Cast on for YenforYarn

I have a special request for all of you. My very wonderful and talented friend Lisa aka yenforyarn was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer last month. She is about to take a a very brave and long journey to battle her cancer and I have been searching for some way to make it all easier on her. Late last week this idea came to me and I hope you agree it's a perfect way to show support and love for a fellow knitter, spinner and dear friend. Many of us, if not each and everyone of us, has had cancer infect our lives and I hope that you can squeeze in a little time to help me show some close knit love.


Lisa came into my life at probably one of the lowest points it has ever been. (Just after the loss on my Mom to cancer.) She and another customer came to my at home studio to do a little shopping. Only to find me still in my jammies after pulling an all nighter at the carder. This was only made better by my then 3 year old son showing her all of the "pretties" in the shop and he may have quite possibly tied her to the chair with some ribbon. And she came back for more! lol Before we knew it we were chatting several times a day and yucking it up about just about everything. The true definition of a friend, Lisa has been there for me every step of the way. Through my healing process, my hair brained ideas and even when I just feel the need to be me. Many of you already know her as yenforyarn on Ravelry or Plurk but what you may not know is that Lisa is a very talented pattern writer. She has written patterns for Crystal Palace Yarns and is the writer of many patterns for the Wool Girl clubs. (I'm sure that she has written other patterns for others but she's just to humble to brag about it.)

SEDONA SOCK PATTERN



MANHATTAN SOCK PATTERN



So I ask this of you. Lisa will be starting her treatments on the 29th of December and as a show of support I ask that you take the time to cast on one of her sock patterns that day. When I spoke to Lisa about doing this she suggested her favorites: Sedona and Manhattan. If you would like to cast one of these on and do not have the pattern already you can purchase them through her blog A Little Bit of Knit or they are also available on Ravelry from her designs page. I will be posting a thread on my Ravelry group to post pics and just share some words of support and appreciation for the "Cast On for Yen". If you are not a Ravelry member you can post here. I'm sure she'll stop in and read posts. She has also posted a blog about her recent situation so you could probably post there also.


I thank all of you for taking the time to show support for Lisa as she begins her battle. Your time and thoughts are greatly appreciated.



Hugs and Overabundant Thanks!



~Coby

April Open House Review

On the 25th of April I opened up the studio at noon for all of my wonderful spinning and knitting friends to come on in and sit a spell. There was a wonderful turn out. I believe the count was 17. Everyone brought something to work on and a dish to pass. ((Yummy yummy!)) Creativity was flowing throughout the studio. Here are a few pictures from the day.







Lisa was spinning some "Midnight Desire" and Michelle is our newest spinning victim, errr, recruit.


Nice try Sandy....I know you are pretty quick with magazine but....



I got you here. :O)



The festivities went on until around 7:30. Maybe next time we can pull an all nighter. My thanks to everyone who attended. I hope you all had as much fun as I did.

There will be another open house some time in June. I'll keep you all posted with the date when I get it.

March Spin a Long Winners

I would like to start out by saying first that I know it's been awhile since my last post... 8 months to be exact. I want to thank all of you for standing by me during one of the hardest years of my life. During this time I have found out what true friendship really is. The sudden loss of my Mother and two close friends really took a toll on me and my desire to create. Thank you for standing by me and the wonderful words of encouragement. I am so very lucky to be able to call so many of you FRIENDS. ~CJ


OK...

Now for the first long awaited blog. :O)

The end of February I decided to host a Spin a Long on Ravelry entitled "Put Your Own Twist On It". When this brain child first surfaced I thought to myself "Maybe 10 or 15 will sign up." Ha, was I off. The tally for the March Sign Ups reached 37 participants! I was floored and humbled. The participants had to pick between two different colorways then post their finished handspun yarn in the Ravelry group. Then they and the other members of the group got to vote for their favorite entry.

I'll have links and info at the end of the blog post so you can find out more about this Spin a Long.
Colorway choices were Inquiry and Montana Moon.



Montana Moon was the clear favorite for the March fiber but there were quite a few participants who chose Inquiry also.

Here are the results for the March Spin a Long voting.

The Winner in the Montana Moon group was AkamaiKnitter who posted this AWESOME handspun creation. She won a $10 gift certificate to my Etsy Shop.



