People ask me why I walk, and raise money, and am so involved with the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. To understand, watch the short video I made titled “Boston Closing Ceremony” and look at the pictures of the youth crew members in their bright yellow sweatshirts. The tears they shed are for mothers who have died from breast cancer. One of them said at the evening activity at the Boston walk, she wishes she could have a hug from her mother. Need I say more as to why I do this?
Money from the Avon Walk supports many organizations that help women coping with cancer right now. Including support for more than 95 “safety net” hospitals that treat the medically underserved, offering unique and vital Patient Navigator programs and state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment. The Avon Foundation has helped more than 1,000,000 women in the U.S. receive a mammogram. More than two-thirds of these women were uninsured, and more than half were from minority populations.
Your donation helps provide services to women who may otherwise not receive them because of either inadequate health insurance or none at all. Any amount is very much appreciated ! Learn more about the good work performed by the Avon Foundation and the Avon Walk –> http://avonwalk.org
To make a donation to my walk –> http://www.avonwalk.org/goto/kr. Thank you, Karen
| * Workload getting to you?
* Feeling stressed?
* Too many Priority 1 assignments? Here is the new low cost way to cope with extreme stress. Guaranteed to work and bring a smile back to your face.
|
|
 |
Gather 2 paperclips and 2 rubber bands. |
 |
Assemble them as shown in the picture to the left.
|
 |
Apply apparatus to corners of mouth as shown in the picture to the left. Enjoy your day |
The mechanical Dinosaur descended on the town, terrorizing the local citizenry. Ruby sounds the alarm, baying loudly and Charlie answers the call.
Charlie is very brave as he circles the killer reptile. He looks for his chance to sink his teeth into the soft flesh of the monster’s neck. He closes in for the attack and the Dinosaur bellows angrily and slashes his mighty tail.
Who will win this epic battle of good vs evil. Will our hero vanquish the monster and be Ruby’s hero? You’ll just have to watch the video to find out.
Obviously, this tip works best for those of you who live in the frozen north. My sister held a golf on the ice fund raising event. She raises money each year for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).
She set up 9 flags on the ice, drilled holes for the cups and provided the players with clubs and balls. She asked each person to donate a “greens fee” to play the course. The players tried not to hit the ball too hard, otherwise it went careening down the lake.
The kids were amazing! They have no fear and were running after the balls.
Afterward, she served hot chocolate which she cleverly kept warm in a crock pot.
For those of you in warmer climes or just don’t like to go out in the cold, you can always set up a course in your yard on a warm, sunny day.
One of my favorite knitting pattern books is Rowan’s Bigger Picture. I was very lucky to find a copy on eBay, because at that time the book was out of print. It seems that it may be back in print. Just did a quick search and found it for sale at the Yarn Market.
I have already made two patterns from the book. Each sweater was a present for one of my daughters. This time I made one for me. I chose the pattern “Fergus” which can be seen in the picture below or a larger version here. Gentle readers of this blog know that I rarely stick to the pattern, especially when it comes to the color choice. The one in the book was knit up in an off white. Ho-hum. The Stitching Bee had Rowan Big Wool on sale and I chose 3 colors which I felt complimented each other nicely.
I love working with this yarn. It is made of pure merino wool. Because it is so chunky, one uses very large knitting needles. The sweater was knit up on size 17 needles. The totally number of stitches cast on for the sweater was 92 (this was both front and back, because I knit it in the round). I have knit hats with more stitches than this. Because the wool is chunky and the needles are large, the knitting goes very, very fast.
I like to knit pullover sweaters in the round, even though everyone tells me this is not correct and the sweater will not hang right. It’s just way faster and less sewing. Call me a rebel.
To give you an idea of just how large a #17 needle is, take a look at the photo on the left. There are 3 sizes of needles pictured (ignore the needle on the top, it is the other half of the circular needle). The sizes are from left to right #8, #10 and #17. When I knit sweaters with “normal” weight wool, I use the #8 needles. The #17 remind me of the large black pencils I used in grade school when learning to print.
I made two modifications to the pattern. First, I tapered the waist in a little bit as I felt the sweater would be too bulky. Second, I did not knit the collar in the 3 x 2 rib pattern, but rather knit the entire collar in stockinette. This means that when I turn down the collar, it shows the purl stitches. I like the contrast of the purl stitches against the knit stitches of the sweater body.
Every wonder what songs are played during the opening and closing ceremonies at the Avon Walk? I found an iMix list on iTunes of songs that someone put together of the greatest hits, primarily those played at the finish line before closing ceremonies.
You can see the list here: http://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStoreServices.woa/ws/publishIMix?imixid=258012591&sf=143441 or open iTunes and search the iMix section for Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
There are a total of 47 songs from artists ranging from Goo Goo Dolls to Liz Phair to Tina Turner.
New walkers want to know about using iPods/MP3 players during the walk. The answer is “No”. For safety reasons walkers are asked not to use anything that would prevent them for hearing instructions, traffic, etc while walking. The walk route is not blocked off. Depending in which city you walk, you may be walking on heavily trafficked streets. For example, in NY the walk takes you through a good part of Manhattan and a section of Brooklyn. The number of streets crossed is too many to count. And being from NY, I can tell you, the taxis and cars do not yield for pedestrians, even though they are supposed to stop.
I have found that chatting with fellow walkers is one of the best parts of the walk. You end up starting to talk while waiting at an intersection and continue the conversation while you walk a bit. Then you meet someone new to speak with. I’ve met people from all over the country and many other countries this way.
