send me to the poorhouse—please

Posted on Posted in book reviews/events, Uncategorized

ok, knitspot readers, it’s time. time to kick in with a booster campaign to get more money for
claudia’s ride for MS.

for those of you who may not have heard about it, each year claudia rides 150 miles to raise money for research and treatment to people who have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

why am i making such a big deal out of helping raise awareness (and donations) for claudia’s big ride?

my dad died from advanced MS a few years ago, after fighting it for about 30 years. MS can take away a person’s ability to use their hands or their legs, but also affects a person’s eyesight, perception and judgment of distances, swallowing and breathing, and can bring on dementia. MS research and treatment as gone a long way in the past 30 years to improve life and options for people with this diagnosis. if my dad were diagnosed today, his treatment would be quite different, with a more optimistic prognosis than it was in the 70s.

last year, in honor of father’s day, and in memory of my dad, i created a matching fund from my june teaching fees and gave $10 for every reader who donated to claudia’s ride (see post here).
we did pretty great, too—and i only had about 25 readers then.

THIS year, i know that knitspot readers have multiplied like, well . . . stash (sigh—wouldn’t it be so cool to all get together some time?).
now, claudia wants to raise $20,000 this year and i want all of us to help her. i am NOT above begging, of course, and neither am i above bribing—which is way more fun. here’s what i’m proposing we do:

  • go to claudia’s blog and give ANY amount to her MS ride by saturday, june 23rd (midnight EST)
  • write and tell me that you gave (i_gaveATknitspotDOTcom; remove the words AT and DOT, replace with symbols).
    i will put your name in the knitspot drawing for the fabulous prizes below. if you gave before this week, write and tell me—you are also eligible! you can even tell me which 3 prizes below you like best, and i’ll try to match your desires (but obviously, i can’t promise)
  • I AM PROVIDING MATCHING FUNDS for donations made by knitspot readers. For every donation of any amount to claudia’s ride, i will give $1.
    in addition for every $10 that a knitspot reader gives to claudia’s ride, i will add $1 to the matching fund. so, if you give $20, i’ll give $3. it doesn’t sound like much, but it will add up because i know there are now multitudes of you, and that you are givers of the highest order.
    i do not need to know the amount, but if you do decide tell me,it will increase the matching fund.
  • right now, i have $500 burning a hole in the knitspot account for this purpose.
    i want to spend every last penny of it. it’s possible that i can scrape up some more if things go really well.
  • each reader who gives ANY amount to claudia’s ride will be entered in the knitspot drawing, to be held sunday evening, june 24th, and, if you give $10 or more, you’ll be entered in claudia’s own drawing at her blog.

how cool is that??

so waddaya say? let’s ROCK this thing okay? make me a poor girl.

now, everybody get your drool rags out, because we are going to take a look at the prize pool, which is AWESOME (and which i am happy to add to with new donations ANY time!)

first up, 2 skeins of fearless fibers merino laceweight in colorway miracle AND a pattern for the just-released orchid lace scarf. this amount of yarn will be enough to complete the scarf and the matching mitts (pattern to come).

next up, we have numerous items (each one a separate prize) from reader elizabeth, sadly blogless. she has a treasure trove of goodies including:

a sock kit with 2 balls of panda cotton, needles, and some panda heel reinforcing yarn

this collection of 24 rebecca pattern booklets

a beautiful skein of mosaic DK yarn—enough for mitts or a hat.

four skeins of luscious lion and lamb yarn by lorna’s laces

four skeins of fingerlakes 2-ply wool in a wonderful denim-heather color—enough for a vest or smaller-sized sweater.

5 balls of rowan cashsoft, in a beautiful moth gray—hmmm, what could you knit with that?

from kim at the woolen rabbit, a gorgeous skein of her hand-dyed merino sock yarn, which i have been know to rave about . . . and, since that color fairly screams corn!, we will add a teosinte pattern to this prize.

kristen has two sets of very pretty stitch markers from her etsy shop to go with all this yarn!

each one is a separate prize

my friend lisa (of the blocking wires—thank you lisa!) has another sock package, including vesper, cherry tree hill, and all things heather yarns

meghann of radiant twist offers a good-enough-to-eat skein of her obsession sock yarn—mmmm-mmm

rosemary of designs by romi, has a shawl pin to send to someone

natalie, of the yarn yard sends a one-of-a-kind skein of her lovely sock yarn in budgie colorway

our friend, karen has a beautiful skein of schaefer anne to send one lucky winner

and lilith has a super-special skein of her lovely handspun—little fish—it’s a 70% bluefaced leicester/30% silk blend, fine DK weight, 100 grams & 220 yards in a one-off dye lot.

kyrie has 2 50g skeins of Filatura Multicolor to offer. this is a beautiful mohair blend yarn with about 200 yds per ball—enough for a scarf.

