I'm trying not to panic

David and I have been busy communicating with the Family Resource representative at Fort Lewis. Since we first contacted them we have received numerous requests for stockings.

The requests are coming from and/or on behalf of the smaller units. We were told that the smaller units (some as small as 5 in the med corps.) are the units that are overlooked and don't receive anything over the holidays.

The requests coming from the commanding officers are so kind. It's their soldiers they care about. One officer has six medical units out in the field and he wanted to know if we could include these brave soldiers. Of course, we said yes.

I have received two requests from wives asking if we could put their husbands' unit on our list. Of course, we said yes.

One of our knitters has a nephew in Iraq, and of course, he is on our list.

In other words, we don't say no. We especially don't say no to the units that probably won't be included on another list.

Because we aren't saying no, we are now up to 850 soldiers to send stockings too.

I'm trying not to panic. I know for a fact a lot of stockings are coming in. I also know that knitters, crocheters, seamstresses, and anyone decorating stockings are coming through for these soldiers. They will not let them down.

I also know that the goodies for the stockings are coming, and we will be able to collect enough cash for the postage. So far we have $300.00, and the usual cost is around $1,000.00.

For all of you who pray, ... PRAY. Pray we can again make our goal so these soldiers know we care, and so the soldiers will have something from home for their holidays.

I am a very fortunate woman. Through this Operation Holiday Stockings I have gotten to know so many wonderful, warm, and giving people. Many of these dear people I have never met personally, only "electronically." I have seen the power of women to get a job done, a job done based solely on love.

If you need my mailing address please email me at ramsddjATaolDOTcom.

This coming Friday, Deb and Sandra have a stocking stuffing party planned at work. These two are tireless with this project, and have been since the very beginning. Thanks Deb and Sandra, you are gems, and I am so grateful for your support and hard work.

Well, off to update the Yahoo groups, and to send out emails to interested parties.

TTFN

Sue

Yarn, Yarn and More Yarn

Last week I picked up a donation of yarn for Operation Holiday Stockings. Kona Bay Knitting in Seattle sent us over 100 skeins of yarn of all types and colors. In looking over their website, it looks like they sent packages of all of their yarns. A big Thank You Kona Bay.

I've already knit some stockings with the Cuddly yarn. It looks like I will be able to get four stockings per skein.
They came out really nice. They are a little smaller because the yarn is a light worsted weight, but I liked knitting with the yarn. I used size 7 needles.

Elaine, our crocheter extraordinaire, is in need of yarn. Elaine, here you go.

I think this will keep your crochet hook busy for a while. Let me know if you need more.

Many kind people have donated yarn in the last few years. We were beginning to run low so the new donation from Kona Bay will help out a lot.

I heard from the Family Coordinator at Fort Lewis today and we have two units in Iraq to which we will send stockings. This brings our current total of soldiers up to 675.

The next two weeks are going to be busy. We have 164 stockings on the dining room table, with at least 100 more coming in this week. We have collected $270 in postage donations, and lots of stocking stuffers.

According to the post office we need to have all of the boxes in the mail by December 5th.

Well, back to the knitting needles.

TTFN

Sue

Update on Edgar's Acres

David and I headed over to Edgar's Acres yesterday to check out the new house. This is exciting. A house that will be nice and warm this winter. There is still a lot of work to do, but we are on our way. There is a huge dirt berm surrounding the house until it is pushed back in place.This is the back of the house. Edgar approves.

This is the best shot of the front I could get. The pile of dirt is HUGE!

We even have our own porta potty during the construction project.

This is another shot of the front.

This is the shot in the back showing one of the bedrooms, door to the laundry room, and the family room.

This is the family room.

The other side of the family room and our master bedroom.

While we were there we picked the remainder of the kidney beans and dug up the rest of the russett potatoes. There were even some more green tomatoes to be picked. The beans have been shelled and are drying. The potatoes and beans will get cleaned. The tomatoes will go into the brown paper sacks to ripen, and the potatoes will go on the pool table to cure.

Well, I've got socks to knit.

TTFN

Sue

WOW!!!!

This is what our dining room table looked like after I got home from the Eastside Knitting Guild meeting on Monday. Bags and bags of stockings and goodies for stuffing the stockings.

The first thing we had to do was stretch out the table to hold the stockings that are going to be coming in.

Then I started going through the bags and finding these lovely stockings ...

made with love and prayer for the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Each stocking has it's own personality, a little story of support.

These stockings come with good cheer and a holiday wish from those of us here at home.

I could feel the love as I was opening up each bag, love for a soldier away from their family over the holidays.

I love knitters. I love the fact that they are so giving. Crocheters and seamstresses are the same way. They love to give of their time and talents.

We've got a good start. Right now we have 163 stockings waiting to be filled up with goodies and sent on their way to a war zone.

We've got a way to go. We need more to fill up this table.

In the others sacks were candy canes, gum, shampoo and lotion samples from hotels, hotel soaps, games, puzzles, drinks, candy, and other personal care items. We also got a lot of dental care items. Our soldiers are going to have very clean teeth!

I know this looks disorganized, but it's not. Each box contains a type of item, and they are stacked on the hearth to keep them out of the way of Edgar and his buddies.

In my next posting I will share the yarn story for OHS 2008.

We may have a sinking economy, but we have a real abundance of love going around right now.

TTFN

Sue

I'm Overwhelmed!

