Pine Ridge

My friend Ysabeau told me about Pine Ridge Reservation, and the organizations who help the people living there a few years ago. I like to send gifts for the elders at Christmas time (usually shawls and such). I went by to check what they were doing this season, and found a neat thing that any of us might be able to do to help.

The idea is that you stuff a 'stocking' for an elder or three (or 25, if you like), with some of the most wanted items on their list (see list and link below). They suggest making or buying a drawstring bag (approximately 10" by 14") in lieu of a traditional stocking, as the bag is reusable.
At first I was disappointed, I was thinking that I could make a shawl but not really go out and shop for some of the things on the list, but then I looked more closely.
Several of the items on the list are things I already have in abundance around the house, (candles, teabags) and there were a few things still that I can knit my love into, and send along (hats, scarves, socks).
I also have plenty of material left in my quilting stash to make bags from, and Oscar has volunteered to cut the material and help sew them up (he's a better tailor/'seamster' than I, having made himself a pair of 'designer' jeans years ago)

**UPDATE***
Ysabeau told me that because of the Blizzard Emergency, they have plenty of stockings/bags, but the contents went to warm and feed the people in the path of the storm.

He also is happy to use some of the Christmas money that family usually gives us to go shopping in the bulk aisle of the store for some of the other things.

Most wanted items:

Bandages
Batteries
Bars of soap
Brushes
Candles
Coffee
Cologne/perfume
Combs
Crossword puzzle books
Dried soup mix packets
Earmuffs
Flashlights
Floss
Gas cards (Shell only)
Gift cards
Gloves
Hair elastics
Hand warmers
Hats
Hot chocolate packs
Lamp oil
Lip balm
Long distance calling cards
Mints/candies/sugar free candies
Oil lapms
Over the counter meds
Playing cards
Reading glasses
Scarves
Small containers of hand lotion
Small gifts like wallets, belts, jewelry
Small packs of snacks/granola bars/nuts
Small packs of tissue
Small tools
Snow boots
Snow suits
Stocking caps
Socks
Sugar free drink mixes
Sunglasses
Tea bags
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Underwear
Word search books
(Non stocking stuffers but needed - towels and blankets)

Please ship your elders Christmas stockings to:

Via US Mail:

Carmelita Mesteth
Oyate Teca Project
FoPRR Elders Project
P. O. Box 316
Kyle, SD 57752

Via UPS/FedEx/DHL:

Carmelita Mesteth
Oyate Teca Project
FoPRR Elders Project
1000 Youth Center Drive
Kyle, SD 57752

Please Note: Due to the volume of donations shipped to the reservation FoPRR cannot verify delivery of your boxes. If you require confirmation of delivery, please purchase delivery confirmation from the post office or use your shipping service's tracking system.

Please do not use Styrofoam as packing material. New large size trash bags serve well as padding and are reusable.

CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS FOR ELDERS

"In addition to its work with the children, the Oyate Teca Project works with hundreds of elders in need in seven different communities and can use help with your donations of filled Christmas stockings for them. Our goal is 500 stockings and if you sew, please consider making up some drawstring bags (10" x 14") in lieu of stockings. Not only will they be easier to fill, but the elders will be able to reuse them.

(Above) is a list of suggested items you might want to include in hour stockings and please let us know how many you'll be sending so we can update our tally. Thank you so much for making a difference for an elder this Christmas!

11/13/08 Update: Due to the blizzard emergency, Oyate Teca Project had to distribute their Christmas stocking donations early to help those families in crisis. If you'd like to help by sending additional filled stockings or gift items and emergency supplies listed (above), please do so!"

Cool Green Link

Here's a great link for making your own grocery (and other stuff) bags. MAKE YOUR OWN BAGS
Patterns are linked for knitting, crocheting, sewing, and even if you don't craft, there's a tutorial at the end on how to tie a furoshiki. (A Japanese carrying cloth)


All you need for the furoshiki is a square cloth of moderate to large size, and these two links
ARTICLE
DIAGRAMS

And the article even has some video showing how to do it.

(photo above from free photos bank)

Dogs are some of my favorite things

I still miss my dog, Kitsune. Not surprising as she was part of my life very day, all day.

Today I got a neat video in an email about another very, very special dog.

The dog is talented, but what got me was the love.

DOG ON BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT

Sunny sunny Cold

The sun is streaming out of a crystal blue sky this afternoon, but the air is waaay too icy to go out for long without full winter gear.

