Now Norma Knits

Wow. It's October 23, 2015.

I hate to start this post with a bunch of clichés, so I'm just going to jump right into it.

Hi! I see you. Can you see me? Knock-knock. Anybody out there?

I look over at the sidebar of this poor underfed, anemic blog and I see something like 300 readers, down from 5,000 or more back in the day. That is just.....sad. Isn't it?

Annnnd, I did it. That was fairly blogger-cliché, eh? Sorry.

I was prompted to write because last weekend... well, last weekend was the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, aka RHINEBECK! And our fearless foursome -- Leigh, Sandy, Jenn, and I -- met up and roomed together for the 12th year in a row, and had the most wonderful, recreational and restorative time together.

And we selfied....

We walked....

 We talked....

Oh hey, I'm not kidding about OVER the Hudson. This is where those oh-so-tame-looking photos above were taken. I've got some vertigo just looking at this right now:

 We shopped....

(Blimey, the festival is RIDONKULOUSLY crowded now. I believe the figure is something like 54 MILLION PEOPLE PER SQUARE FOOT, or something close to that. We can only stand it for about 30 minutes before we have to leave and get some air. And booze. So we spend a lot of our time and money in the nice little village, just pretending that we are actually at the Sheep & Wool. But I did buy that amazing granny square scarf at the actual festival before we fled to safer ground.)

We ate......

And drank......

 

(That is an apple cider mimosa in the glass.)

(You're welcome.)

 But here's the interesting bit:

We (or at least I) knitted!

For the first time in maybe forever, I was the first one to arrive at our hotel, so I had some time on my hands while I waited for my compatriots to arrive. And just before I left home, I had done a frantic -- and I do mean frantic -- search for some knitting to bring with me. Much to my surprise, I found an already completed Red Scarf:

 

...and another one that was started who-knows-when. So there I was, doing this VERY WEIRD ACTIVITY when Sandy arrived. Upon seeing me, she loudly exclaimed, "WHO ARE you?!"

Fair comment.

(Coincidentally, David just walked in while I was writing this and I said, "I'm blogging," to which he replied, "WHO ARE you?!")

It's been quite a long time since I've engaged in this either of these activityies. But it truly is like riding a bicycle! I remember how! And I even remembered how to execute this pattern, the ever-loved, ever-popular unisex pattern, the Corrugator, by our friend Paula Smith.

I've been knitting a few rows a day since then, and look:

Before I know it, if I'm not careful, I'll be finished.

So now I've been thinking about The Red Scarf Project and learned that they now have a wonderful thing called The Book Club, which is sort of an outcropping of our own Red Scarf Fund with a little bit of a broader mission. I've just signed up. The way I thought of it is this:  I drive a Prius now, and I'm not spending as much on gas for my car as I used to. I figure I can send $20 a month without it hurting a bit, so that's what I just signed up for. Maybe you wouldn't mind spending a couple of cups of coffees' worth per month to help out some students in need, even if you are not a knitter, but just my friend.

One thing I'd like to mention is that Foster Care to Success ranks very high on Charity Navigator. They spend almost ALL of their money on their mission, very little on administrative costs, and have excellent transparency. Plus, I know the people who run it very well, and they are darn good people.

Either way, I'm just wondering how you're doing and how many of you Red Scarf soldiers are carrying on.

Do tell.

 

Savory-ing The Summer

Good morning! Happy Soon-To-Be-Summer Solstice! 

I'm in a bit of a slow-down where work is concerned, and I just came in from the garden, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to write you a note. 

So how are you all doing? 

Thank you all for your donations to my recent fundraising runs! They were a great success, and very much appreciated for all concerned. In the last few hours before the race for the Champlain Islands Parent Child Center a week ago Saturday, I made a Facebook challenge to my friends that if someone would donate, I'd wear my SL,UT t-shirt (You may remember when I got that.) to the race. Some people did, and so:

I haven't learned how much we raised for that little organization yet, but I know we did pretty well. So thank you again! I ran a respectable 30:39 5K. (Man, it was hot!) But there was a woman in my class (50-59 female) who beat me by quite a bit. David and I had to do a lot of explaining about the t-shirt all morning. But everyone agreed: Hey, if it brought in a few extra dollars, it was well worth it.

