I won!

I entered in a Planet Purl drawing in August. Here’s what the contest required:

Which of these Vogue Knitting Fall 2009 hat projects is your favorite? Vote and be entered in our drawing.

Here’s the link in case you are interested in the hats.

Easy, fun and best of all, I won!!! Erin, the Planet Purl guru, emailed me a week ago with the good news. Planet Purl is a fun site. I have used it to find yarn stores when I travel. There are a bunch other cool resources too including a very nice link to pattern errata.

Winning was all the more exciting since my birthday was in August and I didn’t get to celebrate this year since I was in Tasmania. I did get a lovely gift of a gorgeous skein of yarn and TWO hand knit pairs of socks from my friend Chris shortly after I got home. However, mom didn’t even send me a prezzie. That’s how much of a non-birthday it was.

I’m going to think of this as a birthday gift. And the prize:

a set of the new Zephyr Acrylic Interchangeable Needles from Knit Picks. I had bought some of the Acrylic tips to try out. And yes, I like them quite a bit. My only complaint, the clear color sometimes reflects the yarn, making it harder to see what you are doing with some stitch manipulations. Minor. They are delightfully flexible and have the nice pointy tips that Knit Picks are known for. I like them better than the wood and as much, perhaps more, than the nickle-plated needles.

Can a knitter ever have too many needles? I think not.

So thanks Erin, Planet Purl and Knit Picks!

I hate pictureless posts

but if I wait to grab a picture, I may never post again.

Life is crazy. Someday I’ll tell the world all about it. Not enough time to write it all out now. Suffice it to say that the Resident Non Knitter is in Australia, I’m home alone and we still haven’t sold our house.

Meanwhile, I’m doing a major computer migration. I’ve got a new laptop — a Mac none-the-less — and I’ve made the decision to abandon the old desktop. This afternoon, I completed the migration from that machine to the new desktop. New being a comparative word in this case. I’ve had the machine about a year and have used it off and on for months. Used it enough in fact, that I have probably introduced Windows issues and it needs to be rebuilt. More work. That may just have to wait. I did solve all the little boot error problems so at least I can get a clean boot and it seems pretty stable now.

In between file transfers from one machine to the other, I read several Mac tutorials and loaded a lot of software on the Mac. Of everything I’ve done, so far, Quark seems like THE best company to work with. Their software license allows me to load the program on my Windows machine and on the Mac laptop with no extra fees. Adobe on the other hand, would require a cash outlay of something on the order of $1,700 for this privilege. Hmm. Time to migrate to Quark along with all the other changes?

In between all of these little projects, I’ve got lots of work and lots of projects to deal with on the home front. No knitting. Mom’s sweater languishes. She came out to visit for a week and went home sweaterless.

There is some happy news: Tag the old horse I watch for the neighbor is on Equine Sr. and some stuff called “Weight Gain.” He looks so much better and I can tell he feels better too. I’ll have to get a picture of him. He must have been a magnificent horse in his day.

Two parting comments. First, I just have to say I’m right in there with Sheri from The Loopy Ewe on the Twitter thing. I just don’t get it.

Second, check out the yarn contest at Yarn4Socks. It’s all about Hand Maiden Sea Silk and Shawl knitting and the winner will win a skein of Hand Maiden Sea Silk so they can knit their own lace shawl/scarf of their dream!

Knitter Assistance Requested

Just a quick alert to send you here. Serendipity is asking knitters to offer help to those who have been impacted by the horrendous fires in Victoria, Australia.

I am also quite concerned about the impact the fires (and the flooding in Queensland) have had on animals. I haven’t looked yet to see what opportunities there are to help our animal friends. I know there were a tremendous number of dogs, cats and horses who were separated from their families in the flooding associated with Katrina. The same situation must have occurred in Australia too.

Meanwhile, I encourage you to support serendipity’s effort to raise money for the Red Cross. And besides, you might win something fun.

Around here, there has been lots of work, lots of planning going on (more on this topic one of these days) and lots of knitting.

I don’t have pictures to show, but the sleeves on Hamefarin, the resident non-knitter’s sweater (which he now claims he never wanted me to knit for him in the first place! — What is it with men??) are about 17 inches long and the body is within an inch of the same. Sleeves need to be 20.5 inches at the armpit (Did anyone say “ape arms?” No, not me, I wouldn’t say that.). Body needs to be 17 inches and then sleeves and body become joined and I get to start the raglan decreases.

I hope I can figure out how to make the translation from a pattern written for flat knitting to real knitting in the round. It didn’t look like it would be hard to figure out. I am a little concerned about decreasing in pattern. Increasing in pattern for the arms proved to me a more challenging concept than I had imagined. Don’t know why. It just was.

