Caffiene Swap

Oh yes, my birthday came a few weeks early this year!!



( I saved this image off of my spoiler's blog, my pictures came out too blurry)
My awesome spoiler was Silly Putty
As this was my first swap I am really impressed by both the swap coordinator and my upstream and down stream pals. It looks like they are gauging an interest in a Ravelry Caffeine Addicts swap #2, and I am so in!

and the yarn goes to...

Somebunnyslove!
So far online we have raised over $450 for MDA. We have a bit more in personal checks from family and friends here locally. We've almost got enough to sponsor a child with muscular dystrophy for 1 week of summer camp. Thanks to everyone who donated!

WIN THIS YARN!!

WHAT? 2 skeins of Douceur et Soie in a lovely dusty blue.

HOW? By making a donation to the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) through my DH's Lock up for Jerry's Kids site Then leave me a comment or PM me in Ravelry letting me know that you participated. Everyone who donates will receive a number, then on September 15, 2007 I will use a random number generator to determine the winner. I can then notify the winner and get their shipping address--and there will be a happy knitter/crocheter and happy children who will be sponsored to go to summer camp.

WHY? Because my dad suffered from MD and no one knew. He had a difficult time getting out of chairs, out of cars, or out of bed. Eventually, he went to the doctor and had muscle biopsies taken from his legs and arms. While eating lunch with my mom and grandparents after visiting his elderly uncle in the hospital, he stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating. My dad was eventually revived, but not before his body and brain were without oxygen for over 10 minutes. As expected, he was in a coma and suffered brain damage. But he managed to hang in there and slowly recovered. It was then that we learned that dad had a form of Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy. Life seemed to continue on, my little brother graduated high school and joined the navy and I got married and was expecting my first baby when our world got turned upside down once again. Just over 2 years after his first heart failure my dad died in the hospital surrounded by his family. He was 45 years old, and October 15, 2007 would have been his 5oth birthday.

The Humboldt County Library...

...is a great resource for knitters it turns out. Today I got Barbara Walker's 3rd treasury of knitting patterns, Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting, and Ann Budd's the knitter's handy book of patterns. I also got 2 audio books to listen too while I'm knitting, The Lady and the Unicorn and Mistress of Dragons.

As an added bonus, oh yes the children's section has movies the kidlets do not currently own. :)

Stranded Wool for home and abroad

Here is the wool that I've been making into children's hats for the Afghans for Afghans project, except the black skein in the back which will be a helmet liner.



And the fingering weight wool for my first test knitting project finally arrived. I forgot that living in the middle of the redwoods implies that everything takes forever to ship. In fact the post office won't even guarantee shipping times... but at least its pretty here.

What have you been doing?

This is what I've been up to ---->

I entered 3 items in the city fair, and 6 items in the county fair this summer. By far the sweater I made for Amber got the most notice, winning first place in its class, best of show, and the viewer's choice award at the city fair and first in its class and the Generation's yarn shop award at the county fair.

My personal favorite? To wear-- I'd say the socks, as a technical accomplishment--the blue cropped lace sweater.

Ravelry

Oh the joy that is getting into Ravelry. I think I spend more time reading about knitting, then actually knitting now :)