Then this past Saturday I did the Run For Empowerment in support of Women Helping Battered Women. I thought I was gonna smoke that thing, and I did shave 30 seconds off my 5K time from the week before:

 

But holy crap, we have some fast friggin' over-50 women around here! Look at the No. 1 female finisher! In all classes! 57! And she was ahead of me by the proverbial (nope, literal, now that I think about it) mile.

But anyway, we did a fabulous job with the fundraising for that; and they do such good work, they deserve it. So thank you again!

~~~

So by my count, that is 9 5K runs in the can toward my goal of 12 in 12 months. I fell a little behind in the spring, so I'm playing catchup. I'm thinking of signing up for another one this coming Saturday. I'm enjoying these things. (Did I just say that out loud?)

~~~

We got our first electric bill since installing our solar panels:

This reflects the first three WEEKS! So the way it works here is we have net metering. We don't get any actual cash. Credits are built up. And we are given credit by our utility for an extra 6 cents per kilowatt hour that we produce as well, because, you know: Vermont.

Our system was designed to meet our established prior usage (in our case, average $91/month). So in the summer we are cranking out that extra power (probably 130% or so of our actual simultaneous usage) and getting credit for it. Then, in the dreary winter months when we don't produce as much solar electricity up here, we draw down on the credits we built up in the happy sunny summer. So from now on, we should have a zero electric bill. Forever. Well, for the life of the panels anyway, which is about 20 years.

The credits have to be used up within one year of creating them, and if we have any left over at the end of the one-year period, we can donate them to another person on the same utility -- a family member or friend or neighbor -- or to a nonprofit or whatever.

Is that cool or WHAT?

~~~

The garden is going strong. Big parts of it are a bit unkempt at the moment, but that is just about par for the course, innit?

Yesterday when I was doing the heavy lifting of cleaning out and relayering the compost bins (my favorite garden thing!!!), I opened the door to one of them to be surprised by one of these guys chilling out (or warming up, more accurately) in there.

After my initial EEK! startled moment that I always have with snakes, I gently urged him to go find another place to hang out while I cleaned the bins and took care of the compost. I hope he didn't go too far, though, because according to Wikipedia, "Young milk snakes typically eat slugs, insects, crickets, and earthworms." I have had no slugs in my garden this year so far. Coincidence? I hope I did not push him too far away, though the environment in the bin is no longer the same since I cleaned it out. I hope he finds another suitable close-by home.

This morning's harvest included beet thinnings, spinach, parsley, thyme, and summer savory.

This is my first year growing summer savory, and I wondered this morning: What in the world is summer savory used for?

Everything, apparently. 

Hope you are savory-ing your summer, too!

 

Open UP Your Wallets. You Know You Want To.

UPDATE: Broken link fixed.

Thank you for those who have already donated. You get a free pass today, and you can just skip the writing and look at the photos. Unless you want to skip just to the last paragraph and share this thing around a bit. That would be nice of you!

Depending on when I look at that counter thingy on my sidebar, there are either 4167 of you out there... or 250. Not sure. Somewhere between zero and 4167 or 3 million, depending on the relative accuracy of counter thingies in sidebars, which don't seem to be very reliable these days.

But however many of you there are, I'm here asking again if you will help me spread the word about these runs I'm doing for:

1) A little tiny organization that helps families with young children. The kinds of families that need a little help with their children's beginning education. It's called the Champlain Islands Parent-Child Center. They have a tiny budget, and no fancy fundraising page, but I'm going to run for them next Saturday before I hightail it down to Dartmouth to caption their graduation. Will you do it for the children? Or do it for me? Or do it for David, who is on the Board of Directors? Or do it for my mother, who USED to be on the Board of Directors? Or hell, I don't know -- do it for Dartmouth or something. Click here and go to the donation button to donate. Say "Norma Miller 5K" or something like that in the notes section so they have a clue where this huge windfall (ha!) is coming from.

How about if I show you a cute picture of us at the race the other day? I must have said something witty:

Will you do it for the happy Fitter Knitters?

How about if I show you a pic of cute Mr. Jefferies in a cute sweater?

Will that get you to do it?

LOOK AT THAT FACE!

Tell me that's not worth $5!

2) Women Helping Battered Women. Look, I'm like the 4th biggest fundraiser so far. Are you going to stand there and let me finish 4th? That's like... well, it's not bad. But it would be so much better to be higher on the list, don't you think? Two bucks. Five bucks. That's all I'm asking. Go here and give.

I haven't even told you about the race I'm registered for on July 5th yet. I promise there is an end to this begging. Someday.

But seriously, look: It's got me blogging a little bit again. That's worth something, no? A cuppa tea? $2?

Most of all, it would be great if you all would share this around and maybe try to generate some more interest.

Thank you verra verra much.

Fitter Knitters Represent at the Vermont City Marathon

So about that running thing.

Yesterday I was joined by four wonderful women to run the relay race in the Vermont City Marathon.

The Fitter Knitters

(Our shirts got us a lot of attention and friendly inquiries and photo ops! If you would like to get a shirt like ours, go ahead and go here and order one. They will put your name on the back if you ask. You can search around if you want one with sleeves like Lisa has, on the right in the photo. Or different colors. Whatever you want.)

I'm completely new at this marathon huge race thing, and thankfully at a dinner party the other night, a friend who has run this race gave me a tip about making sure I lined up in the right place for my expected pace. I've been running 10-minute miles in most of my races. I was hoping to run 9 this time, but I decided to undershoot rather than overshoot, and lined up with the 10s.

