Category Archives: Contests

Contests, Festing, Reading

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming

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I’m glad y’all enjoyed my quirky vacation pictures! I have to admit, I had such a wonderful time and met so many great people and took so many pictures that I’m a bit overwhelmed at the thought of trying to document it all here… Baby steps, right?

Missed out on the Estes goodies? Imbrium is giving away a skein of Brooks Farm sock yarn that she bought at Estes – simply leave her a comment with your favorite joke before midnight MDT, June 28, and that sock yarn might be yours!

The Crazy Haberdasher is having a contest – leave her a comment about what you collect and you could win a lovely purple-blue piebird.

A few more tummy pictures appeared while I was on vacation…

Reading Update
Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (audiobooks). If you haven’t had the chance to listen to any of the audiobooks, you should! Jim Dale does an absolutely amazing job. In fact, I haven’t actually read any of the books – just listened to them all.
Knit Fast, Die Young by Mary Kruger. The second book in this series about yarn store owner Ariadne Evans features a murder at a small fiber festival. I’m glad Estes wasn’t that dramatic!
In a Dark House by Deborah Crombie. A Kincaid and James mystery – I fear I’m nearly caught up to present with this series!
Charmed and Ready by Candace Havens. The second book in the Bronwyn the Witch series – silly, but I do have the third one in my library queue…
Tall, Dark, and Dead by Tate Hallaway. Another witchy tale, this time set in Madison, WI, and featuring sexy vampire guys and evil Vatican witch hunters.

Stumbling Over Chris: The Party

After driving through rain for most of the day, I arrived at Michaele’s place in Denver mid-afternoon Tuesday, June 12. I had just enough time to hop in the shower before Ruth came over. Ruth is a skilled massage therapist and what better way to start vacation than with a massage?! Plus Ruth brought me some new gluten-free baking mixes I hadn’t tried. Thank you, Ruth – you definitely worked out those kinks from two days of driving, and I’m looking forward to doing some baking now that I’m home.

Michaele threw a “Stumbling Over Chris” party so I could meet and chat with some of the area knitbloggers. She made lots of tasty food and sangria (well documented by Ruth). Thank you so much, Michaele – it was a wonderfully relaxing atmosphere in which to match faces to the names and words.

Wanda and Michaele (with some of that tasty food in the background!)

Michaele, the back of Wanda’s head, and Ruth

Imbrium!!!

Anne (I’m pretty sure only one of those glasses is hers…)

Kim, Stacey, and Michelle

Jenifer and Cathi (Isn’t everyone great at not looking at the camera?!)

Michaele sent me home with gifts for Chaos and Mayhem – a kitty dvd that we haven’t tried yet (I will definitely be set up to take pictures when we do!), a funky square mouse (May’s already added it to her fetch toy rotation), and a catnip toy beloved by both Mayhem (hugging it below) and Chaos (who spends a lot of time licking the toy…).

“I will hug it and cuddle it and be its best friend forever! No, big kitty, that is not just the ‘nip talking.” -Mayhem

Contests, Knitting, Randonymity, Reading

Oh, the felinity!

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Things are gonna get kinda irregular around ye olde blog. We’re going on vacation scheduling here – erratic! I will have the SoC mobile blogging station with me, but I’ll tend to have time to post when nothing very interesting is happening – like from my motel room in Lincoln, Nebraska, tomorrow night! Wild times. Needless to say, I shall get very behind in bloglines and probably never catch up. 🙂

I’m packing. I almost have the knitting projects figured out. The book bag is filled and waiting. My ipod is loaded with Harry Potter books 1-5 and the His Dark Materials trilogy. I even have a backup book on tape (Wuthering Heights), just in case. What else…. D’oh! Clothes!

Whoa, flashin’ – and not just the yarn stashin‘! (Before this gets too out of hand- no human tummies, of any age, ‘k?)

JessZ is having a contest while she and Dv are in suspense to hear whether the offer they put in on a house has been accepted – complicated backstory and complicated point awarding system to determine the contest winner. (“Triple points if either one of us shoots a beverage out our nose while reading your comment.”)

Carol of Go Knit In Your Hat is having a contest looking for ideas for her imaginary line of greeting cards: “How I Really Feel”TM. Email her your ideas before midnight, June 25. Only emailed ideas are eligible for prizes! Also, she will have prizes for the non-knitters, so don’t let that stop you (yes, Tink, Van, TB, MamaT, Deb B-M – I’m talking to you).