Resident non-knitter may be warned about raising his arms above his head in public. I just might not allow this. Especially if other knitters are in the vicinity. It might look better after I get the arms connected to the body and I take a needle and fiddle with the increases to smooth them out. Meanwhile, I’m not pleased, but there is no way on earth that I am going to rip those sleeves out AGAIN and try it a different way.

Third time’s a charm. Either that, or after two tries, the third just has to stick because I am too irritated, pissed, disgusted, etc. to start over again. There just comes a time when you have to move forward because doing it over isn’t making it better. I mean really, he doesn’t even want the sweater. Or so he says. It will look very nice just the way it is when it’s folded and sitting in the closet. The thought did cross my mind that I could have a nice comfy oversize sweater to wear around the house . . .

I am chomping at the bit to start another project. Can’t decide what it will be; but, fair isle looms large. A whole new technique for me! Tentatively, I’ll start with some fingerless mitts. I bought the kit for Glenesk and am smart enough to know that I need to learn “how” to knit fair isle before I start that baby. Maybe mitts and a pair or two of socks, maybe a hat . . . I guess I’ll see how it feels before I decide.

And the winner’s are . . .

1, 5, and 23. That translates to:
Turtle, Grace and Rositta

I didn’t eliminate duplicate comments, I just had the random number generator spit out three numbers and then I picked the corresponding comment number. I’m email you all separately.

Sorry no more time to say more right now. Packing up for the one-week photography training session!

Time to think about picking a winner

There are 29 entries in the contest–which is now closed by the way. In case you are wondering, there were 28 comments on the “It’s a contest now” post and one person commented on a different post and after some email chatter between us, we agreed that I would just count that entry too.

Originally, I thought we would pick the winner this way:
Between 20 and 50 entries: I’ll pick my top three favorite entries, and then you, dear readers will vote on your favorites via comments on the blog’s Sept. 5 post.

This strategy has been complicated by the fact that there are three prizes. If I pick three entries, there is no point in having you, dear readers, vote. So, if it’s OK with everyone, I’ll just use a random number generator at random.org.

I’ll go ahead and pick the winner on Friday, Sept. 5 as planned. If you seriously object to the new prize picking strategy, you have a couple of days to make your concerns known. If you REALLY, REALLY want to vote, you can do so between now and Friday. It seems only fair to not vote for yourself . . . and I’m not sure what I would do with the votes except to give special mention . . .

Meanwhile, I hate pictureless posts. Even though recently, I’ve had a few. We just put our house on the market. Here’s a shot from the back, which is, in my opinion, the more photogenic angle.

Wanna buy a house? How about a wood-fired barrel sauna? (that’s the round thing near the center of the photo.) Yeah right. Well so far, nobody else seems interested either.

Also, after next week, expect the photo quality to bump up a notch. I am taking a class from Michael Lewis. He’s done several assignments for National Geographic, Smithsonian and other top-quality magazines.

Late Breaking News!

I got this message on Ravelry from SimpleKnits:
Be Kind to Animals Contest
Sent at 1:58 PM August 15, 2008

I’d be happy to donate a few of my original knitting patterns to the contest. One of my lace patterns or a couple of cat toy patterns.

If whoever wins is on Ravelry, I can send them a link to pick up a free pdf through Ravelry (or email it to them if they aren’t).

Take a peek at my patterns here.
http://www.ravelry.com/stores/simple-knits

Let me know which you would like.

Vicki

Sorry I’m so slow to check my Ravelry mail!! Thanks Vicki. I’ve emailed Vicki to see if it’s OK for the contest winner to just pick a pattern. I looked at Vicki’s patterns. Very lovely work. Tell all your friends to enter!!

Just one row

I’m just one row away from the row that joins the body and sleeves and starts the work on the yoke of the refined raglan sweater. Very cool. I’ll post a picture after it is all in one piece–next week some time. I’m up to my eyeballs in work this week.

Meanwhile, I’ve been cleaning in my office and I have one additional prize to add to the “Be Kind to Animals” Contest. Some great entries, by the way. If you haven’t read them or you haven’t entered, be sure to check the post prior to this one.

This prize is totally non-knitting related. It’s a daily planner book. View it here:
Daily Planner Book

The planner book is still in it’s shrink wrap. If you are a planner type of person, this may be just the prize for you. I bought two, tried one and this definitely was not my thing! But, hey, it probably would be a great tool for somebody . . .

It’s a Contest Now!

