June 05, 2006
Boxing Day
(No posting on Wednesday, Dear Readers. I will be finding out if my unexpected rendezvous with a morphine drip will morph (pardon the pun) into a not-so-unexpected rendezvous with the surgeon's knife next week. Blech.)
This weekend was the great Dulaan Packing Weekend, which had the potential to lead to a titanic clash of TMK and Ryan’s working styles because, well:
How TMK Would Have Packed
She would have:
Sorted everything by garment type.
Sorted everything by size.
Packed the boxes.
Taped the boxes.
Filled out the forms.
Put the forms in their respective envelopes and addressed the envelopes.
Taped the envelopes to the boxes.
Taken the boxes to the post office.
Been done in 2 hours.
How I Would Have Packed
I would have:
Run my hands through the big piles of knitted items, squeezing and petting the fibers and enjoying the colors and perhaps even hugging an item or two to my chest or rubbing them on my cheek.
Slowly sorted everything, lingering over each item to:
Remember who knit it.
Remember where we were when she gave it to me.
Try to figure out what yarn was used.
Try to figure out what pattern was used.
Try to figure out if I had ever knit something like it.
Decide if I might want to knit one for Dulaan 2007.
Once I had all the hats sorted out, I would have tried on every one of them. Now, officially (make finger quotation marks as you read that), this was to determine size, adult v. child, but that didn’t explain why one of the hats stayed on my head for 15 minutes, and another one for half an hour. And another one for an hour.
Once the sweaters were sorted, I would have looked at the ones I knit and reminisced about the making of them, where I got the yarn, where I found the pattern, how much fun I had knitting it, and imagine a Mongolian child wearing it. I would also have held up the particularly small sweaters and said, “Squeeeeeeee!”
Once the socks were sorted, again, “Squeeeeeeeeee!”
Every time I found something particularly precious or beautifully knit, I would have had to storm into the kitchen, interrupt TMK’s reading, and insist that she looklooklook!
I would have filled out the forms but, being a perfectionist (when it comes to writing, if nothing else), every time I made a mistake, I would've thrown the form away and started on a new one. And if I made another mistake, again, new form. (Which explains, TMK, why I had to use your photocopier. Oh, didn’t I explain that part?) And this would have happened frequently because I would not have sorted the garments very efficiently in the first place and, as the hours progressed, I would have continued to find the onesy-twosy socks, sweaters, mittens, what have you, that I hadn’t found the first time around.
I would have packed the garments in the boxes but then quit because I wasn’t really in the mood to wrassle the tape twice around them this way and twice around that. Besides, wasn’t it time for me to have some tea and do some knitting?
This would have taken me two days and I still would not have been done.
Pop quiz: Who did the packing? And who are you more like, TMK or me?
After the great neckband-sleeve disaster of Ought Six, I frogged until my fingers bled and redid all the seaming and the bands for the Variation on a Theme Sweater.
The original (which is actually a dress).
My version:
I am really thrilled with it. The armholes could be a little deeper but since this was destined for Dulaan 2006, I called it a day. It is now resting quietly in one of the boxes above. I hope.
Some important Dulaan reminders:
1. Nothing should be mailed to me. Everything should go to the F.I.R.E. offices at
F.I.R.E.
107 N San Francisco Street, Suite 4
Flagstaff, Arizona 86001-5243
2. To help F.I.R.E. volunteers with their sorting and organizing, if you are shipping a box to F.I.R.E., make sure to tape to the outside of the box an envelope containing a list of the contents of the box, including the size of each item. (You can write F.I.R.E.’s address on the front of the envelope and use it as the mailing label.) I have provided this form to help but you can do whatever works for you.
3. The deadline is July 1, which means the items need to be in F.I.R.E.'s offices by that date; that is not the date when you should ship your items. But do not fret; any items that arrive late will be sent in 2007.
Notes to my Dear Commenters:
1. I have an email in to Meredith to find out what more we can do with the movie. They may want to wait until it has been finished and has premiered at Telluride before we trot it out again, but I'll find out.
2. As much as we would all like to knit teddy bears for the Mongolian children, I really wouldn't encourage this. While the teddy bears may warm the children's hearts, we are really focusing on warming their bodies. Besides, did I mention the compression machines? Can you imagine what that would do to a box of teddy bears? There would be stuffing and glass eyes everwhere. (Just kidding. I suspect they use the compression machines judiciously.)
3. Rose, I don't know if the bear in the movie was your Baby Bobbi Bear, but it could have been. It was dark brown and it was medium in size.
4. Ani Kunzang, thank you for your lovely comment from the heart! Who knew this project would explode this way? Konchog will tell you he knew but he's just sassy that way.
I am just finishing up a couple of scarves, and my package will be mailed from Nova Scotia! I am sending it air mail to make sure I don't miss the date. If it doesn't go in the mail this Friday then it will be by Wednesday of next week!
Posted by: Sheri on June 5, 2006 12:20 PMWell, unless all those boxes are empty, I would say that (drum roll) TMK did the honors. :)
For the record, I am so much like TMK in my approach to packing that it is scary. Except for the filling-out-the-form part; in that, I am 100% like you. Scratch out a mistake? Never!
I sincerely hope you can resolve your medical issues without going the surgical route. {hugs}
Posted by: Denise in Kent, WA on June 5, 2006 12:24 PMRyan: Best of luck with your appointments later this week. Am thinking good thoughts for you.