Michaele is featuring some interesting things I could see on my drive from Minneapolis to Denver, should I so desire. Tragically, Carhenge would require quite a detour.

Nichole has a nice post about animal protection that includes information about the ban on ivory, which expires very soon.

Reading Update
Smitten by Janet Evanovich. Another of Evanovich’s romances from back in the early 80s. Cute, but not worth exerting any effort over.
Murder of a Sleeping Beauty, Murder of a Snake in the Grass, Murder of a Barbie and Ken, Murder of a Pink Elephant, Murder of a Smart Cookie, Murder of a Real Bad Boy by Denise Swanson. A whole bunch of Scumble River mysteries. They’re light and cute and reading them is sort of like eating potato chips…

Knitting Update
Finally finished my pink’n’black socks. Whew! Plain stockinette foot and slip stitch rib on the leg, just to break things up a bit.

“Just out for a living room stroll, dum-de-dum-de-dum.” -Mayhem

“What have we here? A new kitty bed?” -Mayhem

“Lots of support. I like that in a kitty bed. And such a flattering color for me!” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Those Cats

Flat Mayhem

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Local craftblogger Becka is having a goldfish names contest and the prize is a really cool felted bowl. There is also a prize for the most creative wrong answer! Winners will be announced June 11.

Chelsey’s coordinating the Official Knitter’s Book Swap Volume 1, in which knitters will swap their favorite non-knitting books. To participate, send her an email by 7 pm EDT, June 14.

There’s going to be a blogger meet up at Estes! Thanks for organizing this, Margene.

And even more tummies!

Ok, I have to admit it – I’m completely fascinated by Mayhem’s frog pose. You might’ve noticed. 😉 She spends a lot of time like that, so I’ve gotten some interesting shots. For reference, that chair rung is 4 inches from the floor.

*swish swish swish* -the sound of Mayhem’s tail

*swish swish swish* -more with the tail

“Are you done yet? I come under here to get away from you with that camera! This is my private time.” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity

Tummy Tour

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My, when I posted a few tummy shots, who knew that this would happen?!

KitKatKnit is having another contest! No, not an art history contest – this one is about an ongoing reference in her blog to “Unlucky.” Go leave a comment speculating wildly what that whole “Unlucky” thing might be about and you could win some handspun yarn if you’re the closest or make KitKatKnit laugh the hardest. Contest closes at noon PDT, June 13

Last night I was hanging out at home with the cats when we heard some pretty darn loud thuds out the front window. I went to peek out in time to watch as a woman, cheerfully talking on a cell phone, hurled a brick through the side window of a running car. Then she unlocked the car from the inside, hopped in, and drove away. I’m assuming it was her car and she’d locked the keys in while it was running. But dang, wouldn’t it have been easier to wait for a locksmith?!

A bit later I walked into the bathroom to find Chaos on his hind legs rummaging through the medicine cabinet. Um, looking for something in particular there, Chaos?! Something to fluff up that tummy hair, maybe?!

Finally it was bright enough to take a few pictures of the rest of my dyed and reskeined yarn. Tangentially, we have had a lot of rain here recently – apparently, we usually get 4 inches of rain during June. By yesterday, St Cloud, MN (about an hour northwest of Minneapolis) had received 2.5 inches of rain in June. Yes, during the first three days of the month.

Anyway! Reskeined yarn.

I didn’t bother to reskein this small pink and aqua skein – I just wound it into a ball.

Hmm. Perhaps there’s something wrong with my camera – look at the black blob obscuring most of that shot! You can barely see the poor little ball of yarn.

Here are the other skeins – the top one is the Malabrigo and the others are sock yarn.

*sound of off-camera whistling* -Chaos

*sound of off-camera whistling* -Mayhem

Dang, sure is a lot of traffic in this living room, isn’t there?!

Contests, Randonymity

Chaos upside down cake

51 Comments

To celebrate Worldwide Knit in Public Day, the Twin Cities’ Knitters (TCKnit) are going to gather (with bag lunches) at the Lake Harriet Rose Garden in Minneapolis on Saturday June 9, 2007, from 11 am – 2 pm. I’m a maybe – vacation prep will be eating my brain at that point!

