Knitting is for the Birds

You've heard about oil spills. And you've heard about the devastating effects that an oil spill can have on wildlife in the area. Which means that you may have also heard about the campaign(s) for hand knitted sweaters for penguins in Australia and New Zealand. As well as the excessive abundance of those adorable little sweaters that now used to dress up plushy penguin toys.

I missed that - must have been working on some mittens for afghans for Afghans. But this time, I'm not missing out:

Wildcare in San Rafael is asking for handcrafted "nests" (think round, dopey hats) for orphaned baby birds. Yup, baby bird season is in full-swing right now, and somebody has to keep those newborns snug and warm until they are old enough, and feathery enough, to go back into the wild.

Wildcare is asking for 1200 woolen nests, and, as of today, has already received close to 400. I have six almost ready to be mailed off. They are really fast to knit but it's that "almost" that I'm working on this week. Because this time, my dopey hats really are going to the birds.

Instructions for making nests yourself can be found here.

And my stack of nest-hats can be found here.

Updates: #2

In the thangka room

Some people have all the luck. Our Brazilian friends Marilia and Marco get to hang out at the lovely Ratna Ling Retreat Center. Yeah, yeah, they are on a work-study assignment so they do have to put in some time on the job, but when we went to visit them, it just seemed completely restful and idyllic.

Fun, but hardly idyllic, was the afternoon I spent in the AFSC basement, helping afghans for Afghans prepare those lovely handmade items for shipping to Afghanistan. For a laugh, I even modeled a few of the garments (while disguised behind a borrowed pair of pink glasses). The scarf is mine, though. Thank you Michele!

Annelise practicing the hula
at the Discovery Museum

Once again, we "discovered and went". This time our library cards took us and some favorite friends to the Bay Area Discovery Museum (all for free).

Be aware that a few institutions which were participating in the Discover and Go program in Oakland and Berkeley are no longer on the list - most notably the Academy of Sciences. Nonetheless, there still are loads of wonderful places to visit (for free!).


Two members of Pauline Autet's fun little ceramic project have a new home. On my front porch. They also got a small redesign, and a stronger hanging system, but can go back to their original forms any time. And if someone tries to take them, I too hope that s/he leaves a note. (And an address, so that I can hunt 'em down...)

Peas and carrots. Carrots and peas. Yes, lucky us, we have peas once again. We had carrots, but they were early, and the peas are late, so they never got properly introduced. I am (slowly, very slowly) learning that carrots are probably not the wisest thing to grow in a tiny urban backyard. But I find them to be the absolutely most fun vegetable to harvest. Just that perfect measure of resistance against your steady tug. And if you grew up, as I did, with The Carrot Seed record, then you may just understand.

Updates: #1

Some days it seems that nothing is ever going to be different or finished or at least picked up and dusted.  But looking back, occasionally there is positive motion (I refuse to call it "progress"). For example:

The Zucchini Sex Goddess has had remarkable success this summer.  If only "she" could wave her cotton swab and make the tomatoes ripen as well.

Michael Reardon has a number of pieces in a group show at the Thomas Reynolds Gallery in San Francisco (one painting already sold!).

Kathy Kenny will again be at the Oakland Art Murmur on August 3rd.  She sold seven of her lovely handmade jewelry pieces last month.

Two large bags of corks stopped being passengers with me - they had enough driving time completed that they were eligible to take their driving test(s) - and filled up the bin at BevMo last week.

Photo by Ann Rubin

The deadline for sending handmade woolen goods to afghans for Afghans has almost arrived (August 15th), and the response has been wonderful. On Tuesday afternoon I helped pack up nine hundred hats to arrive in time to keep school children warm this winter in Afghanistan.

Peter Nicks, the director of The Waiting Room was interviewed on the PBS NewsHour on July 18th.  We saw the film at the Temescal Street Theater in June.  Hats off to the Street Theater organizers!  Actually, it was so cold that night that you would have kept your hat on (or wished you had borrowed one from afghans for Afghans) and wondered why you didn't bring your gloves and scarf, too.  For information on future screenings of The Waiting Room near you, click here.

And lastly, Princess is back in the pink!

Just in Time...for Winter?

Afghans for Afghans, (you knit or crochet it, they send it to keep Afghani families warm) has just announced a new campaign for hand knit wool socks, mittens and hats. Deadline is sometime in July.  Details here.

Please pass this along to someone who loves to knit, but doesn't want to be smothered under a large, itchy project during the hot summer. (Right. Have you taken the flannel sheets off your bed yet?)

Photo by M. Reardon

And if you do donate a project (or two), most likely I will get to ooh and aah over it, since I sometimes volunteer as a packing helper in the AFSC basement in SF. Not the best neighborhood, but the company is fun.