Knittin' and Lovin' It

And the Winner Is.......

Alex! I've emailed Alex to let her know she's the lucky winner.

For those who are curious about how I picked the winner:

I've been putting name/email on a excel sheet....no I will not be selling your email addresses and will delete the excel sheet when the winner has claimed her prize. When I ended the contest late last night I randomly assigned everyone a number from 1-49 next to their name. Then this evening I went to a random number generator online and had it spit out a number. The lucky number was 37 and when I opened the excel sheet I saw that it was located next to Alex's name.

Holy Cow! Do I know how to complicate things or what? ;~)

And yes I now realize I ended the contest a day early I goofed and messed up the dates.

A great big thank you to all who joined in on the fun!

Little Fishies & A Contest

Contest Has Ended! A winner will be selected in the next day or two.

We're celebrating being debt free and I want to pass on the celebration to all my blogland friends. We made our final payment earlier this month so we are now free of debt. Yippy!

I'll go ahead and get the contest details out of the way now before finishing the rest of the post. I'm going to make this simple: Post about your favorite summertime activity.

I'll keep this contest open through the 12th of Aug. I'll close comments down when I end the contest and the winner will be announced on the 13th in a blog post. I will also email the winner. To qualify for the contest you must post your comment in this post only. I'm not going to hunt willy-nilly through out the blog so if you want to enter post here. I'll use a random number generator to determine the winner.

FYI: If you don't want to enter the contest but want to post a comment just let me know in the comment and I won't put your name down.

So you all are wondering what you win! I'm making it easy this time. The winner gets to decide which online shop they'd like to get a gift certificate too, ie WEBS, Amazon, TLE, Woolgirl, Sonny & Shear, your favorite etsy shop.....I think you get the point. The catch is it has to be one that is easy for me to purchase, preferably one that I can purchase online and have it shipped/emailed to you. If you live in the UK I'm not going to call your favorite LYS to buy a certificate unless of course you want to send me a calling card to pay for the call. Lets keep it simple. I'm doing this because it leaves the contest open for anyone who isn't in the US too. The monetary value of the certificate hasn't fully been determined but I can say that it will be at least $25 USD.

Now on to the regularly scheduled blog post.

Shawn was sent down to F.E. Warren AFB in Wyoming for a few days so the girls and I have been hanging around the house. I think Zeus is missing Shawn the most. Poor dog keeps looking out the front window expecting Shawn to walk through the door at any minute.

Shawn's due to leave tomorrow morning so he should be back before the girls head to bed. He stated to me that picking Montana over Wyoming was a great choice. He said the housing there is horrible. Most of the housing here is new although some of the new housing is messed up because some moron decided to build them on swamp land. Hello idiots, draining the swap and filling it in with dirt is most likely going to backfire on you. When you build a house on land that was once swamp land chance are the land is going to sink and try to revert back to its swampiness and that's what's happening right now. My next door neighbor is one of the many people who are being moved out of houses that are sinking. Truth be told the only reason we picked Montana was because it kept use closer to the West coast where my family is without having to go broke living in California or dealing with all that Las Vegas, NV has to offer. Living in Las Vegas is enough to give me nightmares for a year. Going to Wyoming would have moved us even farther way so Montana won.

Now on to knitting and all that other good stuff you all came here for.

I'm totally addicted to knitting these little fishies (ravelry) (non ravelry).

I can't stop casting on even though I don't really have any real use for them. I've made three so far. They're to small for dishrags. Maybe I can use a little of that mesh stuff knit in with them to make scrubbies. Bree's been grabbing them from me as soon as I finish them so I have several little knitted fishies floating around the house. Well I guess since Bree likes them then they do have some value, plus they're cute.

I purchase these from Dawning Dreams Etsy shop.

A pretty jewel orifice hook for my spinning wheel and two cable needles. I absolute love the cable needles and contacted Dawn who was fabulous and made me a set of mini cable needles for knitting on smaller things like socks. Here's the mini needles.....aren't they cute!

I'm not big on cabling without a needle and truth be known I can knit cables twice as fast with a cable needle then without one. The orifice hook is a tad to thick for my wheel so it's become a pretty decoration in with my knitting tools and crochet hooks.

I also acquired some yummy Yarn Love fiber from Sonny & Shear. I don't know why I've never bought from them before but I was pleased....great selection and fast shipping. They've got a pretty nice selection of fibers from various dyers not to mention all the different sock yarns.

First up is Yarn Love Marianne.

The color is Cottage Garden and it's superwash merino.....mmmmmm, merino is so soft.

Then there's Yarn Love Scarlett O'Hara.

