Sweaters and Hats and Rafting. Oh My.

Yes I'm up late. Yes I should be in bed but I have a really good excuse--two in fact.

First, I was up finishing THIS . . .

My latest knitting project, just in time for the approach of fall (though don't get too excited, I'm not expecting any fall weather for at least a good six weeks. At least).

I got rather excited this summer when I found the Lion Brand Yarn site (not that it's any big secret or anything) but they have all sorts of free patterns. I signed up for the newsletter and they sent a catalog to my home where I picked out this cable sweater and started it the next day.

It looks remarkably like this Victoria's Secret sweater and I'm sure I'll look just as sexy and sleek as the model in the picture. Heh . . . sure I will . . . if I say it enough times it's bound to become a reality, right?

Maybe if I get a hat like hers. Yea, that's the ticket . . . a hat.

I would have had a picture of my own to show you as proof of my accomplishment except that it became a rather crazy evening full of phone calls and anxious moments. Andrew and Spencer left Wednesday morning for a Boy Scout rafting/camping trip down on the Kenai and I got a call from him last night to let me know that there had been a slight accident.

A couple of the leaders and boys had stayed up river to do some fishing but Andrew and another leader took two rafts and seven boys to head on downstream. Though they were being cautious and responsible, apparently the first boat got swept into a "sweeper" which, for you unacquainted with rafting, means a place in the river where a tree branch is stretched out into the water, catching anything in it's path and often dragging them down underwater where they get trapped. The first raft hit the sweeper and tipped, throwing four boys and the leader into the icy water where the oldest two boys were swept down even further.

Andrew saw it happen and tried very hard to avoid it but the currents were too strong and his boat followed the same path, flipping and throwing all of them into the water. Luckily they were all able to get out without being trapped underwater though it was a while before they were able to verify that the two boys who'd been swept off were safe.

By the time he called me they'd all been rescued and emergency people had shown up to make sure no one was hypothermic and that everyone was safe but I think it shook them all up a bit. Isn't it crazy how life can do that? Everything is going great then one second later you're in a life-threatening situation. It could have gone so horribly but I tell you that is what PFDs (personal flotation devices) and prayers are for. You don't go on a river without either. But after getting everyone together and regrouping they decided to continue. It'll give them something to talk about around the campfire!

Of course you know that means I'll be nervous the rest of the week until they get back home. Though I'm counting on the odds that the experience means that now that they've had one near-catastrophe their chances of having another such rare experience have gone significantly down. You know, that whole thing where if the guy next to you draws the short straw your odds of doing the same back-to-back are much lower?

Ah forget it, I'll just be glad to get them home again, though I'm sure it will make the trip memorable. Thank goodness for those life vests!