11 Days and counting!! We are close enough to have a preliminary weather forecast (which looks amazing so far!!) 11 days until what? Read up here!

You all have given me so many more reasons to walk this year with your stories of your loved ones and friends - And every one emphasizes to me exactly why we do this; no one should have to go through what your friends and family have gone through. No one should have to go through what my mom went through. And no one should have to live in fear of this disease.

Just last weekend, I had to add yet another reason to the growing list, sadly another reason that hits close to home. My aunt was just diagnosed with breast cancer; she is one of my mother’s younger sisters. And though she sounds good (she’s strong, like my mom), I can’t imagine her perspective as she goes through this, after what her own mother went through (who survived the disease), and her older sister (who did not). Sigh. I’m sorry all - it is heavy stuff. But you all know that of course. Now I’m walking for my aunt as well, hoping for good physicians, speedy healing, no mets and a healthy future for her. And for her family, because I remember how I felt when my mom was first diagnosed. And for my mom’s youngest sister too, who’s feelings I also can’t fathom (she is now the only female in two generations of this family who has been clear to date). I’m walking for their daughters, and yes, for myself as well -  in hopes that we won’t ever have to face this ourselves.

So, putting the focus back on the positive, on the fundraising! Which is how we will fund better prevention, better treatments, and a CURE, I have another prize posting for you, slightly overdue as many of these arrived just prior to or over our vacation (with my apologies to the donees for the delay in getting these up!)

A decorative spindle made and stained by Teri of Confessions of a Fiber Drunk! Teri is one of my spinning idols, so I’m so pleased to put this up. Although I am a bit of a klutz with a spindle, it spins very smoothly!

There was no way to possibly do this one justice in one photograph! An Absolutely Fabulous hand-dyed Throw Kit from Colinette in colorway Wild One. Eight bright, beautiful skeins of contrasting yarn and a pattern including six different throw designs. Generously donated by my friend Mel of Girl Eats Soup, who lost her mom too. In memory of Carole Nicholson, who is deeply missed.

Princess Pea has generously donated a skein of Malabrigo Lace (Now I finally understand why it’s referred to as Mmmmmalabrigo!) 470 yards/50g of luscious baby merino wool in colorway Forest. Gorgeous.

A hand-tied lap quilt with wonderful wool batting from the local Border Leicester sheep of Humbug Farm. So snuggly and warm! Kate’s been kind enough to provide instructions for all-natural cleaning and care of her hand-crafted quilt.

Thank you all for these amazing prizes - I am so pleased to offer these up! Our running knitter’s tally is $1116 with 11 days left until the event and 13 until the contest closes. Can we raise a few hundred more?? And is this the last prize posting?? It could be, though there may be some last minute surprises - you’ll just have to check back and see!

It’s day nine of September, we’re just shy of a month away from our walk. I have been close to tears (and in full throttle) many times lately - overwhelmed by kind emails, comments, and notes from my donation page (all of which have just appeared tonight on my report - due to a glitch in the website your lovely notes weren’t showing before, but now they are and that started a whole new set of sniffles), your donations, and links, and prizes… Your generosity, your kindness, your words (and you and you and you and all of you that I’ve not linked but who have so kindly spread the word as well - don’t worry, you are all on my list for the special raffle!). You’re all amazing. Thank you (and that’s not nearly enough to tell you how I feel). You’ve helped me raise a total of $950(!) of my total as of this afternoon. Please keep spreading the word - I couldn’t have guessed we would raise that much, and there are still almost four weeks to go!

More prizes, my friends. And a word about my mom, because I can’t resist - She would have totally dug all this!! The indie dyer scene, the environmental slant that many independent and established yarn companies are taking, the creativity, the home-grown businesses, the crafters and artisans, the shared camaraderie and support - all of you and your generousity. I know you have all donated for your own compelling reasons, but I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.

Earthly Hues Vines yarn in colorway Butter - 850 yards of 100% merino laceweight - So SOFT and lovely. Tricia uses natural dyes, many made from plants grown in her own garden!

From Susan of Susan’s Pointy Sticks - 4 oz. of hand-dyed merino roving. A colorway called “Charlotte” in honor and in memory of a dear friend’s mother (hugs to you Susan, and to your friend).

Also, through October 3 Aunt Kathy will be donating proceeds from the sales of the sweet dishcloth she designed for the cause. Thank you Kathy!

If you are just joining us, click over to my 3Day Contest Page for complete details - these prizes and the running “knitter’s tally” of the fundraising dollars will be added as well. Thank you all again, so much.

