I’m pretty sure that I burned out on the crochet.  I was feeling pretty good about it – Lucy left a comment saying that it takes her about 4 minutes to do a hole (I like to think that she’s not weaving in the ends) and instead of that being demoralizing, I was galvanized. I know it’s taking me 10 minutes longer per hole, but do you see what it means? It means there’s room for improvement, so II sat down, turned on my timer, went as fast as I could (turning things into a sport is sometimes distractingly fun) and when I was done I looked at the timer. 13 minutes. STILL 13 minutes.  Before I could think something foul about Lucy (which is totally not fair, she’s lovely – it’s not her fault she’s annoyingly skilled) I decided to put it down. Walk away. I’ll look at it later or tomorrow or maybe I’m totally not thinking through how unique and beautiful this scarf could be with one only one end done.  Eh? Think of that?

In the meantime, it’s Tuesday, and I made a vow to spin this Tuesday, and most of them between now and the rally, because I’d like to come up with prizes for Karmic Balancing Gifts this year, and I think they could be my handspun, if I can keep up the pace.

In case you weren’t around last year (or lots of years before that) when I fundraise, I give out Karmic Balancing Gifts. If you contribute, your name goes in for a draw (if you want it to)  and you might get something nice. I know some people would call these prizes, but I know for a fact that you guys donate because you’re awesome, not because you might get a prize and that means that these little presents are just that. Gifts – you do something nice, and then something nice happens to you, you get a warm and lovely glow, knowing that because you’re you the world is a better place, and then whammo – maybe a little yarn shows up.

The year before last I knit a few things and spun a few things, and I auctioned them off. This raised a ton of money for the Bike Rally. I did hear back from a few of you that you wished that this stuff hadn’t gone to the highest bidder, that you wished that you had a chance to get my handspun, or some beautiful knitted thing even if you could only afford to donate $5, and you know what, those people were right. A $5 donation is just as worthy as any other, karma-wise, and the only thing that should matter is that you gave as much as you were able, so this year I’m going to (mostly) level the playing field, and I’m going to start by drawing the first name tomorrow. I spun this gorgeous Fiber Optic braid last year,

and I turned it into this beautiful gradient yarn.

I can’t guarantee the yardage, but it’s about 200 metres of very pretty fingering/dk yarn. It’s not perfect, because it was spun by me, but it is a thing to behold, and you can behold it in your very own house if I pick your name out of the hat.

How do you get your name in the hat? You donate to someone on our little team, and then after you do, you send an email to me (stephanie@yarnharlot.ca) with “enter me” in the subject line, and YOUR ADDRESS and NAME in the body.  (It’s a good idea to let me know in the email if you want to be considered for spinning gifts. It comes up.)

If you’re feeling the mojo, and you’d like to give a gift, send me an email with “good karma” in the subject line, and I’ll get back to you.  This year (to try and avoid how overwhelming this task was last year – you all are so generous I could barely manage, a delightful problem I’d like not to repeat) I’m going to have you mail your gift straight to the person who it’s intended for – so you’ll email me a picture and a description, and where you’re willing to mail to, and when I pull a name I’ll email you the particulars. That way we save on postage by the gift only making one trip, and things don’t get complicated at my house and post office, as I pick things up only to mail them off again. I don’t mind the work to do this, but I want to do it well.

How to donate? That’s the easy part. You think about what you can afford to give, and then you donate it to someone on our little team of friends and family willing to get on their bikes and ride 600+ kilometres, Toronto to Montreal. The team’s in flux right now, not everyone is ready to start their fundraising (you wouldn’t believe how hard it is for a young person to make this commitment. This is a commitment that’s expensive every way you can think of it. Time. Money. Energy. The spirit is willing, but the realities suck)  so for today I’m going to link you to the part of the family team that’s ready.

Stephanie (that’s me. I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be.)

Jen (she was born ready)

Ken (he’s the reason that we have to be ready at all. Instigator.)

Amanda (My eldest daughter, who’s not sure she’s ready but is going anyway)

Pato (our “adopted” son –  so ready he’s cheerful about it.)

Knitters, all of us.  (Although really, Amanda and Pato would tell you they only knit in emergencies.)  Make a donation if you’re able, send an email (you don’t have to forward the receipt or tell us how much it was for. That’s your business) and know that our gratitude is wide and tall and gives us almost as much joy as the look on the organizers faces as they try to reconcile knitters with what’s happening to the totals – it freaks them out every time.

Now, I’m off to cuddle up with my wheel and get another handspun gift ready.

Anybody like seaglass green?

Apparently not the cat.

She’ll make sure I pull a name tomorrow. She’s very stern.

PS. It’s been about 300 days since I fell off my bike. You have no idea how happy that makes me, even though it does wreck my mum’s brilliant but slightly cruel idea of having me solicit donations per bruise.