From Melanie Mays

Melanie sends us a long-distance update from Florida:

“Been very busy! Tallahassee Crochet Club has had a lot of community involvement teaching Girl Scouts and expectant teen moms to crochet. We've donated afghans to Blankets for the Gulf, scarves to the Pace Center teens (girls at risk), baby blankets to Lively Academy (pregnant teen moms), blankets to Brehon Center (homeless and abused women), scarves for auctions for several pet charities in town, and crocheted toys for a Head Start program in TN. Whew!!!!!! This group likes to focus on service, so that's what we do. We now have 60 people on our email list. Usually, we have from 10-20 at our meetings, consistently, sometimes fewer. We still don't charge dues. The group is very focused on working in their immediate community. You can see our website: www.divacrochet.com, click on Tallahassee Crochet Club.

In December I threw a Holiday Craft Party at my home and invited the crocheters, knitters and crafters that I know in Tallahassee and Monticello. We had a great time! Lots of food and drink, of course! I set up satellite tables with six different craft projects, so people could craft or just sit and crochet or knit. We played games, had a Secret Santa gift exchange and had a great time.

My sweater pattern for the Old Fashioned Knitting Board will be in Creative Knitting Magazine in the July 2006 issue. I think they're calling it Summer Breeze.”

Melanie’s group also contributed to the Red Scarf Project that Lily Chin is supporting.

For those going Chain Link in PA, Melanie plans to attend, so you can catch up with her then.