Major Knitter

Community Pulls Together

On Sunday, one of the cornerstones of our community nearly ceased to exist.  The Saugatuck Congregational Church caught on fire.  Firefighters came from four communities to battle the blaze.  There was a great deal of damage to the Church and parish hall, but fortunately, no one was hurt, and it looks like the fire damage can be repaired.  You can read all about the fire on WestportNow.

Of course, one of the saddest parts of this fire, was the impact it had on the annual Thanksgiving dinner the Church prepares for the local community each year.  The 30 turkeys were already thawing when the fire struck.  The pots, pans, utensils were all covered in soot and fire debris.  A new location was needed for the holiday dinner ASAP.  The church that is our Boy Scout sponsor quickly jumped in and offered to host the annual dinner.  I asked our liaison how the Boy Scout Troop could help.  The church members and dinner coordinators were so shocked and overwhelmed trying to deal with the fire, the repercussions and plan the dinner that they really didn't know what help to ask for.  I offered again, and they came up with a perfect solution.  They needed some deep down cleaning of all those pots and pans to take off the baked on soot and debris.  I rallied the troops, so to speak.  I emailed the Boy Scouts.  I facebooked my friends.  I made impassioned pleas to my fellow Westport Young Woman's League members.  We set up cleaning stations inside and out of Christ and Holy Trinity Church's kitchen.  We bought endless supplies of scouring pads, bleach, rubber gloves and Comet, Barkeeper's Friend and Cameo (those last two being my favorite for cleaning).  In the end we had 18 friends and family members helping for three hours.  We managed to scrub and disinfect everything.  I think it may have looked cleaner when we were done than even before the fire.

Scoutmaster and Scout finish cleaning the very last pot after working hard for three hours scrubbing pots, pans, utensils and more in preparation of the annual Thanksgiving feast for more than 300 community members.

The entire community pulled together. You can read about the efforts on Dan Woog's blog; the Daily Westport; and News 12 Connecticut.  Food was donated.  Volunteers came out of the woodwork to make the even happen.  It was a great showing of community spirit.  Some of the youth members who helped us clean said "Thanks for letting me help today.  It felt really good." 

Now that's what I call doing "a Good Turn Daily."

 

 

 

My Dream Machine

What was the best part of Secundogeniture's birthday party and sleepover?  I got to rent and drive my dream machine:

My dream vehicle = a 15-passenger van.

BF and the boys all agree:  "Mom, it's not gonna happen."

Well, a girl can dream, can't she?

Paintball Anyone?

I think I'm in the running for Mom-of-the-Year.  I took Secundogeniture and a dozen of his closest friends for a paintball party.  The rest of the family went, too.  It was great fun.

BF and I even got in on the action.

And before you ask, I played to have fun.  I actually tried NOT to hit anyone.  I figured I could cause irreparable damage to the psyche of 13 year old males if they were all shot by their friend's Mom, the Marine.  So I aimed at trees and other natural objects.  

Big Little Bro and Little Big Bro had a great time.  So did all the others.  It was messy and it hurt a bit, but it was good clean, er, messy fun.  Happy early birthday Secundogeniture!

BSA Boots & Suits Gala

When I tell you November is a busy month, I mean it's a wild and crazy busy month.  One of the fun events was a Boy Scout fundraising event called the Boots & Suits Gala.  As you might have guessed, we were supposed to dress up in our suits and dresses and wear our boots.  There were fashion boots, cowboy boots, hiking boots, rain boots, winter boots and, of course, my very own combat boots.

There were amazing silent auction items to bid on all through the night

And even some amazing live auction items.

Guess who's going to be having breakfast at the the Capitol with a certain Connecticut senator?  Oh, did you know that he's also a Marine?

It was wonderful fun and I can hardly wait until next year's event.  If you're involved in Scouting and are looking for a new and exciting fundraising idea, I highly recommend this one.  We had a blast.


 

Jury Duty

I got called for Jury Duty.  My friend thought I should be exempt as I already go above and beyond with all my service... but I was glad to fulfill my civic obligation.  I knew I couldn't take my knitting to the court house, so I took a cross stitch Christmas ornament, one needle and some pre-cut floss.  

There was only one civil case today and I got down to the last 30 people.  In fact, I even got to stand up and take the Juror's Oath.  I laughed when they asked us to raise our hands and repeat the oath.  Of course, I made the Boy Scout sign.  

By about 3:00 p.m., I was dismissed, but not before I nearly finished my Santa ornament.  Yeah!  I'm going to have another new Santa for this year's tree.

Eagle Court of Honor

Primogeniture and two other boys received their Eagle Scout rank today.  I can't tell you how proud I have of him (and all the boys!)  

Once an Eagle Scout, Always an Eagle Scout!

 

Happy Birthday Marines

Every year, Marines around the world celebrate the Marine Corps' birthday.  This year 6th Communication Battalion celebrated the 236th birthday at the Grand Prospect Ballroom in Brooklyn.  

Our guest of honor was Joe Lisi - a former 6th Comm Bn Marine in his youth, a NYPD captain, and currently an actor.

Here I am with Joe and his wife Donna.  I'm not wearing my medals because I made the mistake of ordering them for a local guy who does a great job... but has little-to-no experience with female field grade officers.  I got large medals that would fit on very few men's chests - and would take up half mine!  But even the Marines aren't used to seeing female field grade officers in the mess dress uniform.  I received many compliments during the night about how much people liked my "dress" - sigh!

It was a great evening with a stunning birthday message video from the Commandant and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps and it reminded me why we're so fortunate to live in a country that is defended by United States Marines!

 

Wilma, Wilma, Wilma

Just when you thought it couldn't be more about Wilma, she gets her 15 seconds of fame.  Bonne Marie Burns of ChicKnits asked to use Wilma's picture with the Ribby Cardi as one of the profile pictures for that same sweater on Ravelry.  I know that my sweater isn't any better than anyone else's, and I know it's not my semi-amazing modeling skills, so that only leaves Wilma and her lolling tongue.

All this fame has worn her out.

 

Ribby Cardi

I finally finished the once ill-fated Ribby Cardi.  I cast on for this sweater in April 2009 and feverishly knit for a quick finish.  Unfortunately, after I blocked all the parts and was ready to sew, I realized I had made a huge mistake in the sleeves.  I frogged the sleeves and shoved the project in a bag in the back of my knit nook.  There it sat for nearly 18 months.  But in August, in my frenzy to finish UFOs, I resurrected it and reknit those sleeves, carefully paying attention so they wouldn't face the same fate as their antecedents.  It worked.  I seamed the pieces together, sewed in the zipper, and wet blocked the entire cardigan.  Yesterday I debuted the sweater and am happy to say, it's a keeper.

There are a few things I would change next time - 

• I'd take 1.5-2 inches off the sleeves.  
• I'd add 2 inches to the body.

And you know how I like to repeat a pattern when I like it (can anybody say Wonderful Wallaby?) - so I think I'll definitely make another Ribby.  Of course, I wear so much black, that the first color that comes to mind is the eye-numbing, blindness causing black.  Sigh.  Good thing I recently got an OTT lamp.