There was a THREE WAY TIE for the winner of the Inquiry group! I don't find it hard to believe...all the entries were so GEORGEOUS! Here are the winners...They all received a $5 gift certificate to my Etsy Shop since it was a tie.

shellebelle216's BEAUTIFUL blendiness



yenforyarns BOLD bulky spun



and boutrosbabe's WONDERFUL navajo ply



There were so many wonderful entries! I was thanking my lucky stars that I didn't have to personally chose the winners. There was no way that I could have done that. I was so delighted to see how many different techniques and creative ideas came from everyone. The possibilities seemed be be endless. I have decided to post a few of my "Honorable Mentions".

((drum roll))

In the category of Prettiest Photo I have chosen our Montana Moon winner AkamaiKnitter who also posted this photo (top) and cadabra who posted this wonderful photo of a knitted swatch of BOTH COLORWAYS! (bottom)


In the Motivation category I have chosen missviolet's sweater in progress photo with her Montana Moon entry (top) and RedHandedJill's handspun hand knit sock. (bottom)



In the Creativeness category I have chosen thenoviceknitter's 4 ply yarn (top) she separated the batt into individual colors, spun them and then plied them together and Peacecat's wild and artsy supercoil yarn. (bottom)



And the winner of the next two categories happens to be one of the Inquiry winners...boutrosbabe. She is the winner of the shameless use of Self Promotion without putting her cat in any danger (LOL) and the Mysterious Happenings with the laundry category. ;O)



There are many more entries for the month. I wish I could post them all.

To find out more about the Spin a Long you can go to my Ravelry Group and check out the Spin a Long Rules thread. The rules have been edited some due to the response to the SAL. Including a winner for each colorway every month and that voters get to choose an entry from each colorway when placing their vote. Oh, did I mention that all participants are entered to win a SIX MONTH FIBER CLUB MENBERSHIP?!?!?! The winner will be drawn in November. You must be a member of Ravelry and of my group there to participate and/or vote.

Ravelry is a great online forum for knitters and spinners. Check it out if you haven't already.

The April Sign Ups have already closed (with 40 participants) but May Sign Ups will start on the 17th.

Thank you everyone for your participation and support! I appreciate it greatly.

Take care and happy spinning!

~CJ

One of the Hardest Things

I think that I should tell you all in advance...
This is not a fiber or knitting related post. It is a very serious and heartfelt post about one of the hardest things that I have had to do. I'm going to try to make it short and as sweet as possible. But I may begin to ramble. Bare with me.

As most of you already know this year has been one of the hardest that I have had to face. And for the most part I can not remember a time in my life that I have ever had such a hard time dealing with a situation. But this morning I had to do one of the most difficult things that I have ever done. Just when I though that I was finally getting a grip on things.

A little over 7 years ago my father began having problems with his kidneys and was told that he was at some point going to need dialysis. After hearing of my father's situation getting worse I moved home from Florida and settled in back in my home town. Slowly his condition worsened and he found a co-worker who had offered up a kidney for a transplant. My father was told several times that he needed to be put an dialysis and he refused. As a matter of fact he continued to work and never missed a beat.

He and his co-worker donor went through months and months of testing and classes. Only to be told one week prior to the scheduled surgery that there was a problem found with the donor and that the transplant would not be an option with this donor. We were all devastated and worried due tot the fact that Dad was still saying no dialysis. Dad was told by his doctor that if he did not do something now he only had a few months. At the time, I was several months pregnant and my mom and I used it a leverage to try to convince Dad to try to do something to stick around a little longer and see his grandson grow but he still refused. He was put on the donor list and that is where the situation was left.

My son was born and he received his Grandpa's name as his middle name. Then just two weeks later, Mom was diagnosed with cancer. It was a rare form of cancer that effects the eye called Ocular Melanoma. Four weeks later Dad received a call that they had a PERFECT MATCH.

All went well with the transplant and it took awhile for the medications to level out. And Mom underwent treatment for her cancer and it had seemed to gone away. Mom and Dad later came in contact with the father of his donor. His kidney was the result of a young girl losing her life. It was a hard pill to swallow for Dad. Knowing that a young college aged girl who had lots to offer the world had to lose her life to save his. Mom stayed in contact with the young girls father and sent regular emails.

