LoopyKnits

Just some happy news to report: My in-laws, sister-in-law and husband and their kids, and brother-in-law are back in town staying with us and a family friend. I am *so* glad they are not on the road, trying to make it back to south Mississippi right now! They were heading home to check their properties, family members and friends yesterday when they began to hear the newscasts about just how impassable the roads are and how devastated the cities and counties down there are. They spent the night in Durant, Miss., and came back up.

I’ll bet my husband is glad they’re back too — especially since it means I won’t be e-mailing or calling him about every half hour (like I did on Tuesday), sending him news stories about the latest horrific hurricane news and pestering him to try calling them on their cell phones again to persuade them to come back for a while. If they can put up with my filthy house (why couldn’t this have been one of the few really “clean” weeks at Chez Loopy?), I’m grateful to have them here and safe.

I also heard from a dear old friend last night (hi, Sherman!) and for just a second or two my blood ran cold when I waited to hear whether he was passing along good news or tragedy. I was delighted to hear that another dear old friend, Bill, is safe with his sons and his parents and other family members — away from where his house *used* to be, just two blocks off the beach. It was also a relief to hear that my first ex-husband (still a buddy of Bill and Sherm) is also safe with his children and hopes to find some or all of his home still standing when he returns to the Coast. I hope home is still there for them.

As enormous of a tragedy as it is to lose a home and all of a lifetime’s possessions, the real treasures for Southern families — actually, families everywhere — are the treasures that walked and swam and drove away in safety.

I’m still appalled by the looters. People stealing baby food and water and diapers and toilet paper … well, I can understand the need. People stealing two-foot-high stacks of Snicker bar boxes? Designer sneakers? AK-47s? (??!!) Drugs? Jewelry and electronics? It’s anarchy. I’ve been told by a lifelong Gulf Coast resident that this opportunity is actually what some people stayed behind for — the five-finger discount opportunities that arise after the hurricane blows out of town. The mind boggles.

Instead, I’m trying to focus on the people who are doing something good — from the large to the small. Our company had a huge blood drive today, and so many came that they couldn’t use every volunteer. (Despite being a big queasy chicken when it comes to blood drives, I have my beige badge of courage still sticking in the crook of my arm after today’s donation.) Some people who live near the Gulf Coast but who escaped hurricane damage are volunteering the use of their homes so evacuees can shower or take refuge. Others are calling friends and relatives to get a laundry list of what they need, and they’re loading up their cars and heading down with sorely needed supplies.

There really *are* good people among the heart-breaking stories and the anarchy. Thank God. And if you are so inclined, please click here to be one of them; the American Red Cross is accepting donations. Here’s another site that lists links to multiple charitable agencies for people and pets suffering from the aftereffects of Hurrican Katrina.

Also — just to have a little knitting reference in this ol’ knitblog — I’m probably going to be way too busy scraping off the dusty or cluttered parts of my house surreptitiously over the next few days to do much, if any, knitting. (Hi, family, if you’re reading this! Just kidding — my house is always clean! Pretend to believe that, willya?) So postings will be slim or none for a while. But I’ll be back soon.

Technorati Tags: Gulf Coast, Hurricane Katrina, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

I’ve just been surfing the web to see the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, and I’m overwhelmed, dismayed, crushed to see the devastation. And I’m also so grateful that — by all accounts we’ve heard so far — our family members and friends in Gulfport and Biloxi and McHenry (a bit further north) are safe. One had a tree damage part of his roof, but it could have been so much worse. A friend left his apartment with a backpack and his cat, and he came home to … no home at all. It seems unreal to think about the damage to places we’ve known for years.

I will breathe easier when I know everyone in our family is safe and accounted for. Some of their homes are just six miles from the beach. But as far as we know, they have all survived.

I hope the same is true for all of your family members, too. If you are online surfing for news today, the best local coverage seems to coming from the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s biggest newspaper, the Biloxi SunHerald. The photos and stories will absolutely break your heart.

My in-laws, sister-in-law, a niece and a nephew who were storm refugees this weekend are on their way back down to see how bad the damage was. I just hope they can get through safely. If you’re reading this, please add them and other residents of the Gulf Coast to your prayers today.

Technorati Tags: Gulf Coast, Hurricane Katrina, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

I ran by my LYS today to pick up the baby alpaca yarn I’d ordered for my very first shawl. It came in a light greenish-gray instead of the charcoal we had anticipated (shipper error) so I opted for another color she had in shop. Two skeins of Misti Alpaca laceweight yarn in a plummy wine color, and I’m good to go. OH it is so soft! I may never knit with anything else again.

I also picked up two skeins of hot pink Regia sock yarn in a wool/polyamide blend for my 6 Sox-Along project (finally), since I can’t find my two skeins of red (lurking somewhere in this house).

And also got another ball of Idena’s Mega ladder yarn; since I modified the width of the simple stole I was knitting, it came out a bit shorter than I wanted. I’m going to try to finish *that* one to wear out tomorrow for a dinner date with hubby.

Photos and decadent yarn fondling later — the dinner bell just rang at my house. ;o)

- Carolyn B.

Technorati Tags: Idena Mega, Misti Alpaca,  Regia sock yarn, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

Knitting? What knitting? All I’ve done since returning from my business trip to San Antonio is:

• Ignore my laundry pile. It’s growing faster than even my 7-year-old, too.
• Turn a blind eye toward housework (my house proves the chaos theory).
• Get the kids’ last-minute school supplies.
• Work. And work. And work. Lots of catching up since we were out of the office for most of a week.
• Sleep. Lots of early bedtimes for me recently. I can’t figure this out. Maybe it’s part of the periomenopause that has me testing the outer limits of my antiperspirant’s capabilities. (Works for the ol’ pits. But it’s my HEAD and NECK that are sweating the most — and you can’t exactly glide Secret over your hairdo, can you?)
• Repeat the previous steps.
• Oh, and frog my shawl. Twice.

The shawl was just too darned narrow or too long. Or both. It ended up looking like a scarf, even when I stretched it out (it’s very netty and stretchy). So I frogged it and tried again, this time casting on 80 instead of 40. Big mistake. Emphasis on BIG. It would have probably hit the back of my knees if I had finished it like that. (The extra weight of the yarn made it stretch even more when I examined several rows of progress.) So … back to the frog pond. Now I’m knitting around 57 stitches (intended 60, but what the hey). This — like the baby bear’s porridge — seems to be just right. So I’m thinking of calling this my Baby Bear Shawl, to the mystification of all.

I’m *dying* to get started on my 6-Sox-Knitalong project, too. But I’m discouraged because I will have to upsize the pattern to fit my fat, er, I mean, CURVY calves. I’m planning on doing the fancy calculating while I’m on vacation next week. (A week of housework, weeding, and knitting. Ah, knitting. Some bright spots in my fall cleaning project, at least!) And while I’m at it, I will try to find the darned two skeins of red sock yarn I bought last year and promptly misplaced. Hmmph. I think my house needs a good spraying for gremlins.

Technorati Tags: shawl knitting, sock knitting, procrastination, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm