What's that buzzing?

It's not a forgotten bee trying to get the last of the summer flower's nectar. It's not a chain-saw cutting up wood for a fall fire. No, it's the sound of hair clippers being warmed up for Stitches East. Why you ask? Because three generous and brave souls have put their heads, or at least their hair, on the line to help raise money for my favorite charity, Halos of Hope.

Drew Emborsky (a.k.a. the Crochet Dude ™), Benjamin Levisay (CEO of XRX, Inc. & STITCHES Expos), and Mark Moraca (co-owner of Kollage Yarns) have agreed to allow themselves to either be "saved" or "shaved" by fan vote, on stage at Stitches East.

How can you help? Vote! Each $10 vote helps send 31 more hats to patients in need. And if helping send 31 hats wasn't incentive enough, I'm offering an additional bit of goodie. For every vote you cast you'll have the opportunity to win one of two prizes.  For my knitting friends a copy of  Hattitude: Knits for Every Mood by Cathy Carron and a gorgeous skein of hand-dyed superwash yarn from Elgin Knit Works.  For my non-knitting friends I'm offering to knit you a hat of your choice, any color, any yarn, any pattern (your choice).  Of course, whether you knit or not, you may choose either prize option.

Here's the details...Cast your vote on the XRX website and then post a comment letting me know you've done so.  Then indicate which prize would like to win.  It's that simple.  You may enter as often as you care to vote, so think Chicago politics and "Vote early and vote often".

Voting closes on October 13th, so my drawing will take place on October 14th.  Obviously, this is on the honor system, but hey, it's for a good cause, so let's ship some hats!