I had finished the chemo mid November and the radiation the day before Christmas, so at the beginning of this year walking up a flight of stair would have me huffing and puffing, I had no endurance what so ever.  I signed up for oncology rehab and within a month my strength and endurance had dramatically improved.  It was not just a physically improvement, it also helped me lift my spirits and kept me positive.

Just over 7,000 women and some men (who are breast cancer survivors) participated in this year’s race.  The course is rather nice and it starts in mid-town Anchorage and heads downtown.

And then along the coastal trail…

and by Westchester Lagoon.

The camaraderie was wonderful.

I have been knitting and have finished La Cumparsita and Stork’s Nest Scarf, but have yet to block them.  Hope to have pictures to posts soon.

And Congratulations to the US for a well played game against England.

It’s not to hard to guess who I am rooting for.

I hope to catch the final half of the US vs England match after I finish my walk in the Alaska Run For Woman.

I will be cheering for participants in both events.

and arriving at a new one… how does this become a jacket?

Well… you fold this over here… and that over there… and ta da!

The only seaming that is done is along the top of the sleeves.  After completing the seaming I continued a 3 stitch i-cord around the neckline and added some buttons.  The i-cord is not part of the original pattern.

The jacket now awaits the arrival of my grand niece.

As I mentioned in my previous post I finished the Triinu Scarf by Nancy Bush.  Here it is after its bath and blocking.

I knitted a longer border than what the pattern asked for.  I think the longer borders that I have seen in Victorian Lace Today have influenced me.

Finally starting to feel like spring, most of the snow is gone, and the buds are visible on the trees, yeah!

I was again the victim of  an enabler Jeanne, so I ordered and very quickly received some Madelinetosh Prairie (lace weight merino) in Blackcurrent.  I choose  the shawl, La Cumparsita by Marnie MacLean.

A niece who is also my god child is expecting her first, a girl late this May.   Ooh.. I get to do baby knitting.   An outfit for an American doll and some booties long ago are the only knitting I have done for wee ones.  I made some batts with purples, some pink and white merino and will spin a 2 ply dk to knit EZ’s Baby Surprise Jacket.

EZ writes the pattern as if she is having a conversation with you which is very charming, but I do better with charts and more precise directions.  I found this YouTube video very helpful.

I decided to knit one in another yarn first so I could get to know the pattern.

I am using Bluemoon’s Socks That Rock Medium Weight in Jade.

I am really loving the colour right now, since mother nature around here hasn’t figured out that it is SPRING.  It’s snowed a total of a foot this past week!

Now where was I?….

Spinning… I am working on a project for next year’s challenge for my guild.

The fiber is a merino/bombyx blend, 50/50, colour is Iris (I can’t get enough of this colour, it’s gorgeous!) by Chasing Rainbow and I’ll be spinning a 2 ply lace to knit Aeolian.  I haven’t picked the beads out yet.

Have to have some socks on needles.  It’s my own pattern that I’m calling Pinstripe Socks.

Weaving… on my third dishtowel and have one to go before I take them off the loom.

My loom does not have much of a shed (the gap in the warp when a harness is lifted), I think that’s what it’s called.  So I got another shuttle, a thinner one.  The shuttle is beautifully handmade from Bluster Bay Woodworks, it is a Swedish style shuttle made from Bloodwood.  This shuttle travels a lot more smoothly and faster than my previous one.  I also like how the ends are shaped to be easy held and gripped.

I did finish something, well almost…  it just needs blocking.

Triinu Scarf by Nancy Bush
Zephyr by Jaggerspun White 1 skein
#4 Addi Lace Needles

The scarf is a Confirmation gift for #2.

Gotta go … I have a package containing  Baby Ull to open.

A couple of weekends ago I participated in a “Comprehensive Spinning Workshop” taught by Celia Quinn. I had a fabulous fiberlous time!  I received over 82 different samples of fibers to work with.

Some cottons…

Cashmeres and Camels…

And some Silks…

Including the worm/bug!   (Celia has a sense of humor, I think she is a fan of  Tundra,  an Alaskan Comic Strip, very funny!)

There were lots of fibers that I like spinning, Combed Baby Camel Down, Combed Cashmere and Combed Buffalo were my favorites.  The Yak was pretty good too.

My least favorite was the Shorn German Rabbit, the fibers had a mind of their own and so hard to control.  Spraying/misting them with water didn’t help much.

I really liked spinning Targhee for the first time, the fiber has a lot of bounce and rather delightful.

