Breast Cancer Fundraiser

For the second year I test knit a pattern for this breast cancer calendar. Mine is the third on the bottom row. I have already signed up to test for next year. The patterns are all new, designed especially for the calendar and never before published. Click on the image on the side bar to go directly to the site to order.
I have had friends and family members with breast cancer and have had a biopsy myself. Thankfully the biopsy came back negative but it made me all the more aware of the reality so many women and men face everyday. A little bit of yarn and a little time is the least of what I can do to help find a cure.

Breast Cancer Knitting Calendar 2009

I joined a group on Ravelry that designs and knits dishcloths. I'm not a designer, yet, but have aspirations. When I joined the moderator had just started breast cancer treatments and wanted to put together a calendar fund raiser. I was fortunate enough to get to test knit one of the designs. Mine is the little lace cloth in the bottom left corner. There are 12 new, never before published patterns that are perfect for gifts or for yourself. Click on the link in the side bar to order the calendar. It is a direct download that you print out yourself and can then have spiral bound at your local office supply store. If you have questions or would like more information email me. tschrock@swbell.net

Bad Juju

9/29/08

Imagine you are a 26 years old. You have had a lump in your breast for at least a year but since you have no family history and you are so young no one is concerned. Now imagine that lump is actually cancer. Fast forward 6 months. You have had a double mastectomy, radiation, a lung biopsy that is thankfully negative, your jerk of a significant other becomes an even bigger jerk and you finally send him packing and you are now facing radiation.
As soon as I saw the pattern for this I knew my friend Keri needed one. I don't like knitting things like this and I HATE stuffing anything so this was a stretch for me. I intentionally tried for unattractive since his lot in life is to be stabbed repeatedly. The heart on the front is of course for the jerk and the big C on the back is for cancer. She really is handling all of this better than I think I would have and she has a tremendous group of family and friends helping her along the way. Her life is better without the jerk and the cancer is loosing to her strength and faith. To Keri and a long, healthy life.

My Weekend Adventures

8/2/08

I read brooklyntweed's blog so I already knew I liked these mittens. Stopped by the book store to see if Vogue had hit the newsstands yet. I didn't even see the title until after I have picked it up because of the cover. I love the cover. It has it all, color, texture, expression, balance. I rarely buy a magazine but I brought this one home in part because of the cover. Thankfully I like some of the projects and articles inside as well.






My husband is in Sturgis for the big motorcycle rally. The original plan was for wives to go along but I couldn't go because of work and other wives had other issues. We wanted to take a support vehicle so the guys wouldn't have to carry so much on the bikes, we could take turns riding with our guys and we could actually lock up things like cameras. My husband almost never travels without a camera. This week he will have been in at least four states other than Kansas with no camera.
So with a week to myself, other than work, the fair, and who knows what else crops up I hope to get a good amount of knitting done. That much knitting requires a few movies. I went to the section marked 2/$1 and picked up some that I wanted to see and some I had never heard of. I actually got home with one I didn't intend to get. It may turn out to be the best of the bunch.

Saturday morning I took four projects to the county fair. Two received red ribbons, one didn't receive a ribbon at all and I didn't expect it to. It was one of the scribble lace shawls and other than the yarn they are nothing special. My Everlasting Bagstopper, I don't remember if it got a ribbon or not. Our display space is adequate at best. To see the bag I had to get down on my knees to look at the bottom shelf. Next to my bag was a lovely garment of some sort but I couldn't see the tag to see whose it was or what it was. There were several other items in the same predicament. I believe when we meet at the fair for knit night this week we will be discussing the display situation.


On my way home I stopped at a couple of garage sales. I found this lamp. It works. I don't usually go for things like this but it kind of spoke to me. Once I find a shade that works with it will decide its fate. At this point I am thinking of sanding it down and spraying it with one of the paints that looks like stone. I might also do some sort of mosaic or decoupage treatment. Time will tell.















My other garage sale purchase was this box of beads. A nice little assortment to add to my collections.








My last stop was at the craft store in town. They have everything BUT yarn. We are trying to talk them into it because they have employees that know yarn. One of the employees raises sheep, spins, dyes, knits and weaves. We will keep trying.
Anyway, they have a pretty decent bead section. I picked up a few things to work on an idea for some stitch markers.








Here I added some beads from the garage sale box.











Now I have added in some of my own beads. I want to keep the grey/silver tones but add a sharp contrast and I think it will be red. I have lots of red beads.


A lamp project and a beading project. I only thought I was going to get a lot of knitting done.





I am test knitting a pattern for a breast cancer fundraising calendar. I don't have a yarn source close by so when I went to "the city" I picked up every pink yarn I could find that would work for a dishcloth.
I am using the mercerized cotton second from the right and it is working up beautifully. Pictures and info. on the calendar at a later date.





Love this car seat blanket pattern but do not like the yarn. I was on my way out the door and needed something quick. It is sooooo yucky but knitting anything on a long car ride is better than knitting nothing. It will make an OK gift for someone or for the grandgirls and their baby dolls. I will knit this pattern again in something much nicer.





















8/3/08
I love ripe fresh from the garden tomatoes. This one has been ripening on the counter for a couple of days and it was perfect on Sunday. I

Pizza or Turkey?

7/27/08

I made homemade pizza with all the fresh veggies from the garden. There is onion, green pepper, garlic and tomatoes. It was the best pizza I have made in quite sometime.

I love my baking stones. The handles on this make it much easier to get in and out of the oven. My old one had a rack to set it on but I was always forgetting the rack. It was passed on to my son so I could justify this one.

