AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

block party

I've never actually lived in neighborhoods with block parties, so when I say block parties more accurately I'm talking about blocking.

I am in the interminable stage in a knitting project. First I am weaving in ends. 560 ends, excepting the times when I forgot the pattern and cut the yarn too soon and added additional ends to the mix.

I'm hoping to weave in all the ends and have the squares all blocking by Saturday morning. While I can go to the knitter's brunch on Saturday and weave in more ends, I'll have a bit more fun if I do the slogathon before work, at lunch, and after work and see if I can get them all done. Two (sometimes 3 if I am especially lucky) squares an hour.

Yup. I have finished all of the squares for the Mitred Crosses blanket, and if I were a smart person I would have woven in ends as I went along.

So, needless to say no one was terribly close to the date I'm going to finish the blanket. The closest was my friend, Eeeeka, who is not a knitter and decided she didn't want the prize. So, the next closest date was September 15 from Marsha!

The second winner was randomly selected from all of the remaining entrants (including my mom, who posted on Facebook, and Katrina who commented on another post). That winner is Mrspao.

All of the winners have been emailed, and while the blanket isn't technically done yet I couldn't in good conscience linger over this once the knitting itself was done. Especially as I have actually been a good doobie and started weaving in ends even if it is the least fun part of the project.

A winner! A winner!

I finally closed the comments yesterday afternoon when I got home from visiting family in Maine. 

Maine was gorgeous and felt so pristine after comparing it to Quincy. My neighborhood is full of green here, but the larger number of people and the corresponding number of cars means it just smells different. It's not a lot, but it is there. While in Maine we visited the beach, climbing over the rocks onto the even rockier shore. We searched for beach glass and interesting shells and funny rocks. I spent a lot of my time thinking about one of my favorite e.e. cummings poems, "maggie and millie and molly and may" as I hunted for my own smooth round stone.

My brother and his fiancee came down with us and now I am air conditioner free (the previous owners had caulked the air conditioner into place). It is in the basement, so the air conditioner might end up moving into the bedroom this summer. After they left to go back home I did a bit of cleaning. They keep their place so much cleaner than I that I felt guilty and had a bit of the spree (but only in the kitchen). Then I chose a winner.

I love Random.org and so should Jane T. I've already contacted her and her prize will soon be on its way! 

Her comment was: 

It's always nice hearing from people, so thank you everyone for entering the Giveaway Day!

My mom is still in town, so the sun is peeking out and we're going to see the Chihuly exhibit at the MFA. Fun, food, beautiful art, and cooking (which is just like food, but I love food, so it gets a second mention), and crafting. What more could a gal want on a beautiful almost summer day in May?
 
 

Giveaway Day: Matching Chokers

I loved the last Giveaway Day I did so much that I wanted to do it again. It is a great way to interact with a lot of new people, find new blogs (not just new people finding my blog, though obviously I enjoy that too) and possibly get some cool stuff.

Like many bloggers I signed up for a ton of 'alongs' and other crafty ventures for the year. One of the best has been IronCraft. I'm not very good at getting projects done, but it has given me a lot of new crafts to try and materials for a lot more projects. It is an awesome way for me to come up with new things to try. 

One of the projects a few weeks ago (gosh, it might even be over a month ago!) was to make something with a flower. I made this fun choker and thought I would offer a pair of custom chokers (shipping internationally). This is great for mother-daughters, pairs of girls, boys can pretend to be a princess too (I won't push any gender identity stuff on anybody), or just for the make believe box. Made a little longer, your kids could pretend they are crowns. They can be wrapped around a few times and worn as bracelets. There are a ton of possibilities.

You pick the yarn color (and I will pick the color that most closely resembles that from my stash), and I will build a custom choker with ribbon backing and lace trim.

Your pieces will be decorated with beads, carefully sewn on (definitely not the baby age set here though!) and shipped in a small box like you would receive jewelry. It may not look like this one, but it will have a similar look and feel. 

This Giveaway is open until May 26 (I will be out of town and will close the giveaway when I get back), and when I get your information I will need your approximate neck sizes. The choker shown above is worn on a neck between 12 and 13 inches around. 

I have an Etsy shop, so if you don't win the giveaway and you still want one, please look for these to make it to the shop next month!

prize patrol

I feel like I'm going to be hit with a big check at any moment for even thinking those words.

