Knit Your Square to Give Your Share - PART 4

chalky_75

Hear hear Diana x x x

anakat

:hello: Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year.
I made lots of family things last year and didn't get to do as much charity stuff as I would have liked, I have also been learning " free motion quilting ":eek:
I finished a pair of socks for my DH at 10.45pm New year's eve :rotfl:
Which ended the knitting year very neatly.
Looked through my stash and found enough odds and ends to make 3 little cat blankets for the nearest Cat Rescue which I will drop into their collection bin in the local Co-op on monday

THIRZAH

Happy New Year Everyone.

I'm still trying to use up yarn from my stash-I've another blanket to finish and my niece is expecting a baby in the spring so can use up a ball of double knit . I was determined to be good and not buy any more yarn until the stash was reduced but then I went into a branch of Tiger and the sock wool was only £1 for a 50 gr ball so bought four balls !

mioliere

Hi to you all. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a great start to the New Year. As you must be aware, I have been neglecting this thread lately for various reasons - Christmas, DH not being in full health, searching for various new ways to market my property, and a loss of mojo that is taking its time coming back. That Edna Bucket rears her ugly head every now and again, doesn't it? Christmas is the worst time for me these days - it just seems to highlight how much I want to be back with the family. Thank goodness for Skype and Facetime, both of which have been essential over the last couple of weeks.

Anyway, I had a message from Chalky the other day; she has had what I think is a brilliant idea, and I thought I would post about it on here to see what everyone thinks about it. She has suggested that we move the group to a Facebook page. Much as I think we all love MSE - it's been a life- and money-saver, as well as a friend-finder - for me since I first discovered it - times have changed, and Facebook seems to be the way of things nowadays. As Linda says, a Facebook group would mean that posting photos of our achievements and WIPs would be so much easier, as would launching new campaigns and projects, and themes, along with individual knitting, sewing, and crochet charity pushes similar to Lucy of Attic 24's crochet-alongs where we pick a particular item that we could all make and illustrate with our own photos. Facebook would be such a good media for this and, although initially we would keep it as a 'closed' group (more about that a bit later in this post) we will be able to invite others to join us. I'm sure there are many people out there who would love to get involved with creating items for good causes, as well as enjoying the opportunity to share their own skills and talents.

I know many of you are already on Facebook. I am an Admin for a closed group on there that has a particular interest for me; I was invited to become an Admin by the founder member of that group. It is nothing to do with knitting, crochet, or charity work so there will be no 'conflict of interest', for want of a better expression, at all. While I enjoy any group, blog, and Facebook group that involves such things, our Knit Your Square group that was born on MSE way back in 2007 (can it really be so long ago?) is still my first love, and I love the wonderful people on there who have contributed so very much since its beginnings. For me, I feel having a Facebook group would make it easier to keep the group running smoothly.

Roamin in the Gloamin (whose technical skill and prowess with all things computer I bow to) has given me excellent information about the security and privacy aspect of a Facebook group. Those of you who already have an account on there will be familiar with how it works, and how seriously Facebook strives to provide security and privacy for its members. Those of you who have not yet joined and who, if we all decide that Facebook is the way for our group to move forward, would like to join, will find that it is simple to set up an account - you will not have to fill in any personal details or, for that matter, even use your real name or your primary email account; you can use another email account, or even set one up specifically for Facebook. Many people love the anonymity that online forums provide, because they are not expected to give identifying details if they choose not to. Being a 'closed' group will mean that we choose who we want as members; this will ensure that trolls, troublemakers, and spammers are kept out. We will also be able to delete members who do not abide by the rules we set up, as well as invite those we think would enjoy being part of our group. You will not have to be 'friends' with every suggested link that Facebook may send you - it will be totally up to you who you choose to be in contact with or 'friends' with. If at any time you are worried about anything in the group, you will be able to privately message an Admin in complete confidence. If you find that the group is not for you, you are free to leave at any time. You will also be free to invite your own like-minded friends.

We will still be able to keep our running total spreadsheet that Roamin devised for us so that we can keep track of the items we make for charity. We will all be able to suggest and link to other good causes that we come across, and we will be able to have separate tabs for such things as storing patterns, the names of good causes, and so on, which will make them easier to find.