7/28/08

This turkey has several siblings that "hatched" last fall. I knit up three or four of these guys for gifts in a short amount of time. I chose this pattern to knit for the household items category at the fair because it was an easy but visually interesting knit. I knit the first 1/4 of this cloth several times and finally cut the yarn off and threw it away. It was beginning to resemble a well worn piece of string rather than yarn. Once I got past the half way point I didn't have any further problems thank goodness. There is one very obvious error but of course I didn't see it until I was blocking. I'm sure the judge will see it as well but I enter more for fun than for the ribbons. Too bad I didn't remind myself of that when I was having so much trouble knitting this thing. After the fair he goes into the mail to an Internet friend who has mentioned she would like to have a turkey.

In addition to this dishcloth I took a scribble lace shawl, my misknitted Everlasting Bagstopper shopping bag and a preemie hat. There were other projects I had planned to take but it is best if they are completed before entering them in the fair.

Today I cast on a pink dishcloth that I am test knitting for a breast cancer calendar fundraiser. More on the topic in the weeks to come. I have tested some patterns for quilt designers before but this is the first time testing for a knit designer. I hope I am up to her standards. She does beautiful work.

Prayers, positive thoughts, whatever you have, please, send it.

 

In case you have not read my blog before I recently had a cancer scare. You can read the posts by clicking on those last two words in the previous sentence. I thank God I am cancer free.

In late March a 26 year old co-worker was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has now undergone a double mastectomy. Today she found that she has at least stage 3 cancer, she has probably had it for over a year but was told it was probably fibrous and not to worry. She will have chemo, radiation and cancer drugs for at least 10 years. This means no babies for at least 10 years and if the tests done on Friday reveal the cancer has spread, it was found in 4 of the 12 lymph nodes, then she cannot have her eggs frozen and there will never be babies.

Also today we found out about a recently former co-worker. She is 31, has a child approximately. 2 years of age and will have a double mastectomy on Tuesday due to stage three cancer.

What in the hell is going on?

PLEASE check the girls every month, PLEASE insist that a palpable lump is biopsied and PLEASE don't think you are too young, too old, too healthy, too anything to have cancer. I now personally know three women under the age of 35 with stage three breast cancer.

A story but no fiction

This is the Reader's Digest version of the last week give or take a few days. My brain is still under the influence of cold medicine but I am coming out of the fog.
Have you ever known beyond a shadow of a doubt, deep in your gut, that everything is OK, there is nothing wrong but no one will believe you? Every thing sensible knows you are doing the right thing but it is pointless and throwing away good money that could pay other bills or even better, buy yarn?
My gut knows that lump in my breast is not cancer, my brain knows that lump is not cancer and that is good enough for me. Of course we all know that until something medically tells me that lump is not cancer we must push on for that answer. Two rounds of mammograms read by no less than some cancer detecting piece of software, one radiologist, one medical doctor and one surgeon and I am headed for surgery. No big deal. A nice nap, 20 minutes, a larger than I thought incision and the feeling that my left breast has been run over by a rather large herd of horses and I still won't know until Tuesday that it IS NOT CANCER.
I have never had surgery before and have never been "put under". I apparently "go under" very easily as one Valium made me sooooo relaxed and the half syringe of sleepy stuff left me totally out. I was so looking forward to counting backward from 100 as they put the mask over my face like they do on TV. The last I remember is the back of the rather handsome anesthesiologist leaving the holding area before I ever even went to the surgical suite. I do feel cheated in that respect.
I did get one question answered though. How would I look as a D cup? It really is hard to tell when the dressing is quite lumpy and the other side is considerably less than a D but I think I will pass. Especially since I am pretty sure it would take a much larger herd of horses to equal the pain of increasing to a D.
Then there is the head cold. It actually started the night before surgery but I wasn't sure if I was reacting to chemical smells from work or if I was actually getting sick. I was getting sick and it is a doosy of a head cold. I hear my own heart beating in my ears at times and when I cough I don't know what will hurt the worst, my breast, my throat or my head. Thank goodness they are all sharing the experience so none feels left out. In reality I think if it weren't for the cold I would really be enjoying this time off from work. I can't go back until after my appointment on Tuesday but I really have not enjoyed much of anything so far. I have gotten some knitting done, watched a fair amount of TV often through closed eyes and slept rather fitfully at night. I don't plan to take anymore pain meds at night. I should be writing science fiction from the dreams I have been having.
Is there an upside to all of this? Well, you find out who your friends are. Food has been delivered, numerous phone calls inquiring about my recovery were made and more prayers than I will ever know about have been said. I have talked to my children, parents and sister every day. My children who have little money sent me a beautiful little bouquet of flowers. My sister brought a goodie bag with magazines, chocolate and flavored teas. She knows me well. We curled up on my bed and chatted for a while. I'm afraid I may have fallen asleep but then she didn't mind. Then there is My Man. What a jewel. He has cooked, helped me change dressings, reassured me and nearly had to be kicked out of the house to go hang with his buddies today to play poker and watch the Super Bowl.
The pictures below are the only two taken in the last week. The first is from Knit Night and the second is of the third heart dishcloth I have made. I love variegated yarn in the ball but not much when there is a design in the knitting. Believe me, there are five hearts in that dishcloth.
I hope to return to my regularly scheduled life by tomorrow but I have been up a little too long now. The couch and the Super Bowl commercials are calling my name. I wonder who is playing?

1/28/08




















2/3/08