Category Archives: Contests

Contests

Contests! Contests! Get your contests here!

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Before we get started on all the contests, don’t forget to check out the Knitting Scholar for part one of a fun interview with Kay and Ann of Mason-Dixon Knitting about their upcoming book, Mason-Dixon Knitting: Outside the Lines.

Imbrium’s having a contest – all you have to do is guess which of the listed statements is a lie and you’ll be entered to win a gorgeous skein of Araucania Ranco. Leave your guesses by September 12, 11:59 MDT.

Dotty is celebrating her second sockiverary by giving away some great sock-related goodies. Answer some questions about Dotty’s sock knitting career by September 14, midnight PDT, to enter the contest.

Trek’s giving away a copy of Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair – to enter, leave her a comment with sweater pattern suggestions for the Neatnik’s next sweater.

Sarah’s celebrating her first blogiversary by giving away some knitting books. To enter, write a poem (haiku, limerick, etc) incorporating words from those listed or using a lot of yarn names.

Mel’s holding a raffle to support the Center for Wildlife – each $5 you donate by September 22, 11:59 pm EDT, gets you an entry in the raffle and increases your chances of winning a fibery prize.

Well, heck, I’m getting all caught up in the contesty excitement here! Although I anticipate doing a “real” contest in a few weeks when my Chaos Kitty turns five, how about a book giveaway right now? If you enjoy urban fantasy/paranormal romance and haven’t read Night Shift, the first Jill Kismet book by Lilith Saintcrow, send an email to my contest line by Sunday, September 14, 9 pm CDT. A winner will be randomly selected from among the entrants. Be warned that, while this is an extremely well-written series, it is also graphically violent at times.

Onward. Work is a bit crazy this week, so I’m not finding a lot of spare brain power to blog… but I’m taking a do-nothing, stay-at-home vacation from the 12th through the 22nd, so hopefully that will revitalize me!

*hug* “This is the best toy ever.” *love* -Mayhem

Contests, Reading

The (more or less) bookish edition o’ links

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If you want in on Jenn’s baby pool contest, head on over and submit your guesses!

Eileen is celebrating her birthday with a contest – leave her a comment with the funniest or most touching story you have connected with the fiber arts. (If you aren’t a crafter, it can even be a story about receiving that lurid amazing sweater from your grandmother when you were a kid.) Leave your comments by September 24.

I don’t think this is any weirder than Chaos loving popcorn…

I highly recommend Chappysmom’s new knitting book review blog, Knitting Scholar – her reviews are very organized and well-written.

I know that I’ve mentioned (in my reading updates) that I had a lot of trouble with how passive Bella is in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. Author Lilith Saintcrow had some of the same issues with Twilight, but was much more eloquent than I! I agree and hope that teens reading the series don’t consider Bella an acceptable role model…

Through Saintcrow’s post, I discovered a new (to me) and interesting blog: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

*blink blink* I guess I’ll let this next blog speak for itself: Geoffrey Chaucer Hath An Extreme Blog: Go England! It ys Rad!

Remember the captioning contest I won? The prize, it haz arrived:

And I love the inscription!

Reading Update
The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Book 1) by Kelley Armstrong. It took a while for me to get into this young adult paranormal fantasy and then it had a cliffhanger ending. Grr.
Hot Ice; Irish Hearts: Irish Thoroughbred / Irish Rose (apparently Irish Thoroughbred was her first published work and it does show a bit… but I was sniffling at the end of Irish Rose!); Brazen Virtue; Sanctuary by Nora Roberts. 🙂
Something from the Nightside, Agents of Light and Darkness, Nightingale’s Lament, and Hex and the City (The Nightside, Books 1-4) by Simon R. Green. Hardboiled detective urban fantasy horror noir, set in the dark heart of London, where it’s always 3 am…
It Happened One Knife (A Double Feature Mystery) by Jeffrey Cohen. The second mystery in this witty series about a guy who owns a comedy movie theater in New Jersey is as good as the first (Some Like It Hot Buttered).

