Debbie knit (actually crocheted) FIVE comfort shawls for the Cozy Butterfly Project!
Thanks, Sh’awl!
Last week, my good friend and sister writing group member, Debbie Broderick, delivered not one but FIVE comfort shawls to Hospice of Southern Maine as part of our Cozy Butterfly Project. I was totally blown away by her generosity and adeptness with the crochet hook.
Says Debbie, “Having a purpose for my crocheting is a great motivator for me, so 5 shawls was an easy way to spend my time this winter.”
Not only is she trying out new, beautiful patterns and stitches, Debbie also creates this shawls sustainably. The local Swap Shop often has donated yarn–someone else’s trash being another’s treasure–and Debbie takes the yarn home to, as she says, “put it to good purpose.”
What’s the Cozy Butterfly Project?
For newer readers, the Cozy Butterfly Project aims to donate comfort shawls to worthy projects. So far we’ve donated to two hospice services (one in Wisconsin and one in Maine) and to a women’s halfway house and training center. The idea is that you contemplate well-being, peace, hope, and love as you knit. The recipient is informed about this message of goodwill and hopefully finds comfort knowing that someone out there is wishing them well. The idea of comfort being actually knitted into a shawl might seem a bit “hokey,” but the amazing thing is that it seems to work. It’s symbolic of humans caring about other humans.
I’d like to continue to support Hospice of Southern Maine in 2023. Would you like to participate? The instructions can be downloaded here. Please print out the gift tags and include them when you mail out your beautiful, cozy shawls. And send me an email at [email protected] with photos and your comfort shawl story so we can spread the word!
Finally, if you know of an organization that could use comfort shawls, let me know! Maybe we’ll use your suggestion for 2024.
Comfort Shawl Instructions
SIPPs (Small & Indie Press Publishing) Project
Help spread the word! One of my goals for this year is to read, review, and promote Small & Indie Press Publishing (and authors). This literary landscape is where the most diverse, most genre defying, least constrained by convention books can be found…but so much media attention still lands on the traditional big publishers!
Be a Reading Rebel!
Feel free to copy this graphic and share it on your socials. I’ll be posting a longer piece about the project soon.
What are YOU reading this week?
