A Little Help. Please.

I just finished tech-editing the new Knitters for Knockers 2008 pattern (Whew! It was a tough slog, but I think I'm done.) and it’s now in the hands of my test-knitters (may a thousand blessings be upon them and their needles).
(Happy dance! Do it with me!)What better way to celebrate than by immediately whipping up another sexy new sock pattern for yet more worthwhile fundraising! So far I have a toe. It's a lovely toe, but there's nothing new to see yet. (Soon, my lovelies, soon...). In the meantime, I have repurposed our lovely Campanula sock pattern from last year to aid this cause as well.

The beneficiary of all proceeds from the repurposed Campanula pattern and from my other forthcoming pattern will be the brave and beautiful Tish. Tish is at the end of an amazing weight-loss journey that began last summer with gastric bypass surgery.
Tish before - June 2007
Tish after - June 2008
Now she requires extensive and expensive reconstructive surgeries to tighten and trim some of the, er, um, leftover bits. It's a so-called "cosmetic cleanup" of all the hanging skin and residual leftovers that (in my not-so-humble opinion) is totally necessary to quality of life, but it’s not covered by Ontario’s much vaunted health care system.

Okay, that's not strictly true. Though our provincial medical plan would pay for a crude tug-slice-&-sew version of the procedure that leaves some nasty scars (I’ve seen the results on other folks), they will not contribute that equivalent or any portion of the costs to getting it done properly. Nope. That would be too much like right. (Sorry - maybe that was TMI. Can you tell I’m just a little bit angry about this?).

Tish needs to raise an astounding $31,000 for reconstructive surgery.

Frankly after all her hard work and suffering, Tish deserves to have this done right and feel good about herself afterwards! So several friends are banding together to initiate our own fundraising venture to help defray some of the costs. We’ll be offering some Tish-inspired patterns as incentive for donations to her surgery fund.

Of course you don’t have to wait until the patterns are up. Please go over to visit Tish and read about her phenomenal journey over the last year or so. Then click and donate whatever you can to help.