On Kevin’s Mittens:

While watching the local Evening News lately I’ve noticed the lines of people waiting for Thanksgiving Dinner boxes or heating assistance and the like. These people with children in tow are dressed for the cold weather for the most part but there was a lack of gloves and mittens. Children had their hands in pockets and adults were blowing warm air from their mouths to warm their fingers.















My son used to help the homeless on a regular basis when he lived in the city. And I have been wanting to do more since he died but have been at a loss since I don’t live close nor can I drive. Then it all came together. I once made that Big Mitten for him. While I’m sitting and knitting I could help out by knitting mittens for those in need.
















So from now until New Years Eve I’m going to knit a mitten a day in my sons name and send them to a church or organization that gives that kind of thing out to those in need. I’ll send them weekly so no one has to wail until I’m done with them all and I’d like others to join me and my nineteen pair.

Make a commitment with me to make (or buy if you don’t have the time or skill to make them) at least one pair of mittens and send or drop them off at an organization that can get them to the needy in your area (or send them to a colder area if you live in a warmer zone) before the end of the year. Then leave a comment or email and I’ll daily up date a count of pairs of ‘Kevin’s Mittens’ sent to charities on the side of my blog.

Any style, size, color or type of yarn will do. It’s up to you. One pair of mittens may not seem like much, but to the person that needs them it is a big help. ‘Kevin’s Mittens’ may not fix the worlds problems but it can’t hurt.

Thank you, Lady Euphoria

















Congratulations Knotty Mouse! She won the prize this past week for the Epitaph of the Week Contest and she chose one of the Black Tatted Choker Necklaces. It will be sent out to her soon. Check out her blog if you haven’t yet.

On Epitaph Contest 11-23-08:

If you have a spam filter that doesn’t show you what is being deleted or you never look at it and you sent in a contest entry, you may not get my notice that you have won. Look in your spam for my name. I send the notice out on Sunday mornings around the same time I post my blogs.

The Epitaph Contest had it’s first winner for last weeks drawing. Sooticas was the name picked. But as there was no reply after repeated attempts to contact Sooticas. I will be placing all but one of the prizes back in the prize choices and donating one at random to a charity. If there was a problem with a spam filer and Sooticas didn’t get any of my notices, please contact me again before the end of the month.

This weeks drawing was made and the winner notified. Hopefully there will be no problems this time.

The prizes for this weeks Epitaph Contest are as follows:
Okay I woke up late and sick and didn’t have the time to set up and take pictures of the new prizes, so I’ll re-offer the ones from the last two weeks. With the understanding that one of them may be chosen already by last weeks winner. Some of them I do have multiples of already.

1-S. A wool knitted Toilet Paper Scarf, five feet or 150 centimeters long.
Mochimochiland pattern without a face, thou it can be added on request.
2-H. A Three Horned knitted Jesters Hat with bells of a Bulky Acrylic/Mohair/Nylon yarn. Gothic Knit pattern in choice of two different color combinations.
3-N. A Tatted lace, cotton choker Necklace. Lady Euphoria designed and hand made by the lady herself in choice of black or white.
4-S Six Tatted Snow Flake set. Suitable for hanging on tree, in window, or just spread on a table top, you get the idea. Lady Euphoria’s designs and made by her hands.
5-B Bookmarks. A choice of one of two sets of four. Lady Euphoria made the lace and created all but one of the sayings on these. Paired with a bit of her tatted lace these original bookmarks were fast sellers when on the market last.

Send in you Epitaphs and Good Luck! Lady Euphoria

On Selective Germs:

I am sick yet again. An ear infection this time. But as these things do happen I am now fairly sure where I acquired the little buggers. At my cancer meeting. I don’t get to my cancer meetings as often as I’d like to, but every time I do I am sick within days.

The cancer meeting is held in a large waiting room in one of the local hospital annex buildings. Whether the cut backs have caused the cleaning staff to clean less or the germs are getting more resistant, I do not know. Is it the emotion I feel there making me more susceptible to the germs? Or is all this some cosmic joke on me? All I know is that I come home sick each time I’ve gone there for the last year or more.

I love my cancer group. We are a hodge-podge of people who understand and care for each other. And I am at a loss as to what to do. I want to see them and be with them. But getting sick on a regular bases is not something I want to put my body or expenses through twice monthly.

I shop and go to other meetings with no problem. One of these meetings is in a room just vacated by a cub scout troupe in a public library. Boy child germs all over the place and I come home fine.

I shop for food, go to doctor’s and dentist’s offices, get tests done in the hospital itself, I go to banks and eateries and I can spend hours weekly in craft stores fingering merchandise and don’t come home sick.

I wish I knew the answer to this one. I don’t want to avoid this wonderful group of people just because I come home sick after I’ve been there. But the evidence is not looking in their favor. When I don’t go there for months I’m fine, when I do go I get sick. I only worry about it at all because I can’t get a flu shot, I’m allergic to eggs.

So, do I go to the meetings or stay home for the entire flu season? Maybe I’ll wait until I’m well again to make this decision. But I’m in agony over it until I do.

On New Information Please:

I was going through one of my old address books. It was bursting with index cards, business cards and scraps of paper. Hand written scribbles of names and phone numbers, email addresses and even some ‘We’ve Moved!’ notices.

I was doing this to clean out the drawer it was in and make more room for the newer people in my life.

As I went through the papers and pages, names of people I don’t associate with any longer and others that had died looked back at me. I wondered about the ones still alive when last we saw each other and remembered those not still here anymore.