Karrie is having a contest – if you know anything at all about drum carders, please go share that information with her! If you don’t know anything about drum carders (like me, for example), leave a comment about one of your knitting must-haves. Contest is open until June 9.

Jennifer is having a contest to help her spend her birthday money. Leave her a comment or send her an email recommending an etsy seller that you think she might like and you could win a skein of Duet sock yarn. Contest closes at midnight on her birthday, June 13.

Congrats to Amy, Heather, and Susan, who won Project Spectrum Red/Black/Metallic mix cds! Thanks to everyone who played along. I’ll have another contest at the end of July for Project Spectrum Purple/Orange/Brown mix cds.

Pao and MrsPao sent me a lovely surprise package a week or two ago. Gluten-free goodies (including one of my very favorite treats, dark chocolate covered rice cakes – don’t knock them until you try them!), a cute little wooden vase, a lovely skein of Lisa Souza sock yarn, a sheep magnet, a felted mouse bookmark (that might be a challenge to keep away from Mayhem), a gorgeous black cat card, and an extremely noisy cat toy that babbles. A piece of packing tape toned it down enough that all three of us stopped jumping when it babbled (which I know has amused Pao mightily). Thank you both!

And then Peeve surprised me with a late birthday present. It’s getting close to my half birthday, so maybe it’s an early half birthday present… More gluten free goodies and two stunning skeins of very special yarn, dyed by the late Marta (and the skein on the right will coordinate very nicely with another skein that Peeve gave me during her visit). Thank you so much!!

So after I posted the picture of Mayhem’s fluffy tummy (complete with white bikini “smile”), there was some muttering in the comments about equal time for Chaos’ tummy. Well… funny thing about Chaos’ tummy. I suspect that he’s supposed to have a large white patch, very similar to that of his mother. However, he just has undercoat and a line of scraggly white hairs, leaving several of his poor little boy kitty nipples exposed. Inbreeding is a tragic thing…

“I can’t believe you just told them about the inbreeding. Do they really need to know that my father is probably my uncle, too?!” -Chaos

Contests, Dyeing, Knitting, Project Spectrum

And finally, some knitting

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How perfect is this? I Can Haz Cheezburger is having a caption contest! C’mon, u noes u wantz to. Contest ends June 6, 11:59 pm – and it’s a black cat you’ll be captioning. You know you can do it!

Aw, Mayhem really appreciated all the sweet birthday wishes yesterday! For those who are wondering where the heck the year went, I didn’t get her until September last year. Whew! No lost summer of 2006 for y’all.

A few details I neglected to include in my dyeing post earlier this week… I used an assortment of base yarns – some left over from last year and some I was just curious about. I had a lot of Kona fingering superwash, some Schoeller Zimba Top (picked up on Destash from Jennifer), some Kraemer Jeannie, and a random skein of Malabrigo donated by Yarnzilla. So far, my favorite superwash fingering sock yarns to dye are Louet Gems Pearl, Wool2Dye4, and Treadsoft.

We use Country Classics acid dyes, which have citric acid mixed in with the dye – much less stinky than using acetic acid (the acid in vinegar). Our technique is pretty fancy – we mix the dye in plastic cups and pour it onto the yarn, trying to use the minimum amount of water that we can. Then wrap the yarn in plastic wrap and nuke the yarn to set the dye. Make sure you use dedicated utensils and containers for mixing the dye and nuking the yarn! You can use use your regular microwave, but make sure the yarn is well-sealed in plastic wrap and air out the microwave afterward. Wearing gloves is a really good idea, too, unless you want to be mocked at work for your technicolor hands. Right, Jeanne?

Knitting *gasp* Update
I’m part of Sockamania, and we’re supposed to be knitting a pair of socks each month. I loved May’s pattern, but I got distracted by other things and didn’t get very far. I got a lot less far than it looks in this picture, actually, since I’ve decided the heel is way too tight and I need to rip back and start the gusset earlier.

The yarn is Regia Bamboo, color 1072 – I picked it because it had the April-May Project Spectrum colors of pink and green. This sock is probably on hold until after I knit the June Sockamania sock.

I started another, simpler sock, which fortunately covers one of the April-May PS colors and one the June-July colors.