~~~

One of my teammates, Kat, shot this photo at the start line. I'd be some little speck over there by that 10:00 flag by the white house. I was standing right next to that flag. It was a mob scene, but a very sedate and happy and polite mob.

It was SUCH a beautiful day for a race right next to the Burlington waterfront and running through the city and neighborhoods of Burlington. The whole community embraces this race, with the most wonderful and supportive and entertaining crowds. I am very thankful there is a relay option -- otherwise I would never be able to participate in something like this. We learned a lot about things that worked well, and things we would do differently next year.

Yes, we are already talking about next year. Heh.

We got up at the crack of dawn -- 4:10 a.m. in my case -- we ate crockpot oatmeal, and Vermont bacon and fruit, and drank a little coffee. (Next time I would remember to drink more water, even though it is 4-freakin-something-a.m.)

Wheels up at 6 a.m. to head to Burlington.

We arrived at about 6:35 a.m., early enough that we snagged a prime parking spot in a nice shaded garage, verrrrry close to the race site. We walked the block to the waterfront, and turned around to see an ocean of people walking down the hill. Five minutes later, and we would have been fighting for parking. It was astonishing, really. So the extra-early departure was a good idea. It made for a very long day, and it messed up, maybe -- ahem -- some of our natural rhythms, if you know what I mean. But no matter.

In the first leg of the race, I saw a hot pink sign held by a spectator that seemed made just for me: "F*&king AWESOME!" In the first mile, I had terrible dry-mouth -- it felt like my tongue was a big wad of dry cotton. I was extremely worried about that. "Ohmygod, are you kidding me? I didn't drink enough water and I'm THIS dehydrated? I'm going to let my team down ON THE FIRST THREE MILES?!" But that fuckin' awesome sign made me smile against my dry teeth, and press on and hard (the first mile was up a hill, as well). My body quite quickly cooperated and released the probably-retained water from the salty bacon I had eaten that morning. My mouth became moistened and I felt fine, albeit a bit hot. SCORE ONE FOR BACON. And the human body.

