I love toile.  I think it was the first "name" for a fabric that I learned when I was little. And then I learned a little bit more about toile and how it can be manipulated.

But I never thought I'd see toile come into the CAS room!

These are just a sample of the lovely ditty bags we received from St. Ann's in Lyme, CT.  Carole is the master coordinator at St. Ann's and when we published the ditty bag pattern, she quickly introduced it to her group.  Last week, we met up in Connecticut at the CT ECW annual meeting, and she loaded 175 (!) of these goodies into my car!  Yes. 175!  And a good number of them were toile.  Lucky seafarers!

We also got a box full of goodies from Nikki in San Jose, CA.

I love how Nikki incorporates purple into her set.  Sometimes pinks and purples are hard to know what to do with.  Seafarers come from all over the world, and different cultures react to colors in different ways, so I never want to say "no" when I get questions about using purples, pinks, and light yellows, but I also want the seafarers to LOVE the handknits they get.  I think Nikki does it just right here--just a touch of purple, to liven up the black.  Nicely done Nikki!

 

it never fails. . .

(thank you, Blue's Clues, for that song that runs through my head whenever the mailman comes to visit)

And today we got:

A bunch of seafarer scarves from Susan S. in New Jersey.  Susan and her husband actually brought them by in person since they live close by.  I LOVE how Susan added stripes to the seafarer scarves.  They look so. . .perfect! 

We also got a bunch of knits and ditty bags from the Needle Night ladies at Fanwood Presbyterian Church in Scotch Plains/Fanwood, NJ.  These ladies knit, crochet and sew the first Friday of every month from 7-9pm.  What a great group (I've had the pleasure of visiting several times). 

Here are some lovely ditty bags! This group has churned out nearly 100 bags for CAS!

Did you know that running has its own lingo?  Just like knititng (k2tog, ssk, WIP, FO, etc.), there's a bunch of terminology that belongs to running.  DNS is one of the sadder acronyms; it stands for Did Not Start.  It could be worse, it could be DNF (Did Not Finish).

To make a long story short, after 9 weeks of training, my heel started to hurt.  My last run on April 7, (sort of an informal DNF) was my attempt at 12 miles.  I hobbled home after 4.  I made haste to my GP and an orthopedist, but wasn't correctly diagnosed (by my podiatrist) until April 25 with a calcaneus (heel) stress fracture. 

Honestly, I've never really been sidelined by an injury, and this is a little disappointing.  But I've got nothing if not perspective.  I'm healthy. This is not a life-threatening injury. My heel will heal, and I am signed up for and plan on participating in both the Old Port Half Marathon in July (which I may downgrade to a 5k depending on my follow up visit with my doctor on May 30) and the Providence, RI Rock 'N Roll half marathon in August.

So for those of you who were cheering me on, thank you! and you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be lacing up and out there again soon!

 

says Pat C. from NY.

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]

Yes, Pat, I do, especially when they're knit as beautifully as this vest.  Thank you so much!

In other stripey news:

[[posterous-content:pid___1]]The lovely seafarer scarves are courtesy of Knit1Bead2, one of our SCI knitspots in Jerome, AZ.  Thank you Erica!  The black scarf & hat set are from Debbie L in Manti, UT!  I love how the royal blue and white stand out on the black.  Thank you Debbie!

Here's a shot of some sets that don't match, but definitely "go." 

[[posterous-content:pid___2]]I'm not really a matchy-matchy type of girl; I love putting together our orphan hats and scarves in complimentary colors, but this knitter already did that for me!  And they look great.  So if you don't have enough yarn for a complete match set, don't worry about mixing it up a bit--the colors may be crazy but the scarf and hat are still as warm!

Lastly, Lucy in NY called about a week ago stating that she had some handknit sweaters that she had made for her husband who loved the sea, and she would like to donate them.  I'll have to admit, I was curious, and so of course I offered to take them and use them for Christmas at Sea.  Here's a peek at one of them:

[[posterous-content:pid___3]]Oh, and don't you just love the buttons!  Silver ship buttons--so fitting for the sweater's new life with a seafarer!  Thank you Lucy!

 

 

 

says Pat C. from NY.

Yes, Pat, I do, especially when they're knit as beautifully as this vest.  Thank you so much!