A young, male aardvark presented with a deep penetrating abdominal wound inflicted by a beagle.
The skin had sustained a laceration of approximately 7.5 cm starting below the xiphoid process and extending to the pubis. There was evidence that some of the aardvark’s fiberfill had been extracted. The surgeon thoroughly examined the wound and determined that underlying structures were intact. The laceration was cleaned of any foreign material or debris. The area of the repair was anesthetized by injecting a local anesthetic.
The physician trimmed any edges that were jagged or extremely uneven. There was no need to debride the area. Although the laceration was deep, no sutures were placed under the skin. The skin wound was closed with a running stitch. Although a non-absorbable suture material was used it will not be removed later. No dressing was applied.
After a short recovery period, the aardvark was returned to the beagle for further abuse.
I searched on Ravelry.com for a new mitten pattern. Up until know, I have been knitting a very basic mitten with no designs. I have always been intrigued by cable pattens but thought it must be very complicated to create the intertwined effect. There are thousands of mitten patterns posted on the website. Narrowing my search to those with free patterns available, I stumbled on one called Bella’s Mittens. I admit to only vaguely being aware of Bella and that is mostly because the latest Twilight movie was heavily promoted recently. You can view the original mittens on the Ruth Cross website.
I chose Rowan’s Cocoon yarn in shale for the project. I thought this colorway would best show off the cable design. And as an added bonus it should not show dirt as easily as a lighter colored yarn. The yarn is a blend of 80% Merino wool and 20% Kid mohair. It feels incredible soft and luxurious.
Did you ever wonder what a Mohair looks like? Turns out there is no actual Mohair beasty. Mohair is a term used to refer to the silk-like fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. The wool is both durable and resilient. It is notable for its high luster and sheen. Mohair is composed mostly of keratin, a protein found in the hair, wool, horns and skin of all mammals. While it has scales like wool, the scales are not fully developed, merely indicated. Thus, mohair does not felt like wool. Mohair increases its diameter with the age of the goat, growing along with the animal. Fine hair from younger animals is used for finer applications such as clothing, and the thicker hair from older animals is more often used for carpets and heavy fabrics intended for outerwear. [1]
As it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas, what with all the snow that fell this week, I decided to knit myself a pair of mittens. I had a skein of Cascade 220 Paints, Peruvian Highland wool yarn, in shades of blues and purples which are my favorite colors. I picked up the yarn a year or two ago when a knitting shop in the area went out of business.
I cast on the two mittens using magic loop technique and began knitting the two mittens at the same time. I found that this ensures the two mittens or socks end up the same size. Apparently, my knitting tension parallels my daily tension and becomes looser when I am relaxed and tighter when I am stressed. The size of the final pieces can be off by as much as 1/2″, which shows up in socks and mittens.
I knit the mittens over the past few days, finishing the top seam last night. As I started to prepare to knit the thumbs, I noticed a little problem. I had knit 2 right hand mittens. I have enough yarn to make on more mitten, hopefully this time I will remember to make a left hand one. Or I can frog (rip) one of the mittens back to the thumb and make it a lefty. Decisions, decisions…..
The snow stopped over night and we ended up with about 8 inches of very fine powder. I’m not a skier, but I think this is the kind of snow that would be perfect for skiing. It was very light and easy to shovel.
I let the dogs out in the yard. Charlie immediately ran out into the snow and began frolicking, kicking up snow, and burying his face in the fresh powder. Ruby was more reserved. She spent most of the time on the walkway, which had been cleared of snow. After a while, she ventured into the snow and even did a little frolicking, too.
I brought Charlie’s blue dumbbell toy outside for him to play with. He played with it in the snow the same way he did in the pool. He stands over it and pushes it underneath him with his feet. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy this game and had absolutely no interest in going in the house. Ruby on the other hand, decided she had had enough of the snow after about 10 minutes and stood at the door.
The forecast today called for a major snowstorm moving up the East coast. The snow started to fall around 1:00 in the afternoon. Charlie and Ruby have been enjoying themselves running around the backyard and kicking up snow.
Late in the afternoon, I decided to bake the dogs some Christmas cookies. I searched the internet for a recipe and found a large selection to choose from. Unfortunately, almost all of them called for at least one ingredient which I did not have in my cupboard. Perhaps readers of this blog stock these items, but my provisions lean toward the more mundane. Here is a list of just some of the items the recipes called for: powered milk, spelt, wheat germ, brewers yeast, beef bouillon granules, bacon grease, molasses, Bulgar wheat, liver powder, soy flour, meat drippings. I am sure each of these items would impart a flavor to the biscuits which the dogs would enjoy.
I finally came across a few recipes for which I had the ingredients available. As I mentioned at the top of this post, it is snowing heavily, and I had no intention of venturing out to find the aforementioned items. The recipe I settled on called for flour, baking powder, peanut butter, milk and shredded carrots. The recipe can be found here.
The cookies rolled out easily and I used cookie cutters to make the shapes. Once in the oven, a smell of baking carrots wafted through the kitchen. I sure hope that these dogs will like the taste of baked carrots. Well, of course I have no doubt that Ruby will eat the biscuits. She will eat anything, really, absolutely anything.
Once the biscuits had cooled, I gave each dog one. The dogs ate the biscuits in record time and gave them 2 paws up.
Be a member of my Avon Walk for Breast Cancer support team on Facebook. I'm trying to get 1000 people before the NY walk in October 
