For the past few months the kids and I have been crocheting and knitting to make squares for an afghan. This is the second year our 4-H club has made one for charity with some guidance from the Warm Up America! program (my kids really enjoyed making one last year so we decided to do it again). But this year we asked people to make 5″ by 5″ squares because we thought the smaller size would be easier (last year’s squares were larger and took more time to make so not as many people helped knit/crochet them). We asked our friends and family (from ME, OR, MA, WV and Ontario – THANKS everyone!) to help with the project and by the end February we had 159 colorful squares. It really is a fun kid-friendly and satisfying service project. But having done this twice, I thought I’d share some of my learnings about organizing this type of project in case anyone was interested in giving it a try. *Organize your squares and fit them into a row of strips BEFORE the meeting when you plan to sew them together. This is when you can figure out how each strip of squares will work out to be approximately the same width (it’s inevitable that not all your squares will be exactly the size you request and/or perfectly square, especially when kids are knitting/crocheting the squares too). *At the meeting, put the kids into small groups and give each group a row to sew together. This keep things organized for you and it helps the kids feel less-overwhelmed with the project. *If time allows, crocheting a black border around each square makes explaining to the kids how to sew the squares together much easier because all the sides of the square have exactly the same stitching. *The yarn used to sew the squares together hides a multitude of sins when it matches the square’s border, which is a good thing when you’ve got inexperienced hand-sewers. *A border helps make the squares look good together, even when put next to yarn that doesn’t exactly match. *Don’t sweat the small stuff, like matching all the squares in each row together with the squares above and below it. It’s nearly impossible to match squares crochet or knit by a variety of people using different hooks/needles, yarn and stitches so don’t even try. *When sewing two rows together, start one child from each end and have them meet in the middle. This way the kids can stretch their rows to match length-wise throughout the whole row instead of stretching the last square so much that it looks weird. *Request your square makers use acrylic yarn (stay away from wool or cotton). Acrylic makes washing the afghan easy for the person receiving it and it’s less likely to have odd shrinkage or stretching. It’s also inexpensive yarn to purchase. *And last but not least, learn basic math. This helps keep the project simple in creating ONE afghan. Due to my math error, we ended up with enough squares to make two afghans this year to donate to a Portland family shelter. And yes, both did pass the kid-cozy factor. More photos from this afghan-making project. If you don’t know how to knit/crochet, YouTube has some good ‘how to’ videos to learn. http://www.youtube.com/cp/vjVQa1PpcFNvCBDwZ2QxBPnNXU7VO419q-1tCz9yeBM= And if you’re interested in doing this type of service project, check out the Warm Up America! website for patterns and general information how to get started. Warm Up America!