“Please, Mom, if you have a shred of feline decency, let those poor people head into the weekend without any more links!” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity

Bullet post

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  • Lisa’s having a contest – send her an email guessing whose home is pictured and you could win enough yarn for a small project. Send your emails by August 29, 6 pm EDT.
  • Over the weekend, I biked 15 miles on Saturday, then walked/wandered five miles. On Sunday, I biked another 20 miles. I’m slowly getting more comfortable on my new bike, but my legs are not very happy with me right now.
  • Last week, I ordered a few things from amazon.com, using the free shipping. They shipped my stuff in two separate packages. No big deal, right? Except… the first package I received said “1 of 51.” Eeeek!!! Fortunately, there weren’t any weird charges on my credit card, nor have 49 extraneous boxes appeared.
  • Remember my Bake Neko (oldschool ipod shuffle) woes last month? It still plays, but when I skip ahead to the next song, it goes dormant for a while. In frustration, I bought a SanDisk Sansa Clip 4 GB mp3 player. My only complaint (which I knew before I bought it) is that the Clip doesn’t play m4a/aac (a common ipod music format, besides being what of a lot of my music library is). I do have plenty of mp3 music – but the main reason I bought it is because it should be NetLibrary compatible (and I have free NetLibrary access via my local library system). (I haven’t verified this yet!) It also has an FM receiver.
  • Apologies to those who friend me on GoodReads, as I’m nearly inert there. Most of my time is spent on LibraryThing.
  • I’ve been seeing a lot more people on bicycles and scooters since gas prices went up… but I’m not seeing a lot of people with helmets. You won’t get me on a bike with out a helmet. If you need some reinforcement on the importance of helmets, maybe Kellee’s photos after being hit by a bus will inspire you.
  • Remember my sheepy water bottle? I’ve been using it, and I have to say that this Laken brand bottle has the least metallic taste of the bottles I’ve tried. (The others were Sigg aluminum and Enviro stainless steel.)
  • I never followed up on the whole internet dating thing, did I? One word sums it up: meh. I went on four or five first dates and even a few second dates. The only guy I found really intriguing (cyclist whose best female friend is married to the guy who was the best man in my wedding 19 years ago – how weird is that?!) got back together with someone he had dated in the past. Ah well. My backup plan of becoming a crazy cat lady seems to be proceeding apace.
  • If you’re really bored, you can wander through my Google Reader shared items. They aren’t in my blog sidebar because I haven’t found a way to format the snippet (the five most recent items) so it doesn’t look horrible. Dang, you can also subscribe to a feed of them, if you are really, really bored. Who knew?!
  • Chaos and Mayhem continue to love their ScratchScroll, although I’m not sure how much actual scratching they do. They play with the feather toy, crawl through the tunnel, and sprawl on it far more than they scratch it.
  • I think I need to clean Chaos’s teeth (see below). Alas, I can’t see that happening without bloodshed (mine). I don’t think the vet will try cleaning the Chaos Kitty’s teeth again unless anesthesia is involved (for Chaos, not the vet!), although it didn’t look like his hand would scar too badly…

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” -Chaos

Contests, Knitting

Friday, Friday

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Susan’s giving away a copy of Casual Elegant Knits – if you’d like to win, leave a comment with a question for the authors. Plus, Susan’s birthday was yesterday, so you should wish her a happy birthday if you stop by!

If you like to read fantasy or urban fantasy, check out these cool book giveaways.

Head on over and vote in the 2008 Knitter’s Hunk contest!

Can anyone recommend a good ftp program that works in XP SP3? I had been using SmartFTP, but suddenly they want $40 for it. I’d pay $10 or so, but not $40. I’m using FireFTP, but it doesn’t remember the last connected directory when you reconnect. I tried FileZilla, but can’t remember why I uninstalled it – probably because, like CoreFTP Lite, it doesn’t have a nice right click to copy the file path. I just tried WinSCP and I think it will work! Thanks for the recommendations!

