Crochet for Charity and Warm Up America
Warm Up America began with one yarn store owner in Wausau, Wisconsin, who could not knit enough afghans on her own. In this article you will learn how Evie Rosen turned that problem into a neighbor to neighbor program built on 7 by 9 inch sections, and how you can crochet your first section today with the Craft Yarn Council's own beginner instructions.
One store owner against a big need
In 1992, Evie Rosen owned a yarn store in Wausau, Wisconsin, and wanted to help homeless families in her community. She started knitting afghans and donating them to shelters, according to an archived For the Cause article by Mary Colucci of the Craft Yarn Council. The need was so great that she quickly realized she could not do it alone. Her answer was to recruit volunteers, customers and friends, to knit and crochet individual sections, and to have other volunteers join those sections together. That idea became Warm Up America.
Why seven by nine inches?
The size was not arbitrary. Rosen simplified the process by suggesting a standard section of 7 by 9 inches so that pieces could be joined easily and configured into different sized blankets. In the archived article's examples, 49 sections complete a 49 by 63 inch adult afghan, and 20 sections make a 35 by 36 inch blanket. A rectangle of that size is also small enough for a beginner to finish in a sitting or two, which is one reason the format has endured in beginner teaching. The archive affectionately notes that everyone has always called them "squares" even though they are rectangles.
How did the program grow beyond one town?
Word spread fast. Rosen and her program were featured in local newspapers, then in a statewide paper, and finally in national publications. Within two years her store was overwhelmed with individual sections and completed afghans, and her house was full too. She turned to the Craft Yarn Council, an industry trade association, for help. The archived article describes Warm Up America as a national program incorporated as a 501C3 charitable foundation that had distributed close to 300,000 afghans and accessories to people in need. Treat that count as a historical statement from the archive, not a current tally. The foundation's office location mentioned in the archive is likewise a historical detail, and this article does not reproduce shipping arrangements. The spirit the article records, neighbors helping neighbors, is the part that carried forward.
Learning the stitch while making a section
The Craft Yarn Council still teaches single crochet through the charity block. Its beginner instructions show how to make a foundation row and a single crochet stitch, and if you follow them exactly you complete a 7 by 9 inch block. The design is deliberate: your practice piece becomes a donation. The supply list is short. You need worsted weight yarn in any color or colors, a size G crochet hook, a yarn needle with a big eye, and small scissors.
The instructions walk you through a slip knot, yarn overs, and chain stitches until you have 29 chains plus one loop on the hook. You then skip the first chain, work single crochet across the remaining chains, and check your width. The Craft Yarn Council tells you to measure: the first row should come to about 7 inches wide. If it is too wide, you start again with fewer beginning chains. If it is too narrow, you start again with more. That measuring habit is exactly what a gauge lesson teaches, and you can read more about it in the magazine's guide to gauge and gauge swatches. At the end of each row you chain one and turn counter-clockwise, then work single crochet into every stitch of the previous row, being careful to work into the last stitch, until the block measures 9 inches long.
What do you do with a finished section?
Finishing is simple. You cut the yarn from the skein leaving a 6 inch end, draw the hook straight up to pull the yarn through the remaining loop, then thread the end into a yarn needle and weave it back and forth through the stitches to secure it. From there, the archived article records two paths for sections. Volunteers were urged to organize groups in their communities, complete entire afghans, and donate them locally to social service agencies. The Council also accepted individual sections and worked with local groups around the country to assemble them. Which path fits you depends on whether you prefer to crochet one rectangle or see a whole blanket through. For current mailing and assembly details, go to the Craft Yarn Council's beginner crochet instructions, which explain how your block can be joined with others to create an afghan for someone in need.
The same stitch, many projects
The Craft Yarn Council points out that with these basics you can make a scarf, hat, pillow, bag, or any number of projects. Single crochet is the foundation of much of what a new crocheter builds, and the charity block is a low pressure place to practice it. If you want stitch vocabulary before you start, the magazine's basic stitch definitions cover the abbreviations you will meet in written patterns, and the crochet basics shelf gathers the beginner lessons in one place. Readers who like seeing a stitch worked can also try the half double crochet video lesson once the single crochet block feels routine.
Start with one rectangle
Rosen's insight was that a problem too big for one knitter becomes manageable when the work is divided into 7 by 9 inch pieces. That is still the practical entry point today. Grab worsted weight yarn, a size G hook, follow the Council's eight steps, and measure as you go. One finished block is practice, a gauge lesson, and a donation in the same small rectangle, and a stack of them, yours or your neighbors', is an afghan.
Questions about technique? The magazine's free patterns shelf offers next projects once your block is done.