Mossy Cottage Knits

Kleenex, Please!

On this day, Veteran’s Day, I always think about my father, Vincent, a World War II veteran. He served in the Navy as a deep-sea diver and a demolitions expert who blew up sunken boats. Somewhere we have a haunting photograph of him in his diving suit, bell helmet, air hoses and all, heading down into the water. I was never able to reconcile that image, and the thought of my father setting off hundreds of pounds of explosives under water (and getting trapped under falling steel, which did happen one time) with the mild-mannered, white-haired-even-at-a-young-age, movie-star-handsome family man sitting across the table from me whupping my ass at cribbage. Here’s to you, Dad. Wherever you are, may you be enjoying a large, frosty glass of beer and a 29-point cribbage hand, and may they be playing a good version of “Danny Boy” over the intercom.

Okay, well, writing that upset me. Let’s move on to something more cheerful like, oh, Dulaan, shall we?

To wrap up the retreat weekend, here were the Dulaan activities:

LindaK put together a fantasy knitting package using a Dulaan tote bag, some jewel-toned roving, six skeins of a wonderful burgundy yarn, some WoolWash, a Gary Larson sheep-themed mug, and some packages of peach cobbler mix. We raffled off the package at the retreat, adding a good $135 to the Dulaan coffers! That money will be combined with the profits from CafePress and donations to the Dulaan Coin Can and sent to F.I.R.E. Thank you so much for, literally, investing so much in this project, Linda!

In the meantime, back at the ranch, the housemates were busy churning out knitted items for Dulaan. As I mentioned before, two housemates, Natasha and Terri, made Cloud Hats. Flora contributed these:

(She also knit an earflap hat which I forgot to include in the photo.)

And Nina (pronounced Nye-na), she of the much-abused snowman, started and finished this Dulaan fleece blanket:

But wait, there’s more.

After I got home, emails started to trickle in about the Knitter’s Review Retreat. This retreat is held annually at Grave’s Mountain Lodge in Virginia and is attended by knitters who have met each other through the Knitter’s Review Forum. (Although I don’t spend as much time on that forum as I used to, it has always been my hands-down favorite. The topics are well-organized, it’s well-designed and easy to read, and well-moderated by the fair and even-handed Clara.) As I mentioned in an earlier posting, this year Dulaan had been chosen as the special charity project for the Retreat.

One of the attendees was Dear Reader Anj who sent me this remarkable photo of all the items donated to Dulaan during the Retreat.

Another attendee and Dear Reader, Martha, took charge of all the contributions and reported that the official count was 60 hats, 17 scarves, 9 sweaters, 7 pairs of mittens, and 4 neck warmers, 97 items in all! So heart-warming, so wonderful. Thank you, Martha, Clara and everyone at the Retreat!!

If you’re not already feeling hyperglycemic from all of this good-heartedness, this should send you right over the edge into a diabetic coma. I received an email from the Cuzzin himself, saying the following:

“You know I've been writing about my work for Dogwood Hill Alpacary. [Ed note: Yes, the place where Black Ice beat the crap out of our own dear monk.] Well, the owner, Susie Homire, has been very moved by The Dulaan Project. Not only is she intent on getting fiber folks in her area on board to knit things, but get this. Each calendar year she names the baby alpacas born in that year according to the next letter in the alphabet. So 2005 saw the birth of Chloe, Carina, Cynthia and Cassidy. So guess what she plans to name the first cria of 2006? Yup, Dulaan. Awesome, no?”

Our very own Dulaan cria. This made my day.

Posted by Ryan at November 11, 2005 10:36 AM