Visiting Katrina

So last weekend my husband and I drove to New Orleans. Road time is knitting time and the little sock that snuck in amongst my other WIP's got finished.


et voila! One sock in Mountain Colors Bearfoot, the colorway is Wildflower.

The good news is that there seems to be enough yarn left for the second sock. Yes the yarn is supposed to make a pair, I just never trust that things will turn out right. I also made lots of progress on Durrow, but it was too big to take pics of in the car. And now a lovely picture of the current state of my ancestral home.

It looks so much roomier this way, no?

I can't tell you how much damage there is. It seems the rest of the country thinks this is all over, but I wouldn't be surprised if it will take 20 years to repair all the damage and rebuild the cities. We saw the first major storm damage 50 miles north of Mobile and rode through an increasing nightmare until we just became numb. So many people living like gypsies in their driveways and front lawns. City Park has a tent city in it visible from I-10. We almost couldn't leave Monday morning because we couldn't find gas. Some people are still living on MREs, a few restaurants are open only a few hours a day with limited menus and are serving food on paper plates. 5 months later. I couldn't bear to see how many houses in the neighborhood were marked with the x indicating a body had beed found inside for the follow up crews to remove. There's lots of people still there, determined to make it work, determined not to let this get the better of them.

So I knitted, and I cried, and sometimes I laughed, because you can see some pretty delightful and amazing things where people try to make their homes amongst the rubble. Some people have named their FEMA trailers like people name fishing camps and have made little signs and planted little gardens. "Bed and Breakfast" was my favorite.

Now I have another sock to finish, Durrow needs a sleeve and a very special Coronet needs to appear all before the end of February. I have fallen very much out of love with Clapotis, and although I am 8 skeins in, it seems to be going nowhere and might join the frog list. I would like to see that particular colorway in a Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole, but I am just not sure yet. Every time I give that a serious thought, there's still a little pang for Clapotis, and I don't know, maybe I have lost too much to lose one more thing.