Now Norma Knits

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

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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.

 

 

Finis!

Red Scarf No. 4 (Ravelry details here.) I love the texture of this thing, and the sproingy lushness of the finished scarf. 

with a side of marrow bone for Mr. Jefferies:

There Was Knitting and Gabbing at Grand Isle Art Works Last Night

The collection basket is growing -- and it's beautiful:

An Entire Season -- Zzzzzip, and It's Gone

There it was yesterday, and we were putting our clocks back already. I've lost an entire season. (May I just say that though I hate-hate-hate the "spring ahead," I kind of love the "fall back" part of the Daylight Savings thing? I really do wish they'd just set it and forget it, though. Why do we need to add messing with our internal clocks to all the other Hassles of Modern Living we have to deal with?) 

I completely missed the changing of the leaves. Oh, sure, I sort of saw it happening, but not really -- I was so busy and caught up in the whirlwind of campaigning that I forgot to stop and smell the roses photograph the foliage. And now the trees are mostly bare. 

I was outside yesterday photographing my new red scarf in progress* with a little help from my friend:

 

....and I realized I'd missed Pinoak Watch 2010! I noticed the starkness of the landscape on Saturday and remarked to David that It Looks Like November (subtext: "Brrrrr," and "How did that happen?!"). All the leaves have fallen and most everything is gray and brown. And yet, David still had to mow the lawn yesterday. Life is all topsy-turvy. 

The pinoak hangs onto its leaves far longer than the other trees, and so this is what we have -- a tree full of brown oak leaves. 

And so I have a whole LOT of catching up to do in every area of my life: The garden and yard are disasters, the house is a disaster, the car is a disaster, the blog is a disaster, my personal maintenance (proper eating, exercise, and grooming) are all disasters. I need a personalized set of second- or third responders -- the ones who come in and clean up the mess after a natural or manmade disaster -- to come in and take stock of the situation and clean it up.  

Over the weekend I managed to harvest and freeze up a couple of bushels of kale, cabbage leaves (cabbages that never "headed up" but I chopped and froze the leaves anyway), Swiss chard, broccoli, and herbs. And I emptied and relayered one compost bin, planted a bed of garlic (only 25 this year, and not the 100 of last year) and spread nine bags of chopped leaves over the raised beds and in the composter's lasagna layers. Dinner last night consisted of a potpourri of various leftovers from recent restaurant and farmer's market meals, together with a kickass salad of chopped red cabbage, broccoli and garlic from our garden, dressed with sunflower oil, raw apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, and smoked sea salt.

I started a new sweater for Mr. Jefferies in red Peace Fleece. (love!)

I even got somewhat caught up on reading Margene's blog (yay for Bloglines staying online!) and here I am, blogging two days in a row!

In short: Things are starting to get back to normal around here.

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*The yarn is Schaefer Yarns "Elaine," in the colorway "Clara Barton." It's a thick-and-thin 99% Merino/1% nylon yarn that just begs to be knitted in garter stitch, and is therefore perfect for knitting a row here and a row there on car journeys to pancake breakfasts and movies and whatever. 

I'm making this scarf wider than most of my others have been -- 8 inches -- for a nice textured muffler effect. The skeins of "Elaine" are BIG -- 300 yards. 

Improving on the Original -- and a PSA For Sliver Moon Farm Yarn Purchasers

I was packing up my three completed red scarves to bring over to the collection basket at Grand Isle Artworks the other night. I felt that the lengthwise garter stitch scarf I completed in August didn't feel quite "finished". I still had some of that yarn left in the dark burgundy/plum red, and I decided to add a crocheted edge to the scarf. Big improvement, I think.

Before:

After:

The yarn is a DK-weight superwash super-soft lambswool that I bought years ago on eBay. It was a pretty nasty-looking beige color when I bought it. I over-dyed it with various colors of Kool-Aid, and it sat unused for a few years. Now it has a new life and it will hopefully make a college kid happy -- verrrrrry happy! 

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And if you bought some superwash yarn from Sliver Moon Farm at either Rhinebeck or the Southern Adirondack festival, here is a message for you from Kay:

 

If you or anyone you know purchased worsted yarn at our booth, Sliver Moon Farm, at Rhinebeck or Southern Adirondack, marked ‘Worsted 100% superwash BFL wool, 250 gram’, it is NOT superwash. 
I spoke with the manufacturer on Tuesday to order more, and they told me they had learned it may not have had adequate superwash treatment. I knit a 5”x 4 3/8” swatch upon learning this(9 3/4 sts/2”, 12 1/2 rows/2” on size 7). After washing on regular cycle with jeans, it measured 4 1/2”x4’(10 1/4 sts/2”, 13 1/2 rows/2”). After going through a regular cycle in the dryer, it measures 4 1/2”x3 1/2”(10 1/2 sts/2”,15 1/2 rows/2”). If a you or anyone you know wishes to return or exchange this yarn, please contact me through Ravelry or at kayatslivermoonfarmdotcom. The skeins sold for $34. 
I am TERRIBLY sorry . I still love the yarn and am knitting something for myself out of it. It hand washes beautifully, and the stitch definition remained even after its washer/dryer escapade, but it DOES shrink!!!