Edited to Add:

I’ve consolidated all the contest information - rules, prizes, etc. on the “Breast Cancer 3Day” tab above, so you can get all the info in one place. This page will be updated with new prizes as they come in and any additional information and updates!

 **************

This last week and a half has been completely overwhelming with all the unexpected support for this contest! I’m here with another round of prizes to offer for donations made to my 3Day walk to support breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment. And yes, there is STILL at least one more round forthcoming! Just a reminder, as I need some help giving away all these awesome prizes, there will be a special drawing for a $30 gift certificate to the online merchant of your choice held for all the folks who help me to spread the word about this contest by linking in and sending people over!

I’m so pleased to offer this lovely yarn from a member of our local spinning guild. Two very generous skeins (370 yds each) of dark gray sport-weight shetland wool from the local sheep of Avillion Farm, donated in loving memory of Coyla.

Green Mountain Spinnery’s Mountain Mohair - Two 140 yard skeins of the very appropriate colorway Pink Pink, and a Green Mountain Spinnery tote bag.

 A beautiful knitting needle roll custom made for you by master seamstress Katrin of Sew-Mad - your choice of color and size from travel size to 15-circular needle size. More photos can be seen here.

Many, many thanks to Elaina, Green Mountain Spinnery, and Katrin for their generous support of this raffle and helping to drum up interest and donation support with these great prizes. My fundraising total is $1300 as of today, and you all are responsible for half of those total dollars. I think what’s so awesome about this is that the bulk of that money is coming from people I’ve never met. I thank you all for your generosity toward this cause which is so near to my heart. Thank you for your emails and your support and your stories.

You can be eligible to win these and the other great prizes that have already been posted by making a donation to my 3Day walk by clicking the link in the sidebar to the left. Every $10 donated buys one “chance” or ticket in the drawing, which will be held on October 7, when we return from our walk. Thanks all - you just rock!!

Wow. I am overwhelmed! What started with one tentative little email brought 3 boxes of goodies to my doorstep this afternoon from friends old and new who have generously donated their wares to support my Breast Cancer 3Day fundraising contest. I am so thrilled to be able to offer these prizes as incentives to donate to this great cause (if you’re just joining us, please read up here and here - I will consolidate all this info for ease of use soon!

So, without further ado - the new prizes!!

 The Sanguine Gryphon Eidos - 390 yards of gorgeous handpainted superwash sock yarn. You all know I’m a huge fan of Gryphon’s gorgeous colorways. Beautiful no?

A handcrafted pottery yarn bowl from The KnitWitch. Beautiful and SO much better than letting the yarn dance around your lap and occasionally to the floor as you knit and tug from the ball (or is that just me?)

A handcrafted pottery spindle bowl, also from The KnitWitch. This lovely spindle bowl is for use with Tibetan or Russian spindles, or other types of wood supported spindles. Both bowls have felted bases to protect your tabletops.

Nancy’s Knit Knacks Easy Lace Scarf Kit, including 2 skeins (260 yards) of heathered Digit fingering weight wool yarn in Wisteria, and a lovely lace scarf pattern.

Nancy’s Knit Knacks knitting tools. Amazing. I could not fit them all in the photo, so here’s a list of all the great knitter’s tools Nancy has donated!

1 Knee-sel (like a copy holder for your knee - ingenious!)
1 set circular needle ID tags, small
1 set circular needle ID tags, large
1 Needle and Crochet Hook Gauge
1 Knit-Kard set (handy reference cards for knitters)
1 Knit-Light
1 Project Kard set of 10
1 Set of 2 DPN WIP Tubes
1 WPI Tool Kit

I may keep this one together as the ultimate knitter’s tool kit, or break it up depending on the final number of donors, Nancy was extremely generous!

Thank you Gryphon, Brittany and Nancy, for your generous donations - I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support of this little contest and this cause that is so near to my heart! And all of you who have donated so far, commented, emailed and linked to this contest - You all are amazing! Your donations are going to support such a great cause, and your kind words of support mean more than you could possibly know. THANK YOU!!

I’m debating how best to handle consolidating the contest information - i.e. rules, prizes, and donation info, so it is easier to find and isn’t scattered across several posts (YES, that means there are MORE prizes on the way soon, I can hardly believe it!!) I will probably set up a page like last year, but I also haven’t figured out how to archive that information and still make it available. So that may take me a few days - please bear with me while I work this through. This contest already dwarfs the mini-one that I had last year and I don’t quite know what I’m doing! And there will be actual knitting content soon - the Sweet-Soon-to-be made her debut this week, and though her little sweater isn’t *quite* complete, after meeting her today I’m quite sure she’s got some growing to do before she’ll fit into it, so that buys me just a bit more time!

