Knit away the sad

This time of year is not very cheery for me. Generally I shut up and wait for it to go away and it always does. This year the Sandy Hook murders have left me unable to do much of anything but cry when I see pictures of those lost children on tv.

The new Rule 1 is: no news shows.

Rule 2 is: do something positive about the situation. A Tweet led me to Danbury, CT based Happily Hooked on Crochet Club. They, in conjunction with a crochet guild in Virginia, are doing something positive. They are collecting hand-stitched stuffed animals and prayer shawls for the Sandy Hook kids and their siblings. A Ravelry group called 600 Monsters Strong is working on the same thing. They've got some great suggestions for the safest/most comforting monsters.

I chose one of Rebecca Danger's adorable monster patterns, Daphne and Delilah. It has the added fun of a pocket on the front of the momma monster for stashing the baby monster. I'm going to use the Sandy Hook school colors of green and white. Traveling from Walmart to Walmart on the week before Christmas looking for the right colors of acrylic yarn was a Bad Idea. I chose to buy it online and throw some money at expedited shipping. You've got to take care of yourself before you can expect to comfort other people.

ETA: The HHCC reports that Newtown is overloaded with stuffed toys. If you're just now running across this post, check out the 600 Monsters Strong Ravelry group. They are planning for the project to go beyond the current situation.