 

 

Recipe for My Basketweave Scarf

Here are the specs for my basketweave scarves. They have become a favorite for me -- they seem to knit up so fast, they make a nice flat fabric with some interest, and they are unisex. 

 

AND they couldn't be simpler to make.

Cast on a multiple of four, plus 2 extra stitches to make a nice edging.

For my current version, I have cast on 26 stitches, and I'm using a US 9/5.5mm needle. This is giving me a scarf that is exactly 6 inches wide. 

The worsted-weight yarn I'm using is Alpaca With A Twist "Highlander" -- 45% baby alpaca, 45% merino wool, 8% microfiber, and 2% viscose, in the colorway 3015, Hebrides Rose, which is a brownish-rosy red with brown, black, and off-white flecks. 

I bought this incredibly super-soft and beautiful yarn several years ago from Mel and David's booth at Rhinebeck. (Isn't it freakish that, with such a well-stocked "library" of yarn from which to choose, I can remember exactly where I bought most of the skeins? Weird. Or are we all like that?) 

For the pattern:

ROWS 1 through 4:  With yarn in front, slip the first stitch. Put yarn in back. *K4 P4.  Repeat from * to the last stitch. Knit the last stitch. 

ROWS 5 through 8: With yarn in front, slip the first stitch. Leave yarn in front. *P4 K4. Repeat from * to the last stitch. Knit the last stitch. 

Repeat rows 1 through 8 until scarf is desired length.  Cast off in pattern.

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You can make the scarf wider or narrower by adding or removing groups of 4 stitches. If you use an odd number of "disks" or "patches" or "checkerboards" -- whatever you want to call them -- the pattern needs to be modified when you come back on the return row.  It's easy to change -- you just have to remember that in any row that begins with knit stitches, you slip the first stitch and put the yarn in back.  With rows that begin with purl, you slip the first stitch and keep the yarn in front.  Always slip the first stitch of every row and knit the last stitch of every row, to keep the nice smooth edging.  

 

 

PSAs About Red Scarf 2010-11

I have received loads of inquiries about Red Scarf, about which I am usually yammering on endlessly at this time of year, so much so that I'm usually expecting you to drum me out of blogland coz you're just so SICK of me talking about red yarn every 13.2 seconds.  

However, it appears that I must have grown on you.  

Heh, heh, heh.

I have received offers of prizes for making donations to the Red Scarf Fund, and I have received lots of questions about whether it's still on and why I'm being so uncharacteristically quiet about it.

Sadly, I just don't have an ounce of energy or even a fraction of the time necessary to manage the whole prize-giving thing this year. It is, in the best of times and with the best of help that I've received from my wonderful friends The Wonderful Cookie and The Wonderful Paula and so many, many others, still such a Herculean task that I just can't take on this year. Don't worry, though, [take on Arnold's accent] I will be back. And shhhhh, come next April, there might be a little sumpin-sumpin interesting and special coming out that I can't tell you about, but can only tease you with. Shhhhhhh.  

I know you know me well enough that you are right now saying, "Wow. She must REALLY be busy if she is too busy for Red Scarf." Yup. And even with regard to my pet project, Red Scarf, I do know my limits. 

BUT I'm still doing my part -- just not as BIG a part as usual:  My good friends at the new Grand Isle Art Works Gallery have taken up the cause to help!

Oct 7, 14, 21 and November 4, 11, and 18, we are going to be knitting red scarves at the Gallery from 6:30-8 p.m.  All are invited to come and knit and crochet and/or weave some beautiful red (or other unisex colors) scarves for the project. Or if you can't come join us, then you can send your scarves in to be included in our mailing to the OFA.  

All the info is here on their website.

If someone wants to pick up the baton that I am not-so-unceremoniously dropping about the Red Scarf Fund fund drive, and prizes and all those whatnots and hooziwidgets, please accept my loving thanks and appreciation if you can do so. The OFA needs you!  You can always donate to the fund by clicking the link in my sidebar. Over there ------------->

All other things with the Red Scarf Project are exactly the same as ever before. And if you are new to the project, everything you need to know is right here, or if you want to get pulled into endless discussions about whether 59.94 inches is too short or whether bulky is really bulky or super-bulky, or lavender is unisex enough, or whether the menfolk in your family would never wear red, or criticisms that the OFA's site has an inconsistency or two and it's JUST.TOO.CONFUSING, or whatever else you might want to waste a lot of time and angst and energy on, you can always join the Ravelry group on Red Scarf, where you can have endless fun of that sort.

Best of luck on that one, and be sure to let me know how that is working out for you. (or not) 

Can you tell I'm too tired and cranky for Ravelry nonsense right now? What? Who, me? I just do not understand what all the confusion is or why there are so many tempests in teapots, and what is so damn HARD or CONFUSING about it, but maybe that's just me. 

Perhaps I am just a tad too outspoken and really should be kept far away from the public.

What?

Who, me?!