Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Did you know....

• Breast cancer is one of the two leading causes of cancer death in women (the other is lung cancer).

• There is a 1 in 8 chance of a woman being diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during her lifetime in the United States; there is a 1 in 33 chance that she will die from it.

• The breast cancer death rate is declining, presumably due to earlier detection and improved treatment.

Although the death rate of women diagnosed with breast cancer is declining, we have a long way to go to protect our mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, friends, and selves from this disease. I am participating in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk this May. The money raised from this event will be used to promote early detection and in programs for those whose lives are affected by breast cancer.

I hope that if you're reading this, you'll help me support the fight against breast cancer, either by donating to the American Cancer Society (every little bit helps!) or by joining me in the walk on May 13th. Our individual actions may be small, but together we can make a big difference!

If you would like to sponsor me in the walk, please click the "donate" button on the sidebar or click here.

Edited to add: the MSABC walk is conveniently taking place on Mother's Day and my mom is joining me! Yay!

Phew!

After many problems with my blogger account -- weird language settings and cookie issues -- I've finally figured it out! What a pain. I'm glad to have access to my blog again, though, since there are a number of things I've been meaning to post.

I'm still searching for the perfect grocery tote pattern. This one was okay, but I made it a little smaller than I should have, I think. It went to Sara, the manager of Glad Rags, for her birthday. She shares a birthday with one of my clients, who also works at Glad Rags. The hat was for him, in Blazers colors since he's quite the fan. The teeny little hat in the picture was sent to my cousin Jessie, whose baby Hailey was born in February. I had originally made two pairs of booties to go with, but the cats stole one of each pair and I was too lazy/busy to make new sets!

I'm particularly proud of this little fella. He was made for the One Tiny Thing Swap (round 11!) on Craftster. I used the SWAT Team Kitties pattern and gave him a gold earring, sailor shirt, and eye-patch to piratize him. If the pattern had legs, I would have given him a pegleg, too!

Next term is going to be a busy one for me, but I'm hoping that my lecture classes/bus rides will allow me plenty of knitting time. I'm also taking Ceramics, which I'm quite excited about, and a spinning class at a local yarn shop. Finally I'll conquer my wheel!

Moses and I have just returned from the park on the loveliest, springiest day of the year so far. The birds have been chirping raucously for a couple of weeks, and the daffodils have been hesitantly waking up, but today -- with the buds of the magnolias and camellias looking like they might burst open at any moment -- was definitively spring.*

Today I had my first experiment with RIT dye, dyeing a linen skirt obtained at a Naked Lady Party.** The skirt began life an unfortunate pale pink, about the same color of my skin when I'm feeling somewhat ill. One bubbling pot of ick and ten stained fingernails later, it emerged blue... ish. I'm not too pleased with the way it turned out; it looks sort of denim-y and uneven, and considerably less "royal" than it did at first. I might buy more of the same and dye over it, but I'll probably just be lazy and wear it as is.

*Yes, I know that spring doesn't "officially" start for another two weeks and no, I don't care.

**I am all about the footnotes today! A Naked Lady Party doesn't actually involve any naked ladies -- it's a clothing swap party.

Spending money like it's goin' out of style

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Etsy? Especially since the new version came out? I love it. It's the perfect blend of four of my favorite things: cuteness, crafts, technology, and stuff I can buy.

In the interest of plugging some really fabulous sellers on Etsy (and, okay, showing off a bit), here are some items I've purchased recently:

The first is one of three postcard-sized print from BirdNerd, whose original art I would buy in a heartbeat if I could justify to myself spending that much on prettiness. The second is a 10x8 print entitled "Cold Toes, Warm Heart" which is painfully adorable in and of itself. The seller, TheBlackApple, had to relist this particular print twice for me because other people kept snatching it up. Highly coveted, this artist is. The last picture is a skein of handpainted yarn from Mystical Creation Yarn. It's a wool/silk blend, I bought two skeins, and it is for a SUPER TOP SECRET project that I can't wait to start!

And now it is dinner time. Adios!