Major Knitter

Merry Christmas from the Past

Here's my family Christmas photo circa 1977.  That's me in the middle next to my mother.

I'm the youngest of the Jackson five.  I just love this picture.  No other family picture was ever as good.  Don't you just love the Farrah Fawcett hair do's?

Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas with your family, friends and loved ones.

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!

 

I'm Going to Have a Yarn Sale - Oct 11-21, 2011

Thanks for all your great messages and suggestions for ways I can help my sister and her family.  I really appreciate all of it - especially the positive thoughts and prayers.  Many of you emailed me with suggestions you have seen work elsewhere - yarn sales, ebay auctions, selling a Major Knitter designed pattern, etc.  I like ALL the ideas.  I'm going to get organized this weekend and start my official fundraiser on Tuesday (because Monday's a holiday).  

I thought that in an empathetic gesture, since Ellen has to purge her household goods, I would likewise take this opportunity to purge my yarn stash - giving you the opportunity to get some fabulous yarns (and I mean FABULOUS) at great prices while helping me help my sister.  BF is going to help me figure out how to post the yarn for sale (although I might just do that directly on my blog).

I'm also going to see if I can write up my favorite hat pattern (yet unpublished) for sale.  I'll call it the Sisterly Solidarity Hat.  All proceeds will go to help Ellen and her family.

Finally, I'm going to auction off my red Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran Sampler Blanket (approximately 36x48 inches).  The yarn alone cost $180 and it took me more than 3 years to complete.  

Full Disclosure - I live in a smoke-free house and have one adorable tongue-lolling English Bulldog.  My yarn lives in the Knit Nook just like a knitting store.

Inundated

Inundated is one of my favorite words.  I use it a lot.  I find that I'm often inundated with emails, tasks, projects, phone calls, and more.  But this summer it's taking on a whole new meaning for me.  In fact, it's quite literal.

My family back home in Sioux City is quite literally inundated.  The Mighty Missouri is wreaking havoc and flooding its river bed.  My sister Ellen's neighborhood was one of the first to be flooded earlier this month.  She moved everything out Memorial Day weekend (and by everything, I mean EVERYTHING to include appliances).  She has been overwhelmed by the blessings and generosity of neighbors and volunteers who helped move, pack, transport and store their belongings and house them.

The levels of flooding seen this summer go well beyond the 100 year flood plains.  They're calling this the 500 year level.  

Ellen was allowed to go see her house yesterday with the National Guard escort.  She said that there's 4 feet of black, murky water in the basement and visible fish swimming in her backyard.  The water is expected to be there all summer.

You can see more about the midwest flooding at my hometown newspaper - The Sioux City Journal.  Please keep my sister's family  - and all the victims of this disaster in your thoughts and prayers.  

The cute side of this tragedy is that the kids aren't playing cops and robbers these days.  Now it's all about sandbagging, Corps of Engineers, National Guard and the Sheriff. 

They've even been overheard saying "No - you can't come in here.  It's evacuated due to the flood."

Ahhh, it's an experience they'll never, ever forget.  The great flood of 2011.

I'm Still Laughing Over This One

Since I didn't have my camera with me last weekend, you'll have to picture this.  My nieces were still in town, so BF and I took them to Balducci's to get some seafood for grilling.  We took a scenic route right past Martha Stewart's former Westport home.  As we turned onto Turkey Hill Road South, we saw a red chicken crossing the road.  Now, I'm from Iowa and my nieces are from Nebraska.  You'd think that seeing something like this would be a somewhat common occurrence for us.  But trust me, none of us had ever seen a chicken crossing a road and we certainly didn't expect to see it in Westport, Connecticut of all places.  So I slowed down and rolled down my window (at this point, I realized I didn't actually have my camera with me).  But BF leaned over and spoke to the chicken.  It went something like this:

BF - "Excuse me.  I'm sure you get this all the time, but I just have one question to ask you."

We were roaring with laughter.

He didn't stop there.  He quickly added this to his list of questions for the chicken:

BF - "OK, I know I only said one question, but I have another.  You or the egg?"

We were nearly crying at this point.

Needless to say, the chicken didn't answer.

My favorite part of the whole story was being at home later, when BF had disappeared and my nieces were laughing and saying how funny BF was.  Primogeniture just looked at them with a quizzical brow as if to say "You mean my stepfather?  That guy?  He's funny?  Surely you must mean some other guy."

Laughter truly is the best medicine.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I love flower gardens.  I love to see the colorful beds of annuals brightening up yards and houses.  Every time I see petunias, geraniums, marigolds, and other annuals, I think of my Mother who loved to patiently water and deadhead her flowers every evening.  

But me?  I'm more of a perennial girl myself.  I like to do the major work once, and reap the benefits year after year.  Our Westport Garden Club has an annual plant sale as their major fundraiser.  Basically, the gardeners sell plants they have grown from seed, or split from plants in their garden.  Unfortunately, I missed this year's plant sale, but it looks like I could do a little plant splitting and redistribution of my own.

My elephant hosta is really out of control.  I have some other places in the yard that could use some leafy green ground cover, so it looks like I might be busy for the next few days playing the part of Ms. Green Jeans.

And while I like a pristine looking garden (like the one I saw at a fundraiser tea yesterday), I've been gently steered away from pesticides from a green friend whose child suffered from leukemia supposedly from these chemicals.  So while the "wildflowers" take over my yard inch by inch, I like to think that I'm doing the right thing for my family.  Yet, yesterday's gorgeous flower and vegetable gardens inspired me to spend some time in my yard today.  Who knows, maybe I'll have to add Major Gardener to my byline.

Four Weeks and As Good As New

It's been four weeks since the boys surgeries - and I'm so happy to report that they are as good as new.  It's truly amazing to see how resilient boys are.  They head back to school on Monday.  I'm certain that all your get well wishes, thoughts and prayers helped them make such a speedy recovery.

 

The boys have also benefitted from the one-on-one attention of homebound tutors to keep them up with their classmates.  It's actually been a great experience. I'm so grateful to the school system that offers this service when students miss school for more than 15 days due to an excused medical absence.  Let's not even mention how grateful I am to the tutors themselves.

Finally, I wanted to thank each and every one of you for all your support, comments and emails.  I really, really appreciate it.  Next week we all get back to our regularly scheduled routines.

Sew Sweet!

BF bought me a Bernina a few years ago.  I'm not a prolific seamstress, so I didn't want to drop the funds on a brand new state-of-the-art Bernina, so we went shopping on ebay.  We found an older one and I was in heaven.  Unfortunately, I never took it to our local Bernina service center (a half hour drive from home) and so it sat in storage for nearly 4 years. 

 

Finally, this past month, we made the drive to The Quilt Shop and had my Bernina serviced.  BF picked it up for me this past weekend and it works like a charm.  Practically brand new.  I'm so excited to have a sewing machine again.  My sewing is generally limited to craft items and repairs, but I'm still so thrilled to have a sewing machine just the same.  Woohoo!  Stay tuned for some interesting projects from time to time. 

I Got All My Sisters With Me

I just want to send a big hug to my big sisters Teresa and Ellen.  They dropped everything in their lives to come out to Virginia last week and be with us during the boys' surgeries.  They stood by me during this very challenging time.  Plus we had some good laughs.

 

Here we are.  We're tired.  We're exhausted.  We're punchy.  But we're sisters.  We're family.

 Thanks a million.  I really, really appreciate it.  Love, Foofoo

The Knitting Police

I went home to Sioux City, Iowa for a quick 24-hour trip on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Rather than start a new pair of socks in the olive drab, I decided to finish the forest green socks.  (Well, I hadn't actually wound the olive drab yarn!)  Afterall, I want to make a pair of green socks for a special person whose favorite color is green.  I had just thought that I would use kelly green.  I'm going to save the sock pictures for tomorrow.  In the meantime, here is the cutest picture of my niece that I want to share:

Officer Gracie of the Knitting Police is ready to slap on the handcuffs if I start yet another project and don't finish at least one of those endless WIPs on my Ravelry Project List!