Another sign that made me laugh: "Worst Parade EVER!"

At about Mile 2, I came upon a senior gentleman runner whose shirt said, "Larry. 1,300 Marathoner." People were congratulating him on the marathon he ran the week before, "Great job last week, Larry!" and asked him, "Is this 1,301?" He said, in a southern drawl, "Somethin' like that."

I Googled him just now. A lawyer from San Antonio! Fantastic!

I passed two people (and saw several more later in the day) whose shirts said, "50-State Marathon Club" (or something like that). The woman seemed to be being interviewed as she was running. I heard her say, "This is my 48th state." She was YOUNG. She seems to have a long running life ahead of her. Will she go through the 50 states TWICE? Or will she move on to something else, like swimming all the channels in the sea?

On Church Street, at about the 3-mile mark for me, a super-fabulous Patriotic Transvestite, dressed in ridiculously wonderful red-white-and-blue garb and sparkly outrageous blue glasses, was urging us on, to not slow down, to keep on moving. Made me smile so hard, made me bear down and speed up, and makes me smile again just remembering it. Even though at that moment I was hot and cranky and thinking, "SO glad I'm only doing 3.3 and not 26.2... or even 6."

During Kat's leg (I think it might have been the most difficult leg of the race), she was cheered on by bagpipes, bands, neighborhood parties, and maybe best of all, these Taiko drummers at the base of Burlington's version of heartbreak hill:

Taiko drummers at Vermont City Marathon from Norma Miller on Vimeo.

These guys helped to give her the will to get up that hill.

Kat made it up that hill and handed off the bracelet to Lisa. Lisa took off like a shot. On her leg of the race, she ran through lovely neighborhoods where property owners had their garden hoses on, spraying overheated runners if they wished to be sprayed for a cool-down.

More fun memories for me: A text message from Carol at 11:53:  "Still no Lisa."

Next text message was 12:04 from Lisa: "On bus." 

Made me laugh. Because in other words, Carol must have just barely pressed "send" on that text, and then, "OOOOOOPS, there's Lisa! RUNNN!"

(Lisa and Carol are pretty zippy!)

We all had the most fun time. At least two of us (Adrienne and I) had personal bests, as well. Smiles all around.

I managed to break away from the 10-minute milers about halfway of my little 3.3-mile portion of the race (the first leg), and kept pace with my hoped-for 9-minute milers. My average pace was 9:30/mile, according to my trusty Map My Run app:

Yeah, I was happy with that.

We sweated, we focused hard, we had packs of fun, and we got 'er done. We had laughs and wonderful camaraderie. It doesn't get any better than that. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. I feel sore but happy today, and I'm so appreciative for my teammates for joining me in this adventure.

A year ago, I didn't believe I would ever run a race of any kind. I had no interest in doing so -- it didn't even enter my consciousness as an idea of something I would do. Not even a 5K. It was just a non-thing. The idea that less than a year later I would take part in something like this... I don't even know what else to say about it. It is just plain awesome.

But I have no aspirations to run a marathon. No no no no.

QUOTE OF THE DAY YESTERDAY, from teammate Lisa:

"A half marathon is only four 5Ks and a little bit, Norma."

Yeah.

No.

Maybe.

But no.

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

After the race:

Fitter Knitters VT City Marathon Team 2014

Kat Kennedy, Lisa McGuire, Adrienne Martini, me, Carol Bradford-Roe

So.Much.Healthy.Fun.

The sweet necklaces we are wearing in the photos were a gift from Lisa.

