Bag of Squares

Saturday night I had a message on my answering machine from a lady at church saying that someone had donated a large bag full of crocheted squares to the Prayer Shawl Ministry and she wanted to get them to me. In my mind I pictured random squares using up odd bits of yarn and scraps...multicolored. I figured who ever donated them made them for that purpose or made them just to get rid of scraps. Sunday after church I got the squares and peeked into the bag. Much to my surprise all of the squares matched. They all had a purpose and a place. Each one was carefully stacked on top of another, sealed, and carefully labeled in individual Ziplock bags...numbered by rows. They were beautiful white granny squares with a burst of color on the inside. This wasn't at all what I had expected. I thought to myself 'Why on earth would someone go through all this hard work and not finish it? They were so close.' Then it dawned on me...What if the person making the afghan died and their family was left with just this bag of squares and no way to assemble them? Here this woman probably spent countless hours working on this project to never see the end result. Think of all your WIP's. Think of all your stash that will be left behind. I guess in the grand scheme of things a Work in Progress is just a drop in a bucket, of no significance, but still this idea deeply saddened me.

I guess there are a couple of things to be said about this situation. First, yarn might seem like a ridiculous thing to leave in a will, but it should at least be communicated to a relative what you want to happen to it once you're gone. If you don't have any family members or friends that could use it please consider leaving it to specific charity. I wonder how many countless WIPS have been throw away after someones passing because family members didn't know how to handle it. I'm grateful for the bag of squares I received. Our ministy is always in need of handmade items. I guess the second thing that could be said is this, life is too short to crochet/knit with cheap yarn. I'm not saying 'Go Crazy' but I am saying treat yourself now to something nice. I'm going to make myself an alpaca sweater! I've never used alpaca before so this will be nice...and interesting...and expensive :-)

Oh! And finish those WIP's now while you have the chance!
Maybe I'll gain a new found enthusiasim for the Football Fever afghan I'm making for my husband.