All Facebook groups need Administrators to keep an eye on things, and to help keep them organised. I don't feel capable enough to do it on my own, so I have asked Chalky (whose idea the Facebook group was), and Roamin (who seems to understand so well this technical online world in which we live) if they would be co-Admins with me, and they have, I am so happy to report, said they will. That way, there will always be someone available to contact if any of our members have any worries, want to suggest new ideas for the group, and so on.

I will leave the idea with you all, and ask you to take time to think about it before posting your thoughts on here. You have all contributed, and continue to contribute, so much to our group - it would not now be in its eighth year without you - and I would love to know what you think about this new idea.

NB - For anyone who does not have a Facebook account, and would prefer not to have to join, we can run this group alongside the FB one. I wouldn't want to lose any of you - you have all helped to keep the group going, and have contributed to so many good causes over the years.

Have a great day!

KathyXX

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all,
Kathy I hope that things improve for you and this is your year, for better health for you and your loved ones and that the house sale goes through.
I hope all are well and that the new year is kind to us all.
If the group did decide to go to Facebook I would very sadly have to bow out as I don't have that and just don't really understand how it works.
I know it's probably the way to go for the rest of you who have it and I really will miss you as I don't think many of you go on other threads I use or still visit lh. I will wait and see what happens.
Love and hugs to all.

mioliere

Mrs Moneypenny - it is just an idea at the moment, so we will see what everyone else thinks. I would hate to lose anyone, especially a regular contributor and someone as enthusiastic as you have always been. We could easily keep this group going on here; I don't see why both groups could not be run side by side. I should have suggested that, and will go back and edit my last post to add that as a suggestion, too.

KathyXX

roamin_in_the_gloamin

I will start by stating that I am not a great fan of f/b, but in my case it is a means to an end. I had not been able to access LH for over 18 months no matter how hard I tried,as well as other issues I had with Lou so in the end I emailed Lou and left LH. In in order to stay connected with some of my cyber sisters (everyone a STAR by the way) I re-joined f/b, more cautious this time around with the information I gave, what I share and who I am linked to, at present it is working fine for me.
Since September when DH decided he could sub for superman and fly out of trees my time 'online' has been severely depleted, on top of all the other things I had previously been doing, I am his primary carer, his ambulance/taxi driver for his appointments at the hospital and the physio etc., now don't get me wrong each day is getting better for both of us, but since he is now out of bed this also causes more concerns I have to watch him like a hawk - he is not a patient patient, to say the least.
I still manage to craft for my favourite charities, I still manage to at least read the forum pages that I visit regularly even tho' I may not be posting as much as previously.
I love the MSE forum format (it's not pushy/nosey or argumentative)- its simple and easy to use - dip in and out as and when, catch up with everything going on in folks crafty lives (if they want to share) etc. It's a comfortable place to be, I have no problems with posting pictures of my work, or lists of what I have managed to donate. I would miss you all if you weren't there. I think what I am trying to say is regardless of what is decided I will still be there, will help out in any way I can, oh and photo's of Knit your square donations are all still available on Yahoo group WOOLIGANS...... I see I haven't been in there for ages either. Off for a coffee then its the knitting machine for me.

mrs-moneypenny

it sounds like you have so much on your plate Roamin, i do hope that this year is kinder to you and that Dh becomes a more patient patient, and goes on to make a full and permanent recovery.
go and enjoy some time on your knitting machine

anakat

I think having a group on FB is a good idea, as was said it is much easier to post pictures there. I use FB to keep in touch with friends I made years ago in a now defunct cat site and to see what the grandchildren are up to :rotfl:
I lead a very boring life and there is nothing in my FB that the world and it's aunt couldn't read.

f1widow

Hi all,

Firstly Kathy, I'm so sorry to hear that hubby's health is suffering and that you still gave so many struggles selling the house you have a lit on your plate and only wish there was someway we could help xxx

Mrs m - noooooooo don't want to lose contact with you xxxxxx

Being like Jean and not being able to post anything, or sometimes even see/log into loving hands and sometimes unhappy with changes etc found a few lovely groups over on Facebook ive found myself on there more and I do have to say is very easy to use and post photos etc so I would have no problems with a Facebook "Knit your share" but although I've been hopeless at keeping up on here lately would miss anyone who wasn't on Facebook - Facebook has been a very good way of Jean keeping an eye on me😄:rotfl::rotfl:

So just to say I'm happy to go with the flow xxx

Special hugs to all dear virtual friends who have hands overflowing xxxx😍😍😍😍😍