Uncle!

O.K., O.K., I can't watch one more Katrina onslaught. My Jewish guilt has kicked in in full force! I gave, I added a Red Cross button to my blog, what more???

Yes, sitting through all of the footage of the Katrina carnage was reminiscent of watching Schindler's List -- not that I'm making a Holocaust comparison. My point is, that after sitting through that endless movie of one horrific image after another, many people left the theater with an eased conscience, thinking that they had actually done something proactive -- that seeing a movie somehow counted as activism. So, while I watched all of the Katrina images, and I handed over my VISA to UJC for relief aid, I still hadn't felt like I had done anything more than handing over the cost of the ticket.

So, heightened sense of social responsibility in hand, I surfed around the web, and stumbled on a completely different way to give to a completely different cause -- the Helmetliner project. And it came to me that, one human being trying to do one small thing to make another human being who happens to be living under extraordinary conditions a little bit more comfortable seemed like the right thing to do, whether it be in Louisiana, Mississippi, or overseas.

So, here is my first completed helmetliner -- which, while on needles, looked much like a sock monkey:



And the yarn? Before my blogging days, I bought a boxful of Bimiji (sp?) to make the Green Mountain Spinnery Cabled Creation in the Best of Vogue that came out a couple of years ago. I finished the back, exhausted, and put it away for awhile. When I took it out - moths!!! Holes! Eggs! Uch! I was strong, brave, no tears. The whole thing went in the garbage. I had stored the rest of the yarn in a safe place, and thought about starting the project again. I didn't have the heart. So, I'm glad that the leftovers of that disaster are going to a good cause. I think I have enough yarn for about five hats.

Knitting the thing was kind of a fun - and it is a THING. Nothing pretty about it. I've never knit anything so ugly, but functional. Anyway, you cast on on 6's, and knit the ribbed neck. Then, you leave half the neck on the 6's, and start knitting the cap on 8's, in the round. When the cap part is completed, you pick up the ribbed band around the face, and finish it off.

But, don't think in my moment of selfless knitting, I forgot about my future nephew:



We have the beginnings of a hood - and, unless I can find another ball of Zara, that may be all that we ever have. Yes, sigh, I ran out of yarn at 13 cm (about 10 more cm's above what's in the picture), when I need 19 cm. So, instead of a hoodie, this may end up a cardigan with a lovely seed stitch collar! Baby Blue Zara anyone?