The Prize? Lorna's Laces BABY!

Thank you for the continued support for "Knitbloggers for Blood"! I've got some blood donations coming in, as well as prize donations from Yarntopia and Mama Llama. The first prize is out of my personal stash of Lorna's Laces....Color: Uptown.



Keep the entries coming so I can send these babies out! I will keep doing these drawings as long as I get donations! Enter as many times as you donate!!!

What else have I been knitting? Well, I knit these Chemo caps for my mom to wear while she is temporarily hair deprived.




The brown one is Shedir and the blue one is Odessa. Both were very enjoyable knits in two colors of the LOVELY Rowan Calmer yarn. Odessa was an easy knit with a pattern that is easy to memorize. Sedir was only a bit more complicated because of the chart involved.



A word about charts....I used to believe that I could only knit with charts at home with a magnifying glass with lots of light and a fist full of post-its. NOT so! I knit Shedir mostly on planes. I simply brought Scotch tape with me and taped the chart to the tray table in front of me and it worked Perfectly! It was even better than being at home because, the cozyiness of airplane seats let the the chart be right at eye level IN my face.



Odessa was altered slightly by not adding the beads. I felt that it may cause some irritation with a sensitive bald scalp, but I can't wait to make one WITH the beads.




I'll leave you all with a taste of fall from Illinios!

Buttons!

Thank you so much for everyone's support! I've added buttons for the contest in the side bar.

Next time.....I'l reveal the first prize....and yes there will be actual knitting content. :)

Wonderful news!!!

The doctor has told my mom that she had her last round of Chemo last Friday!! We were expecting at least 2 more rounds, but the doc says that the CT scan looks great!

We are all happy, most of all Mom. Thank you for all your prayers and good wishes. She is not considered "Cancer-Free", but we are getting there.

With this happy news I want to start a CONTEST! I am calling it "Knitbloggers for Blood". Here's how it works....

-Donate blood (or a blood product, ie platlets, plasma) yourself!
-Take a friend, husband, adult child (you get my drift)
-Send me a notification of your donation(s) including: your name, e-mail address, location (region of the country is fine), and who you roped into donating with you. Edited to add: You get one entry into the contest per donation! So if you take yourself and your hubby you get two entries!!
-Duration: Donations given today or after.
-I will draw a random name once approximately every 25 donations.
-Prizes will be knitting related (duh!)

Please consider making a donation! Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming and blood will be needed especially during those times! If you would like to donate a prize, that will also be appreciated, just let me know.

The last thing....Please spread the word...Please make an announcment on your blogs, let people know. It's for a good cause, the families of those in the hospital waiting for blood will thank you with tears of joy....I know I did.

It Ain't all bad...

This week me and the sock begrudgingly boarded a flight for the Hoosier state, very apprehensive about this weeks' work. And come to find out, I was totally right to be apprehensive....I was met at the airport with line "cutters", dealing with lost bags, dealing with work issues, getting yelled at very publicly for something totally not my fault, a very stiff neck from being hunched over a picnic table all day, and covered in oil from the floor. I thought the rest of the week was doomed, and it still may be (it ain't over yet!), but I walked into the hotel today and found out that I was the "guest of the day" and got upgraded to this...



It may not cancel out all the bad stuff, but it helps. BTW I had to restrain the sock from jumping right in!

Knitting stuff? You got it....this is what I'm working on right now.



Very nice diamond pattern from "Knitting Vintage Socks" By our friend Nancy Bush. Even though the yarn is varigated, the pattern doesn't seem to get lost in the colors...at least it seems like that to me....

Trying To Find Beauty And Joy...

In the middle of a physical and mental rain storm we are serching for beauty and joy at The Traveling Knitter today.

Thankfully we siezed the one rain free day on Saturday to take a ride in a park in the middle of Houston. I don't know about you but I'm sort of impressed. Being a Chicagoan at heart Houston is sort of a let down, but these sights helped lift the mood. :)




At this stop, I had to fight the urge to plant my butt on the bench and veg out with the sock, but the purpose of going on the bike ride was to work out and I am proud to say....goal accomplished! :)

Before I go any further I gotta thank my readers for the support. Mom's Cancer is very stressful and is taking it's toll on me. Please don't think I'm ignoring you if I don't respond quickly!

And now for some FO's! During my abence I've done some knitting and the following is just part of some of my work.



Yarn: Socks That Rock Sock Candy
Pattern: Simple Toe-up Short Row Toe and Heel out of my head
Colorway: Don't remember sorry
Mods: The whole project was a mod! :)
Recipient: An Auntie

Comments on Yarn: I gotta say I have some mixed feelings about this yarn. I LOVE the colors. I love the thickness. I love that it's Cotton and summery. I DON'T love the roughness during knitting...maybe it's just me. I guess I just need a cotton yarn blend....but let me tell ya the dye job is what will keep me coming back!



The Very Delayed Sock Posse Socks!

Yarn: Fleece Artist Sock yarn
Pattern: Mata Hari
Colorway: Yarntopia
Mods: None since it was more like a stitch pattern.
Recipient: Mom. As you can see from the pic, they were finished at her bedside in the hospital, and I gave them to her two seconds after they were off the needles.

Comments on Yarn: Love the yarn.....don't know which I love more STR or Fleece Artist. I'm leaning towards STR but I will be experimenting with both in the future, as the both live in my stash.

I leave you dear ones with a question...what are the opinions out there on Mountain Colors Bearfoot? Does the Mohair content make it scratchy?

Socks Of Sorrow

Done
Yarn: Socks That Rock
Colorway: Tonalite
Pattern: Jaywalkers
Mods: Short Row heel and toe (DANGER, DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!)

After my long absence I am back and hope to resume blogging. This has been, unquestionably the worst summer of my life. I'm glad it's come to a close, and hopefully I'll see the BEST holiday season of my life because my family and I definately need it.

My Mom was diagnosed with Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma. She is on Chemo (Chop)and is physically doing ok. We are currently in a depression cycle of the illness process. Outlook for going into remission is gaurdedly optimistic.

My Debut back are my "SOCKS OF SORROW" I call them that for many reasons: they were knit during MANY family disagreements including tears and name calling, they were knit while in the hospital, they were knit while I was really too tired to knit and had to be frogged 3 times in an hour. Not surprisingly they have an issue, the short row feature of the socks do not work well with the jawalker stitch pattern....there is NO stretch. I was the only one who could battle them on my feet so they become mine, flaws and all.

I want to get back in to the swing of things and reconnect with my "peeps" so if you read this please let me know that you are out there.

I think it is significant that I (totally randomly)chose Friday the 13th for a comeback...start the ominous music.