LoopyKnits

Our family members head home tomorrow. They should be able to get back to their houses safely, as they live about a 45-minute drive north of Gulfport. They know that their homes survived with minimal wind damage, although they lost many trees. But it’s been a traumatic experience. One family member rode out about 8 hours of terrifying winds alone in a metal building on his property. He said it sounded like a 747 was parked next door with engines roaring the whole time. His hours the day after were spent checking on neighbors, cutting up fallen trees with his chainsaw, and wondering if this was the end of things.

Churches where friends were married are gone. The apartment where my husband once lived is gone. Landmarks … gone.

There are so many people who died on the Gulf Coast in the hurricane (mostly from the rapid flooding) that — as far as I know — officials there are still concentrating their efforts for now on rescuing the living before they continue removing the dead. There are places where bodies are still floating in the water until the overwhelmed emergency workers can remove them; I know, one family member saw them Wednesday.

Whoever deemed this “our tsunami” was right indeed.

Our relatives are heading home with some of the things they’ll need to get through the weeks until power is restored — gasoline generators. Charcoal briquets. Jugs of water. Large gasoline cans that they’ll fill up where they can. Giant packages of toilet paper. The foods they like that will keep without refrigeration. Coolers full of ice for their perishables. They’ll have full tanks of gas and be in secure, sturdy vehicles. And we’ll be running down 1-2 times a month to take them and other family members some of the more difficult-to-obtain items as they run out. They’re already weary as they face the long months of cleanup efforts ahead. But they are alive, and the quiet celebration we’re all feeling in our hearts over that fact still buoys us.

Tomorrow, I return to my frumpy house (love you, house — you just need a better housekeeper than I’ll ever be), my usual family life (for which I’m more grateful than ever to still have), and yes, even my knitting (which challenges and comforts me). And I’ll do so with gratitude, hope, and prayers for those who can’t do the same quite yet.

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

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

A few signs that the day will be “interesting” if you’re not more careful:

• When you look down to see that your deodorant is sitting beside you on the bed and you are reaching toward your armpit with your undereye coverup stick.
• When you wonder briefly what deodorant would do for bags under the eyes. (Probably way more than the coverup stick would do for the ol’ pits.)
• When you can smell what the dog did downstairs before you actually *get* downstairs. (Why does he always develop digestive ailments when his owner, my oldest girl, has gone to her daddy’s house for the weekend?)
• Why does my mom (who lives with us) always walk through his digestive ailments before I find and remove the evidence of said ailments?

The culprit. (This is a guilty look, wouldn’t you say?)

Technorati Tags: guilty dog, interesting day, morning mishaps, Banjo, Ginny, mom, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

The good news in my current small project on the needles is that I’ve discovered (woo-hoo!) that it is indeed possible to knit cables while using circulars. It’s *exactly* like doing it on straight needles, which makes perfect sense now that I think about it. The only things I’ve had to change on the Beehive Hat pattern are:

• Eliminate the two stitches at the beginning and end of each row that are not part of the cable pattern (they were for the seam, I guess)
• Instead of working even-numbered rows in purl, I work every row in knit since I’m on circulars.

Just so I don’t screw things up since I’m making changes to the original pattern, I made a list of each row and what to do on it in an Excel spreadsheet and am highlighting my progress. I had to do something, since the instructions told me what to do on rows 1 and 5, then all even rows up to 8, then special instructions for rows 3 and 7. Then repeat. (Oh, no, there was just no getting there from here without a map. If I’m driving and the directions to a new place involve more than two turns, I have to make a list.)

My obsessive-compulsive drive to get organized is thwarted on a daily basis (usually by my own blunders), but I made a valiant effort with this pattern.

I’ve also figured out a way to keep my row counter with me on my circulars without creating a too-wide space between stitches. I made a marker out of a piece of scrap yarn in a darker color (just a piece of yarn tied in a circle) and tied the row counter onto the end of the yarn. Darn, aren’t I smart. (Bet a 100 of you have thought of that before. But it was a fresh idea to me!)

*pause*

I have stopped blogging momentarily to listen to my younger daughter play a song on her pink Barbie-brand guitar from Wal-Mart.

It was “Jingle Bells,” here in June. She played the same note for each word in the song, although she did change her voice to conform to the actual song. (This is just like the “I’m Focusing On My Life” song she wrote earlier this year, which she always ends by showing her choreography, complete with handclaps and leg movements.) Sometimes it’s hard to be a mom without laughing so hard you pee on yourself a little.

In blogging news, I’ve brought another person into the fold, in my own Borg-like fashion. (Michelle, you will be assimilated.) I suggested to a pregnant friend that she start a baby blog for her soon-to-be-here bouncing baby boy. We started out with basic blogging tools but before we finished, she had signed up for a domain name, gotten website hosting, joined Blogger.com and also downloaded the Picasa2 and Hello software. And I’ve passed along the links to dotPhoto.com for her photo hosting and pointed her to the FTP freeware I use, FreshFTP. Welcome to blogging and website fun, gal-pal! (Note to readers: That “Michelle” website link may not be active for a few days as she plays with templates and such. Or longer, if bouncing-baby-boy arrives sooner than expected.)

Technorati Tags: Beehive Hat, cable knitting on circulars, children’s music, Caitlyn, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

Well, my hubby is a bit dispirited because he went for a sleep study (at my nagging for his scary snoring), found he has sleep apnea, and he has to use a CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) mask. It came in the mail yesterday — two boxes of instructions, a pump to move the air, the mask, and related supplies. The mask is very comical, if I can put aside for the moment my sympathies for how much my husband dislikes this whole concept. Every time I peek through the box of supplies and see the mask/strap thing that holds the nasal mask in place, it makes me think of Hannibal Lecter.

Hubby was tolerant but *not* very amused when I asked him to say, “Chianti … and fava beans.”

Not my husband.

I’m thinking that he would *not* be thrilled if I offered to knit him a softer, cuter set of straps to hold the little nasal mask in place. Hmm.

Technorati Tags: sleep apnea, snoring, CPAP, Hannibal Lecter, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm