more prizes

I want to remind everyone that the Ride2Survive raffle and Wollmeise auction ends next Sat! Hubby has sent me some stats on the current donations. There are 3 entries in the sock/hat/pooling scarf raffle. There are 16 entries in the yarny raffle (and 13 prizes - good odds). Total raised is $80 from 3 donations. We need more! Don't wait - donate now.

For those of you in the US, I have found out some good news. The Canadian Cancer Society is a registered US charity (98-600124). So the tax receipt issued is valid in the US as well as in Canada.

Thanks to some very generous people, I have received additional prize donations.

Hilary (aka yarnpiggy) has donated the following prizes:

Fleece Artist Saldanha (mmmm.... lace)


Yarn Pirate Superwash Merino Sock


Koigu KFM


Thank you, Piggy!!! You are awesome.

And Lynne (aka sockladyspins) has donated a pair of "monster" socks (fits women's size 7-8 shoe). Thank you, Lynne!


These socks are going to be hard to let go (would it be wrong if I entered my own raffle to win these? ;) Lynne knits the most amazing fair isle socks. No two pairs are alike and each one is a work of art. If you click on the above picture, you'll see the details better. Go ahead and check out her blog or her Rav projects. And then go donate for a chance to win this lovely pair!

Ride2Survive Auction: Wollmeise Maharani OR Alisha's Bridal Bouquet

I'll be volunteering to help out the riders on the Ride2Survive again this June, and would also like to donate a hard-to-get skein of Wollmeise to help out Dotty's husband in his fundraising effort.

Here's the elevation route that the riders will be travelling — all in one day. That embedded photo? Yeah, that's how many riders get through the ride — with a little help from their friends.

The organizers selected this route because it isn't just long. As you can see, it's also incredibly difficult. But it's not nearly as hard as the journey that people with cancer have faced.

So the least I can do is donate a little bit of yarn, right?

Here are the photos of the yarn, and I do know that they're almost impossible to purchase because they were dyed in such limited quantities.

The winner of the auction will get to choose one of the skeins — either Alisha's Bridal Bouquet or Maharani. 

Leave your bid in the comments, so everyone can see what amount they need to beat. (If two people bid the same amount, we'll go by the timestamps to see who the earlier bidder is.)

We'll close the auction next weekend, Saturday, June 4, 2011, at 8 pm (Vancouver time) and announce the winning bidder.

If you're the winning bidder, you'll donate your final bid amount to Markus' donation page at the Canadian Cancer Society's website, and send me your mailing address. And then I'll pop this skein of yarn in the mail to you, along with a few surprise treats!

Oh yeah, and you will get a Canadian charitable contribution tax receipt from the Canadian Cancer Society. (But I think that the tax receipt is good only in Canada.)

ETA: I have been informed that the Canadian Cancer Society has a registered US charity number so US folks can use the receipt for tax purposes. If you don't see it printed on your receipt, let me know and I will forward the charity number to you.

Finally, don't forget to check out Dotty's separate yarn raffle. All of the prizes are awesome. (And if you want to donate a prize, just contact her: yarnfloozy on Ravelry.)

almost frog's hair

The week has been a blur - mostly lying in bed and then culminating with a trip to the hospital yesterday night. My cold wasn't a cold - it was a virus complete with aches, headache, fever, and chills but no other symptoms. I'm ok now but I learned the hard way what the symptoms are for dehydration. I think hubby got a little freaked out when he saw me fetchingly attired in a hospital gown with various tubes & wires hanging out of me.

Speaking of hospital gowns... The shade of blue that I was wearing can be found in my latest handspun (great segue, eh?):


This is 113g of Rambouillet from Two Sisters Stringworks (formerly known as Yummy Yarn), a local dyer. The LYS where I work sells her fiber. I spun the singles on my Traveller (hereby christened Clementine) and plied on Matilda (love my jumbo flyer!).


Unless I miscounted, that skein is about 728 yds so it's in the laceweight category. That's the thinnest yarn I've spun so far. Now that I've cracked the lace barrier, maybe I should try spinning frog's hair :)

the sicky

That's me today. My throat is sore, my nose is starting to run, and I feel like I could nap all day long. I'm in bed under a quilt with a chocolate bar, fish bits (prepared dried squid - it's an acquired taste), a bag of throat drops, some sock knitting, a box of tissues, and a cat between my ankles.


The weather's been really crappy the last few weeks so photo ops have been few & far between. I did manage to sneak outside with my latest pair of socks:


My first handspun! My first handspun & handknit socks!!!! I am over the moon. They are very firm & sturdy & a bit too thick to wear in shoes so they'll end up as house socks. I love them soooo much! Aren't they purty?

I am spinning like mad. I've spun and plied about half a pound of undyed merino for a shawl KAL. I have to spin the other half before I can start knitting. I bought some Rambouillet last week and I'm spinning that on the Traveller (still unnamed but I'm leaning towards Clementine). The new wheel has developed a clunk that I'm trying to troubleshoot & fix. Hubby doesn't think I should mess with it but then it doesn't bother him as much as it bothers me.

Writing this post has tired me out. I'm going to slouch down and fall asleep to Glee.

Ride2Survive 2011

It's that time of year again. Hubby's been training since Feb - riding in the rain and the cold. In 6 short weeks, all that training will pay off when he packs up his cycling gear and joins more than a hundred cyclists and volunteers on their way up to Kelowna for another year of Ride2Survive. Cyclists will ride from Kelowna to Delta in one day - that's 400 kms, 13,000 ft of climbing (2 mountain summits!) in one gruelling 18 hour day, all to raise money for cancer research.

