a smaller life

Haitian Relief Auction

"My own experience and development deepen everyday my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy." -George Eliot

Haiti's recent misfortunes are hard to write about; how do you even begin to get a mental grip on suffering at such a scale? It's mind- boggling. In case you've missed the news this week, Haiti has been hit by a series of terrible earthquakes which have devastated the nation. The number of dead, dying and injured is staggering, but aid is finally reaching the country; supplies are being flown in daily, and more and more aid personnel land every day. The outpouring of support and assistance is one bright, shining point in all of this; there has been a stunning amount of fundraising and humanitarian aid offered.

While we know we can't fix the world via yarn, we do make our efforts. Tonight, from 7pm EST to 10pm EST, we'll be auctioning off 4 custom- dyed skeins of Bugga on the Ravelry CPA Haitian Relief Auction boards- a sweater's worth of yarn. We'll dye the skeins in any colorway past or present- you name one of our colors, and we'll make it for you, whether it's a current colorway or a discontinued one. All proceeds go towards Doctors Without Borders.

The details are in the auction thread itself, but to sum up: the auction occurs on the actual thread itself. Winners of every auction- and there is a lot more going on there than just us, some really lovely items!- are asked to pay their donation directly to the charity itself, and then to forward the reciept to us, at which point, we'll get into our dyepots and get working on your skeins.

Please, do take a look at the auctions, and if you've got a Facebook account, or a Twitter account, or any other social networking website, please help us spread the word. Thanks, everyone.

resolutions, 2010

Well, hello, 2010. A shiny new decade! Time to revise.

 

Resolutions, 2010

1.    Don't die.

2.    Postpone dying.

• Quit smoking again. The answer to stress is not to light a cigarette, damnit, and it will never, EVER be "just this one". This lesson is one I should have learned a long, long time ago. the majority of studies I'm reading show that nicotine + MS = bad mix, so let's get my shit together, here.
• Also: listen to my body, listen to my doctors, stay educated on MS but don't let it become my life. I am my life.
• My body is not my life, but it's definitely my vehicle, so stay on top of things. Regular massage. Yoga. Keep active, eat well, pay attention.
• Read labels.
• Stop buying crap food that has labels.
• RUN MORE: run as much as my body can stand. The better shape I'm in, the harder it will be for this disease to chip away at me.
• Enter more races. I'm competitive by nature, so it keeps me on track. Talk about racing, too, because accountability is good for me.

3.    Consume less.

• Create more. Learn to make even more stuff. BREAK OUT THAT SEWING MACHINE!
• Drive less, bike and walk more.
• Grow and cook our food. Let's make 2010 the year that I finally get rid of that black thumb! I want to grow the kickass- est garden of all gardens ever. Okay, let's just aim for a decent heirloom garden this year. I don't need to win any awards, just successfully grow something other than tomatoes and herbs.
• Simplify, reuse, repurpose. Compost stuff! Recycle everything!

4.     Do better.

• Try harder, remain grateful, keep perspective.
• Be kind.
• Sam Beckett always had it so damned right. "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

5.    Challenge myself.

• Allow myself some vulnerability. Everything is not a Feat Of Strength. Leave the country for the 4th of July this year; I don't need to push through that bullshit. I can just pack a bag and spend a few days in Canada, and that's not weak; that's  smart. Also, probably relaxing as hell and hey, might as well put that passport to work a little, right?
• Be brave. Without being stupid.
• Read things I’m not naturally drawn to, broaden my horizons a little. I’m beginning to feel I’m  too specialized.
• Write more. I’ve been getting lazy. Get back on track and start talking about simplifying and start talking about chronic illness. Less of these brief photo- posts and more substance. Refine what I have to say and really say it.
• Take more photos, too.
• Try new things. Like singing when I feel like singing, for starters. That's a good goal. 11 years and my husband has never heard me do one of the things I used to do best. How dumb is that?

6.     Remember that we only get so many days. Make them count.

 

squeeeeeee!

We are here!!!!!!!

our big adventure

We are starting here...

... and headed here...

...and this is how we're getting there.

That poor van is nearly bursting with yarn, people. It is madness. Heaven help the trooper that wants to search this van. We leave tomorrow morning, bright and early, with six days and about 2800 miles of adventure ahead of us. Wish us luck!

who wants free yarn?

My dear, deeply talented friend Kate of Dragonfly Fibers- also a member of the Three Fates Collective- is opening her own website. She's been selling on Etsy for some time now- and still is, for the moment- but the lovely Jess is building her a new site as we speak. How exciting is that? (Short answer: VERY exciting, indeed!)

But wait, there's more!

Kate is a woman of many, many gorgeous colors, and she needs help settling on just a few for her website. She's posted an entry on her blog asking for some input for the new site's color scheme. Leave her a comment with some suggestions on the blogpost and you'll be entered in a drawing to win your choice of yarn or roving on her current Etsy site. And really, there are some seriously gorgeous things on her Etsy site.

Good luck, all!

(Crossposted, in a very slightly edited form, to The Sanguine Gryphon blog.)

in which there are 55 days and the produce is improving

Everyone is okay. I wasn't going to mention it tonight, but after some of the panicky emails and texts I got this afternoon, I thought I'd better, if just to say that everything is fine. (The news reports are pretty much accurate.) By way of proof, I offer this goofy image of me, celebrating the recent spate of tasty produce on post lately.

I never thought I'd be so excited about fruit.

I'm off for my run. Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day.

in which you can score wollmeise, sundara, a schrodinger bag, and more

Jacqueline at serendipity has put together an impressively huge giveaway raffle as an incentive for people to donate to the Victorian Red Cross Bushfire Appeal in Australia. Click on the link and scroll down to get an idea of what I'm talking about- it's massive. There's a little bit of everything in there-  a ton of Wollmeise (sock and lace), Sundara, patterns from the Family Trunk project (sigh, I'm a huge fan of her work), Schrodinger Knits, Blue Moon, everyone seems to hav donated something. It's amazing.

AUD$10 buys you an entry into the raffle, which closes out 1 March 2009. It's easy--- go to the Australian Red Cross website and donate AUD$10; forward your receipt to Jacqueline at knittershelpingvictorians at gmail dot com.

Hell, if you're not a knitter, you should still consider donating. Over 170 people have died so far, with thousands homeless. Here's a way to help out that so many of us will hardly even feel.

in which I am resolved, or: in which there is accountability

Resolutions, 2009:

1. Don't die.
2. Postpone dying: Don't start smoking again, keep active, eat well, pay attention.
3. Consume less: Create more, drive less, grow and cook our food. Simplify, reuse, repurpose.
4. Do better: Try harder, remain grateful, keep perspective. Be kind.
5. Challenge myself: Allow myself some vulnerability. Be brave. Try new things.

in which I am dumbfounded, and joyful

This was a big election. This was a big election for me, personally; I've never used a poll, actually. Every presidential election I've been able to vote in I've been outside of the state I was registered in; I've always voted absentee. Tramping up to the elementary school in our neighborhood to join the line of voters waiting in the rain this afternoon was absolutely thrilling.

And oh, America, you shocked me. I'm so sorry I didn't believe in you. I honestly didn't think we were big enough or good enough to see this day yet. That you did it so quickly, too; so decisively- how wonderful.

in which there is an edict

(From someecards.com!)

If you're a US citizen living in the US, get your ass out there today and vote, people.

More later; I'm off to celebrate Election Day with food and obsessive news- watching. Hooray!