The sweater is MARVELOUS, and I am especially impressed with how you worked out the color placement for the sleeves and how well it looks on the finished sweater.
After I was able to paw all over the items last Saturday at the Knit-In, I am not surprised you must do it when packing. (Honestly, for someone who's so utterly wonderful, TMK can be a real drag sometimes.) It was an impressive collection of stuff. Am mailing mine this week--a nice big box of 35 things--and I'm hoping to make one or two more hats before the end of the month.
Mary B
I pack like TMK, and I would have done the forms on the computer; hence, no mistakes.
That rainbow sweater makes me Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
I'm guessing that TMK did the packing.
I'm also confessing that I pack like you. Only with me it's mailing books to people I've met via BookCrossing.com
And I'm wishing you well for next week, but hoping I get to see you this week to say so in person-like.
*hugs*
Posted by: Bling! on June 5, 2006 12:38 PMI'd like to mention that the fact that there are boxes in the picture should be a clue. ;-)
Posted by: The Mysterious K on June 5, 2006 12:56 PMIs it wrong that even though I would definitely pack like Ryan, I really, really want to know what the power tool is the boxes are hiding right now?
Posted by: Rachel H on June 5, 2006 01:01 PMOur knitting circle is packing our items on Thurs if I remember correctly - I'm glad there is an organized person heading this as I tend to be more of a packer like you -- so somehow I have a feeling that the amazing TMK packed the boxes we see above.
Sending good thoughts your way (towards your doctors too) - that no matter what course of action will be taken it will be the right one. Of course I'm hoping that no surgery is needed but if it is - that it is quick and you recover fast and have no more problems ever again.
and to Ani Kunzang, it is grand to do be able to do something good and have so much fun doing it too!!!
A follow-up hint to TMK's: Do you see any tape on the boxes anywhere?
Besides, as per TMK's hint, if SHE had done the work, there would be no boxes to photograph. They would already be on an airplane, winging their way to Arizona.
Poor thing. The way I do things drives her nuts.
Posted by: Ryan on June 5, 2006 01:10 PMDoh! It was right there the whole time: "Taken the boxes to the post office." Some detective I would make, eh? :-}
P.S. Your striped sweater is gorgeous, btw.
Posted by: Denise in Kent, WA on June 5, 2006 01:45 PMI also pack like TKM and my stuff is already in Flagstaff.
Hope your meeting goes well and you avoid the knife. But if not that will leave more time for knitting.
Posted by: Petrified on June 5, 2006 02:03 PMHey Ryan, Good luck with the medical stuff. Hope all goes well.
Posted by: Bonney on June 5, 2006 02:36 PMI am busy trying to put the finishing touches on the things I will be boxing up and shipping to F.I.R.E. for Dulaan 2006. I wanted to share something relating to the knitted Teddy Bear issue. I too wanted to knit something fun for the children, but realized that you need warm things for them to wear. Happily, a solution presented itself! Morehouse Merino Farms has kits for wonderful scarves in merino wool that are in the form of cats, snakes, sheep, geckos, foxes and more. I have finished a fox scarf and am almost finished with a gecko scarf to send.
Check it out:
http://www.morehousefarm.com/KnittingKits/Scarves/
So the children can get something warm that is also a fun toy at the same time!
Posted by: Eileen Koski on June 5, 2006 02:47 PMRachel H. The boxes aren't hiding anything exciting. Just my 30-year-old tablesaw. ;-) TMK
Posted by: The Mysterious K on June 5, 2006 03:58 PMWell I got over my size-of-stash envy and pulled out the things I am about to send - pix of Delaware's and NJ's contribution to the cause are now on my blog - WWW.AlpacaAddict.blogspot.com
Now off to find the packing tape...
Posted by: MBT on June 5, 2006 05:14 PMSending the best, most anti-surgery vibes your way this coming week!
As to the packing issue, being in the mail-order yarn business, I have days where I am sooo efficient about packing and getting to the post office, I scare myself. I allow myself to putter about, Ryan-style, every now and then, just to remember that yarn is a source of fun, after all.
Posted by: Karen on June 5, 2006 05:36 PMMailed my Dulaan goods today. Three hats and a pair of socks.
Posted by: CarolineF on June 6, 2006 05:24 PMwhat's a URL?
I thought that I was becoming really warped, spending all my time knitting because I am obsessed with Dulaan...then I found myself reading your blog again--sorry, I have no idea how long it's been, but probably a long time. the sun has gone down anyway. april first i started knitting hats with the goal of 50, and i'm just about done with 48. during this time, my husband learned to knit, and is almost done with 49 (the divorce isn't final yet--we still can count ourselves together, can't we?). my four year old sez, mommy, please stop knitting and play with me. i even knit at stop lights!!
okay, enough about me though--thanks so much for keeping the fire stoked. i'm gonna go knit again.
knitwit
What an amazing sweater!!! I mailed my packages ages ago so it would get to you in time. I didn't have the form to fill out . . . sorry.
I would pack like YOU.
I'm sorry you sound so miserable about the morphine prospects. Several times I have been completely happy with extra strength Codeine... Oh, and Versamid that just makes you forget everything.
Hope that your MD's are skilled and the RN's kind.
I may be a knitter who doesn't contribute, but I know LOT'S about self-soothing and recuperating.