The color is Blackberry Jam and it's a superwash wool/bamboo/nylon blend.

I picked up the yarn to start a shawl for my mom.

It's Knit Picks Gloss Lace and the colorway is Port.

Then I started my moms shawl after I finished up a sample knit.

This is the beginning of the Whispering Pines Shawl (ravelry)(non ravelry) by Anne Hanson of Knitspot. I'd have to say that she has some of the most gorgeous lace patterns around. Not to mention well written.

I finished my moms Loopified socks.

It's the Halema uma u Socks (ravelry) that came in the 2008 TLE Anniversary kit. As far as I can tell this pattern hasn't been released for sale to the general public yet. The yarn used was also part of the kit and is Handmaiden Casbah, colorway Loopified. This yarn is yummy and I think after the weather cools down my mom is going to love them.

I also received some yummy BFL that I purchased from Perchance to Spin which is Perchance to Knits shop for all things spinning related.

It's 8 ounces of soft BFL in a pretty light green colorway called New Leaf Green. I really love spinning BFL.

I also bought some lovely orifice hooks for my wheel.

These work beautifully with my Ashford Traveller. Fiber Jewels was having a get two for the price of one deal that I couldn't pass up. I don't really have a need for two hooks since I only have one wheel but hey they were buy one get one free.

Project & notions bag made specially for me.

I swapped a skein of yarn for the project and notions bag. The project bag is the perfect size for socks and it has a cool little pocket on the inside of the bag.

I'll leave you with this shot.

My baby had her 3rd birthday on the 24th. I can't believe she's 3 already! Man does the time fly. I'm thinking about starting her in Preschool next year.....yikes, I'm gonna cry if I keep thinking about it.

Oh Look Tomatoes!

Happy crafting!

And Winners Are.....

Nell was the winner of my Blogiversary Contest!

I had Kaity draw out a second name for a consolation prize and the winner is......Colleen.

Congrats to both winners. I'll mail your packages out here in the next few days.

Thanks everyone for playing in my contest!

Contest, Contest, Contest

***Contest Has Ended! Winner to be announced soon!***

This is a sticky post! You'll have to scroll down past this post to get to the newer posts.

I'm having my one year Blogiversary contest. It's super simple to enter: leave me a comment in this post about anything, holiday memories, just to say hi, doesn't matter just leave a comment.

Details:
I hate doing this but you can only enter if you have a US or Canadian address. Military addresses are also acceptable.
I can't ship to countries other the the US/Canada, its too expensive.

Make sure that your email address is correct in the comment form. I will contact the winner via email.

Contest ends: 16 Dec at 11:59pm MST.

What you could win, it's a surprise but you'll get enough sock yarn to make a pair of socks and some other goodies. I promise it will be nice.

Sorry, only one winner for this contest. Winner will be selected using a non computer, random number generator....Kaity will pick a name out of a hat!

Candy Bag

I finished the Mandy's Candy Bag for NH Knitting Mama's contest.



I'll definitely be making more of these.  I knit mine Magic Loop instead of on DPNs.  It seems that I've pretty much been converted to ML, however you won't see me getting rid of my DPNs any time soon.  I made this one a little on the shorter side because it's for Kaity. 

There's sill time left to join in on the fun.  See details below:

There is a contest running at NH Knitting Mama and it goes like this:

1. Knit the candy bag

2. Post a pic of your candy bag on your blog and let Mandy know about it (with a link to the blog post!).

3. Your name will go into a drawing FIVE TIMES for some swag! Don't want to knit Mandy's Candy Bag? That's okay! You can still participate, see how on Mandy's blog.

Deadline is Monday, September 3rd, 12:01am eastern standard time.

Candy Bag Contest

I was out surfing the net and came across this post on Tricotine's blog.  Now it's my turn to pass it on to any of you who may want to join in on the fun.

NH Knitting Mama is having a contest.  I thought the pattern was cute so I'm joining in on the fun.

Here's the rules:

The "Candy Bag" contest goes like this:
1. Knit the candy bag
2. Post a pic of your candy bag on your blog and let me know about it (with a link to the blog post!). 
3. Your name will go into a drawing FIVE TIMES for some swag!

Don't want to knit Mandy's Candy Bag? That's okay! Put a link on your blog to see the pattern, let me know about your link, and I'll enter your name ONCE for the swag. (If you link it, then knit it and link it again, you'll get SIX chances! - just tell me know so I know you did it!)

Deadline: Monday, September 3rd, 12:01am eastern standard time.

Ribs and Lace Tank

I finally got a better photo of the Ribs and Lace Tank I'm making for my sister. 



