Alternative Therapy

So there I’ve been for the past couple of weeks, feeling sorry for myself and counting down the hours and minutes until payday, when I realised that really I needed to stop. I had food. I had a roof over my head. Enough with the misery.

And then I remembered that the last time I was feeling a little consumed with myself and my own problems I diverted my attention to a slightly more worthy cause than my own pity party.

And so I turned back to SIBOL and decided to do something useful with my time seeing as I wasn’t going to be spending any money having fun. There’s loads of yarn hanging about the place from all the blankets that have been made, even The Beast didn’t use all that up so this was going to be no cost and would make me feel happier with myself. 

If you weren’t in the know, SIBOL is run by the rather incredible Mrs Twins who decided that she would like to make some blankets to give to elderly people in care homes. People from all over the world have joined her and she has a steady stream of crocheted and knitted squares flowing through her letterbox which she then joins together to make the blankets.

Sometimes I wish I could be selfless like that instead of the whingey mess I’ve been lately. Bad girl.

Although she accepts any kind of square in any colours there are also challenges people can take part in which ask for specific squares to make into themed blankets.

A quick scan provided me with the perfect option. 2-tone granny squares in green. Whilst I would love to take part in some of the other challenges I am aware that my crochet skills are still firmly in the remedial section of the class, crocheting actual pictures or flowers or anything like that are not within my grasp just yet.

And so I spent a bangin’ Saturday night sat on the sofa, crocheting my little brain out. And then I thought that really I should stop saying I’m rubbish at crocheting and try something a little different so I whipped out the Jan Eaton book and had a go at one of her patterns. But then it turns out that actually that wouldn't work as part of the challenge, which was just your bog standard type of granny squares. Hey. At least I tried. Pat on the head for me.
Once pay day is upon us, I will scurry down to the Post Office (yes seriously, I can’t afford postage. Tragic.) and send my little offerings.

And so once again SIBOL and Mrs Twins have come to my rescue and allowed me to put my feelings of pathetic losership on hold for a while and actually contribute to something worthwhile. I’m hoping she’s not going to start charging for the therapy she’s providing me with.

Welcome distraction

Sometimes at a time like this you need to take a step back.

I’ve been ridiculously wrapped up in myself lately, my problems, my troubles, my feelings, how I’m being horrible to people, how I’m not a nice enough person etc etc.

I needed to stop thinking about myself. It’s most certainly not healthy. I needed a diversion.

And I found a brilliant one.

I heard about SIBOL through Domestic Doris and knew that this was something I could get behind.

Basically Mrs Twins (also known as Sue) collects crocheted and knitted squares from lovely people all over the world and makes them up into blankets to give to charities and care homes. There are many times that I’m blown away by how kind and generous people are and this was one of those times. Where do these people come from? How are they so good? How do I get to be like that?

She accepts any kind of crocheted square as long as it’s 6” x 6”, although there are some themed blankets that you can contribute to. I wanted to join in but was more than a little intimidated, some of these squares that people send in are uber fancy. The kind of fancy that makes my head hurt a little bit. I wasn’t sure if my bog standard granny squares would be enough. A couple of quick e-mails later and I was assured I could send in my offering, even if it wasn’t amazingly intricate.

I set to work immediately, mainly in an effort to keep the demons at bay but also because I thought it would be good to do something for someone else. Yeah, ok, I was attempting to ease my conscience.

And so today I sent off my offerings to Sue. I decided to contribute to the blue and white squares blanket (they’re probably going to just miss the 30th June deadline, sorry Sue!) and also threw in a square for the ‘Male square’ blanket. Those men might not want a pretty pastel number so Sue has asked for squares in a darker shade, I thought this baby was pretty manly, what do you think?!

So I would like to thank Sue. Thank you first of all for being the rather marvellous person that you are and devoting your own time and energy to a project like this and secondly for providing me with a welcome distraction during this period. You can be sure to get more squares from me as the time passes – especially something for those Christmas blankets I see you’re working on!

And if you would like to contribute to a worthwhile cause, (especially if you want to do something that will make you feel like less of massive bitch for breaking someone’s heart) then pop over to SIBOL and e-mail Sue who will be more than willing to tell you anything I’ve missed out.