I’ve come to the realization over the years that I handle practically anything much better if I have a task. It doesn’t have to be anything terribly important, but I need something to do. The worse things are the more desperately I need something to do. I think that’s why I always bring food when someone is sick or has a death in the family.
A global pandemic involving social distancing isn’t the best time for someone with no medical training, with a job that isn’t really essential to find something to keep busy.
I attempted making crochet masks, but they’re not the best. If things get worse and they’re needed I will definitely keep making them, but fabric masks seem to be what most people prefer.
Last week I saw two posts on Facebook that involved useful crocheting. The first was mask adapters. The post said that healthcare workers are asking for them because the masks are very uncomfortable when worn for extended periods of time. There’s a crochet group in the upstate of South Carolina that is making them for some of the hospitals and clinics there. I got an address to mail some to.
I watched this video and tried following the pattern. I don’t have a stitch marker, and didn’t fully understand how it would be used, so I had to improvise a little. Mine aren’t pretty, but I think they will work. I’m mailing some to the group in SC, and we sent some to the local hospice house.
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| They're not the prettiest, but hopefully they'll help. |
One of my coworkers is married to an E.R. nurse, so I emailed him to see if his wife might want them. He said her hospital is using them. We’ve made arrangements for him to pick them up from our front porch tomorrow. I’m hoping to get some feedback as to how make them more useful.
Another one of my coworkers is married to a respiratory therapist, so I emailed him to see if his wife might want them. He said she does. We’re still in the process of working out a handoff.
I started getting low on buttons. I’ve ordered some, but they’re going to take a week to arrive, so I asked on Facebook. I’ve been given enough buttons to keep making adapters for a very long time! One friend gave us a gallon sized Ziploc bag that’s nearly full of buttons. One of Nick’s coworkers brought a smaller bag of buttons to him yesterday. Someone else has promised more buttons.
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| Coins for scale when people started asking about button size. |
The next post I saw was about using crocheted straps for cloth face masks. Most of the patterns call for elastic straps, but I’m told that getting elastic has become much like getting hand sanitizer or toilet paper. You can’t.
Someone figured out a way to make crochet straps instead of elastic. I don’t have any of my own pictures of the masks with the crochet straps, and I’m uncomfortable posting someone else’s pictures. The masks look like the ones in this pattern and this pattern. Just picture crochet straps instead of ribbon or elastic.
I shared the post on Facebook and asked if anyone was sewing masks and needed straps. A friend put me in touch with one of her friends who had been on Facebook asking for elastic. I posted my offer of straps on her page. One of her friends, Cindy, sent me a message that she was making masks for an assisted living facility and had run out of elastic. So we decided to collaborate. I made a batch of straps, using three different sized hooks, to see which one would work best.
On a side note, the first person who had asked for elastic was given elastic much like I was given buttons.
The next day we took my first batch of straps and dropped them off on Cindy’s porch. The same day she was asked by someone at another facility for masks.
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| The first batch of straps. |
After trying the straps made with different sized hooks, it was determined that the “I” hook makes the best straps. They’re 21inches long, with a 5 - 6 inch tail on both ends. Cindy suggested the longer tail since some of the folks in assisted living facilities may have arthritis, and the longer tails would be easier for them to tie.
I crocheted straps for most of the day Friday and some on Saturday morning. We dropped off the next batch of straps on Cindy’s porch on Saturday afternoon, and picked up a jar of buttons she gave me for the adapters.
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| The second, much bigger, batch of straps. |
Yesterday Cindy sent me a text that someone from another facility had asked for masks, so she’s making more. I had a small batch ready that she picked up from our mailbox. I’m currently working on more. Cindy says she’ll keep sewing the masks as long as people keep asking for them. I’ll keep making the straps as long as someone can use them for masks.
It’s hard to explain, but I feel so much better having something even slightly useful to do. It hasn’t really changed much for me. I’m still working from home during the day, and watching a lot of TV in the evening. Now I’m just crocheting straps or adapters while I watch TV, but it makes me feel better.
It was also nice to see so many people working together. There have been so many examples of people behaving selfishly, whether it’s price gouging, hoarding food/supplies, or doing things to put the most vulnerable at risk. It can make the world seem like a terrible place. But then there are times when people reach out to help. I know it’s small in the grand scheme of things, but it’s nice to see that someone can ask for something like fabric, elastic, or buttons to make things to try to help and be inundated with people providing those supplies.
So what about you? Have you seen examples of people working together lately? Do you need a task to stay sane when things are bad?