“Where is dangly thing??!!! Dangly thing! Dangly thing!” -Chaos

“Get a grip, big kitty! It’s at the other end of the bag, on the zipper. Have you no shame?” -Mayhem

Since I know there are those amongst you who actually like to see unobstructed pictures of the knitting… 😉 I mostly like how my graduated dyeing experiment is coming out. However, if I do this again, I won’t make the color sections so long (i.e., I’ll have more colors) and I’ll increase the overlapping/graduated sections. While I only have four colors, Jeanne has six colors, so it could be perfect! (No pressure, Jeanne…)

Contests, Reading

Tails that pass in the evening

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Identify the location in the last picture of Tracey’s post by August 22, 10 pm EDT, and you could win a $25 gift certificate to Blue Moon Fiber Arts!

So how amusing is it that I, known for captioning cat pictures, win a paranormal romance novel, which I am known for reading, by… captioning cat pictures?! Mine is the caption on Photo #3. 🙂

Reading Update
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman. A grad student inadvertently invents a time machine and his life gets very, very strange. Not as powerful as Haldeman’s Forever War, but an entertaining read.
Irish Dreams (Irish Rebel & Sullivan’s Woman) by Nora Roberts. Older stuff, so ok, but not great.
Drinking Midnight Wine by Simon R. Green. So-so urban fantasy set in Bradon-on-Avon about a bookstore clerk who follows the wrong (or is it right?) woman in the train station one evening.
A Vintage Murder: A Wine Lover’s Mystery by Michele Scott. The latest in an ok mystery/romance series usually set in Napa Valley, although this particular book is set in Australia.
Bedlam, Bath and Beyond (World of the Storm Ravens, Book 1) by J. D. Warren. A surprisingly good paranormal romance that really can’t be judged by title or cover, as neither of them seem to be related to the content!
Angel with Attitude by Michelle Rowen. It’s harsh to be a fallen angel dropped naked into the shark tank at Marineworld…
Bound to Love Her by Esri Rose. A Boulder woman finds a hunky unconscious elf in the woods while she’s out walking her neighbor’s dog. Started out strong, but I thought it lost steam near the end.

As accidental exposures go, I like this one a lot. 🙂

Contests, See the Sights

Back from the north country

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Post about the Red Scarf Project, in which knitters knit red scarves for orphans, and you could win a special skein of Scout’s sock yarn, plus a $25 gift certificate to her shop. Post fast, because this contest closes at August 18 (aka today), 6 pm, MDT.

Nicole’s giving away a copy of Lynn Viehl’s paranormal romance Evermore: A Novel of the Darkyn. Leave Nicole a comment by August 22 for your chance to win.

Guess how many pictures Eva’s going to take during her trip to Amsterdam and you could win some of Meilenweit’s new merino sock yarn. Contest closes August 22, midnight PDT.

This sheep chair boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

Hmm… Chaos or Mayhem?

Pao thought of me when he saw this picture… aw, thanks?! 😉

The two full days I had at the cabin were wonderful. I didn’t knit a stitch, but I did pick wild blueberries (yum!), help build a deck (mostly by holding things so my brother could attach them), lounge about talking, drink a few beers, and read a little. Ahhhhh…

“It’s nice that you’re back, Mom, but the big kitty said I have to be mad at you and pretend to ignore you.” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Contests! And links! And books! And sleepy cats!

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Cheryl’s celebrating her blogiversary – drop by and leave her a comment before midnight, August 13, and you could win some ShiBui sock yarn (for returning commenters) or a Cabled Sheep mug or tote (for new visitors).

Rae’s having a mileage contest – guess how many miles she logged during her Montana vacation and you could win a mysterious prize. Leave your guesses by August 15 (and check her sidebar for more info on the vacation and the contest).

To celebrate her impending publication, “Anna Leonard” is having an lolcat caption contest. Leave your caption by August 19 and you could win a signed copy of her paranormal romance novel The Night Serpent before it’s available in stores.

Speaking of lolz… you can lolinate your website or find out your lol name. Iz funyz.