Last year, you helped us raise $2365 through our raffle/auctions and we'd like your help to beat that number this year. We've got some great prizes lined up.

An awesome (if I do say so myself) pooling scarf knit out of non-scratchy Socks That Rock:


A really cool hat also knit out of Socks That Rock in Mustang Sally:


A custom pair of hand knit socks kit from my yarn stash (Wollmeise is a definite possibility :). Check out the pair that I knit for last year's winner:


And here are the yarny prizes:

2 skeins of Sweet Fiber Yarns 100% Merino Sock:


A skein of Wollmeise 80/20 Twin in Baba Jaga:


A skein of Tofutsies:


2 skeins of Panda Cotton:


2 skeins of Louet KidLin:


A skein of Fleece Artist Suri Blue:


A skein of Dyed in the Wool Handmade Fingering Sock:


A skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in the limited edition colorway Bubble Haze:


And last but not least, a skein of my very own handspun:


This was spun on my newest wheel. It's 87g of heavy fingering for a total of approx. 258 yds. It was spun from an Aurelia Topknot, which is a blend of New Zealand wools.

Do you see anything that you like? If yes, then hop on over to the Canadian Cancer Society's donation page (credit cards accepted) and make a donation. Every $5 CDN donated gets you an entry for the yarny prizes. Every $25 CDN donated gets you an entry for the scarf, hat, and socks prizes (awarded separately) and qualifies for the yarn raffle, too. Hubby is notified of every donation so be sure to provide your email address when you donate so that we can reach you if you win a prize.

All donations $25 CDN and over will be issued an official tax receipt (I believe it is only usable by Canadian taxpayers). ETA: The Canadian Cancer Society is a registered US charity (number 98-600124) so the receipt is valid in the US, too. Know that 100% of your donation goes to the Canadian Cancer Society's research programs. Even the credit card fees aren't deducted from your donation amount. The entire ride is covered by the riders, volunteers, and generous sponsors.

The raffle starts today and runs til midnight PDT Sat June 4th. We'll do a random draw on the 5th and notify the winners shortly afterwards. As usual, the first person drawn will get first choice, the second person gets to choose next, and so on.

We will also be auctioning off one and possibly two of Gladys' woven scarves so keep your eyes peeled for the details.

There is one more favour that we ask of you. When the riders are climbing that last hill heading home, battling a vicious headwind, or heads down to keep the snow (it's a possibility) from blinding them, they look down and are reminded of who they are riding for. Written on their legs are the names of the people that have been touched by cancer - a husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father, cousin, co-worker, friend, and the list goes on... It is a tradition that started with the very first ride 6 years ago.

If there is someone who you would like hubby to ride for, please include their name in the "Company Name" field of your donation. We will make sure every name gets written on his legs and at 6'4", he's got a lot of leg real estate.

If you'd like to read about last year's ride, check out the links on the left sidebar. We were lucky enough to do some live blogging and we plan on doing it again this year.

Thank you for your generous support in helping us find a cure for this horrible disease.

a funny thing happened at the store

Yesterday, I was out shopping for parts for TNW (The New Wheel). First stop was Home Depot. I found suitable replacement springs for the bobbin brake but they didn't have the right size screw eye or cup/square hooks. The next stop was Lee Valley where I got the screw eye (only used one so I have 99 spares) and after much running around by the clerk, I finally decided on the cup hooks (only used 11 so I have 89 spares). My last stop was Canadian Tire for some fishing line and a metal garbage can (needed something flame-proof to hang the used tung oil rags to dry/cure). This is where my day gets interesting. I know next to nothing about fishing line but there's a harmless looking gentleman looking at fishing rods so I pull out my bobbin brake and approach him.

me: Excuse me. I was wondering if you can help me.
Him: Yes?
me: I'm wondering what weight/thickness this fishing line is
me: ::shows him the bobbin brake::
Him: It depends on what you want to catch. This looks thick enough to catch salmon.
me: No, I don't need the fishing line to catch fish. I need to make a repair with fishing line.
me: ::shows him a spool of 40lb fishing line:: Is this thick enough?
(You are probably thinking that I should hold the old fishing line next to the spool and compare thicknesses. That would work if the spool wasn't shrink wrapped and I could see the individual strands of clear monofilament)
Him: ::gives me a weird look after seeing the fishing line is attached to a screw eye and a spring:: Well, the heavier the line, the bigger the fish that you can catch.
me: ::internal ARGH!:: Thank you very much. You've been very helpful.
me: ::scurries off to pay for the 40lb fishing line::

BTW, 40lb is the right thickness and I can catch salmon with the remaining 199.6 yds.

stop me

I have a serious problem.


I picked up this little beauty Fri night. Sigh... I couldn't resist. It's so cute. And all the accessories for my other wheel fit this wheel. It's portable so I can take it places.

It definitely needs a little TLC. It's a bit rusty. I'm replacing all of the hooks on the flyer and all the bits for the bobbin tension. It also needs a new treadle/footman connector as the current piece of leather flexes and causes the treadle to clunk. I've wiped the wheel down twice with Murphy's oil soap because it was pretty dirty. It's about 3-4 shades lighter now. I'm going to rub it down with some tung oil tomorrow. I de-gunked the orifice. I started scraping it out with a bamboo skewer but had to resort to some alcohol to get it completely clean. All those years of spinning sure does create build-up. It spins fine despite the fact that there is a slight wobble in the wheel which is not surprising for something that is almost 30 years old. I'm looking forward to spinning on it.

This is it. I'm not buying any more wheels. Cross my heart. Pinky swear. You believe me, don't you?