I don't get a chance to leave a comment.  I'll be sure to post an update later on about my knitting and everything else.
 

Comments

[wool winder]

Glad you're back. I've missed reading about your adventures in knitting.

[Libby]

You're back blogging... That holiday donation was huge. I am so impressed.

[Agnes]

Wow! All those little hats & booties are sooooo cute! You and your volunteers certainly have accomplished an enormous job!
I was just hopping over to see what was up with you since I haven't got Bloglines update from this blog for a while ... and voila, read this even before Bloglines picked it up! I wish you and your family a wonderful new year. Take care!

[caitlyn]

Wow, you've been really busy! I'm so impressed with your donations!!
I'm glad that you're blogging again...I've been worried! I hope you are enjoying the holidays with your family. =)

[Becky]

Welcome back to blogland. I've sure missed you but it looks like you have been one busy chickie. You should be real proud of all the work you've done.