Celia would hand the samples out in groups, for example bag # 4 containing Luster Wools with samples of scoured locks of Romney, carded Coopworth and combed Blue Faced Leicester.  She would then give a short lecture on the type of samples including different approaches on how to spin them.  We would save part of the sample and taped it to an index card, and then spin the remaining sample.  To save time during the workshop, we would spin some brightly coloured waste fiber in between the samples so we could easy distinguish them.  We didn’t stop to ply, most of us did it later at home.

When finished, each index card had a sample of the fiber, a spun single sample and a plied (2) sample along with any notes.  I then put the index cards into a 3″ three ring binder to use as a future reference.

This is the second workshop I have taken with Celia as the instructor.  She is great!  Celia is very knowledgeable about her craft but what I think makes her a good instructor is that she makes you feel very comfortable in her class.  She is very eager to help and answer any question.

Here, Celia is demonstrating how to spin cotton on a charkha, she also demonstrated how to use a takli supported spindle.  We all got a try, my first time for both devices.  My guild has a charkha and I think I might be renting it in the near future, it was rather fun.  The key thing I learned about spinning short fibers like cotton, is to spin/treadle  faster!

I had a really good time at the workshop and would highly recommend it.

I leave you with a picture of our guild’s president, I call it “Spinning with Muskox”.

Still wanting to knit while watching the olympics, I picked up a project I had started during chemo but put aside because of problems concentrating.

Shetland Triangle Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark
Cashmere Silk Blend 2-ply
US #6 Addi Turbo Lace Circular Needles

Oh what a difference… the cashmere/silk was such dream, “it was like buttah”, my confidence was restored.

The shawl was finished about 10 minutes before the flame was put out,

and it block beautifully.

I would like to give some recognition to some Alaskans who have a very good olympics.

Kikkan Randall who did the best ever US women’s finish (10th) in Ladies’ Individual Sprint Classic.

Kerry Weiland who won a silver medal as part of the US Women’s Hockey Team.

and Holly Brooks who did a great showing for someone who was a part time athlete and didn’t have benefit of training full time.  Her coach is a local and not part of the US team.

My next post will be “Knitting with Celia”, lots of fun and fibers!

I imagine myself as a biathlon athlete…

I completed the first loop in good time, I take my shoots at the targets…

and I have missed most of them, so now I have a bunch of penalty laps to complete.

I may be out of medal contention, but I still think I can finish the race.

I learned from reading one of the harlot’s posts that citius is part of the Olympic motto “Citus, Altius Fortius” with means “Faster, Higher, Stronger”.

..and I do want to increase my knitting speed.

Another reason why I decided to participate was so I could get a project done in time to donate  to a charity auction.

So this is what I decided to do.

Icarus by Miriam Felton
Hand dyed Araucania, 70% Wool/15% Silk/15% Bamboo
Addi Turbo Lace #6, 4.0 mm

So let the games begin…

And this is how she painted the Danskos.

I now call them my “Happy Shoes”, I smile every time I gaze upon them.

Now for the something ugly, the main reason I haven’t posted for awhile.  I woke up one morning, and as I was getting my bearings before I would get up, I had an itch.  As I was scratching it, I could feel a lump… it was on the side of my left breast.  My first reaction was “Where did that come from?” and then I better get this checked out.   Within 10 days they confirmed it was breast cancer.  Then the whirlwind started.  Tests, surgery, trips to ER, tests, chemo, change in chemo treatment because I was having severe reactions like not breathing, tests, new chemo treatment, more tests, and as of today I am in my second week of radiation which is 5 days a week.  The hardest of all of this was telling my children (all teens).

In this whirlwind, there have been rays of sunshine, from family, friends, neighbors, fellow parishioners and last but not least members of my guild.  I am very blessed that I do not have to go through this alone.  The doctors, nurses and technicians have been so sweet as well as very competent.

I hope to be posting more frequently, I was able to do some knitting/spinning/weaving during this time that I’ll share with you.

And if it’s been awhile, go get tested.

I am using Knit Picks Kettle Dyed Sock Yarn  Bordeaux and Eggplant for the warp and some hand spun Ashland Bay Rose Quartz Merino , 2 ply for the weft.

Well I am officially hooked, thanks mostly to Alice and Pamela.

While recouping from some surgery, I got a call from a friend who said that she was had decided to leave the state.  She mention that one of the things that she wasn’t going to be taking with her was a loom and if there was anybody I knew who would be interested.  So I very happy to report that I have something new in my living room, thank you Mada.

I am very excited.

The loom needs cleaning but I think from first inspection it looks to be in very good shape.

Yesterday as I was knitting (Fountain Pen Shawl) in my living room, I heard the heddles of the loom start to rattle and as they got louder I could then feel the earthquake.   The quake gave us a good shake, it was 5.4 and about 60 miles away.  We had a few good size aftershocks since.

I am indeed very happy with my new loom/earthquake detector.