I've got some Medicine Soup boiling away on the stove, lots of ginger and garlic scenting and warming the house. I'm taking a meat-free week, so I'm using seitan rather than chicken today.

I have been knitting almost exclusively the past few years, but a few months ago, I was sorting through my quilt blocks (plan to make a quilt for Sean..our Godson, not the Sean in the photo above) and the itch to play with fabric is coming back. Now that I have a better handle on how much I can do in a day, and how long my rest breaks need to be, I think quilting is a possibility again... good thing as those I've made previously are getting a little worn...

I've become addicted to a new (to me) tv show. It's on Biography, called "Female Forces"
"Brains, beauty, and a badge... In each episode of Female Forces, viewers ride shotgun with the female officers from the Naperville, Illinois Police Department as they fight a full gamut of big city crime in the suburbs of Chicago" It's great stuff, Maynard!

Gearing up for Knitting Season

I love to give knitted stuff to my family for Yule. This means I try my best to find washable yarns for my nieces and nephews, and print up little care doobie cards so my sisters-in-law and brothers know how to care for what I give them. I know washable would be easier for them, but when I'm making a dressy thing, I think they don't mind so much the extra care. Most of them have kids in highschool or above, so it's not like they are still caring for toddlers, and most of my stash is the felt-vulnerable sort.
I also have some planned projects for Sean, our Godson, and some things for Oscar I am working on.

No pics of current object of course, as I don't want to spoil any surprises.
Just for eye-pretties, I'll add some pics of things knitted in the past:

Warm Woolies

One of my favorite places to send donations is Warm Woolies.
They donate both to foreign orphanages and to people in need here in the United States. Nothing against Afghans for Afghans or Warm up America, but I prefer Warm Woolies' more global view.
They also want knitters and crocheters to use animal fibers, as there is just no comparison warmth-wise. Since these are the kinds of fibers I most have in my odds and ends drawer, this works great for me.

Here is their description of what they do:

"In 2007, Warm Woolies delivered 5,724 pieces of warm clothing to children in orphanages in Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia and on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations. In 2008, we will continue to support children in the same areas. We will also be helping children in a few special-needs orphanages in China. ...

Many orphanages in Eastern Europe are very poorly heated. Some do not have hot running water. The children share what few warm clothes there are. Often, the felted socks we send serve as their only shoes.

Knitting for Rosebud - Knitting for Pine Ridge Reservation

The Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations in South Dakota have the lowest per capita incomes in the United States. An Indian Country Today article reported that 29% of the people on the Rosebud Reservation are homeless, and 59% live in housing that is substandard. Warm children's clothing is scarce, both because of expense and because the reservations are geographically isolated.

What a difference a warm wool sweater, vest, or socks can make for these children!"

They had a special project going this year. For every 25 qualifying items (in this case, vests, sweaters and socks of toddler size and larger) they would send you a gift. I didn't know if I would be able to make the golden number, but I decided to knit a few things at a time and just see what I ended up with. I was doing pretty well until the arthritis in my hands got worse, but though it slowed me down, I was still able to make some progress. I finally decided to finish what I had, and get them sent out, even though I was short of the mark. After all, it's not whether or not I get a present that matters, but that 20-some people will be warmer this winter.

My point is that even a small effort, made repeatedly, can make a much bigger difference than I imagined at the beginning of the summer.
If you want to donate by making items, they have several free crocheting and knitting patterns HERE.
If you don't knit or crochet, I encourage you to donate in some other way. Maybe some gas money for that long drive from Colorado to South Dakota? They deliver stuff themselves there.

Here are images of what I was able to knit this year for them. I also threw a few Elijah hats in the box I'd made for pattern samples that may be useful to them (pics in earlier post). Note the beautiful buttons, donated by Ysabeau :-}

