Masks

I know this post is really, really late in the grand scheme of wearing masks, but it seems like wearing masks will be going on for quite a while, so maybe better late than never.  And I’ve seen a few other people post about their masks, so I decided to as well.

Obviously, we’re wearing masks.  North Carolina has a mask mandate in place, though it’s not rigorously enforced everywhere.  We’ve been making a point of supporting businesses that do enforce it, and not supporting the ones that don’t.  It’s something we both feel very strongly about.  

That being said, it took some getting used to remembering to always bring a mask, and some trial and error to figure out the best way to organize them.  It seems like it’s always a little hectic trying to leave the house, and we’ve learned to keep things we need to take with us near the door.  We hang our keys near the door, so we decided hanging masks near the door would work.

We put up this hook for them.  

It’s very sturdy, so whenever things are back to normal we plan to use the hook for things like bags of library books that need to be returned and other things that need to be taken somewhere else.

We have a lot of masks.  It took some trial and error to find the ones that are most comfortable.  And Nick hasn’t been able to work from home, so that’s a mask every day, two now that the CDC has started recommending double masking, plus additional masks for any time I have to go into the office, or any time we have to take pets to the vet or go anywhere else.  Since they can’t go in the dryer, I wanted to make sure we had plenty of extras for the times when we get behind on laundry.  So we have a lot of masks.

We’ve also been following the guidance to wash them after every use.  I feel like the guidance to treat them like underwear; don’t touch them/take them off in public, wash them after every use, etc. is pretty simple to understand and follow.  

We have this bag hanging near the door to collect the dirty masks.  It’s just a reusable bag that I used to take to Aldi. 

It’s washable, and I periodically wash it along with the masks.  I know we could just put the used masks in the laundry hamper with everything else, but there’s a lot of potential for the mask to be taken off and left somewhere else in the house on the way to the hamper.  Since there have been cases of animals getting COVID, we don’t want to risk Duke or the cats getting sick from a contaminated mask, so the bag near the door works well for us.  We come in, put the mask in the bag, and immediately wash our hands.  

All of the masks that we’ve bought say to hand wash or wash on the gentle cycle, so they all go in the washer on the hand wash cycle.  Early on, I put them in with other things that were washed on the hand wash cycle, but the masks tend to get caught up in sleeves and pant legs.  A few accidentally went through the dryer that way, and I felt like I had to throw them away after that.  I wasn’t sure if they’d still be  effective, so I threw them away.  After that, I started counting the masks and making sure I had hung up the right number of masks before I put anything in the dryer.  That kept me from ruining any more masks, but it was a pain, so now I just wash the masks by themselves. 

It was a challenge figuring out how to dry so many masks at once.  We can’t hang them anywhere within reach of the cats because Caroline and Mortimer will chew the straps.  And a mask with no straps is pretty much useless.  The best method I’ve come up with is using a straight plastic clip hanger like this, so I can put several masks on one hanger.  Then I put the hanger on one of the hooks we have over our bedroom and closet doors.  

The cats can’t reach them, and they get plenty of air to dry.  

I decided early on to get masks in cute/cheerful prints/patterns.  There definitely hasn’t been much joy and happiness during the pandemic, so I decided to put a little bit of happiness wherever I could, and cute masks make me a little bit happier than plain ones. 

 

I’m a Friends fanatic, so of course I have a Friends mask.

Nick is a huge Star Trek fan, so he has a Star Trek mask.

If you’ve visited much, you know I love to cook, so I  have a mask with a cooking print.  

Nick loves sloths, so he has a sloth mask.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that most of my masks have butterflies.

Unfortunately, Nick’s job doesn’t share my view that cute masks bring a little bit of happiness, and they have a policy of solid color masks only.  They adopted that policy fairly early on, so Nick only has a few masks with prints.  We have a lot of solid colored masks, since Nick has to wear masks a lot more often than I do.  I’ve bought masks in pretty much every possible shade of blue since that’s Nick’s favorite color.  I refuse to give up on trying to squeeze a little bit of beauty and happiness into wearing masks.

My job, while being very strict about enforcing the mask mandate, has said we can wear any kind of mask we want as long as it’s not offensive.  So I still get to wear my happy masks whenever I go into the office.  Most of my coworkers have opted for solid colored masks anyway, but I don’t think it surprises anyone when the person with the pink office shows up in a mask with butterflies or rainbow hearts.  

So what about you?  Did you have a hard time getting used to remembering to bring a mask?  Do you prefer patterned or solid color masks?  

Crocheting For A Cause

This post could just as easily have been titled “Hanging On To My Sanity With Yarn”, but “Crocheting For A Cause” sounded a little nicer.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.  

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?