A little over three years had passed Mom's cancer had reappeared during that time and with treatment it was gone again. This past March she was hospitalized for pneumonia and at that time she found out that her cancer had reappeared in her liver. Now anyone who knows anything about this type of cancer knows that the liver is not where you would want in to be. There is no known treatment for this cancer. And the numbers are horrifying. (I will be making another post about Mom's type of cancer later in the month. I plan on having a part of my sales donated to research for this type of cancer.) All I can remember saying to myself is "How many miracles can one person ask for?" My mother passed 3 months and 2 days later.

And that brings me to today...
My father came over and asked me if I would email the father of his donor and let him know what all had happened. Mom had last emailed him to tell him that she was ill and they were going to Houston but never gave the details of her entire situation.

How could I possibly sit here and tell Mom's story with my father over looking my shoulder as I type. I remembered the day that I had to begin making the calls to tell friends and family that Mom had passed. Many of whom knew nothing of the severity of her situation. But telling this man who I had never met was way worse than any of that. I have always been so grateful for his daughter's gift to my Dad. And one of the last things I would want to ever do is inflict more grief on him. There is a huge bond there. It's hard to describe. Somehow I managed to send out a rather short email with the details of what had happened. I even kept it together until Dad had left. But directly after there was a rather sizable emotional meltdown. It was the first for me since my Mother's passing.

As I got myself back together I saw a message in my inbox. It was from the donor's father. And within that email I found some of the most comforting words I have seen yet. It wasn't filled with worldly quotes or offers of advice. But it was a letter filled with a father's love for his daughter and the people who she had saved.

Mom had always been the one who had corresponded with him. And now I have the wonderful invitation to be the one who keeps him up to date on the family happenings. I may have lost a parent along the way but somewhere, somehow I feel like I have gained another.

I just want to say to everyone out there, thank you for being there and giving me the strength that I have needed so desperately these past few months. And if I have learned anything from all of this it would be that even with a tremendous loss we gain things that we could have never imagined.

Chocolate Toffee Cream ~ A New Blend!

Finally something NEW and VERY LUXURIOUS! Here's "Chocolate Toffee Cream". It is a blend of silk, alpaca, merino and bamboo. It almost melts in your hands. The new blend will be making it's debut in my Etsy Shop on Thursday the 24th of July. It is a somewhat "limited edition". I will not know exactly how much will be produced until I get my new supply shipment in on Monday. But I know there will be limited supply due to one of it's special ingredients.

If you are a Fiber Club Member your 4 ounces is on it's way to your mailbox. That's right! All of my Fiber Club Members received this blend as their shipment this month. Enjoy everyone! I hope you like it.

There are at least 13 more new blends on the horizon for next week. I will begin revealing the rest of them in my upcoming newsletter on the 24th of this month. If you haven't subscribed yet you can do so my sending an email with the words "add me" in the subject line to newsletter@cjkopec-creations.com and I'll get you put on the subscriber list.

Thanks Everyone! Take care and have a great weekend. I'm headed back to the dye pots.

Wow! Summer is here already.

Where has time gone???? I have been MIA in the blog world and so much has been going on.

It has been a rough start to the year with the loss of my Mom who fought a short lived battle with her ocular melanoma that reappeared in her liver in February. She gave it a good fight at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Tx but passed away last month. And since then there have been lots of little things poppin' up and taking me away from my normal routine. But I do believe that things here are once again on track and almost up to full steam.

I have a HUGE supply order coming in next week. Yay! And I have been dying wool up a storm. And I am excited that the Michigan Fiber Festival is right around the corner. (Yikes! it's almost Fall already)

But what I am looking forward to the most right now is my upcoming trip to the Cancun area for the 2nd Annual Trent Willmon Hide Away Beach Party. I had such a wonderful time last year and I can't wait to get back to the sandy beaches of Mexico and hang out with all of the wonderful people that I met there last year and maybe even make a few more new friends this year. I can't believe that the trip is almost here! I am definitely ready to go. There's nothing better than a country music concert on the beach!!!!! Oh...there's free drinks too! :O)

Well, I just wanted to pop in and make a quick post. I'll be back in a few days to make an actual full length post. I just wanted to stop in and say "Howdy" to everyone.

Talk with you all later!

Hand Dyed Sock Yarn In Stock!

I have started to list lots of my hand dyed sock yarns in my Etsy Store. I have almost 20 pounds dyed up and hope to list a few every couple of days. So stop by and check them out.








I have also listed several other goodies along with some 1/2 oz samples for 20 cents! It's a great way to try 'em before you buy 'em.

Take Care All!
~Coby