You may or may not remember that Chaos has had a longstanding fascination with bicycles, although I guess this is the first time he’s been near a bicycle with actual wheels. So far I’ve only hit my head on the back tire twice! 🙂

Obsidian Kitten has two recent posts about cardboard scratchers and toys that might interest you.

There are Keen biking sandals, so maybe I will get clipless pedals at some point. Thanks to KitKatKnit for that info, as well as for this link to a very cool black cat scooter.

Reading Update
Some Like It Hot-Buttered by Jeffrey Cohen. An extremely witty New Jersey-based mystery about the owner of a comedy movie theater.
Blue Dahlia, Black Rose, Red Lily (In the Garden Trilogy); O’Hurley’s Return (Skin Deep & Without a Trace); The Calhouns: Catherine, Amanda and Lilah; The Calhouns: Suzanna and Megan; and Three Fates by Nora Roberts. Just keep in mind that her older stuff, such as the O’Hurleys and Calhouns, is nowhere near as good as her more recent stuff, such as Three Fates (which I particularly enjoyed). And it was fun to see celiac disease mentioned in passing in Black Rose!

*blink blink* “Hey, I was trying to sleep over here! Stop with the random flashing already.” -Mayhem

“She has a point about the flashing, Mom. A guy never gets a chance to look his best with all the random flashing.” -Chaos

Contests, Dyeing, Randonymity

Do not adjust your dye-al*

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*with apologies to Deb… More on that if you make it through the linky madness below.

Megan’s having a raffle to raise money to attend a missionary training course in Mexico. For each $10 you donate, you get a chance to win some pretty amazing prizes. Donate by August 13, 12 pm EDT to be included in the raffle.

None of us are free until all of us are free – check out the Free Tibet contest details at PoMo Golightly.

Hmm… T-shirt or sign or mug?! 😉

Oh, Itty Bitty Kitty Committee has a ScratchScroll, too! (If you like looking at great pictures of adorable kittens, you need to be reading IBKC.)

Lisa found this tutorial on making your very own cardboard cat furniture…

And Dotty found the bag version of my water bottle… although we can’t tell if it’s risque or not.

So, as Deb mentioned, she and Jeanne and I got together last Saturday to dye some yarn. Deb picked up some KnitPicks sock blanks (to make self-striping sock yarn) for us to try. Isn’t she just the sweetest?! Group hug for Deb!

Here’s Dr. Deb at work on her very cool watermelon yarn. I think she might be about to add the seeds!

You may be shocked to discover that I dyed this Tequila Sunrise yarn, inspired by the first photo in Jane Brocket’s Twist Collective article.

Jeanne came up with the brilliant idea of using the Yarn Harlot’s Laurie’s Socks #1 and Laurie’s Socks #2 for color inspiration – here she is working on her interpretation of Laurie’s Socks #1.

Can you believe that the purple and black yarn in this picture was not mine?! 🙂 Truth.

Now, KnitPicks claims you can just knit two socks at the same time from your sock blank and not have a thing to worry about, but I’m doubtful. That’s some darned kinky yarn! I plan to soak it, weight it, and hope it hangs straight.

In order below, my Tequila Sunrise, Jeanne’s Laurie’s Socks #1, and my Laurie’s Socks #2.

And, of course, all the kinky self-striping yarn that Jeanne and I dyed – her skeins on the left and mine on the right.

My thoughts? KnitPicks, you need to knit the sock blanks more loosely, so that dye can reach all of the yarn. We all ended up with white spots that were not visible until we unwound the yarn. Also, I can’t imagine trying to knit this straight off the sock blank. I recommend that two people with niddy-noddies wind the yarn from the blank (one of you will will need to stand on the blank – beware if your feet are ticklish) into hanks so you can soak and straighten the yarn.

“Mmmm… doesn’t all that yarn look scrumptious?! I hope Mom is inattentive for a few minutes, so I can add some extra ends to the process.” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Linky Friday

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Today (August 1), Tink’s Third Annual PB Contest begins at 9 am EDT and continues throughout the day. Winners will receive their choice of “a mixed goody bag” or a personal post.

