sharing the wealth

i won a couple of blog contests and just received my prizes. alisha had a drawing for some cute little bear stitch markers and for these beautiful earrings which she made. she claims her jewelry making skills are primitive, but i beg to differ. aren't they gorgeous?!

then christina had a "stalker" contest which i prefer to call "getting to know christina." "stalker" sounds horrible, doesn't it?
she sent me these:
a jar of sugar scrub to keep my hands soft and smooth for snag-free (too bad it's not for frog-free) knitting, some cute little stitch markers, and 82 yds of hand dyed hand spun merino art yarn (which christina spun).

here is a close-up of the yarn. isn't it pretty?

any suggestions for what to make with it?

i am excited about my three patterns for blue moon fiber arts. i am finally knitting myself a pair of socks that rock in one of these new patterns. i am a happy camper! so, i want to share some of that happiness.

would you like to win this?

it's a skein of socks that rock, light-weight in the semi-retired "foofoo" colorway

leave me a comment telling me why i should send this beautiful yarn to you. it doesn't have to be fancy. a just "because i want the yarn" comment will suffice!

and to make things more interesting, i will also be giving away this skein of tofutsies #787. you will get an entry for posting about my contest on your blog (leave me a comment that you did) and i will give you brownie points entries if someone tells me they came from your blog. brownie points entries will apply only for the tofutsies.

i will randomly select a name for each skein. deadline for entering is wednesday, october 3rd.

let the fun begin!!!

sos!

"summer of socks" is almost over. i have two more pairs finished but cannot show you the entire socks as these are destined for blue moon fiber arts. but i can show you the colors this time.

pair #3 is socks that rock lightweight in the "24 karat" colorway. the colors are pretty true to life in the photo.

pair #4 is knit with "backstabber." the colors are lighter than the actual yarn. i had a hard time getting these to show in true color. there are beautiful variations of magenta that you really cannot see here. i loved the colors but my conservative son thought these socks were a bit "bright."

the only problem with this summer is that i finished 5 pairs of socks but will only end up with 2 pairs in my possession! i guess i didn't achieve my goal of knitting up socks for me! i still do not own a pair of socks that rock. i am sad.

i started playing with the panda wool that susan sent a few weeks ago. i am working on a uni-sex pattern because there is a major lack of interesting "guy" patterns. my men don't seem to get too excited with my lace socks. don't know why!

contest central

gingerbread house is having a contest to celebrate her new drum carder. she is giving away some jojoland melody sock yarn, a cute bag, and some roving. i've never tried the jojoland yarn before; although i do keep looking at it. tell her i sent you so i get the brownie point entries, please!

sos design contest update: they have decided to continue with the contest even though they did not get the 15 entries that they wanted.

and a note to anne: thank you for the very nice compliment. i seem to be on judy's even month list this year. my next sock for theknitter's sotm club will be december. oops! i guess i need to make sure that i am shuffled more next year.

the anatomy of a new sock

the august sotm club offering for theknitter has been sent so i can now show it to you. i named it "crazy over you" because i literally went "crazy" trying to find a pattern that would compliment the yarn and colorway. judy sent me some panda wool in "circus." no problem. i love panda wool! ah-h! variegated colors. oh, a slipped stitch pattern should be great. enter pattern #1. and yes, i stubbornly knit the sock almost to the toe before admitting that the pattern was TOO BUSY for the color. even my husband didn't like it and he almost never says anything.

so, i started another pattern with the second ball of yarn. another slipped stitch pattern (no, i was not going to give up with the slipped stitches yet). i got as far as half a leg before deciding that this was TOO BORING!! at this point, i frogged my first attempt back to the cuff. i still liked the cuff.

attempt #3: i thought maybe if i combined the exciting cuff from sock #1 with the simple leg from sock #2? knit all the way to the heel. NOPE! still too boring and i was not having fun. i feel that knitting should be fun. you know the feeling...you want to keep knitting just to see what happens next.

it was frog pond time AGAIN! i was ready to throw in the towel and tell judy that i just couldn't find anything to do justice to the yarn. but, stubborn i am! combing through the stitch pattern books, i finally found something else! and yes, it was a fun knit!

i proudly present attempt #4....

"crazy over you"

panda wool "circus" colorway
us 1.5 (2.5mm) needles
gauge 8 sts/inch in stockinette

and i mirrored the socks too. i am that way! see the toes?! you will be happy to know that the panda wool can be frogged an unmentionable number of times and will still look like new. it is that good! i swear that i must have knit at least 5 socks to get this one pair! but i think it's worth it!

of course, don't be surprised if you see attempt #1 or #2 show up in your mailbox sometime in the future. i have NOT given up.

eta: judy usually has extra kits available. just email her and let her know you want the august sotm kit.