Now Norma Knits

A Bit of a Red Scarf Update -- With Photos of the Bounty

This is what the Foster Care To Success mailroom looks like at the moment:

And there is some overflow over the tops of people's cubicles, as well:

There is a "scarf processing operation*" scheduled for this Saturday. As of November 14, after two processings, the scarf tally stood at 1,163 beautiful, high-quality red scarves. Cash and gift card donations to the emergency fund have been coming in also, to the tune of almost $1,500 since September 1st.

I feel much better now. I have not been blogging as much, and therefore not reminding and haranguing people to knit, crochet, or weave more red scarves. And I have only been able to knit one scarf this year, which I have yet to send in (maybe today, so it will arrive in time for Saturday's processing event). I was worried that I had not been doing "my job," but it looks like things are pretty well under control here. Carry on as you were, good soldiers.

Lynn Davis of FC2S (Foster Care To Success) tells me that the quality quotient of the scarves is high. That is perhaps the best news of all. The word has finally been heard that the goal here is for gift-worthy scarves, the kind of gift you'd be proud to give you own college-age upward-bound child, grandchild, niece, or nephew. Way to go, knitters, crocheters, and weavers! 

AND OOH! Almost as soon as I pressed "publish" on this post, I ran across Knitspot's newest Red Scarf offering. A gorgeous scarf, and proceeds of the sale of the pattern between now and December 31 will go to the Red Scarf Fund. It's a win for everyone!

 

-------

*"processing" in the words of Lynn, means, "the act of determining whether a scarf is best for a female, male, or either (unisex). Then refolding the scarf and placing in a bag that will keep it dry and should anything else in the care package break, melt, ooze, or otherwise harm the scarf, it will be protected. The sorted and bagged scarves are then labeled and stored until the are ready to go in the care package." All this work is done by volunteers.

 

 

Terrier Tuesday -- Red Scarf Modeling Edition

Dear Readers,

Well, she did it again.

She put me up on that flippin' daybed and started flashing those lights in my eyes. 

My rates need to go up.

I deserve hazardous-duty pay for this craziness! El primo treats from now on, Alpha! I'm putting you on NOTICE! Sushi-grade salmon's what I'm talking about. No more of those tasteless biscuits. Nuh-uhhhhh.

(P.S. Yorkies are hypo-allergenic, so I won't make someone go all sneezy because I modeled this scarf. And Alpha says she's going to wash it before she sends it off to Foster Care To Success. And also, if by some miracle you are a new reader here and you don't already know all this stuff, there is more info about the Red Scarf Project and FC2Success here. Just click.)

Oh, she did "it" again, too: She knitted another red scarf. This is her first one this year. Hopefully she'll fit in a couple more, at least, before the deadline, but I'm telling you one thing: I'm gettin' outta here before she grabs me to model the next one; that's for darn sure.

She says to tell you she used the Twin Rib pattern for this scarf -- it's her go-to easy-peasy scarf pattern that she can do without thinking, even when she's watching Dexter or Nurse Jackie episodes, or -- amazingly -- even while talking with friends! The yarn is nothing fancy -- Caron Simply Soft -- but the color made her heart sing -- and it makes a nice soft, washable-and-dryable scarf.

How are your red scarves coming along? And if you don't care to, or don't have time to, make a scarf, don't forget you can always donate to the Fund For Foster Youth to cover a student's emergency expenses. Go ahead, make someone's day! Click and pay through Paypal:

Love,

 

Mr. Jefferies

A Quick Catch-Up

1.  May we have a little applause for our wee fundraiser for the Red Scarf Fund/Craft Activism giveaway. Even in this rotten horrible no-good economy, $575 in donations were reported to me from a total of 15 donors/entrants in the contest for my extra copy of Craft Activism.

2.  And the winner is: Michelle P. from Missouri. Her book is in the mail! Thank you to all the donors to the fund!

3.  I had my stress test with echocardiogram yesterday, and according to the nurse, nothing seemed awry. Of course, this is subject to the official word of the cardiologist, but I felt good walking out of there. I was told I'm in GREAT SHAPE. But given that most of the people they have in there are probably over 70 (at least that's all I saw in the waiting room), and all the docs and nurses couldn't therefore stop STARING AT ME, I'm not sure how to take that.

The problem is, I'm still having the symptoms and my blood pressure is still high-ish. And I just plain know that something is not right. So I'm thinking there are more tests in my future. But I will admit that I felt like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders after that test yesterday. 

