Possible hope after all

While the news of a vaccine comes a little too late for my sister, I became so excited when I read this today! My sister passed away on July 1, 2007, from complications due to AIDS. She was only 51 years old; a grandmother, a sister, a daughter, a mother, an aunt, and a very loving wife, as well as a very talented guitarist and jewelry designer. We aren't real sure how she contracted the disease, nor does it really matter. Her only hope was that one day a vaccine would be discovered so that others wouldn't have to endure the devastation. With this scientific breakthrough, maybe her prayers will eventually be answered!

Yesterday, I cast on for my first scarf for a charity I joined on Ravelry, called Handmade Especially for You. They are collecting scarves to be distributed in southern California to women's shelters. I'm not sure how many I will be able to get done since I've got several charities on my plate at the moment, but if I can just continue with the 'mindless' knitted variety, I may get several done before their deadline in November. I'm about halfway to the size I want this one to be, and for just being a basic garter stitch scarf, I'm diggin' it! They requested scarves with some 'bling' to them, so I paired up some alpaca fingering weight with Verikeri by Muench Yarns, and on sz 15 needles. I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but it is a ribbon braid with pink and some glittery gold...very pretty!

We are just one day away from Friday, so if I don't make it back here tomorrow, I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend! If I do make it back, I hope I'll have some FOs to share with you! Also, please don't forget about my contest I posted about yesterday for Bev's campaign to collect hats for Warming Families. If you want to know more about it, please visit her on Ravelry under bevtheknitter, or you can contact me directly by leaving me a message here or on Ravelry under KnitNurd. You can also visit Bev's website at http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/ where she has free patterns that work up very quickly!

As my southern born and bred family members would say in closing, "be sweet y'all!" :=)