I went to the monthly Eastside Knitting Guild meeting this evening. Claudia Davidson, from A New Yarn, was our guest speaker. We were all invited to bring in yarn to donate for the shop. Knitters are kind and generous folk.

We had to load all of the yarn into a shopping cart for Claudia.

It was time for a group photo, a photo shot of very generous souls.

Then I was told there were stockings and items to stuff into the stockings for me to take home tonight. It filled up the trunk of my car.

The love on my dining room table is overwhelming. I was speechless when I saw all of this. I'll sort through it all tomorrow and will post pictures so you all can see what we have. Amazing.

David went down to the Family Services Center at Fort Lewis, and it looks like there about 3000 soldiers that need to receive our stockings this year. We've done a brigade before, so I think we can reach this goal. Well?????

On his way to Fort Lewis today, David saw our house on the freeway. He was heading south on I-5, and heading north on I-5 was three pieces of a new house. What are the odds of that happening. The house left Stayton, Oregon at 2:30 a.m., and arrived at Edgar's Acres around 3:00 p.m. Leslie sent pictures.

Pretty cool, huh?

Today has been a nice day. Now to go to bed and think about the love and generosity of knitters, and on having good neighbors.

TTFN

Sue

We're Making Progress

Stockings and stocking stuffers are staring to come in.

Our dentist, Jeff Johnson made a donation again this year and sent over toothbrushes, toothpast, and dental floss. Need to make sure our troops take good care of those teeth.

Cynthia, the owner of Lake Union Hair Salon, donated shampoos, body lotions and body soap. These will be a real treat for the soldiers.

Bonnie in Sequim sent in some stockings she got at the after Christmas sales last year.

Ginny in Wisconsin sent in these, which we will be able to use for the family party at Fort Lewis for the families of the troops of the Striker Brigade in Iraq.

We got some more for the family party from Maryanne in Wisconsin. Thank you ladies. Did you ladies leave any stockings left at Walmart? These are great.

We've got knitters, crocheters, and seamstresses working on stockings, and some youth groups are busy decorating stockings.

All of you are so wonderful, and you will be blessed for caring about these soldiers.

A few months ago I referred to a "big" project that David and I were doing. Well, here is a progress report.


When we bought Edgar's Acres five years ago, we bought it knowing that this little house would have to be replaced. It was a old manufactured home, very small, with NO INSULATION. It's been a wonderful little house that has provided us with lots of warm memories of gatherings with family and friends. This has been the little house where we ladies have had our knitting retreats.

Last winter it was evident that this little house was bearly surviving the harsh weather, and we had to finalize our plans for a new house. Last month David and I moved everything out and said good bye to the little house. We thanked it for sheltering us from the elements, and for providing us with loving care.

It has been removed and has moved on to provide another family with shelter for a while. In the meantime, we are in the middle of moving the new home in.

First the porch and sun room had to be removed and all of the debris hauled away. The "pit" had to be excavated to make room for the slab foundation.

The form had to be built and readied for the concrete to be poured.

The slab has been done for five days now and is set and ready for the house.

The house is coming in tomorrow, but we won't get to see it until this coming weekend when we go over to check out the garden.

Meanwhile, I'm still knitting hats and socks. I've knit five more hats and three more stockings for OHS 2008. I also got Ann's fingerless gloves done and she loves them.

No more cold hands for Anne.

This week I'm finishing up the sweater for Eva Rose. I got expert advice from four expert knitters and now know how to fix the sleeves so they will be long enough for the sweater. I'll make a full report later.

TTFN

Sue

Travel Knitting

I made the comment a couple of weeks ago to someone that I hadn't spent an entire weekend at home since the middle of July. After David and I got back from our vacation back East, we started on the Big Project. We have been going back and forth between our house "in the city" to Edgar's Acres. We are replacing the house at Edgar's Acres and have had a lot of prep work to get done on weekends.

The trip each way is about 2-3 hours, depending on how long we have to wait for the ferry. So what does one do when one is the passenger on these forays? Well, if one is a knitter, one knits. Because this one is also a navigator, backseat driver, conversationalist, and listener, this one has to have knitting that is easy to do and easy to get interrupted and started up again. This is travel knitting.

I've been knitting stockings for OHS 2008, hats for Madrona, hats for Friends of Francois, and now fingerless mittens for me, and other cold-handed people I know.

I’ve knit 13 stockings so far for OHS 2008. Eight of these stockings are from Red Heart® Fiesta® Yarn,
which has 316 yards per skein (green stockings). I got this yarn at A New Yarn for $2.50. This works out to about 40 yards to stocking. Not a bad investment at all. The other stockings are made from left over yarn from other projects.

I’ve have finished 8 hats, 3 for Friends of Francois, and 5 for Madrona. I’ve been digging through the stash for the left over skeins from other projects, and using some yarn donated by Coats & Clark to Madrona.

The blue hats done in the 2x2 rib is a pattern Susan came up with and I love it. The 2x2 rib makes a great hat and you can just knit, knit, and knit.

The fingerless mittens are from the latest issue of Creative Knitting Magazine and is done with a 2x2 rib variation, with the knit stitches being done in a mock cable. I made a pair for me to see how the pattern works, and was extremely proud of myself. I am now knitting up a pair for Anne, our barista at Ellen's Coffee, because her hands get really, really cold this time of year.

Well, Johny, our baby bichon, is telling me he wants attention, and Louie is in my lap with his head on my wrist, so I guess I'll sign off.

TTFN

Sue