4.  Mr. Jefferies says hey. He forgot to blog yesterday. He was busy sleeping, since he had had a weekend visit with dogsitter extraordinaire Jessica, who apparently wears him out to no end. 

5.  I've been BUSY with work! I approve. 

6.  I'd be willing to bet that my weekend was wayyyyyy weirder than yours. In fact, I'd lay 1,000,000-to-1 odds. 

And that's all I'm going to say about that.  

REMINDER: Contest Ends at Midnight ET, Friday Night, October 7

Don't forget to email me at redscarffund@gmail.com to let me know about your donation to the Red Scarf Fund to get your chance to win the wonderful new book Craft Activism. 

The book has a large variety of inspiring stories and ideas about using crafting for good -- not just our red scarf story -- and even a few cool knitting patterns.

Read more about the book and the contest details, including a Paypal donation button, here.  <--------click!

Craft Activism Contest

Welcome to readers new and old who have come here from the Potter Craft free excerpt from Craft Activism! Check it out! Isn't that wonderful?

Seasoned readers here at NNK will understand why, as soon as I heard the news from Gale that the publisher had chosen our humble chapter on the Red Scarf Project as the featured promotional chapter, I knew I had to jump up out of bed and put up a new post so that new readers would not encounter the 2nd word of my last post as their first introduction to this blog. First impressions and all that. Eh?

Anyhoo, this is still September for another few hours, and September is the traditional time for me to shift into high gear with regard to the Red Scarf Project. What better timing for this new book to come out just a few days ago? And look who has an extra copy:

How's about a good old fashioned Red Scarf fundraising contest?

The rules:

1.  For every $5 donation you make to the Red Scarf Fund For Foster Youth, you get one chance at a drawing for my extra copy of Craft Activism.

2.  You are on your honor (I trust my readers) to tell me how many entries you have in the contest. 

3.  Write an email with the subject line "donation" to THIS EMAIL ADDRESS (only):  redscarffund@gmail.com, including the following information:

• Your name (first name and last initial are fine, if you prefer) 
• The amount of your donation

4.  Contest will be open until midnight ET next Friday, October 7.

5.  Winner will be announced by the following week.  

 

I've put a Paypal button below for your convenience, but if you would rather send a check to Foster Care To Success (the artist formerly known as the Orphan Foundation of America), you may do that also. The address is: 

Foster Care to Success
21351 Gentry Drive
Suite 130
Sterling, VA 20166

If you would prefer to donate through the Network for Good rather than use Paypal, click on this link.  Scroll to the bottom of that page to find the Network for Good button. 

Craft Activism Available For Preorder

OK, so remember way back when Gale was visiting me? And we were all super-secretive and hinty-hinty? Well, now we have downgraded (or is it "upgraded"?) the situation to only secretive and hinty. 

How about let's just say that the book Craft Activism is now available for preorder from Amazon.

I've had a sneakpeek at one of the pages, and it's so fabulous I can hardly contain myself. Damn, that Gale and Joan do good work! 

The Extreme Long-Time Reader of Now Norma Knits will recall that I first met Gale at a photo shoot for the Red Scarf Project when it was really in its infancy. Those were the days when we really had to beg and scrape and worry that we might not have enough scarves. Now we just have to remind people that quality is more important than quantity, that the designs have to be truly unisex, and that yes, red is the color. The array of gorgeous soft, warm scarves that pile in each year are astounding and wonderful.

I just love the blog for being able to turn back the time machine for things like this. I looked up the post and the date of our meeting was January 26, 2007!!! Can you believe that? I can't. (Look at me with my blonde highlights! Ha!) It's so much fun to look at Gale's album from the photo shoot that day and to think how far we've come from those humble beginnings of the project. 

(Photo taken by one of the students with my camera.)

We had known each other virtually for a short while before that, but it was really the Red Scarf Project that brought us together. We were fast friends, though we met on what was probably the coldest day of the century. 

Didn't matter! We had all that Red Scarf love (and a hot coffee at a patisserie later) to keep us warm. It was the first day I had met any of the Orphan Foundation of America (now renamed Foster Care to Success) students, and if I wasn't already sold, that sealed the deal for me. Such mature, responsible, fun, and appreciative young women I met that day, and I have met several more in the intervening years. They are all amazing. And so are we red scarf knitters, crocheters, and weavers. 

RED SCARF ON, TROOPS! (And go order the book. You will be glad you did -- I promise!)

 

 

On The Countdown to Red Scarf Time

They say it's bad form to start out a blog post by apologizing in this way, but here I go anyway: I've been so busy with work that I haven't been doing a very good job with the care and feeding of the blog. I hope someone is still out there reading. Tap-tap, is this on?

I have caught up enough that I am allowing myself to come up for air, and I have been given some blog fodder by a couple of folks, which helps my blogging job immensely. To wit, here is a missive from Lynn at Foster Care to Success, formerly known as The Orphan Foundation of America:

We cannot believe that September 1^st is but 30 days away!  Holy Sheep-Shears, where did the year go? 

As some of you may know, we are in the process of changing our name.  We’ve been mulling this over for awhile now and even were sort of test driving the new name as a tag-line.  Well everyone liked it so we are making the move!  Foster Care to Success it is!

So what does this all mean?  Well, other than the name change, everything else is pretty much the same.  Same mission.  Same programs.  Same people!  And speaking about programs – did I tell you that September 1^st is only 30 days away????

The submission period for The Red Scarf Project will be September 1^st to December 15^th, 2011.  Same as always (told you nothing really changed!).  Here is the link to our website with all the particulars -http://fc2success.org/what-we-do/programs/red-scarf-project/

Also, some of you may have heard about or even seen the following article.  A lovely woman for the Associated Press (Emily Fredrix) wrote the article and it was picked up all over the place.  Seriously!  A co-worker’s mother got the article in her Cape Cod newspaper.  But in case you did not see the article, here’s the link -http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=12822647.

So RUN OUT (but not with scissors or needles in your hands) and get some RED yarn.  We cannot wait to see this year’s lovely scarf donations.

Thanks for your continued support of the Red Scarf Project.  Your donations really do make a difference.  Here is a note we got from a student that got a red scarf last year -

“Thank you so very very much for the red scarf. I greatly appreciate that it will keep me warm and cozy. It was very thoughtful and kind that someone, who doesn't even know me, took the time to hand knit a beautiful red scarf. It is the thought that really counts it made me feel me loved and known. I truly love that scarf.  It takes a very sweet person to do something for someone who lives so far from you and you don't even know. Thank you.”  Chelsey, Ohio

If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email me.  Again, thanks!

Lynn Davis

Director, Community Partnerships

Foster Care to Success

(formerly Orphan Foundation of America)

America's College Fund for Foster Youth

21351 Gentry Drive, Suite 130

Sterling, VA  20166

571-203-0270 phone

703-403-2830 cell

571-203-0273 fax

 www.fc2success.org

----------------------

Elizabeth D. sent me a link to another great pattern suitable for the Red Scarf Project. I think I will use this for my first red scarf of the year. I'll be adjusting the number of stitches, as Elizabeth says she is going to, to make it a more appropriate width for the Red Scarf guidelines. <----- That is supposed to be a subtle reminder to please read and adhere to the guidelines for scarves for the Red Scarf Project, mkay?

(Drat, boo-hiss, and ptooey, ptooey! that Lion Brand still requires a registration and sign-in to see their free patterns, but here is the link anyway, should you be so inclined:  Road Scarf.)

 

 

Red Scarf Project in the News

This Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011 photo shows Amanda Babine, 24, as she wears one of her red scarves outside the metro subway entrance in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington. Babine received three red scarves from the Red Scarf Project while a student at Wheelock College in Boston. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Emily Fredrix, fellow knitter and AP reporter, wrote a wonderful story on our favorite pet project. (Sorry, Mr. Jefferies, I don't mean you this time!) 

Red Scarf Project at MSNBC.COM 

 

Red Scarf Update and A Call For Valentine Gift Packs From The Orphan Foundation

Here are some numbers that came in to me from the OFA while I was in Jamaica, so I'm just getting down to putting it here in the blog for you -- sorry! With still some late-comers that were trickling in and had yet to be tallied, these are the subtotals:

Scarves – 4,238

Gift Cards - $3,815

Checks – $3,250

Congratulations everyone! We did all right!  The fundraising numbers are down quite a bit from the usual. Most years we have pushed and offered prizes, etc., but I wasn't able to manage that this year. But still, it's pretty good, and definitely the number of scarves is on target to give all the OFA students a nice scarf in their Valentine's Day packages, with a few extra to go to recent graduates as well!   