my buddy chris, at briar rose has three to-dye-for prizes she’s throwing into the ring, dyed by Herself just this week:

a 2500-yard hank (you read that right!) of angel face laceweight alpaca—enough for a HUGE square heirloom lace shawl.

a 1200-yard hank of grandma’s blessing superwash—enough for a shawl! we will pair a knitspot shawl pattern of choice with this prize

two hanks of wistful alpaca/merino/silk—enough for a morning glory wrap in everyone’s favorite colorway—and i will add a pattern!

susan from ohio has two incredible gift boxes with some smashing sock yarn in them:
th first has (left to right) – Gypsy Knits BFL Superwash Fingering, Zen String Serendipity Sport in Blueberry Pie, 2 skeins of Artyarns Ultramerino4 color 143, and Posh Yarn’s Emily in Genteel

and the second one has (left to right) – 2 skeins C*EYE*BER Fiber sock in Winter Tundra, Blue Moon Silkie in Tide Pool, and Handmaiden lace silk in Woodland

as claudia herself said: “makes me want to donate to my own drawing”

my dear friend anne, from wooly wonka fibers.com is offering a $25-dollar gift certificate to her online store for any item the winner desires (and she has some incredible stuff, gang)

the lovely erica (you MUST go to her site and peek at her kids—that baby cracks me up every time) has created a nice gift box of sock goodies, including Lorna’s Laces Shepard Sock in the Tahoe colorway, Regia Multi Effect color, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in the African Grey colorway, and an electronic 3 row-at-a-time counter plus (i have to admit i have no idea what this gadget does, but it looks snazzy!)

gail has two skeins of medium-weight STR to offer—ONE for each of two lucky winners! isn’t she a peach? one is rooster rock colorway (left), and the other is sherbet (right)

maura, sadly blogless, is an old friend i “bumped” into recently through another blogging buddy. maura has five sets of beautiful stitch markers made from beads she’s collected in her travels. here are a couple of examples:
two sets with green glass beads

one with orange beads

one with amber beads

and one with blue swirl beads

each one is a separate prize. thanks maura!

judy has offered another winner a gift certificate for a skein of her luscious sock yarn (click to see all the options) in their choice of color! here’s an example:

debbie has 3 beautiful skeins that she would love to send out one prize. they include a skein of manos del uruguay, a skein of soft bartlett’s wool, along with a skein of tocahy’s farm handspun in the coral seas colorway

now, from my own stash of stuff i have the following:

two skeins of sock hop yarn in colorway i got you babe fresh from crown mountain farms—enough for a generous pair of socks

one skein of suri alpaca laceweight yarn in this soft colorway

two balls (plus part of another) of emu autumn leaves wool blend yarn in a rose tweed that knits up like handspun, and a pattern for the stocking cap for all sizes

a hardcover copy of couture knits by jean moss

a copy of fitted knits by stefanie japel

a lil granny felted bag, knit (by me) from my pattern

a bigger jimi bagette, also knit from my pattern

a retro chain bag

and a lantern bag

whew! can you believe all that? and any one of these prizes can be yours if you give just a little bit.

42 thoughts on “send me to the poorhouse—please

  1. What generous heart you have my friend!! I feel a connection to you about our dads-remember me telling you I lost mine almost 3 years ago now due to severe heart problems.

    What a worthy cause, I’ll be seeing what I can contribute. Awesome prizes, to say the least! Hey, I checked out Wooly Wonka Fibers, some beautiful stuff there huh?

  2. Thanks for taking this up and your generous prizes as an incentive. I already donated and e-mailed you. Hoping you are sent to the poor house 🙂

  3. Wow, what a generous idea! I have some Paypal that I’ve been sitting on, I think I’ll head off and take a peek at Claudia’s blog now.

  4. Holy moley, Batman! What an incredible thing you are doing here! I’ll be donating, but I’m not interested in getting any prizes….my cup runneth over already with STUFF.

  5. Hi Anne! I love this idea and I will not only donate to the cause but I will also try and come up with a donation for the prizes. Speaking of both stash and prizes, I’m hosting a Stash Swap and you should drop in and participate if you feel like it. It’d be cool to have you participating. Also, I realized that I have a gift for you so, when I get it all packaged up, I’ll get your mailing address and send it off. I know you love receiving some goodies in the mail and I honestly can’t think of a better recipient. I hope you are doing well. 🙂

  6. Anne, this is great! oh my… what eye candy! Will definately donate next week when I sit down to do finances. 🙂

    And now I know where that last hank of Obsession from Meghann went… I went back to buy it yesterday and it was gone. lol!

  7. Anne, you are incredibly awesome! Really! You had announced the contest, and knowing how generous you are, I knew something great was coming, but hey, that much?!? Wow! And actually, I think that what moves me the most is the extent to which you are ready to match funds. This is… well, I just can’t find the words. I don’t have much, but your drive is so contagious, I’ll go and give what I can to help.