Now doesn't that look much better.  It still isn't perfect but it's better then the crap photos being shot here in the house.  I should have used the Sony.  Ah well, next time.  And to think I went out into the heat to take this pic for you all.  :~)  It's almost 100F (37.8C) out there, yuck I hate the heat.  I snapped my pics, snatched up the tank and ran right back into the A/C cooled house.  I'm a pansy, I'll admit it. 

And since you all were kind enough to look at another unfinished photo of the tank and listen to me whine about the heat.....I give you yarn:

I won this from Romancing the Yarn.  During the month of July they were having a contest called Yarnapaloza where they picked a winner each day for the whole month of July.  Imagine my surprise when I saw I was winner #28....Yippy! 
I'll probably use the Gedifra to make socks for me.  Probably some comfy simple ribbed socks.  Kaity has already laid claim to the simple stripes, mumbling something under her breath that sounded a lot like the word knee socks.  Wee that should be fun!  :~)

Well I'm outta here for now.  Stay tuned for gratuitous yarn photos tomorrow.  I should be getting my order in from TLE and to top it all off I should be getting my 2nd sock club order from TLE on Monday or Tues.  I received shipment confirmation that the package shipped today.  I'm doing the Snoopy Dance now.  I can't help but smile and wanna dance where I hear that tune.  I love Snoopy!

Happy Knitting Ya'll!

Wonderful Goodies

I got some great goodies in the mail today.  It's enough to bright my day.  You know what, 29 doesn't feel any different then 28....lol.  Yup you guessed it, today is my b-day.

Goodies all wrapped and pretty:



Pictures of the goodies all unwrapped:



I won this yarn from a guessing contest on Jennie's blog.  I guessed 7 out of 10 sock yarn types correctly.....who has a sock yarn problem, oh no not me!   :~)   I picked Fleece Artist for my winnings.  Jennie sent the Trekking 100 because the last contest I won on her blog she sent me Trekking 110 instead of the 100.  Which was no biggie to me!     :~)  Thanks Jennie, that was sooo cool of you to send me the Trekking 100.  It will be put to good use.

I also got the June 2007 copy of Knit N' Style.  I decided to try it so they sent me a free issue and then I can subscribe if I want too....I think I'll subscribe.  There are a few patterns I could use.  There is Mary's Camisole that I think my sis would like....pg. 37 for you all who have the mag.  I like the pullover (it's the blue pullover on the site) on pg. 39, the pocket baby cardi/pullover on pg 58, and a super cute dress called viva la violet for little girls on pg. 60.  So all in all I'd say the mag was worth the purchase price, which of course is cheaper if you have a subscription.  :~)

Contest Winner

OK, I'm posting this a little early.  I believe I said I'd post the winner sometime Sunday afternoon.  I figured I'd post before I head to bed.  I don't want to keep you all in suspense.  :~)

And the winner of the sock opinion contest is:

Drum roll Please:

Leah (No Blog).....Leah if you have a blog let us know.  :~) 
Leah I've emailed you, please email me your mailing address so I can get these skeins out in the mail to you.

Leah won two lovely skeins of Apple Laine Apple Pie in the Sunset colorway.

Thanks for playing everyone.  I'll probably have another contest after I've moved and gotten settled in maybe December since it will be my 1 year Blogiversary!

For anyone who is curious, I put your name into MS Excel as the comments came in and assigned a number to your name.  I then used a random number generator to pick a number for me. 

Opinion Time & A Contest

OK, I'm wanting opinions on the sock.  I can't decide if I want to continue in the pattern I'm working on or find something else.  I think the yarn color repeats are too short to be used with this pattern.  I'm wondering if maybe the Sunrise yarn would like to become Monkey.  Feel free to leave me a comment saying what you would do.  You know I value all of your comments.   :~)

Shoot, why don't we turn this into a contest....everyone else is having them.  Might as well join the party.  The contest will be for enough yarn to make one pair of socks.....my choice of yarn.  I'll work out the details with the winner.....we'll make it fair.

Rules:

-- Leave me a comment telling me what you would do with this sock...keep going in the same pattern or frog it and pick a different pattern. 

-- I'm only going to count the comments in this post.  So if you leave your answer in another post on my blog it will not be counted.

-- You have until Sat at 11:59 pm MST to make your comment.  Any comments made after this time will not count.

-- One name will be drawn via random number generator on Sunday afternoon.

-- I'll post the winner on my blog.

OK I think that pretty much covers everything.

The first shot of the sock:

Here's another shot:

The color is gorgeous and a little softer then in the photo.....so give me your opinion on what you would do "keep going" or "frog it" and you could win some yarn.   :~)