October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month

As the title says October was Breast Cancer Awareness here in the UK... we were reminded 'to get in the pink' through various forms of the media and many people blogged about it, such as Janes Probably Knitting. She gently reminded us each post that it's important to check our breasts on a routine basis by simply asking us 'Have you?' at the end of each post. Jane also did a subtle reminder throughout the month of October by spinning some gorgeous pink merino / silk fibre from The Yarn Yard.

This got me to thinking about how I could best put my talents to good use and it was whilst spinning this merino / tencel I aptly named 'Summer Pinks' I decided when finished I might like to have a silent auction for the finished yarn to raise money.

I pondered long and hard whilst spinning and many thoughts flowed through my mind as I sat and spun. I'm not an accomplished spinner by any means and people may not want to give their hard earned cash for my handspun, especially in this economic climate. I may not raise an awful lot of money from the auction, and I would feel silly for thinking I could; but then I thought any contribution would be a positive contribution, no matter how small. Every little helps a worthwhile cause.... and whilst I admire people who raise thousands of pounds for charity, where would charities be without the people who make small, regular, annonymous donations...

I decided to see what my friend Natalie thought of the idea, she responded by saying it was a lovely idea and was generous enough to offer some fibre from The Yarn Yard as part of the auction.

I decided as the month of October is past and it was all about awareness it would be nice to give the money to a breast cancer charity that is helping women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and are undergoing treatment. With this in mind, I have chosen Breast Cancer Haven as my charity. As cancer can affect a patient both physically and emotionally, Breast Cancer Haven offers a free programme of care to help patients, and those supporting them during this difficult time.

I've had to edit this blog because other kind people have offered up items to be included in the auction for this worthwhile cause....

allstitchedup aka Jammam (Ravelry) from has offered up a skein of her precious Posh Yarns Lucia yarn in colourway 'Flirt', which is a 4ply (sock weight) yarn, made from 30% cashmere, 70% merino. 430 yards per 100g. Recommended needle size is 2.75mm (US 2).

Sarah aka BabyLongLegs has kindly offered to put up a skein of hand dyed merino / bamboo sock yarn in the winners chosen colourway.

Kraftykoala has generously offered 2 of her 50g hanks of hand dyed laceweight merino in colourway 'Powederpuff' and with 760m per 50g you'll get a great shawl from this....

So here are the items that are up for auction

'Summer Pinks' - 238m / 88g of 3ply Merino / Tencel

100g of Merino from Natalie of The Yarn Yard

80g of Posh Yarns 'Lucia' in 'Flirt' brand new and ready to knit from Jacqui aka Jammam of allstitchedup

Hand dyed merino / bamboo sock yarn from BabyLongLegs- In the winners choice of colour
2 x 50g Merino laceweight in 'Powderpuff' (760m per 50g) from Kraftykoala


The auction is open to anyone, anywhere in the world as we are prepared to pay the postage to any destination.

Now the way I propose to do this is as follows:

I would like you to email me with your bids to the following email address, in the following way:

charity[AT]littleberry[DOT]me[DOT]uk
(Replace [AT] with @ and [DOT] with . in the address)

1. In the subject please state the item you are bidding for i.e. Fibre, Handspun etc.. If you wish to bid on all of them please send a seperate email for each.


2. In the body of the email please state what you are prepared to pay BUT to make things easier and so I don't have a tie situation, I would like the bids to be in Pounds (£ - GBP) and Pence. i.e. £6.03 rather than £6.00


3. Payment should be either by cash funded paypal or bank transfer.


4. Should a tie situation arise, then the winner will be the first person to put that bid in.
   
5. The auction will be open until noon (UK time) on Friday 14th November. I will contact the winners on Friday afternoon and announce them on Saturday 15th on my blog. However, if you wish your identity to be kept secret I will respect your wishes.

Should you wish to make a donation rather than bid on the items you can do so by going to the Breast Cancer Haven Just Giving Page

Many Thanks to all of you