Living in the American South, I tend to put down my knitting for the summer and forget working with fiber. It’s hot enough already without toting around heavy projects.

The beginning of this autumn is no different.

With this in mind, I go on a summer craft hiatus each year only to delve back in each fall with excitement and entirely too many projects. And since my main focus is on the activist side of crafts, here’s a reminder that craft can be used in all sorts of ways.

While conflicts are rising in the Middle East, it’s important not to forget the lives of those involved. There are numerous charities that have cropped up over the past few years, however, and one such charity is Afghans for Afghans. Since 2001, Afghans for Afghans has been collecting handmade items for Afghan individuals who may not have adequate clothing to last the winter.

Several times a year they send goods to Afghanistan, and the next shipment will be sent sometime in late September.

So this year, while you start to think about making (sewing, crocheting, knitting) hats and scarves for you and your loved ones, consider making one more garment for someone else. I’m going to make ths vest to send off for the current drive to help clothe young children in Afghanistan once the temperature drops.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 16th, 2006 at 2:37 am and is filed under creativity+community. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.