Almost empty

I’m writing this to you from the kitchen at my Mum’s house.  I’m here waiting for someone to pick some stuff up, the house is all but empty now, and it won’t be my mum’s house after next week.  I can’t help but think, as I sit here, writing to you, of how many times I’ve done this over the years. I finished books in this house, I’ve written countless blog posts here, doing just as I am now, except usually I sat at her kitchen table – gone now.  One of the fantastic things about working from home when the kids were small was that I was there for them, but it also meant there was often no quiet space when I had a deadline.  My office was the kitchen, and it was all full of kids.  When pressed, I would come here.  Erin too, I think, and Ian.  It’s just one of the thousand small ways that my Mum made things better for us, her influence being felt in our everyday lives.  We were so lucky to have her.

You know what else I feel lucky for? You guys.  Team Knit is edging towards our fundraising goals, and it’s all because you guys are awesome, we are so grateful.

Me                            Ken

Pato                         Cameron

Let’s spread the love around, shall we? Here’s a great place to start, Michelle, from Hagstone Publishing, is offering a copy of their great True Heart pattern, that she’ll be sending to Jennifer C. (Michelle sent a really sweet note explaining that this pattern was a labour of love between two friends, and I love that. She’s right, it’s very appropriate.)

Susan B went into her stash and found this gorgeous Abbey Yarns kit for Darlarna Snowflake twined mitts.  (What a great kit, Susan, I don’t know how you’re giving that away.)  I hope that Carrie J loves them!

Delores has the most beautiful skein to send along, 1 skein of Fleece Artist National Parks Collection in the Forillon, QC colours (grey cliffs of Mont-Saint-Alban and meadows of fireweed).  Collection was created for the 150 birthday of Canada and was a special issue yarn.  It’s going to go live with Kathleen R.  (It makes me pretty happy that the random selection was another Canadian.)

Kate has two beautiful things to re-home.  Three skeins of Malabrigo Bay Silkpaca in Archangel,  those are going to fulfill their destiny with Lies S.

and one spectacular skein of Lotus Cashmere Fingering Weight in the most lovely sunshine yellow in the world.

(If that can’t fix your life on a cold and dreary day, I don’t know what it would take.) Pomme make something special, will ya?

The lovely Jill has two very nice gifts,  she’d like to send this bag and it’s matching yarn to Nancy R.

and this beauty to Laura P.  Three cheers for Jill!

Jasmine, from the delightfully nerdy Etsy shop Tesla Knits (go look. I’ll wait.) has this gorgeous Great Wave project bag, with a companion tape measure (also nerdy) and fantastic stitch markers, to go off to (hopefully nerdy) Jamie R.

Julia, Robynn and Emily would like to donate a copy of their amazing pattern collection – Lost in the Woods, to Mary Jo M.  (I hope she loves it, I just spent 10 minutes looking at it, it’s gorgeous. Totally worth a poke through.)

Lily, who appears to have excellent taste in yarn, has two skeins of West Yorkshire Spinners 100% Wensleydale yarn that she’ll be mailing off to Rebecca S.

Look at this bit of loveliness!  Anne, talented as she is generous, has four beautiful handmade (by her!) project bags and stitchmarker sets.  I think they’re so pretty.  This beautiful one is for Marji.

This one is for Stephanie E. (Not me, sadly, it’s so good.)

Anne E is I hope, going to really love this one.

And Susan G should enjoy this beauty.

Diane went into the stash, and when she came out, she inexplicably thought this great yarn should go to a new home.

2 skeins Audine Wools 100% Superwash Merino DK weight in Naturelle, will be going to live with Judith F.  Thanks Diane!

Finally, you guys know I love TillyFlop Designs, (If you don’t know who they are, click and meet the genius that is Julie.) Julie’s sprung for a gift again this year, and it’s a charmer.

Her Stocking Stitch wrapping paper, some of her notecards and (I love this so much) a Stocking Stitch tea towel, will all be going to live with Lisa RR, who I think we shall all agree, is a properly lucky duck.

Ok! That’s it, I’m off.  This weekend is a training deadline for us – all of Team Knit has to complete their back-to-backs before Monday, which means riding at least 90km both days. It’s cooled off a little, thank goodness, but it’s still going to be a ridiculous challenge.  (I think everyone but Ken is a little behind on training. Ken got his back-to-backs done last weekend, sweeping rides as a Team Lead.)

I’ll try and instagram so you can tell if I make it.