In other stripey news:

The lovely seafarer scarves are courtesy of Knit1Bead2, one of our SCI knitspots in Jerome, AZ.  Thank you Erica!  The black scarf & hat set are from Debbie L in Manti, UT!  I love how the royal blue and white stand out on the black.  Thank you Debbie!

Here's a shot of some sets that don't match, but definitely "go." 

I'm not really a matchy-matchy type of girl; I love putting together our orphan hats and scarves in complimentary colors, but this knitter already did that for me!  And they look great.  So if you don't have enough yarn for a complete match set, don't worry about mixing it up a bit--the colors may be crazy but the scarf and hat are still as warm!

Lastly, Lucy in NY called about a week ago stating that she had some handknit sweaters that she had made for her husband who loved the sea, and she would like to donate them.  I'll have to admit, I was curious, and so of course I offered to take them and use them for Christmas at Sea.  Here's a peek at one of them:

Oh, and don't you just love the buttons!  Silver ship buttons--so fitting for the sweater's new life with a seafarer!  Thank you Lucy!

 

 

 

Yesterday was a boiler here in Port Newark; I think it hit nearly 90F!  But hot weather is never a deterent for knitters.

This box of 30 seafarer hats made its way from Phyllis H in Fairfield, VA.  You all know me by now--I HEART STRIPES!  Phyllis certainly made great use of all her leftover yarn! Thank you Phyllis!

This box of beanies is compliments of St. Andrew's, here in Scotch Plains, NJ.  The St. Andrew's knitters are certainly prolific, and every few weeks I walk into my office and there's yet another box or bag of hats and scarves for Christmas at Sea!  Thank you knitters of St. Andrew's! What I love about these stripes is how the knitters use variegated yarns (see the black/gray number on the bottom).  So clever!

 

 

Well, I was not as prolific a knitter this Lent as I was last year.  Here's my final tally:

Yep, 1 pair of socks.  And these were promised to Oliver, so they're not even going out to sea!  But I am resolved to make more of these (and I've got enough left over that I think I can squeak out another pair), so no worries seafarers--you will have socks this Christmas!

 

with tons of beautiful knits.  Let's face it: the port can be a grimy, filthy place, but on days full of sunshine and lovely handknits, there's nowhere else I'd rather be.

These lovlies came in from Genevie S. in Massachusetts.  She always secures her hats to her scarves, and adds some lovely complimentary colors in both.  Thank you Genevie!

While my "knit for Lent" has definitely been self-centered this year, others have been more than generous--the pile of boxes continues to grow here!

Today I tackled some of them, and was impressed with the number of beautifully crocheted hats and scarves.

These lovely scrappy scarves come from Eleanor in Norwood, NJ.  I love the color combos!

Mary Therese in Michigan sent in 19 crocheted beauties--and efficiently combined colors so that it looks like she had no leftovers.  Nice job, Mary Therese!

Fellow Michiganer Barbara had written a few weeks ago regarding ear warmers--and she sent along this sample.  I've been toying with the idea of adding cowls and ear warmers to our list of patterns--and this one would certainly fit the bill.  Thank you Barbara!

And to be filed under "puns to good to resist," Margaret from HATboro, PA sent along these beautiful seafarer watch caps.  So beautifully knit!

Lastly, Trinity Church Wall St (NYC) has been a long time supporter of SCI and Christmas at Sea.  The church's knitting group knits for several charities, but lucky for me, we're the only one that asks for socks--and boy one of the Trinity Church knitters is a FANTASTIC sock knitter.  I envy the seafarer that gets those socks!

I hope everyone else's Lenten knitting has been going well.  Keep churning out those handknit!

Sometimes I just can't helped but be amazed by how small things, little things, seemingly trivial things have such a huge impact on other people's lives. 

I hear from Christmas at Sea knitters all year long--how much they love the program (either because of their love of knitting, or to honor a family member), and once a year (January), we hear back from the seafarers and mariners with their thank-yous.

But every once in a while, I'm caught off-guard.  Recently one of our river chaplains, Rev. Kempton Baldridge, had the opportunity to speak with Jeff Williams, a chief engineer on the MV Tennessee.  They discussed his work, the physical labor, and some of the difficulties entrenched in tow barge work--the danger, being away from family, etc. 

But then Jeff spoke briefly, but in the most heartfelt way, about the Christmas gifts he's received from SCI over the years.  And he's been kind enough to agree to let me share that with all of you. 

I tell you, this makes every single dropped stitch worth the effort.