Roosting Horses

I'm feeling confused. My mind is in a swirl - not the fun Dairy Queen kind, either - just a bit of a foggy, fugue-y, waltz.

While I was on the road for a month I ran out of several of my daily meds and happily picked up new prescriptions, but I'm still waiting on the one I've taken for granted: Estratest.

It's the hormone I take since my hysterectomy (estrogen + testosterone) and I'd forgotten how confusing and hard life can be without this tiny green pill. And how hot. Damn these awful hot flashes.

When I first had my radical hysto I didn't take hormones, both because we didn't have insurance, and because I'd been convinced that they'd heighten my chance of heart disease.

It turns out that yes, they do increase a woman's HD chance (from 6 in 10,000 to 12 in 10,000 - I'll deal with that!) and once I was able to get insurance again I happily hopped on the hormone train.

And it was wonderful. A vertitable Orient Express of delight. My hair looked better, my skin was brighter, I stood taller, I didn't have those damn hot flashes and - most important - I felt less confused. No more standing in the frozen foods section wondering how I got there.

It's been more than 2 weeks since my last estratest (forgive me, father) and I'm feeling so confused that my post-teaching-trip routine of getting 'back on the horse' is harder than usual.

I'll be very happy to have that prescription for estratest back in my hot (& sweaty) little hands and get back with the program. One very loud chicken that's been cackling night and day (and disturbing the horses) is the 1,000 Fabulous Knit Hats book.


HELP!
I'm compiling hat images for Rockport Publishing's new book, 1,000 Fabulous Knit Hats.

The response to my call for hat images has been very good so far, but the timeframe I was given is SO short that the response has to be MORE than good - it has to be sock-dropping, jaw-slackening, chicken-roosting friggin' AMAZING.

So I'm humbly asking for your help. The premise of the book is to show images of 1,000 knit (and crocheted) hats. I added that crocheted part, it won't be part of the book title (that's already been registered with the book gods) but I will be accepting hats with a bit - or in some cases, all - crochet work.

The book will only feature 10 patterns from original hats, but it will also have images from 990 OTHER hats (either original or inspired / created off of an existing design) I'm hoping it will feel like looking through a cool gallery of hand knit hats, like a ravelry group, but held in your hot little hands.

I want images of ALL KINDS OF KNIT & CROCHETED HATS, not just originals!

Here are the gory details:

1. I only want images of hats (NOT real hats!)
   
   
2. Yes, you can send an image of a hat by another designer / yarn company
   
   
3. If I get enough hats related to a specific designer or yarn company, they'll get their own category (more exposure = good, free marketing!)
   
   
4. You can also submit images of ORIGINAL HATS, these are eligible for prizes.
   
   
5. The prizes for ORIGINAL HATS are $500, $300 and $200 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. We've received some amazing entries so far, but I'm sure YOURS would make me swoon. Oh, heck, anything would make me swoon right about now...
   
   
6. The top 10 Original Hats will also receive 4 copies of the book ($100 value - yay!)
   
   
7. If your Original Hat is chosen as one of the top then, THEN I'll ask you for the pattern, which will be tech edited by Rockport Publishing. I'll walk you through it if you've never written a pattern before, it will be a piece of cake. Mmmm, cake...
   

I took on this job for several reasons;

• I love hats - LOVE THEM!
  
  
• I thought it was a neat project - I feel that it's good to spend time just looking at other folks' interpretations of other patterns and items, it's good for our knitting souls!
  
  
• I could use the money (well, it's true...)
  
  
• A friend who'd taken on the job was suddenly hit with MEGA exploding commitments, and I seemed like a good person to hand the job over to.
  
  
• Yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition. I do that.

I've received about 20% of the hat images I need, and I've been HORRIBLE about communicating to my blog readers how much I need your help.

Folks, if you have an image of a hat you've knit, I want it.

Desperately.

PLEASE!

The submission process is incredibly painless, and the fact you're reading my blog alerts me that you have all the internets savvy you need to upload photos into the convenient drop box we've created.

Here's what you do:

1. Read all about the book at http://1000fabulousknithats.com
   
   
2. Download & complete the Grant Of Rights [GOR] (it's the legal form we need to be able to use your images)
   
   Download the GOR as MS Word File
   or - Download the GOR as Adobe Acrobat pdf file
   
   
3. Go to box.net and log in
   username: knit
   password: hats
   
   
4. Create your own folder, name it as follows:
   lastname_firstinitial
   (in my case it would be modesitt_a)
   
   
5. Into that folder upload your images & your complete GOR
   
   
6. If you'd rather mail a disk with your images & GOR, you can do so by sending it to
   
   
   1000 Hats
   1043 Grand Ave, Box 373,
   St. Paul, MN 55105
   
   
   

And now for the scary, scary part.

The deadline is supposed to be July 1.

Yes, it's insane. And because I stepped into the middle of the process the whole thing is speedier than it might be.

But I also feel we have a bit of playing time so if you're on the cusp of being able to send something and need a bit more time, I think I'll be able to accommodate you.

Do I sound sufficiently desperate? Foggy and desperate, that's me, baby!
So please, here is my bended-knee portion of the blog, consider submitting to this cool project! If you're a designer, consider getting folks who've knit up your hats to submit (you'll get a category of your own!) and if you're a hat pattern business or a yarn company whose fibers are used for hats, well, YOU do the math!

You'll get a nice spread of hats knit in your yarn / using your patterns along with contact info where folks can go to buy or learn more about your amazing yarn and patterns. Win!

And now I go off in search of hormone replacement therapy and a good fan.

What a lovely Father's Day, huh? Don't worry, we're taking Ger out for a nice beer and a long walk at the dog run. Or is that Atticus. I'm so confused...