I have been going through my stash (yeah, sock yarns for the masses), and here are the prizes:

For the person who is closest to guessing the correct date:

 
Fiber Optic Footnotes, Gypsy (One of a Kind Batik), 80% superwash merino-20% nylon, 420 yards/4 ounces

For a random person from all of the commenters: 

 
Alchemy Juniper (2 skeins), Autumn Ecstasy, 232 yards/50g skein, 100% superfine merino

Of course, I reserve the right to find an awesome-r skein from my stash (like Wollmeise if I haven't hidden it so well I cannot find it) and sub in.

I'm only taking entries to the end of the month (because it just isn't fair for someone to see a status update later and enter with better knowledge). Sock yarns for all!

the land of garter stitch (contest)

I started the Mitred Crosses blanket about a month ago. While it isn't the only thing I've worked on (I've also done a paltry amount of cross-stitch, a tiny amount of beading and a single choker in that time), it has commanded almost all of my craft time. If I were making a baby blanket and using my sock yarn squares to alter the size, I would be entering the home stretch. I'm almost done with square 8, and will probably finish square 9 if I don't get distracted by making ice cream (milk chocolate from The Perfect Scoop).

However, I want to make a full size blanket, and I don't want to make half squares. The full size blanket is 40 x 52 inches and my casual math says I will be close if I have 5 squares per row and 7 rows. That's a lot of squares.

Think I'll actually manage to finish this by September? I have a whack of vacation time coming up. A nice staycation followed by going to Squam. I'd like to think that I will get a lot of knitting done, but realistically if I pick up a book any knitterly productivity goes straight out the window (and it is the week I need to be on coffee ice cream). 

I'm accepting wagers. Even odds (no I don't really know what the gambling terminology means). Nice yarn for one person chosen at random who gets the day I finish this project correct. Just comment here with the day you expect me to be done (including weaving in the last ends).

For those who want to have educated guesses: started April 8, square 8 finished May 8. Guess away!

Congratulations!

Giveaway Day is over, but the fun is just beginning.

Thank you for everybody who commented. I had 170 comments when I closed them just a few minutes ago. Before I go into the kitchen to make cookies for our Christmas party today, here are the winners:

And comment 145 is:
 

There goes the blue hat! Whoosh!

And comment 19 is:

The white one will wing its way to Larissa.

Congrats to Anita and Larissa. I'll mail these on Monday (or as soon as I have an address if it is after that day). To everybody, thank you for making this so much fun. I enjoyed hearing from everybody!

Now into the kitchen I go to make gingerbread and pumpkin pinwheels. What are your favorite cookies (either to eat or to make - goodness knows that they aren't the same for me!)?

 

packing minion takes a break

I just got back from the post office, which means I should announce the winner of the giveaway!

Saturday, I wrote the names of all the commenters on little slips of paper, stuffed them in a plastic bag, and made my husband pull out a name.  A very scientific process I'm sure.  Becky S. won the book and I have just mailed it.  Hopefully it won't take too long to get to you!

The suggestions I received were:
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
The Harry Dresden books and specifically Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
Urban Shaman, Thunderbird Falls, Coyote Dreams all by C.E. Murphy
The Onion Girl by Charles De Lint
Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Thanks for all of the suggestions! 

I read a lot of young adult, with a focus on stories of usually young women with strong personalities.  Most of these are coming of age stories.  I reread a lot of these books *cough**cough* three or four times a year.  My favorites include the Protector of the Small quartet (Keladry) by Tamora Pierce and A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer.

There isn't much reading for me for the next few days with all the packing that is left to do (one-two rooms a day, *crack of the whip*), but I have currently out Downbelow Station, Hogfather, and Julie & Julia.  Maybe I'll get a few minutes before bed to make some headway on one of these.

Give Away! The first novel

My friend, Maggie, had her first book come out in February, and I really liked it.  Not a very exciting review, huh?  Well, here is better:

Spiral Hunt is combines a strong female character with the evocative scenery of Boston, without giving you those stupid moments when you want to slap everyone for their inherent stupidity.  It combines myth with a modern sensibility and turns magic into something that not everybody would or should have.  While Evie is the main character, Boston is right behind her, giving you a visual and olfactory travelogue.

Thing's I loved most: 
Not needing to slap the heroine every 5 minutes (you know you read books like that)
That magic isn't the best thing since sliced bread
Non-visual magic (a similar reason why I like the Tamora Pierce Circle books, for extraordinary magic through ordinary objects).

Why this matters?
I have an extra signed copy of the book that I picked up from Pandemonium that I would love to give away!  Just leave a comment on this post with your favorite paranormal or urban fantasy novel by Friday, May 22nd at 5 p.m. and I will use the power of the random selection to pick a winner!

I'm looking forward to a lot of suggestions for my summer reading!