Hi Everyone!

So, someone sent a link to the Pink Pincushion blog to me and asked if it were me, so I thought I'd see if anyone had come to visit.

Lots of you have, which is kind of cool.

I'd like to set the record straight on one thing, the hat project? That was all my mom, seriously. On my first ship we were deployed at Christmas and I had her send me a couple dozen mini-stockings and chocolates to stuff in them. I gave them to my Sailors on Christmas morning as a thank-you.

Flash forward several years, and my third ship was also deployed at Christmas (I've missed quite a few, yes.) We hadn't had mail in a month, since we left Singapore, because we were in an isolated spot near Africa. Someone on the command ship found out about how long we hadn't had mail, and that we weren't shceduled to get mail until after the New Year...and that there were PILES of mail waiting for us ashore. They got the mail, sorted it, and delivered six helicopter loads of mail to us on Christmas morning. You have never seen Sailors so happy; imagine a childhood Christmas and multiply it by 350. There was so much Christmas food that we were eating for a month. And in the mail was a huge box of knit and crocheted scarfs, hats, and slippers. Sailors wore them everywhere.

Flash forward another seven years and my mom, knowing that I would be gone for (another) Christmas and remembering that first deployed holiday season, asked what she could do for all of my Sailors. I remembered that big box of stuff and the wonderful knitting community I'd recently joined, and suggested hats. She did the rest, and it has taken on a pretty cool life of it's own. I can't take ownership, but boy will I say how much I love the knitters and crocheters out there who have contributed (including, I might add, a male high school friend and my younger brother!)

If you're considering knitting a hat or a few, let me thank you. You will make a Sailor's day!

I still knit and sew, just you may have noticed that running and dogs have taken over my life lately...

Comments

[Maggie]

thanks for sharing the story!

[Aunt Marti]

Shanti, I can't tell you how thrilled I am to hear that someone thought to send you the link to the blog post on Pink Pincushion! You are absolutely my hero, and my dream is that one day My Little Sailor will be luckly enough to serve under you! (MC2 Jacob Allison, USN G. Washington CVN 73 in case you want to do a by-name request, LOL!)

[Jennifer]

You are an inspiration to us all! What a great project. I'm so glad it lives on.

[Margaret]

Yaaaay, so nice to see you back and catch up with the doggy saga.