Blown Away

*** First, let me thank you all for your kind comments -- I swear I wasn't fishing for compliments! I was in a bit of a funk and, well, I just thought i would share in the spirit of letting you know that I do care that much about "getting it right" and making beautiful things for you all. You all rock, you know.***
Ok, so why am I blown away? Well, I have to take you back to my hellish night last Sunday. Between the scary dog moment and the comforting little son time, I had an amazing and inspiring surprise. Hubby enjoys watching "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" and left the TV on that channel when the show was over and he left the room. Me, being too engrossed in the knitting of the blue shawl, didn't bother to hunt down the remote and search for a new show and ended up with Oprah's Big Give being the background to my knitting. I half watched as contestants were given $4800 and 8 hours to find SOMEONE of their choosing and make a difference in that person's life. Throughout, I was impressed by three men who, at the very start, decided to pool their resources and find an orphanage in Denver to help. The three men raised $260k in 48 hours for this organization. As I half-heartedly watch, I kept getting a niggling sense that one of these contestants looked familiar, but, no...couldn't be. Couldn't catch a name. Then, the end. The inevitable Survivor like who-will-be-sent-home moment. They called on the familiar face..."Eric?" OMFG. Eric Klein. It was him -- a guy I knew -- my crazy High School crush. Haven't seen the kid in 20 years and here he is. On Oprah. And this isn't even the amazing thing.
I, of course, had to grab my laptop and see what there was to see about this story. Turns out in 2004, Eric was awarded a financial compensation meant to repair his orbital eye socket after it was damaged in by a drunk driver in an accident. But he didn't fix his eye. He hopped a plane with hardly a plan and went to tsunami ravaged Sri Lanka and began to rehab a village. (You can see his video of this here.) His disgust at government inaction and political money=grabbing at our relief dollars prompted him to create Can-Do (Compassion in Action Network -- a Direct Outcome Organization). He is everywhere -- Rwanda, the Katrina Ravaged areas of the US, you name it, he is out there helping people and making a HUGE difference. The Big Give is just a way of getting awareness of his organization out there, and, hopefully, money for it.
I am, absolutely, blown away. It isn't so much that it is Eric, but rather someone -- anyone -- I knew that is doing such amazing selfless things. Someone who, really, was not particularly remarkable in that he'll-do-great-things-future-president kind of way who has had the courage to take a risk and hop on that plane. I mean, who does that?? he has made me believe I can do something. Can I hop a plane and build a school? No. But I can use my resources. What is it that I can do? I can dye yarn. I can sell it, and raise money. I can encourage you, if you don't like the yarn, to help fund the programs Can-do is working on. They'll let you know exactly where your money is going. Let's show the world what we knitters can do!
So, here it is, "Can do!" on new Classica 80% superwash Merino/20% Nylon...



I only have this one skein done right now, and Kelly is cranking out a pair of sample socks that I'll be able to show you soon. $10 from the sale of every skein will go immediately to www.can-do.org. Pre-order sales are being listed on Esty, or you can e-mail me directly at heather@sereknity.com. I will also get it listed soon on the Sereknity.com website and will let you know when that is available. I'm thinking fiber, too.
Let's all do something great! (oh, and "Big Give" is on again tonight. I'll be watching!)