I transferred some of the information to the new address book and card file. Realizing that my life really did change a lot after the death of my son and my cancer experience. I had a good long look at my life before and the information was set before me. I am not the person I was before life sent me in new and different directions.

Relationships with people I once hung out with didn’t hold the cohesiveness they once did. We may still do things we did before but the friendships are no longer there. Why?

I was willing to wait it out when they were grieving after the deaths of close relatives. Why didn’t they do the same for me? When they got older and ailments came to them, I helped them adjust and held them when they cried over lost youth. Why did my cancer scare them away?

I have new friends now but I tread cautiously. Expectations are lower and bosom friends are not on my near horizon. Time is needed to make them. Time that has not passed yet. I am a fierce friend to those that befriend me. But I have a book of broken relationships that did not stand the test of time.

I put the book in a plastic bag to keep it from spilling out into the other areas of the drawer and put it back in the drawer. I’m not ready to throw it away. I have more to learn from those broken fragments of my life. But I don’t want it spoiling the future of my new relationships.

On Turkey and Socks:

Yesterday my cancer group had their Thanksgiving Diner. Everyone brought a covered dish or two. We had turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, salad and an anti pasta platter. I brought fresh baked, still hot from the oven, loaves of honey wheat and maple oat bread, both apple and pumpkin butter and butter to melt on the warm slices. There was two cheese cakes and a pumpkin roll for dessert. Three kinds of soda and coffee and tea to drink. Everyone ate too much and had a good time.

And the promised pictures of the knitting.









Mountain Man’s cowl scarf, a wool blend, in a bulky yarn. I’ll have to find the label if anyone is interested. One skein. I made mine with two skeins, so it can double as a hood type hat.























My new socks. A thick plain toe up sock, stockinet stitch with ribbed ankle and I ruffled a lace trim from the book ‘150 Knitted Trims’ by Lesley Stanfield. Number 59 on the top of the ankle. Sport weight yarn no. 3, Red Heart - Designer Sport, acrylic, color Grape because it matched perfectly the purple top I was wearing the day I bought it.





















I had to change the lace pattern into the round and put it in wrong side out so when the cuff was folded down the right side was out. I also doubled the stitches of the sock rounds early on in the lace to make it ruffle. I was concerned about how it would come off in the heaver sock yarn so I picked a simple pattern and I think it worked. I have it written down if someone wants it, just ask in the comments or email me.

On Knitting and Dinner:

I have been knitting. Once I started the socks that got me through the car kafuffle I haven’t been able to put them down. Not even to take pictures unfortunately. I am hoping to get them done today. Done or not, pictures tomorrow, I promise.

I also knitted Mountain Man and myself a tubular cowl scarf from stash leftovers since I talked about projects last. I was working on but have yet to finish the throw for the bed. I’ve been working far too long on it and have knitters block with the thing. I feel like I spend more time frogging then knitting on it these days. The thing is I really do love the purple, ever so soft, yarn. I’m just tired of the repetition of the pattern.

I have a lot to do today. I’m baking fresh bread for my cancer group’s Thanksgiving Diner later on this afternoon. So I’d better get going. I want to wear my new socks still on the needles.

On A Long Shopping Day:

Those of you who have been reading my blog from the beginning already know that Mountain Man has a thing about cars. This is not a love or awe thing. It is a frugal investment thing. Once Mountain Man has committed himself to a vehicle he will keep it running until all hope is lost.

This is a double edged sword. On the one hand, the frugal me knows that he will not be after that elusive perfect car, ever up grading and trading in after each dent or ding. But the down side for me is the death knell tolling. The many times it breaks down and I stay stranded in the house while he hunts for ever dwindling parts.

Yesterday while shopping the car broke down.

Mountain Man stayed in the car like he usually does with the news paper when I go into craft shops. I went into the store and was uncharacteristicly fast. I got everything I needed for a new project. I got in and out with my purchase, got into the car, buckled my set belt, and Mountain Man turned the key.

Nothing happened. Nothing at all. Not a click. Not a hiss or hum. All electrical things worked just fine. The starter refused to engage. I sighed (Inwardly) and start to dig in my handbag for the cell phone.

Yes, you guessed it the cell phone was dead. (It is never dead. I have a high cell phone maintenance thing going. You know in case of a car emergency.) It is dead because for some reason it froze on a screen and wouldn’t shut down, all buttons locked. Of no use.

We collect our purchases, lock them in the trunk and go off looking for a pay phone in the strip mall parking lot. After clearing the phone of debris and finding it working we called a neighbor to find her baby sitting and car-less as her husband was out with the car at their daughters house fixing something for her in the basement. No, he didn’t have his cell phone but should still be there. And it was in the same town that we now stood.

We grabbed what we could of our stuff from the car and hike over to the house at a brisk pace in hopes of catching him before he leaves, for a lift home and deal with the car tomorrow. Up hill of course we trudge, arriving huffing and puffing. Just in time to sit and wait because he just mixed the cement and must use it up as not to waste it. (Thank the powers that be for my new knitting project in one of the bags I grabbed.)

When done he cleans up and helpfully drives us not home but to the dealership to ask about our dilemma and surrender our keys, arrange a tow truck and go back to the car to wait.

While waiting, you do know what happen don’t you? The car started up just fine. We cancel the tow truck, go back to the dealership collect the keys and go home. Mountain Man can’t resist turning the key one more time after we have gotten the last bag from the trunk. The car is dead again. An hour later it works.

Mountain Man is on the hunt again for working parts and I’ll be home waiting. Waiting for the day we get a new used car and start the process all over again.