Margene sent me this great picture of a shoe she saw at Bill’s Footwear in Berkeley. I wonder why she thought of me?! 😉

I couldn’t actually find this shoe at the Bill’s Footwear website, so I tried a little google-fu and found these…. and these. Yowza. Who knew?!

Flamingos on Cute Overload – how timely!

Did you see Sydney’s link to the phone sheep? I wonder how many telephones it took to make that flock…

Check out the pictures of Bethe’s very cute and unexpectedly, um, educational sheepy water bottle… Sorry, I just bought the last one! 🙂 Update: Thanks to KitKatKnit, who discovered another location that has these bottles.

If you’re a mystery fan, you hopefully already know about the wonderful mystery information site Stop, You’re Killing Me. If you’re a fan of the romance, suspense, speculative, or western genres, check out the FictionDB. While a lot of the site content is for paid subscribers, there’s enough free stuff to make it a handy reference.

Reading Update
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman. I’d argue that Anne Fadiman is something other than a common reader, but her essays on reading and books are excellent.
Dyer Consequences: A Knitting Mystery by Maggie Sefton. The latest book about Fort “Connor” knitter and accountant Kelly Flynn isn’t any better than the others, although Kelly does progress from scarves to a hat. I figure she’ll start her first St*rmore around book #2517. What can I say – if it’s a knitting mystery, I apparently persist with the series. Now, if there was a knitting vampire mystery series, would I be doomed or what?! 😉
Rising Tides, Inner Harbor, Chesapeake Blue (Chesapeake Bay Saga, Books 2-4); Daring To Dream, Holding the Dream, and Finding the Dream (The Dream Trilogy); The Villa; Born O’Hurley (The Last Honest Woman and Dance to the Piper) by Nora Roberts. A-hem.
Twilight Fall: A Novel of the Darkyn by Lynn Viehl. These are decently written vampire-based paranormal romances, but they continue to not completely engage me for some reason… possibly because it’s a bit more crudely graphic than I look for in a “romance.”

CindyCindy has been very worried about Chaos not appearing on the blog this week. Never fear, CindyCindy, Chaos isn’t working two jobs or anything!

“Good grief, Mom, can’t I have any peace around here?! What’s a cat gotta do so he can take a private bath?!” -Chaos

Contests, Tales of the Neighborhood

Flamingo flamenco

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HockeyMom’s having a contest – guess her age (brave woman!) before midnight EDT, August 1, and you could win a “yummy prize.”

Er, I didn’t mean to start a Christmas panic with my post yesterday… I just hate to rush at the last minute. The half-done “clown vomit socks” are also for a Christmas present. (Oh, come on, I bet clown vomit socks are at the top of your Christmas list!)

Onward – today, it’s all about flamingos. Yeah, I know, flamingos aren’t a native Minnesota bird, but they sure are fun, aren’t they?

I’ve mentioned the house on West Lake of the Isles Drive that has flamingos wandering through the front lawn during the summer. Here are some past configurations – the first is from May 2006. I wonder what happened to those big dark pink flamingos and the tiny light pink ones?

June 23, 2008

July 6, 2008

July 11, 2008…

A random lawn (October 2006)

You simply must embiggen this picture, which was taken (using actual film!) at the 1998 Powderhorn Festival of the Arts. Somewhere I have a t-shirt with a very similar picture – everything is black and white, except for the hot pink flamingos. Hmm. I wonder where that t-shirt went…

Another film picture, from Sante Fe in 2002

An artistic flamingo and friend from a lawn near Lake of the Isles

Some guardians that don’t exactly look like flamingos – Jeanne and I decided they were the ever so rare and dangerous flamingo raptors.

Real flamingos from the Minnesota Zoo! Ok, ok, you caught me – I did a bit of color tweaking.

And a tiny flamingo from my own living room.

“That’s just lame, Mom. Here I thought you’d been hiding a tasty bird from us, but it’s nothing but a cheap plastic fake stuck in the grape ivy! Hmph.” -Mayhem