Ok folks, I could really use your help! It started with a little email to a friend to see if she would be willing to donate another prize to my 3Day contest fundraiser**. Then, because her response was so swift and kind, I started sending more emails, and well, as you know, yarnies and knitters are a very generous sort and now it seems that there are a few additional gorgeous prizes on the way! I’ll wait and post about them as they arrive just to keep a little suspense, but I’m so excited to show you all!!

Although I’d love for everyone who donates to win one of these great prizes, at this moment it almost would be possible for one person to win them all - That seems to take some of the chance and fun out of it, don’t you think? So, would you all do me an ENORMOUS favor, if you’d be willing, and help me spread the word about this little fundraiser? Our readerships combined would let a whole lot more people know about this than I could ever tell on my own, and help raise a whole lot more money for the cause. So many people’s lives have been impacted by breast cancer in one way or another. In thanks for helping me to get the word out, I will hold a special drawing for those of you who share the news by linking in - if you want to help, but can’t donate, you can still participate and help the cause!! And if you donate AND link, you’ll be eligible for both drawings! Now, since I want to make this second drawing tempting to a wide variety of knitters, no matter your taste…. I’ll pony up $30 for a gift certificate to the online vendor of your choice for the prize in this category. Email me (mel*at*purlingplans*dot*com) or leave a comment to let me know and I’ll pop your name in the hat for this drawing. What say you??

This’ll be me in 7 weeks!!

(picture me walking though, not standing at a stoplight, ok?)!! 

**if you missed the post about the contest and fundraiser, just scroll down or click here.

So.

This post has been difficult for me to write this year (more so than usual). The letters to friends and family and previous sponsors have been just as hard.  Grief works in strange ways, as many of you can attest to, I’m sure. So, please bear with me - and if you have no need for a rather personal, fundraising post, please pass on by - no offense taken, come on back in a few days and I’ll have some knitting content. And if you’re just here for the possibility of free yarn, well that’s ok too just scroll on down till you see the pics & you’ll find it.

Ready? Ok.

On October 3 outside of Washington D.C., Tad and I will walk 20 miles to support Breast Cancer Research, Education, Screening, and Treatment. On October 4, we will wake up and do it all over again. And on October 5th, we’ll take a couple ibuprofen and walk another 20, just for good measure.

It will be hard - my feet and joints will hurt. There will likely be blisters. Blisters always hurt a lot more than you think they would.

Miles will be walked ahead of time and the yoga commitment will be renewed and efforts redoubled.

I will walk as I have 4 times over (that’s 300 total event miles and countless training miles) - and I will not complain when it gets hard. The whole point of it is that it’s tough. 60 miles is no slouch. Each time I say that, I know that it’s true - this is the most demanding physical effort that some of us as participants will ever do, but it honestly seems like a rather inappropriate dramatization at the same time.  It’s not chemo. It’s not surgery. It’s not losing a part of your body that you used to feed your child. It’s not wasting away and it’s not watching your life and those you love slip away from you. Walking won’t find a cure, research will. And research is expensive.

The good news (and it is good news!) is that many advances in treatment have been made through research, and will continue to be made with the support of fundraising efforts like these.

My 3Day journey began in 2004 after an amazing woman succumbed to breast cancer - an amazing woman that happens also to have been my mother, Linda Chase. Shortly after, I walked my first 60 miles, and began, little by little, to heal. I began to see things differently. I began to hope and I began to believe. If that sounds a bit evangelistic, it is. Describing the 3Day is impossible - but these posts from last year and the videos on the3Day.org will give you a taste - and may leave you a little emotional. I walk in the 3Day because it’s my opportunity to support the fight against this disease by raising money for research, education, screening, and treatment. It’s my opportunity to remember the awesome woman who gave me life - to celebrate her and to share a little bit of her and her love. I walk in memory and celebration of the loved ones and friends of my supporters. And I walk in hope, in the belief, that the money we raise WILL help to find the cure.

Still with me? Thank you! Here’s your reward

I’m holding a contest to support my walk and fundraising efforts for the Breast Cancer 3Day, with a couple of pretty cool prizes - hopefully you’ll think they’re cool anyway! I like them, but that’s kind of a given since it’s my contest, eh?

