A very worthy cause

I learned about a wonderful project last week - the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games Scarf Project. The goal is to give a scarf to each athlete participating in the winter games, which will be held in Boise, Idaho in February 2009, so they need at least 5,000 scarves. I heard about the project on Ravelry, the fabulous online knitting/crochet community to which I belong, and it is being enthusiastically discussed on many of the special interest boards.

The requirements are very basic: knit or crochet a scarf using two specific colors of a specific yarn. The yarn is an inexpensive acrylic brand and while I would not normally use that type of yarn, I understand why it is being specified: they want an economical and easy care scarf. Any pattern can be used, so I imagine this wonderful array of blue and white scarves in a multitude of configurations!

I was a volunteer at the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Chapel Hill, NC. It was an awesome experience that I treasure, so I am very excited about making another small contribution to this wonderful event.

One of my most cherished memories of those games was riding one of the buses around the UNC-CH campus after working my venue. The bus was filled with athletes and coaches, in addition to a few fellow volunteers. One of the coaches suddenly said something like “Athletes and coaches, there are volunteers on this bus and they make everything possible. Let’s show them our appreciation.” They started clapping and cheering, patting us on the back and hugging us…I still get verklempt thinking about it!

My goal is to contribute at least two scarves to this very worthy cause. So as soon as I finish the lacy scarf that I am making as part of Ravelympics, I will cast on a Special Olympics scarf.

New front door

The home improvement projects at our house just keep on happening!

We had money left over from our Disney World trip (believe it or not) and we decided to use it for a project we have wanted to take on since we moved into this house nearly three years ago: a new front door. The existing door was ugly, had gaps all around it, was in bad condition and afforded no privacy. That last point particularly bothered me; I felt as though anytime I walked through the hallway at night, I was on display. If I did not want to answer the door, there was hardly any way I could avoid doing so without the person at the door knowing that I was ignoring them.

So we bought a new door and painted it a rich red that is slightly reminiscent of one of my favorite stores, and we also had enough to buy a good quality storm door. Two weekends ago, we started the installation process.

Note: In this case, and in any home improvement project, the pronoun "we" is really more of a royal we, since James really does 95% of the work. I only fetch tools, hold things in place, sweep up and ooh and ahh.

It is safe to say that James never wants to replace a door again! It was not a simple case of hanging a new door on the old hinges; he/we wanted to do the job right and replace the entire door unit, which meant cutting the old frame out of the house structure and installing the new one. What a task! What a mess! There was much swearing and sweating, but James finally got it done. Even though the project was not yet finished, it was already a 100% improvement.

Last weekend he finished the job. He installed the storm door, and finished cleaning/painting/installing the around the door trim. Every time I walk down the hall or the stairs, I admire the new front door and enjoy the privary it provides.

Good job, James!

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