Monday, August 31, 2009

Ghana Retrospective: Some videos

I've been going through my Ghana photos and videos today and uploaded some of my videos to YouTube.

1. A typical morning. The students say their prayers, sing the national anthem and then say the pledge of allegiance. Then they sing and march off to class. Here's the upper grades marching off to class. It didn't occur to me to record this until after the little ones had also marched off. :-)



2. The kids had to practice for a cultural day. First here are the drummers:



3. Still the cultural day practice - this time some dancing:



4. It's the last day of school and the kids get to party all day. The music is playing and they dance. There was a competition and each class had to show off their skillz. Here's the BS (Basic School) 3 class - kids from around 9-10.



5. This one is my favorite. It's still the last day of school and the nursery kids are getting down. The little girl at the end is Monica. She was one of my faves.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Milestone




Today I've released my first pattern which I'm pretty excited about. Now I just need to discipline myself to get working on some other ideas floating through my head.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Running the NY Marathon: Sponsor me/win prizes

Hi all,


[Edited on Sept 4 to include more prizes]

[Edited on Aug 28 to include more prizes]

I haven't written a post in a while. My life has been all over the place though I've been fairly stationery. My plans have changed; I had been planning to move to Madison, WI this coming weekend. However, based on life changes, I'm now going to move back to NYC and in with my family. We'll see how that goes. One of my before 30 to dos was to reconnect with my family and I think moving home should definitely (hopefully) play a part in achieving this goal.

Anyhow, besides ruminating on life, I have been training for the NY marathon though I have a long way to go before I'll be ready. I will be ready though and I'm looking forward to it. I'll be running this marathon for charity; the organization is called Campaign for Female Education (Camfed). I think this is an amazing charity as I'm very pro-woman and pro-education especially in places like Africa where education is difficult to access for women. On the top right sidebar of this blog, there is a link to my fundraising page and I'd appreciate any donations made.

Also, to sweeten the deal, I've come up with a number of prizes that could be won. Each $10 donation results in one entry into the raffle, so for example, if you donate $50 you get five entries and so on.

Prizes:

- Antonio of Malabrigo yarns has generously donated 1 bag (10 skeins Malabrigo worsted) mistake color as a prize.

- An item knitted by moi (within reason) - we'll chat though various options and I'll both knit the item and provide yarn (no cashmere or outrageous yarns though) ;-).



- Handknitted socks by moi - again we'll chat to see what socks you like and I'll again provide the yarn. The socks below are just an example. I also happily knit men's socks as well.



- Ulmus Shawl (worn in the photo as a scarf): Many have admired this item I have knitted and I've loved wearing it. I think it will make a lovely prize for someone.



- Audiobook from recordedbooks.com: Kathy (Woolybelle on Ravelry)will donate to one lucky winner his/her choice of audiobook (15 CDs or less) from Recorded Books.

- $50 gift certificate to Yarn Company in NYC. This was generously donated by Patti (pattiblaine on ravelry).

- Cable Crush Cowl. This cowl was designed by yours truly this summer and it's knit in Malabrigo Merino Worsted. Colorway: Rhodesian.



- 5 copies of the Cable Crush Cowl pattern.

- Skein of yarn (fingering weight). This is a lovely plum color. 364 yards/100 grams; 50% Superwash Merino 50% Tencel.



- Skein of yarn (fingering weight). For the yellow lover in you. 100% BLF / 100g / 420 yards.



- Skein of yarn (light fingering). Malabrigo sock. 1 skein = 440.0 yards. Colorway = Turner.



- Statue bought during my summer volunteer trip to Ghana.




I hope these prizes help induce you to sponsor me for the race. I think it's a great charity and one that we can all get behind. Just click here.

I'd also appreciate if people reading this could link up or plug this on their blogs.