Prizes:

1 copy of Poems of Color - Knitting in the Bohus Tradition by Wendy Keele (someday I will tell you all how I came by 2 copies of this book - I have heard that Interweave may be reprinting it in the near future, but for now it is still rather tough to get your hands on one):

2 skeins (1000 yards - enough for a beautiful shawl, or a sweater!) of Brooks Farm Primero - 100% kid mohair, silky & soft, in colorway 47 a beautiful blue-green-grey-gold:

Following the tried and true method of some other bloggers, you will “earn” one chance to win for every $10 you donate (please leave me a comment below or email me at mel*at*purlingplans*dot*com to let me know you have donated - I will receive confirmation from my 3Day website, but this way I will know that you came from this post and be sure to put your name in for the contest) - Your donation dollars go to support breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment initiatives funded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust. All donations are tax deductible - you may donate through the crazy pink button in my sidebar to your left or via this link.

The contest will run through the weekend of the event (October 3-5), and the drawing will take place when we return home on Tuesday, October 7.

Happy Birthday Mom. You are missed, so much.

my brother, mom, Tad & I - Pemigewasset Wilderness, NH, Winter 2002

Thank you for reading.

A huge thank you is in order to all of you who read about, commented on, and even supported my walk in this event, most of you without ever having met me in person. That’s really something. And I truly cannot thank you enough for those generous contributions. There are so many ways to spend your money, and so many worthy charities out there, and I thank you for sharing what you could with this one. Unlike the local Komen Races for the Cure where most of the money stays in the community to support education, screening, and treatment on the local level (also so important), the bulk of the money raised from the 3Day events funds innovative research, that often is not supported by other sources and that would not take place without this funding. I believe that research is the way to prevention and a cure. I believe that it would have saved my mom, if she only had the time. And I believe that it WILL save many of OUR lives.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

This years event was particularly taxing for many of us due to the extreme heat, but we did it!! Thanks to an amazing crew and medical staff that kept us hydrated and fed, reminded us to re-apply, relocated us due to a lightening storm, gave IV’s and ambulance rides, asthma treatments, antibiotics and blister care (just a few of the health hazards our teammates dealt with this year!) Another amazing 60 miles come and gone. It’s impossible for me to verbalize this amazing event and and what it means to me - I try each year and always fall short. So please allow me to present some photos that may help to capture some of what you’ve supported, with your funds, your well-wishes, and your warm thoughts. There are videos too, but in the interests of your load times, I’ve posted them only on the 3Day page - click here to go see them!

Oh yeah, wasn’t there a contest going on? Well, how about it?!

Under extreme pressure and very scientific circumstances, Tad pulled two names out of a hat -

And the first prize goes to Ruth of Ruthless Knitting!! Ruth, you get first choice of the Three Waters Farm sock yarn or the Alpaca Silk Fiber!
and Second Prize goes to (isn’t he damn cute?!):

Elisa of Concateknit!!

Ruth, I’ve got your address I believe, but Elisa, would you send me your new addy when you have a moment in the unpacking flurry? (melATpurlingplansDOTcom)

Once again, I can’t say it enough - Thank you all SO much!!

You all are amazing! Thank you so much for your donations, kind words, and well-wishes for our 3Day walk. After 3 years of doing this event, I have often been overwhelmed by the generousity and well wishes of acquaintances and strangers (really everyone who donates, but most especially those people that I don’t know well or at all)! I honestly didn’t know if anyone out there would be willing or able to donate to the walk - we all have our causes that we support and there are so many worthy ones - but I thought that if even one person could donate, it would be worth the post. I cannot thank you enough for your kind words and generousity!! It’s hard for me to tell you how much it really means to me, so I’ll just say THANK YOU!

I am working on a contest (to include those who have already donated, of course) to thank you and give you a little incentive as well. I’m stewing on it at the moment, but expect to see some details in the next week or two. I’ve copied the 3Day post to it’s own page in the tabs above and added links to the sidebar so that if you are looking for an update, it will always be in the same place and make it easy to pass on by if you choose.

A little more mumbo-jumbo: I had some hiccups last week switching over to a new email account for this site, and several emails got lost on their way to me. I do my best to keep up with my inbox; so if by chance you emailed me in the last week - week and a half and I have not responded, please accept my apologies, and if you would be so kind, please try me again (tadandmel at hotmail dot com or purlingplans at yahoo dot com). Thanks for your patience and understanding.