The gift of knitting

Knitting has been a boon to me ever since I sat down and got serious about learning (for the third time) a few years back (Thank you LynnH!)
Yesterday's knitting-related events were no exception.
My Uncle Chuck's viewing is today, his funeral tomorrow. Rather than spend my energy allotment (my "Spoons") on going to the funeral, I decided to visit my dad, instead. We went yesterday.
My main reason for going to the funeral would have been for my cousins, Lisa and Brent. Instead I am knitting them each something, and will send it along with letters talking about my memories of their dad, Chuck.
Yesterday, I brought along the shawl for Lisa. As I sat there chatting with Dad, the nurses and aides who came in almost always commented on my knitting. One was the partner of one of Dad's friends, and a knitter herself. Since I was past the point of needing my paper copy of the pattern (my 'Cloud on her Shoulders' shawl) I gave the printout to her. She looked at it and exclaimed "You designed this?!" Dad looked very proud.
Later, one of the other nurses came in. She did what she needed to do for Dad, then stood near me, her hands unable to keep from petting the shawl I was still stitching on. (I used a combination of the Knitpicks yummy Suri Dream, carried along with a dk-weight hand dyed I picked up in the Gaylord yarn shop when we visited Dad and Mom there this past spring).
As she stroked, she said "You're knitting! I own three sheep!"
Turns out she owns three Shetland sheep, and spins their wool. She is interested in doing natural dyeing, after she's spun the roving. She feeds her cute Shetlands with a seaweed supplement so their diet is pretty much what they'd get in their native islands.
When she mentioned the natural dyeing, I said "I have a patch of madder root growing in my back yard." and she lit up. I will be mailing her a few starts for her garden, along with a book I have she may find useful. :-}
Meantime, Dad watched this exchange, smiling. It was a wonderfully serendipitous way to share part of my life with him, that would not normally be part of a hospital visit :-}
I am more grateful than I can express that we went yesterday. Time spent with Dad is precious.

Another Sorrow

My Uncle Chuck passed away early this morning.
He was a funny guy. He was endlessly patient with his nieces and nephews. One of our favorite things to do was pick flowers and put them behind his ears.
He bought me a bright red pair of tights, with white ruffles on the bottom when I was a toddler. I loved those things.

He will be missed...

Getting Ready

I've been getting ready for the holidays for a while now.
Oscar has S.A.D. I do too, to a lesser extent.
We found a new tool for helping us get through the winter months last year.
I start making small purchases of fun presents for Oscar, and have them wrapped and heaped somewhere in sight from about the beginning of October on.
I love shopping for him, and I love giving him surprises. He gets me some presents, too, don't mistake me, and they are great, but the heap of gifts we keep around are for for him, but help both of us. It always cheers me up when he opens one of them, and he feels special too.

So far he's opened a rubber monkey head that moans when you squeeze it, a wind up motorcycle rider, and a bronze celtic belt buckle. He's opened a few others, but those are the stand-outs.

My S.A.D. is exacerbated this year.

The med I was on for fibromyalgia was causing me to gain weight. The LAST thing I need. It wasn't helping the pain levels any more, either. It is also an antidepressant. I am about two and a half weeks into the withdrawal period, and my moods are still low sometimes (but much less drastic than the first week).

My Dad went back to the hospital a few weeks ago, and is in rehab again now. His memory has worsened, and they haven't quite nailed down the why of it yet, but they are still testing. It is hard.

Add the fact that I haven't been able to safely walk in my own backyard, and it's been a long summer, and even longer autumn spent looking out the kitchen window.

Still, I am working on losing weight and exercising, and designing and knitting and writing, and the days pass pretty well, all in all.




(Images are some random photos of things I've made that make me feel good.)

Colcannon and Turnips and Halloween

A belated All Hallows Eve post.
Turnips were the original jack o lanterns, here's a link to how to carve them:
TURNIP JACK O LANTERNS

(image swiped from that article)

Colcannon is a traditional dish served at Halloween. Here is my version.
Colcannon ala Otters

Potatoes - 2-3 lbs
Kale 2-6 stalks
OR
Cabbage -1/4 to 1/2 medium head
OR
a little bit of both
onion - 2-3 small to medium
bacon - 6 slices
Milk or milk substitute, optional
Mace, optional

Cook kale and cabbage in lightly salted water until tender but not quite done. Drain well. You can reserve the cooking water and use it for boiling the potatoes, increasing the vitaminability of this dish.
Cut the bacon into a fine dice ( I find this much easier to do when the bacon is half frozen).
Fry bacon until crisp in a large iron skillet or fry pan, drain off the oil.
Dice the onion and cook with bacon on low until caramelized
Squeeze out the remaining water, and add the kale and cabbage to the onion/bacon mixture.
Cook on medium high until cabbage gets a bit browny on the edges, adding butter or oil if need be.

In the meantime, be boiling your potatoes.
When they are good and tender, drain, then mash the potatoes roughly, and mix in the bacon/kale/onion/cabbage mixture.
If the potatoes are too stiff, add water or your choice of milk.
You may also add a tiny pinch of ground mace at this time.
(What, you thought the Mace was to mash the potatoes?)