Winner: In the Shallows and STR Nyame contest

I know I promised to announce the winner this morning, but I went to the gym - I really need to get in shape! Thanks to the random number generator, the winner is

Michele said...

that color is gorgeous! this would be great knit up as your In The Shallows shawl.

no signs of spring here yet. we had blizzard conditions again this morning. tomorrow i think i will go buy myself an orchid plant because i'm dying to have something around that's growing.

March 4, 2011 9:39 PM 

Thanks so much for you comment, Michele! Please send me an email with your mailing address (lovely Blogger won't give me your email address), and I'll send the yarn to you. And be sure to include your Ravelry ID, if you have one, so I can add In the Shallows to your library.

I'm mulling over another contest - let you know tomorrow. In the meantime I have to go work on a Baby Surprise Jacket for a new baby who surprised his parents by arriving a month early. It's madelinetosh Sock in Lapis, and I am in love with the color!

FO: Grés

Some of you who "knew" me over on Purly may remember my Twitter Sweater adventure of last October and this January (looks like there is one more set of tweets to be consolidated - soon). I'm not sure if I will write up a pattern, since I tweeted what I did as I went along, but I thought you might want to see some pictures, which I took while messing around with my camera, tripod, and remote:

Eep

Nick just asked me if I'd blogged today, and I've been so busy on a graphic design idea that I forgot! Eep, indeed. We had a quiet day at home, since the March lion has been in full roar all day. Cupcakes were made and decorated with lots of sugary bits by someone blonde. And not much else happened. I didn't even knit much. Shocking, I know. I'll blog more tomorrow, perhaps about the Grés sweater - it's been finished long enough.

2nd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week

In case you're not up for blogging every day like a few of us are trying for March, you may want to consider blogging the week of 28 March to 3 April with Eskimimi and friends. Lovely reader Karen blogged about it, inspiring me to join. I took a look at the daily topics and am already excited about blogging on those days (and also feel a little inspired to blog about some other things before then).

So, think about joining the group. I cut down my blogroll recently, when I was becoming overwhelmed with information (Ravelry, Facebook, Twitter, blogs - ack!), but think I cut out too many knitting blogs, so I'm hoping to find more good reads that week.

Not much else to report today, since I think I'm coming down with something. I don't feel sick per se but fell asleep on the couch this afternoon while Isobel and I were watching a movie during quiet time, which makes it the second time this week I've napped, and I never nap. Seriously, I'm pretty incapable of napping, though I can go back to sleep in the morning like a champ. Sadly, that's difficult to achieve often with little people around. Nick usually gets up with them on the weekend so I can sleep in until eight - he's my hero.

By the way, thanks for all the comments so far on the giveaway post. I love hearing about the arrival of Spring. We had a beautiful, sunny morning here, though the wind started to whip around this afternoon. All the snow is gone (kind of hard to believe, considering how much we got this winter), and Isobel's class found crocus/tulip/daffodil tips coming up in Riverside Park a few days ago.

Giveaway of the Day: In the Shallows + STR Med in Nyame

The first giveaway was so much fun that I've decided to keep it going. Leave a comment on this post and you will be entered to win a copy of my pattern In the Shallows and a skein of Socks That Rock Mediumweight yarn in the Nyame colorway (look at all the different yarns Tina will dye in this colorway!), which would be perfect for the plain or fancy version of the shawlette (or split the skein in half and make two mini versions!).

This skein is from The Fold, which is halfway between my parents' and where my grandparents all lived in Illinois. If you haven't been to The Fold and you are in Chicagoland for some reason, try to go. It's out in the middle of some fields in the Chicago ex-urbs, and, more importantly, it's filled with Blue Moon Fiber Arts, other yarns that I heartlessly ignore when I'm there, lots of fiber for spinning, wheels, spindles, dyestuffs, you name it, and, most importantly, Toni Neil the proprietress. I have acquired a number of special yarns from Toni on my way back from visiting my grandmother, including the yarn for the Grés sweater I'll blog about soon. This Nyame skein has been waiting it's turn patiently, but in the spirit of Spring I've decided to send it out into the world (as well as the spirit of Keri's decluttering post). How much pale blue yarn does one girl need? I'm going to share!

As you can see, it's in the skein now, but I would be happy to wind it for you. So, leave a comment on this post, and you will be entered to win. Why not mention what signs of Spring you're seeing in your part of the world? Tell your friends! And I will announce the winner on Tuesday morning (8 March 2011).

Contest winner for The Natural Knitter

And the Random Number generator says the winner is:

Yolande said...

There must be something in the air. I have never liked walking, but this January saw me finally get on my treadmill and get myself moving every day. I'm quite amazed at myself...hope it continues :-)

Congratulation, Yolande! Please send me your mailing address, and I'll visit the post office ASAP.

Ravelry meet-up

I was really excited to see that Knitty City (my madtosh connection here in NYC - it is an addiction!) was hosting a Ravelry meet-up tonight from 6-8. Lucky for me, Nick was kind enough to wrangle the girls for dinner and bedtime so i could go. And even luckier for me that it was really cold today, so I could wear my Turn of the Glass without looking like a complete twit.

Everyone was very nice, and I love how there are knitters (and crocheters) there of all variety: age, skill level, pattern interest (you know, some people are obsessed with socks, some love anything in Wollmeise - must ask my sister to get me some while she's in Berlin - and some are into garter stitch). That last one is actually me, working on a possible Knitty submission. We'll see; I had to frog a big chunk of it today but am pretty sure I'm on the right track now. Now, I have to admit here to all of you that I am shy. No, really, I'm kind of a big dork, perhaps especially the past few years. I think my social muscles don't get the same workout these days - I'm home with the kids a lot and most of the grown-ups I hang out with are other moms and dads, so we reflexively talk about them. But, I got over myself tonight and had a good time with people I didn't know.

I'm looking forward to going again next month, since this is now going to be a regular thing. Yay! Between my kids'-school based knitting group that meets joyfully but sporadically and this Ravelry meet-up, perhaps I'll get back in social shape, at least with the knitters.