A trip to the Children's Hospital

For me!

At long last it looks like the Long QT Syndrome genetic testing will begin in earnest. We met with the geneticists at the hospital yesterday and my blood is now on its way to having DNA extracted. All that is left to do is wait... first on financial approval from the hospital (which is fairly sure), and then probably 6 to 12 months more, while the people in Italy study our files and my blood. They tell us that if there is a gene issue that there's a 70% chance that they can identify that... well, that's a 70% better chance than we've ever had. My hope is that before Nini is a teenager, they'll be able to draw her blood and rule out LQT on the spot. Dida has never had symptoms, but that doesn't rule her out as a carrier.

As as an update... it didn't take the universe long to whack me in the head about the wind comment. Yesterday's ride home was near impossible; the wind was so fierce. As I was coming down HOME ROAD it was a direct headwind that slowed the bike down to a crawl.. without brakes I was just creeping down. The ride along the river was against a crosswind that wanted to push the bike over; trees were whipping around me and generally it was an hour of a special kind of hell.

Barely even knit last night. By 9:30 I was in bed.

Sometimes a person should just shut the heck up.

Dear HOME ROAD

Dear friggen unrelenting, summer-long headwind/crosswind:

Thank you. You made me strong and able. I'm sorry to have dissed you so bad all summer long, when in reality you were the greatest free training program available.

Bring it on (oh, please don't make me regret this).

Regards,
Annie

ps: I'm knitting Casbah socks to raise money for my Ride to Conquer Cancer. One pair is almost finished, and I have an order for a second. Nice, nice socks, I must say. I was knitting on the second sock on Saturday night, at Roller Derby, when a strapping young woman came flying into our faces and in fact, pasted Mug to the bleachers. Everyone lived through it, but it was scary for a while. Besides that? Super.Fun. Don't miss Roller Derby if you have a chance.

And totally unrelated:



Natalie Dee rocks. Plain and simple. You should buy her stuff.

Bath time for Apache

He's still small enough to bathe in the sink, but not for long. He's having extreme fun at this moment, as you can clearly see.



Here he is doing his impression of a whirling dervish. Roxy thinks he has gone crazy. I know this because she told me.



Here you have the cutest dog in the world. Tell me I'm wrong.



Crashed.

Two hours from now, after he's woken from his nap and gone outside for a pee (where he will dig, and roll in dirt), he'll look almost exactly like he did before we started. And that's ok.

Martinis and knitting

May lead to a long life?

PSA

Queens of the fiber cannot dye mushroom shades. So any of you tangled darts out there, don't be trying to trick me into doing that on account of me trying to raise cash for cancer.

That is all.

Did you see this in Knitting Daily?

A YouTube video on how to stretch silk cocoons, and then how to knit with them. To be honest, I wouldn't tug like that if I was going to knit, I would use the same technique as I do to spin, but I'd probably start with 4 or five layers instead of trying for one.

Up until the moment I saw this video I honestly believed that hankies were prepared in a way that did not kill the pupa. Processing. Processing. Processing.

Not even for money

That's all I have to say... tho I can see the logic in it if you needed a fingering weight lace, or planned on making yourself some silk socks (says the woman with a cone of white Zephyr).

Video is in Russian, but the words aren't necessary as far as I can tell.

If i had a camera in my hand

Today's picture would have been a little puppy with an entire mouthful of Qivuit. It was cuter than it was shocking; which was very. very. very.

So.. no pictures, but some news. On Sunday I will be doing my first training ride for the 2010 Ride to Conquer Cancer. I'm signed up and ready to go. What held me back was not knowing what percentage of funds raised would benefit the Alberta Cancer Foundation. The answer is 100%. Overhead is covered by a $50.00, non-tax deductible, fee paid by all participants.

I will be riding for myself, Mette, and Tracey 'Trak' Hooper.

If you receive a product in exchange for your donation, you will not receive a tax receipt, but if you donate through my forthcoming Alberta Cancer Foundation website, you will.

I'm warning you in advance that I'm going to be having sales.. my stash is up for grabs. I've got some really great dyeing ideas (yo.. mojo.. glad to see you back). I'm gonna be knitting for hire. I'll have some auctions.

I'm going to raise at least $2,500.00 CDN, and I'm going to be crossing that finish line next year. But not alone. You'll have pushed me all along those 200 kilometers.

(quietly humming 'wind beneath my wings')

2010, year of the nupp, year of Estonian, year of Orenburg

Year of crazy?

Of late I've been spinning Bison and Qiviut like a crazy woman, getting ready for 2010. I have almost all of the Bison in singles at the moment, and I plan on plying it with silk (which is not yet purchased.. I don't think I'll spin it).



I've spun miles of cobweb singles from the Qiviut, but I've barely touched it, overall. I have about 80 grams left to do.. the plan is to do 10 grams every day or so, but that hardly explains why it took me a year to do the first 30 grams.



After trials on my new Holly Tabachek Tibetan, on the Golding from Marilynn, and on the Cascade Tiger, I've decided to go with the Golding. It's a bit heavier than I'd like for the fiber, but the results are less fuzzy than with the Tabachek, and faster than the Tiger. My plan is to have all of those two fibers done and ready by the end of this year. As well, I washed about 50% of a Shetland fleece, ran it through the Pat Green Triple Picker, and then carded it on the Strauch Finest. The triple picker made a massive difference in the carding, and it ended up to be a joy to do. I might ply the Shetland singles with a Cashmerino cobweb single that I brought in from Colourmart (Haven't shopped there yet? Why the heck not?)

So it goes. At least that's the plan.

I'm not discussing the Cormo. Talk about your fly in the ointment.

I've barely written all summer

However, there has been lots going on; lots of knitting and spinning and birthdays and house fires, and fleece judging and work stuff and ... well, everything under the sun. I've got loads of photos to share, so in time I hope to catch up.

A gazillion to get you started.

Apache

This little guy has been growing like a weed, and now he looks like this:



We're really doing well together, and he's an absolute treasure. This latest picture of him was taken after he had a dig and a roll in the garden. It is impossible to keep him clean these days.

Everything he does is adorable, so I'll spare you all of the details.

Camelot

I finished the Camelot recently, and I love it so much that I'm considering knitting another. For your viewing enjoyment, here's Mug.. erm... mugging.