Loose Ends

Wrapping up some loose ends because this may be the last post for a while...

I hope not, but realistically, work and school and some outside obligations will probably prevent my posting for a while. I will if I can.

I participated in Ravelympics '08. I had to carve a little time away for myself, and this was a great excuse. I competed in the Handspun Heptathlon for Team Splurk, turning 4 oz. of merino from Smoky Mountain Spinnery into this:  

I also competed in the WIP Wrestling (for works-in-progress that you think you'll never finish) for Team Red Sox Nation. I finished Miss Priss' baby blanket (yes, I know she's five now). But she loves it.

It took a really long time, especially since it was in garter stitch. She is so excited that it is finished!

The Red Scarf Project

What happens to a child in foster care when they are too old to stay in the foster care system?

Many of them go to college. Can you imagine going to college as an eighteen-year-old and being totally alone? No parents or family to come home to, no one to guide you or help you if you stumble?

This is where the Orphan Foundation of America comes in. Their website states:

OFA defines an orphan as any child who has lost the love of their parents through death, abandonment, abuse, or neglect.

In addition to scholarships, guidance, mentoring, and work training, the OFA sends out care packages to those teens who have "aged out" of the foster care system and are trying to make it in college. These packages are sent out three times a year. The Red Scarf Project is a project to make scarves (red ones) for the packages that are sent out for Valentine's Day.

If you go to the OFA's Red Scarf Project page, you can see lots of pictures of pround students showing off their scarves. I am working on one now. They don't have to be red, just unisex, because you don't know if a girl or a boy will get it.

Here is the info, straight from their site:

Scarf Size: Approximately 60" long and 5" to 8" wide. Scarves should be long enough to be wrapped around the neck, with tails long enough to be tied in the front.

Style: Think unisex collegiate. Ask yourself if your son, brother, and/or husband would enjoy receiving the scarf. Fringes are optional. Your scarf should drape and tie easily.

Yarn: Preferably DK, double fingering-weight, worsted weight, or light bully yarns. No laceweight, super-chunky, or mohair yarns as there are many people who find mohair too itchy. The yarn should be soft.

Color: Red! However, this could mean burgundy, cherry, russet, red stripes with other colors, or multicolor hues including red. Other unisex colors, including black, navy, teal, olive or gold are also welcome.

Finished and tagged: Yarn ends should be securely sewn in. For a personal touch, attach a tag saying "Handmade for You" with your first name, city, and group affiliation, if any. Donors have also included washing instructions, messages of encouragement, gift cards, burger bucks, books of stamps, etc.

Scarves will be accepted between Sept. 1, 2008 - Oct. 31, 2008. They need to be mailed to:

Orphan Foundation of America

The Red Scarf Project

21351 Gentry Drive

Sterling, VA  20166

Even if you don't knit or crochet, you can help. Spread the word! In fact, Scout of Scout's Swag is having a contest. If you promote the Red Scarf Project on your blog, Ravelry, Flickr, etc. before Monday, she will enter you in a drawing for some lovely yarn and a $25.00 gift certificate to her store!  Details here. And you don't have to knit/crochet/sew a stitch!  But you should, you really should.

School's In!

School has started, and everything is going well so far.  Scheduling is crazy, with one child close to the house but having frequent band practices, the other child all the way across town (Kindergarten!), and my school (work) somewhere off to the side.  I will add my school (grad school classes) in a whole 'nother town on the 18th.  I will go Monday and Tuesday nights, and all three classes should be easy & fun.  They probably will not be as much work as the ones I have had the last three semesters.

I have been participating in Ravelympics 2008, on two teams.  I am spinning 4 oz. of a lovely purple merino in the Handspun Heptathalon event, for Team Splurk (spinning + Plurk).  I am also trying to finish Lorelei's log cabin blankie that I started . . . umm, five years ago.  That is in the WIP Wrestling event, for Team Red Sox Nation.  For those of you non-knitters, WIP stands for "work in progress."  

Also for those of you who don't know, Plurk is a great time-waster.  It is like Twitter, only better.  At least that's the consensus of what I have seen from people who use both.  Of course, now that school has started I haven't had time to Plurk much.

A List

I have a lot of things that I want or need to do, and I hope that by putting them in a visible form it will encourage me to spend more time doing these things and less time 'piddling' and doing things I am not as interested in.  So, here goes:

Need to:

organize sunroom

make that tabletwoven belt

Bagatelle stuff

go through the box of Miss Priss' schoolwork from the past year

go through all the "what on earth is in this box?" boxes

finish Nana's socks

Want to:

do some dyeing of yarn

spinning

knit that Danish tie shawl

weave

organize yarn / fiber stash

cataloge WIPs

add pictures to ravelry projects

make new garb

finish my quilts

get into the pottery studio

finish test knitting sock pattern

In my dreams:

post stash to ravelry

post knitting books to ravelry

I will edit this post as I think of more...