After such a long hiatus, this is not the post I was expecting to write first up. But time is of the essence! So here we are…
For those who know the story of Fester the Glog, you’ll understand my hesitation in writing the story. For those who don’t know the story… where have you been? I’ll try to summarise the epicness of Fester’s tale. Make sure you read to the end (or skip to it) to find out why this tale is being retold. It’s a brilliant reason!
Eight years ago a goat came to his tragic demise in the bottom of a well (really, it’s a big, 100 year old underground brick water tank). We don’t know how he fell in, except that there was no lid on the well, and goats like to climb. 2 + 2 = tragedy.
More recently, this well came into the ownership of a certain nameless knitter. This knitter’s husband looked into the well and saw the body of the goat lying in the bottom of the empty well. The knitter called on her wonderful Ravelry community and asked the complicated question: “How to get a goat carcass out of my well?” Pandemonium and hilarity ensued as many useful suggestions were followed to no avail. Many completely useless suggestions (think coke and mentos, explosives, and piranhas) were also put forward in the name of entertainment. Photos of the carcass were demanded and supplied. Poetry, artwork, musicals and a tea cosy (!!!) were created in memory of the goat who took on the name Fester(ina) Tutengoatmen the Bloated. The tale took on a life of its own as the story drew crowds of morbid onlookers. Fester even got his own hashtag so that the twits of the group could try to coerce such brains as Mythbusters to come to the problem-solving party.
In the end the husband of the aforementioned nameless knitter used one of the sensible suggestions to drag Fester to the surface for proper decompostion via grappling hooks. Shorty thereafter, the knitter had the embarrassing task of informing the group that Fester was actually a . . . log! Oh, the shame!
Henceforth, Fester has been known as a Glog.
In amongst all this craziness one lone knitter saw potential good in all this silliness. She began an Oxfam fundraiser in Fester’s memory, noting that while a goat in a well is amusing for us, for others in less fortunate circumstances a goat in a well is a life-threatening problem. The Oxfam fundraiser is for a Watsan water quality testing kit. The kit is priced at $3000. Thus far, the generosity of Ravellers has seen just over $2000 raised in memory of Fester. I’ve seen that another awesome Raveller plans to spend up big and take out the remainder of the fundraiser’s target in approximately one week. The challenge has been set to limit her spending!
With this in mind, my injury-enforced hiatus comes to an end with the release of my Fester the Glog embellishment design (available on the Free page) and a call out to all and sundry to contribute a little to this worthy cause. The chart is free and comes with a request to consider a donation to Oxfam even after this fundraiser is completed.
And if anyone is concerned – the well now has a locked, reinforced, very safe lid securely attached. No more goats will be that adventurous again.
Please donate!