Today is the official start of the “Be Kind to Animals” contest. First order of business:

Prize:
There will be one prize unless somebody out there wants to offer a second prize >>insert smiley face here<<. This prize will include a copy of the CableDown Pullover pattern donated by Sheila of Yarn2Dye4 through a tiny mishap. Yeah Sheila! The winner will have their choice of one of four different sock yarns to go with the sweater pattern. I know, sweater pattern goes with sweater yarn and sock pattern goes with sock yarn. Not in this case however. So, deal with it.

The first pattern/yarn combo choice is an undyed SuriBlue fingering weight that you can view on Sheila’s site. I will send you 100 gr off the cone I bought. It will be wound in a cake. It will be undyed. It will be absolutely gorgeous.

The second choice is for the pattern plus a skein of Panda Toes from Crazy Monkey Creations. This yarn is a blend of 65% superwash Merino with 35% Rayon of Bamboo (490 yds/100 g).

The third choice is for the pattern plus a skein of Zen Yarn Garden. This is an 85% superwash Merino/20% nylon blend in the Infusion semi-solid colorway 420 yds/4 oz).

The fourth choice is for the pattern plus two skeins of Regia Silk in color number 0180. It’s 55% Merino, 20% silk and 25% Polamid (200 m/50 g each skein).

What you have to do:
Do something kind for animals. At first, I was planning to limit the contest to having people contribute at least the cost of the pattern (about $5) to their favorite animal charity. But then, through an unfortunate series of events, I came to realize that there are many other ways to be kind to animals.

So, do good out there. The sky is the limit. Tell us about your efforts to improve the lives of at least one member of the planet’s Animalia Kingdom here, in comments to this post. You have to comment on this post or I get confused.

When and how we’ll decide who the winner is:
Entries will be accepted for the month of August. The winner will be selected during the first week of September. How they are selected will be determined by the number of entries.
Less than 20 entries: Random drawing
Between 20 and 50 entries: I’ll pick my top three favorite entries, and then you, dear readers will vote on your favorites via comments on the blog’s Sept. 5 post.
More than 50 entries: As above, but I’ll pick my top five favorite entries to let you’all vote on.
You may enter more than once.

Remember, I am not an official contest diva. This is just a bunch of friends getting together and playing with yarn. I don’t know if there should be more rules, disclaimers, legal mumbo jumbo or what. But, I promise, I will not play favorites, I will not let Opal enter, I will not enter myself (even though I really did do a cool thing several days ago), and I will send you the prize you select out of the four mentioned above if you are the big winner–even if you don’t live in the evil empire land of warmongers USA. What else can I say?

Until then, treat your furred, scaled, feathered or otherwise-clad friends with respect and care.

P.S. Did you know that sheep have tails?

Do they normally bob them when they are two days old like someone did to our little Miss Opal? I had no idea!

Dragging my feet

I know I have been dragging my feet on that sweater pattern contest. Thanks for putting up with my ever-so-slow snail-like progress. I want to post a picture of the prize(s), so it the official start will be on August 1.

What are they doing?

Meanwhile, here’s what the contest will be: you will have to do something good for the animal world. Be it a sheep, a dog, a cat, a lizard, whatever strikes your fancy. Ideally, you would contribute some money–at least equal in value to the cost of the pattern ($4)–to an animal society. But, I know that’s not everyone’s thing.

So, do some good for a 4-legger, or a 2-legger, if you’re into birds and the like. Perhaps even a no-legger if you have a thing for snakes and fish and other legless sentient beings. You will have to post a comment with your do-good tail tale. Comments will all need to be posted on the “Contest Now” blog post to be forthcoming. I could use a random number generator to pick the winner. But, I’m thinking the better thing might be this: Out of all the entries, I’ll pick what I consider to be the top three or five (depends how many entries). Then, I’ll post these and let you, my dear readers, make the final choice.

I went through my yarn stash. I don’t have enough yarn to give you the yarn to make the sweater. I’ve been high-centered on socks, so that’s mostly what I’ve got. Sorry. And because this is a wool2dye4 blooper, I think it appropriate to sweeten the pot with some wool2dye4 yarn.

So, the winner will get the pattern, and their choice of either a skein of hand dyed sock yarn–picture forthcoming with the official contest post–or 100 g of an undyed Suri Blue yarn that I got with the sweater pattern. Oh my gosh, isn’t it gorgeous?! It’s a mix of Suri alpaca and blue face leicester. I bought a cone because I want to use it to make this sweater:

This is one of the photos from Inteweave Knits “Knit So Fine.” Will I make this sweater? Who knows!! My tastes are fickle and they change with the wind. I also worry that I would look like a cow in this. But it is cute on this petite little model.

Check back on August 1. The contest will run for the entire month of August. No worries, you’ve got plenty of time, and I hope, lots of opportunities to improve the lives of some of the planet’s other inhabitants.