Colour Study: Happy Go Lucky

For the Great North Run Beekeeper's Quilt I'm making, I'm trying to use as many Blue Moon colours as possible.  If I have enough of one colour, I'll make 3 hexagons with that colour.  With the leftovers, I'm trying to swap them out for other colours.  Here's a link to my destash page on Ravelry, if you're interested.

With the remaining yarn I'm mixing up some colours, knitting alternate rounds.  I thought I'd post a quick colour study when I have a few to compare.

Today, I have a group of 9 hexes, all made with the STR colour "Happy Go Lucky".  It's not the greatest quality photo, but gives you an idea of how one colour (in the centre) can change when mixed with others.

Links to my fundraising pages:

NSPCC in the UK

Thompson Child and Family Focus in the USA

Every $5 donated before Sept 15th 2013 will get an entry to win the finished quilt.

GREAT NORTH RUN

What I'm Doing...

I am undertaking the challenge of my life, running the Great North Run 2013.  This is the biggest half-marathon race in the world, with 55,000 participants.  The race kicks off in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England and ends, 13.1 miles later in South Shields, the town where I grew up.

The Charities I'm Raising Money For.....

I am running in memory of my brother David, who passed away in January 2012, and have chosen to run for two children’s charities.  The NSPCC in the UK, and Thompson Child and Family Focus in the USA.  Both organizations provide services for abused and neglected children.  These children are at risk of suffering the effects of their abuse for the whole of their lifetime, including depression, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, imprisonment, low self-esteem, promiscuity, prostitution, self-harm and suicide.   If you'd like to donate, my fundraising pages are:

My Fundraising Pages....
NSPCC - this is a UK charity.  If you're in the UK, donate on this page, they'll be able to claim income tax back through Gift Aid.
Thompson Child and Family Focus - this is a USA charity.  If you're in the USA, donate on this page, you'll receive a tax receipt.

A Thank You for Your Support.....

As a thank you for your support, I am making a BeeKeeper’s Quilt, which I'll give to one lucky person,  whose name will be drawn after the race.  I'm using Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Socks That Rock yarn to knit the quilt, using as many colourways as possible.  The “Socks That Rawk” group on Ravelry estimates there to be some 423 colourways, and with Rare Gem overdyed skeins, the colourways are almost endless.  I'm aiming to have around 600 hexagons in the quilt - that's a good lap-quilt size.

The Draw......
Anyone who sponsors me before the race will be entered in the draw.  Each $5 will get your name in the draw once, so $10 will see you entered twice, etc.
I'll draw a name on the day of the race, after I've finished running and post the winner on here, facebook, twitter, etc that evening.


Progress.... Here's a progress shot of the hexagons I have knit up so far.

I'll be posting regular progress pictures of the quilt and also my training runs.  I hope you'll comment, sponsor and cheer me along the way.
Thanks y'all
Disco xoxo

A Quick Trip

I just got back from a quick trip to the UK, where I attended my Grandfather's funeral. It was a lovely service, my Mam gave a wonderfully warm and loving eulogy for our Taid and we sang Eternal Father Strong to Save, the Royal Navy hymn.  I don't know how the funeral directors carried his coffin - the man was made of solid gold.  We shall all miss him, but be grateful for our treasured memories of him.

It was so good to catch up with my Welsh family and some friends in England too.  Of course, I didn't take even one photo, despite being in the most stunning scenery at the prettiest time of the year - lambs and daffodils!

I did manage to get a little bit of grocery shopping done, to bring back with me.  Tetley tea bags, Cadbury's chocolate, and a few bags of my favourite crisps.....

 And I always like to get some magazines.  One day I may even make a project out of them!

The knitting was paltry and this is all I have to show for a whole week, including 2 transatlantic flights!

I did spend the return flight catching up on my Coursera Know Thyself classes.  I've been able to wrap my head around the thinking of Socrates, Descartes, Ryle, Freud, et al, but this week's session on Buddhist thinking is challenging me.  I'm still loving having my mind expanded though.  I have one more week of classes to go.  They overlap with my next course, Introduction to Psychology, which starts tomorrow.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.  We're off to watch Iron Man 3 later :0)
Disco xoxo

Travel knitting

Hexipuff minis for my upcoming week of travels :0)

Knitters prefer yarn bombs

Yesterday was a sad day. My Taid (that's Welsh for Grandad) passed away in the morning. He was 92, a very gentle and peaceful man. I don't think I ever saw him have an angry word for anyone. He was funny too, in a quiet way. I'm happy that we had one last chance to be with him on our trip home last summer. We shall miss him dearly :0(

And then the afternoon's events in Boston. A child among those killed. What a waste.

So, let's brighten this morning up with some colourful knitting. And crochet.

A few weeks ago I saw a shout out asking for swatch donations for the San Jose yarn-bombers. When I was home in SC on spring break, I got some acrylics out of their box and made these swatches. I had wanted to try Attic 24's granny stripe and chevron stripe blanket stitches for a while, so I took my opportunity here. Both are very easy to memorize and to do. I see chevrons in my future for sure.

The equality sign is from Kaye Gardiner's (Mason-Dixon Knitting) tweet pattern.

So, off to the post office today.

Disco xoxo

Reason #1,034 I love knitting

I was knitting on these pretty Hexes in Panera a couple of days ago, when two lovely ladies sat down at the table next to me. Cathy was having a coffee with her 91 year old MIL Olga, who was wearing a delightful tweedy crochet hat.

They oohed at the hexes and told me Olga was a knitter and crocheter. Cathy showed me a photo on her phone, of her two grandchildren (Olga's great g-kids)) playing with dolls that Olga had made for her children. Two generations lovingly playing with her knitted creations. It warmed my heart on a cold and rainy Michigan morning.

Happy Friday knitsters
Disco xoxo

March 5k a day SUCCESS!

Well, I did it!  5k, every day in March.  The temp spiked the last few days as we were home in SC, enjoying Spring Break.  Glorious, glorious warmth.  Also cold.  This spring is really funky.

Day	Time	Mile Time	Temp (f)
1	35.18	11.32	25
2	35.35	11.38	22
3	35.11	11.30	25
4	33.54	10.80	26
5	36.23	11.66	23
6	36.25	11.67	36
7	36.48	11.74	36
8	36.37	11.71	32
9	33.5	10.78	37
10	33.47	10.77	45
11	38.13	12.27	48
12	36.50	11.75	31
13	36.19	11.65	26
14	35.29	11.36	36
15	33.56	10.80	36
16	37.14	11.95	27
17	34.36	11.06	25
18	33.07	10.64	28
19	36.1	11.62	21
20	33.04	10.63	21
21	33.37	10.74	25
22	32.52	10.47	35
23	34.4	11.07	30
24	34.26	11.03	30
25	35.37	11.38	34
26	33.41	10.75	37
27	33.21	10.69	37
28	35.41	11.40	37
29	36.52	11.75	50
30	35	11.27	48
31	35.22	11.34	50
Average	34.95	11.25	33
Week 1	35.45	11.41	28
Week 2	35.64	11.47	36
Week 3	34.38	11.06	26
Week 4	34.08	10.97	34
Week 5	35.58	11.45	49

We are back in MI now, for another 8 weeks.  It is 41 degrees (but feels like freezing!) and raining.  No running for me today as I unpack and catch up.  Manana though :0)

Disco xoxo