  8. Hi Anne:

    What an impressive line up!!! I already donated at Claudia’s site. Pretty sure it was $10. And I am dying over the fearless fibers, the Lorna’s Laces,the Suri Alpaca laceweight, the woolen rabbit yarn, and the lantern bag. I’ll probably end up drooling over the briar rose yarn, too!

  9. Popped over and donated $20 to Claudia’s ride. Love the miracle/scarf, corn/teosinte combos. Will also donate 2 50g skeins of Filatura Multicolor – it’s a mohair/acrylic blend in beautiful purples,greens, golds. Will try get a pic up on the blog today.

  10. Thank you for what you’re doing! I donated via the link you posted. Both of my husband’s sisters have MS and we try to support research in every way we can. They have both benefited from new research in the last ten years and are currently doing very well. They neither one knit, but I do! Thank you also for sharing yourself with the web world. I look forward to reading your posts and buying your patterns. They’re always wonderful to knit!

  11. Knock me over with a feather! What an array of goodies, and all for such a worthy cause. I’m in!

  12. How amazing of you…I’ve already donated $40! Good luck….and the orchid scarf is gorgeous!!

  13. Anne, I love your blog and your designs – and you inspired me to donate over at Claudia’s blog for her Ride for MS. I used to work for a wonderful woman who had the disease, and I still keep in contact with her, she’s doing well. I hope my small donation ($25) will help!
    I donated under the name “shelleyknits.”

    Thanks!
    Shelley from NJ

  14. Hey Anne! Have already sent Claudia some stash but will be happy to send you some too. Just send me an address for one of the mpst generous people I know (No, not Oprah – you!) and I’ll send you some more goodies for your prize package. Will also donate, provided I don’t get my own donation back if I win anything. So send me an address and I’ll ship some goodies off.

    Blessings!

  15. Friday is pay day… Firday is “donation day”! Not just for the chance at prizes, either, but it certainly makes it fun!

  16. WOW, you are being very generous, indeed! Claudia will reach her goal in no time with the help of people like you.

  17. Geez. I’d be thrilled with a pattern. What amazing prizes. I have already given to Claudia’s MS Fund. I have two friends who suffer. Both young women with so much to look forward to. Thank you so much for your generosity and devotion.

  18. I just donated a little. Wasnt much, but every little penny helps, right? Hope you are having a good Monday!

  19. Wow, what a great thing both you and Claudia are doing! I donated $30 – its nice to know that giving a little with a lot of people really does add up to doing great things!

  20. I already donated to Claudia way back when, but I just want to say thank you again for taking such a vested interest in finding a cure for this horrible disease. I’m so sorry to hear that your father lost his life to MS. I feel fortunate indeed to have been diagnosed at a time when there are treatment options available, but these come too late for many, like your father. And while I’m grateful for my daily Copaxone injections, they still aren’t a cure. Hopefully one will be found… soon. This past week has been pretty difficult for me and my left side is not working properly at all. It’s depressing and I worry about who will take care of my children if I’m not able to. Hearing about people like you who are doing so much does a lot to lift my spirits.

    In the meantime, I’m about 1/2 way through making your Simple Lace shawl. The more advanced Starlight Wrap will be saved until later.
    Hugs, Heide

  21. Only just saw the new prizes. They look good enough to eat! So delicious! Lucky us!

  22. What a generous soul you are. Wow.

    My friend Jeannine’s mother lives with MS and father passed away from it 6 years ago. It’s a charity that’s close to my heart too.

  23. A dear friend of the family has MS, and I’ve seen first hand how it has affected his life and his family. I am happy to help the cause in what little way I can. Thank you for bringing Claudia’s campaign to our attention. $20 more for Claudia’s ride!

  24. I finally got around to contributing from Claudia’s blog. Wish I could have sooner.
    MS is cause near to our hearts here in our home. We don’t have a family member afflicted, but both my husband and I are long time fans of Victoria Williams who suffers from MS. We contribute to Sweet Relief every year not only because we’re a family of artists, but because of Victoria, the foundation’s inaugural beneficiary.
    Additionally when naming our firstborn child, we wanted a middle name for her that would tell about her strength (a long hard worrisome, often at risk, pregnancy) We chose Victoria not because we’re fans, but because of Vic’s strength in fighting MS while continuing to delight music lovers and fans with her god given talent.

  25. Dear Anne, I read you regularly and I gave to Claudia yesterday. I’ll send an e-mail with specifics. There is too much MS in this world and we’ll lick it someday.

  26. Anne —
    Just made a contribution to Claudia’s effort and wanted to leave a comment about how well your effort has done to help a very worthy cause.

    Here’s to reaching both your $10,000 goal and Claudia’s $30K! And here’s to licking MS and all the other diseases out there.

    Kathy Alter

  27. Just donated to Claudia, she’s so close to $30,000! $20 isn’t much, but every bit helps right? It’s so exciting to see how well her fundraising is going and how generous knitters are!

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