Thanks again, ladies!

~~~

I'll make another plea for donations for my upcoming runs for charity. Maybe do it for the Fitter Knitters, because we rock.

See this post, and thank you.

 

 

If Each One Of My Blog Readers Just Donated $2.....

Well, I don't really know how many of you there are out there anymore, but every little bit really DOES help!

I've recently mentioned how I've taken up this little running thang. And I've been running 5K races just about every month. I had some time when I wimped out due to the weather (Febrrrrrrruary) and then I got walking pneumonia (April), so I've got a little bit of catching up to do on my 12-5Ks-in-12-months goal.

In addition to the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon Relay that I'm running with my Fitter Knitter pals this weekend, I've got a couple races lined up in June, and I'm here to ask for your help. I'd love to raise a few bucks for these very worthy causes. I know it becomes a bit wearisome to be asked for money all the time, but I hope you will consider paying a buck or two to help me to help others in this new healthy pasttime I've taken up.

1.  On June 7th, I'm running in the First Annual Run For The Kids, for a very small, very needy, and very worthy little nonproprofit called The Champlain Islands Parent-Child Center in South Hero, Vermont. My husband David is on the Board of Directors, and we would love to be able to bring them in even a small boatload (a canoe, if you will) of money, with your help. I would love it if you would click the donate button right on their page, and in the notes section, mention that the donation is made in connection with my Run For The Kids.

It would mean a lot to me and to David.

2.  One June 14th, I am running in support of another wonderful organization, Women Helping Battered Women. I'm running the Run For Empowerment as a part of a team of women, including my two wonderful running coaches, from my gym, Artemis Fitness. My fundraising page for this worthy cause is here.

Go ahead, I won't mind if you buy me a cup of coffee, but instead, really just send it to these wonderful organizations. Thank you for considering!

 

Stash Giveaway For A Good Cause

Hi friends. Here I am again. Lots of totally badass stuff has been happening! I opened a new business.

More accurately, I changed the name and structure and focus of my former business. But still.

We went solar!

 

And MORE!

This Sunday, the Fitter Knitters -- (a relay team composed of me and four of my New England and New York State knitting and blog friends) -- will be running the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon. I know! Can you even believe it? We have team shirts and everything! Ours are sapphire, and you can order your own if you want, in whatever color you want. We specifically designed them to be generic enough that any fitter knitter can get one if desired, and we can use them for various events -- not just tied to this one race.

The company was great to deal with, so I am happy to recommend them. They didn't give me anything (except great service) to say so.

BONUS:  If you ask, they will put your name above "Will Run For Yarn" on the back. Somewhere kicking around on my iPhone or in Facebook or somewherrrrre, there is a selfie of me wearing my shirt, but damned if I can find it.

But I don't want you to get too distracted by all of that, because back to the title of this post: 

It's a HUGE YARN GIVEAWAY!!!

One of the members of our team, Carol, is doing some fundraising tied to our marathon relay. And to help to sweeten the pot, she is having a stash giveaway.

She and her daughter are raising money for Cookies For Kids' Cancer <------ That link takes you to her donation page.

Here are the rules of the giveaway:

1. Each $10 donation gives you one chance to win. For example, $50 gets 5 chances to win, etc.

2. To be entered in the drawing the requisite number of times per your $10 donations, email your receipt to [email protected]

3. Donations to be credited in the drawing through end of Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, 2014. 

4. Drawing on Tuesday, May 27, 2014.

Here are the things you could possibly win: (photos of the yarn follow, but not necessarily in the order of the things listed here)

Rowan All Seasons Cotton (8), color 191

Rowan Wool Cotton: 3 skeins color 956 (chocolate) and 2 skeins #958 (blue)

Debbie Bliss Pure Silk (2), color 27012

Sirdar Baby Bamboo (4), color 138

Black Bunny Fibers (1), color Blue x2 bulky 100% blue-faced Leicester

Black Bunny Fibers (1), color Blue Spruce  bulky 100% Falkland wool

Black Bunny Fibers (1), color Tardy Sage  sock 70% merino/30% silk

Socks that Rock (1), color Tanzanite  medium weight