If you want to donate to the Red Scarf Fund via Paypal, you can always do so in my sidebar, or on their website, and I'll make it real easy for you to click here:

And the OFA is looking for help from you -- not knitting this time, but maybe this is something that you and your group would enjoy doing, or have time for, even more than knitting a scarf.  

Here is the request, in Lynn Davis's words:

In November I put out the request to get 1500 holiday goody packages.  We were thinking it would be great if some groups could help us with an item to go into the care package.

Well you all surprised us by making almost 1800 packages. 

Well, we were thinking they would be great to put in our Valentine’s Care Package.  BTW – we will be sending out about 2500 care packages then! 

Again, we are thinking of a nice gift bag with 4 packets of hot chocolate, perhaps some Valentine candies and then a nice bow to close it off. 

This was my (clearly motivational) “Mock-up”.  It was not the best but it is basically what we would need.

We will need the packets no later than Thursday, February 3rd.  Also we will need to know how many you can make so that we make sure we are getting enough!  It is our hope that we can get each group to make at least 50. But if you can make less that is good too! 

Call or email me if you have any questions. 

Lynn Davis

Director, Community Partnerships

Orphan Foundation of America

21351 Gentry Dr., Suite 130

Sterling, VA 20166-8511

571-203-0270 Office

703-403-2830 Cell

 

Foster Care: Get Involved

www.orphan.org

www.causes.com/orphan.org

www.twitter.com/orphan.org

 

 

 

Emerging From the Fog

Little by little, slowly but surely, I am trying to get my life back into order after what will hereinafter be referred to as The Crazy Time [aka The CamPAIN]. But am I? Yes, I think I am. I'm not sure.

I was up at 4:00 this morning due to insomnia brought on by the wild winds outside that woke me up, and then my mind started going a thousand miles a minute. 

I now find myself in another one of my periods of under-employment, but this is working in favor of getting some long-overdue organizing and decluttering done in the house and the ability to do things like take impromptu trips to New York and to do some cooking to try to get my nutritional needs back on track and to get in some more exercising and knitting, and even -- *gasp* -- to plan a vacation. It's all good, eh?  

I remembered at 4:30 that I had not written a blog post, and decided that it was not too early to do a drawing for the winner of the book. And the winner, as chosen by the Random Number Generator, is long-time reader and commenter Mary Beth Mathews! I've emailed you, Mary Beth. Congratulations to Mary Beth, and thanks to everyone for playing!

It continues to amaze me that all of you have continued to live your lives and write your blogs while I've been In The Mists of The Crazy Time. WTF? Really! I just spent an hour trying to catch up with Anne of Knitspot, and am totally gobsmacked as always as to how productive you are, Anne. And I could die at the beauty of your new sweater, Leaving. DIE. I want one! And/but I've got so much still on my plate, and have to finish up these sweaters I've been working on, and I hate to admit it, but my forearms are again being bothered a bit by the knitting. And the sweater is knitted in Kim's beautiful yarn, and I just had no idea about all this wonderfulness that was going on out there. It's all just like -- Wait, you guys! Slow down!! I can't catch up! 

It is truly freezing outside right now, and has been for the past couple of nights. And soooo windy. I'm afraid to look to see whether there is snow swirling out there on that wind. I don't think it was predicted, but I've been too busy or distracted (or something) to look at a forecast.

I did not have a chance to look yesterday, but I'm guessing that my broccoli plants that were hanging on and which I hoped to get some more leaves from for eating (the florets have ceased forming, but I've been harvesting and eating and freezing the leaves) have probably succumbed to the frost. I'll have to check on them today, once the sun comes up.

Also once the sun comes up, I have to make a trip to do a whole bunch of errands -- bringing donations to three or four charities and picking up the turkey and getting some groceries and stuff. This, of course, is probably exactly when it will hit me that I have not had enough sleep and I'll be useless.

Oh! Before I forget it, there have been some inquiries about Red Scarf and someone asked whether I'll be collecting red scarves this year. Well, I've never really collected them -- only been sort of the head cheerleader -- and this year I just haven't had time for that, as I've mentioned once or twice or three hundred times so far. Please, though, I hope you are knitting or crocheting or weaving your scarves and sending them to the Orphan Foundation of America. All the information is on this page.

Even with all that's been going on with me, I've knitted four scarves so far this year, so come on! I know you can do it too! I have asked for a status update from Lynn, but I have not gotten an answer yet. Lynn, if you are reading this, go ahead and put a status update on the scarves in the comments here, if you have one.