PS. The Cozyknitter, purveyor of fine self striping sock yarns, has, once again, a Bike Rally colourway.  A portion of the proceeds go to Team Knit, and her yarn is great.

 

 

59 thoughts on “Almost empty

  1. Thank you, Stephanie, for the choosing my name for the ebook, Lost in the Woods. I hope my donation helps and I know I will love picking a project or two from the ebook.

  2. May the wind be at your back both days, and may Joe find a good sale on your favorite muscle rub! (Poor Meg, having to explain why Grandma can’t sit down!)

  3. Hello, I am from the United States and I wanted to donate some of my yarn to help you raise money. How do I go about doing so? Can I still donate? I understand I should have sent this earlier. Unfortunately my boyfriend of 18 years passed away unexpectedly last Saturday morning. Things have been chaotic ever since. I actually taught him how to knit. He wanted to why I liked so much. I even taught him some of the terminology. Frogging was his favorite. Last month he took me to the local yarn shop and heard a knitter complain she had just made a mistake. He said “Oh, I’m sorry. I hope you don’t have to do much frogging”. The knitters at the table looked at him and said you know what frogging means? He said, my girlfriend explained it to me. I’m sorry for the long reply. I just thought you might enjoy the memory. Thank You. Darci

  4. For the home stretch, Cameron, Ken and Pato need to show off their fibre-related skills: skein-holding for ball winding, kintting, spinning, stahs enhance,met enabling, handknit modeling…anything!

  5. Thinking good thoughts for you for the weekend, trainingwise and otherwise.
    Amazing karmic balancing gifts-I am wiping drool off my phone!

  6. “properly lucky duck” yep that’s LisaRR alright. She’s my sister and in Paris right now. I’m reading your post waiting for the coffee to drip and there she is winning a prize! Enjoy the cooler weather this weekend so excellent for backyard coffee knitting and hanging out with babies.

  7. Thank you for the beautiful skein that is coming my way- you and your fellow riders inspire me every single year and I’m so glad I can help a little bit.

  8. You describe life, and loss, brilliantly. And through it all, you remain passionate and generous. You are amazing! Your Mom is proud of you, I am sure, Stephanie – as are all of us.

    I will make my customary donations to the Rally soon – I had occasion to avail myself of our amazing Canadian healthcare system, recently, and attest to its value and virtues…

    Wishing you the best riding conditions throughout the weekend, and beyond.

  9. Having had, together with a couple of siblings, to clean out my mum’s house in Feb, I can emoathise. It’s dirty, sad, happy, and all those other things. My thoughts are with you.

  10. Hello!
    Winner Laura P. here. Thank you, thank you for picking my name! Thanks, too, to Jill for donating a such beautiful gift. This is exactly what I would have picked for myself – how’s that for Karma? Magical!!

  11. Since your fame brought so many people to my etsy store, I am donating 10% of all sales from the day of this post to July 15th (the day my etsy store closes) to the bike rally. I made the first donation today and will do the same next week. Thank you so much for being a part of the bike rally year after year. I am so proud of you!

  12. It is hard to empty a house that has so much memories. I think you are doing wonderful, keeping the positive memories in the front. I am thrilled to give three skeins of silkpaca (!!!!) a destiny. Thank you so (and Kate) much! And ride like the wind! You really make a difference in the world.

  13. Come next payday I’m making a big donation! And does the lovely Anne have an Etsy shop – I love her little project bags and would love to support her!

  14. Really Stephanie? I viewed the Cozy Knitter website to see the Rally Sock yarn – totally blew my self striping sock yarn diet (I try to be specific so the goal seems more achievable – as if)……. the diet is desperately needed – but could not withstand the temptation……………. two lovely new skeins headed my way and these may be gateway skeins…..Darn it

  15. “Delores has the most beautiful skein to send along, 1 skein of Fleece Artist National Parks Collection in the Forillon, QC colours (grey cliffs of Mont-Saint-Alban and meadows of fireweed). Collection was created for the 150 birthday of Canada and was a special issue yarn. It’s going to go live with Kathleen R. (It makes me pretty happy that the random selection was another Canadian.)”

    I am the Kathleen R. of the above post – my sweet skein arrived last week, and it is lovely! Delores thoughtfully packaged in a sweet project bag with a handwritten note tucked in. In an absolute small world story, not only is Delores a fellow Canadian, she is a fellow Edmontonian, so we’ve made plans over the next few weeks to meet one another at our LYS and have a knit together. This knitty-community makes my heart very happy.

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