Classic Elite Fresco (4), color 5328

Plucky Knitter (2) Primo Worsted

 

Now please go and be generous, donate to a good cause, and hope to win some really great yarn!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 [email protected] 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!

Help Get a Dog for Toby

My friend Sara has a son Toby, who needs our assistance. He is 10 years old and he has cerebral palsy.

David's older brother Marshall had cerebral palsy, and it was when he was 10 that his mother could no longer lug him around, what with two more children to take care of at that time (it was the 1940s, not today -- a different world where there was no assistance but for the family members) and he had to move to the Tewksbury State Hospital in Massachusetts, where he lived the rest of his life. He died a few years ago. He lived a long life, and he was much loved. As I told Sara, he could not speak but he was an excellent communicator. He read voraciously, though he could not sit up straight. He used to wheel and deal at the hospital by selling cigarettes and betting on horses and sports games. He was often described as The Mayor of Tewksbury State Hospital. He was quite the man.

So when Sara asked me to help out, she really touched a nerve.

Toby would like to have a service dog, and he explains why so eloquently here. Sara researched all the service dog agencies and feels most comfortable about NEADS.

She explains a little bit about her search process here:

I spent a fair amount of time picking an organization to work with. Many won't work with kids. A few gave off some serious "scam" alarm bells (e.g., one required a 15K fundraising effort, which ok, but if the dog didn't work out and was a poor match? it was too bad - if you wanted another dog - you had to start all over again and raise another 15k). Mostly, this organization has been around for a long long time, it started working with "hearing ear" dogs for deaf clients (a draw for me given that I work at a college for deaf students), AND they run two really awesome shelters too - a dog one and a cat one. 

But they need to raise quite a lot of money to be able to get their dog for Toby -- about $8,000 more.  

They have already done some fundraising and have raised their initial $1,000 which entitles Toby to be matched with a dog:

They'll now match us with a dog to be trained for Toby. (They'll do that once you've raised about $1,000.) Once the dog is trained, then we'll have to go through a week-long training too. Then, Toby will have a dog :) Though, until he's 14 I'll be a partner in the effort - he'll need a grownup team member.

See Toby's page, and if you can, make your donation there.  Sara and I and Toby thank you. 

Terrier Tuesday -- Red Scarf Reminder Edition

Dear Readers,

While A.Alpha is busy as a nut -- and kind of cranky and maybe going a little bit crazy, if I do say so -- trying not to let the Christine O'Donnell effect spill over into Vermont, she asked me to put out the reminder that it's Red Scarf season.

(A recycled photo of me in my red scarf. In real life, I don't look this good right now -- I need a grooming -- please tell Alpha!) 

How are you all doing on your red scarves?  Alpha has two finished and two more on the needles.

All the info is the same as usual -- same address to send them to, same rules as ever. (Check that link up above, or the Red Scarf Ravelry group. Also, in case you didn't know, our friend Anne of Knitspot has been running a knitalong all year long, WITH PRIZES, I think, in her Fan Group in Ravelry.)

Don't get all bent out of shape worrying that someone is going to use a caliper to check if it's a quarter inch short or something. On the other hand, don't pretend that 48 inches is LONG ENOUGH or 3.5 inches is WIDE ENOUGH.

Use your sensible judgment (You do have that, right? Hm, after these elections lately, maybe Alpha should not ASSUME so much.  But whatevs....). The thing that's needed is a nice unisex, soft, gift-giving-worthy scarf for college kids. Unisex collegiate does NOT mean shades of pink or lavender or other juvenile colors, nor does it mean lace. It can be other unisex colors. Lace means holes. 5-8 inches wide, by 60-70 inches. No super-bulky yarns (packing boxes won't accommodate super-bulky scarves).

You can send them out anytime now till December 15th. End of story. 

And don't forget, our Red Scarf Fund for Foster Youth is always in need of donations. It provides emergency assistance for such things as new glasses, school supplies, fuel assistance, flat tire assistance -- you name it -- for kids who are living on their own on very tight budgets. 

Click here:

All right, back to that .... whatever it is that Alpha is doing. 

 

Love, 

Mr. Jefferies