“Hmph. So what if it wasn’t my birthday? What am I, invisible?!” -Chaos

Nope, I didn’t dye that yarn – I picked it up before we really got into dyeing. It’s from ebay seller lotusblossom, but it doesn’t look like she has anything now with Treadsoft superwash as the base.

“Teeheehee, big kitty! I am the cutest!” -Mayhem

Contests, Festing, Randonymity

All work and no knitting…

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…makes Chris a very dull blogger. So dull in fact (brace yourself, Jeanne), I’m going back to the Shepherd’s Harvest pictures again.

I bought some yarn while I was there – a ball of Trekking with bamboo (the same colorway that Jeanne and Renee bought) and 662 yards of laceweight silk that I’ll dye sometime when I’m feeling brave.

“I know that the minute I lunge in for a taste of this yarn, Mom’s going to snatch it away from me. Hmph.” -Mayhem

Just one more picture of that adorable black Shetland lamb…

…and of the baby pygmy goat. I think I would name him Oreo.

“Mmmm… baby pygmy goat. Tasty! Probably. Although maybe squirmier than my usual kitty food.” -Mayhem

I had no idea yesterday when I posted pictures of Mayhem’s ‘tocks that it would inspire others to post pictures of their kitties’ ‘tocks…

Rosemary is having a contest – the first person to guess what was added to the pictured drink for a photo shoot wins one of her lovely shawl pins (Designs by Romi). Contest ends by midnight PDT, May 27.

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone! My plans are to knit, read, catch up on bloglines, dye some yarn with Jeanne and Deb, get out for a walk or two, and just plain relax. See y’all Tuesday!

Alongs, Contests, Randonymity

Abundance abounds

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Local knitblogger Deb is thinking of opening an Etsy shop to sell her hand-dyed yarn. If you suggest a name for her store that she ends up using, you could win some of that same hand-dyed yarn. Leave your suggestions by June 4.

Had a good weekend up at the cabin with my brother and SIL and I even got a little bit of knitting done. Friday was 80F, sunny, and very buggy. It rained Friday night; Saturday was cloudy, breezy, and at least 25F cooler. Definitely fewer bugs. Sunday morning we awoke to lazily drifting snowflakes! Eeeeeeeek!!! No bugs, though.

I was one of numerous winners of Sachi’s birthday contest for my amazingly brief revised lyrics to Happy Birthday. Sachi sent me some of her gorgeous handspun (with beads!), a skein of Cascade Sierra Quatro (which I haven’t tried before), stitchmarkers, and some chocolate (not pictured). Thank you, Sachi!

“Is Neatnik reading? I know she likes pictures of my butt.” -Chaos

Local knitblogger Kelly sent Chaos and May some catnip mice that she made – you’ve already seen a couple of the pictures of how well the mice were received and you will see more, since one of the mice had Chaos cavorting like a kitten!

“Mmmm… stripey… Hey, wait a minute – I do not cavort. Whatever that means, I’m sure I don’t do it.” -Chaos

Check out what Kelly included for my refrigerator – thanks, Kelly!

Yesterday my Coffee Swap package arrived from (tragically blogless) Laura, who knows how to do an awesome swap package. She baked gluten-free biscotti for me and they’re very yummy! In the picture below, Chaos is trying to get into the bag of biscotti – no way, Chaos! Those are mine. Laura also sent me some Equal Exchange fair trade coffee, a wee bottle of wool wash, two balls of purple Jaggerspun wool silk and an Addi lace needle (with a note that she better see some lace on the blog soon…), dark chocolate truffles (not pictured…), black kitty statuettes, and stitchmarkers.

“I’m sure Laura meant to include a note that the biscotti were for me.” -Chaos

The stitchmarkers came in a cute necklace style bag, which will be very handy for holding markers as I need them… and keeping them out of harm’s (feline) way. There was one more blue kitty head marker that managed to evade the photo shoot.

The black cat statuettes are really cool, aren’t they? (No, I will not be getting another cat so I have a set that matches the statuettes!) Thank you so much, Laura!

Contests, Randonymity

Goats and llamas and cats, oh my!

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Ok, now that we gave Jeanne a little break (and besides, she’s asleep on a plane to Miami right now anyway), we can get back to my last few pictures from Shepherd’s Harvest. I present the baby pygmy goat:

Apparently, when he’s fully grown, he might be knee high. Awwww…. I wonder if the cats would notice him? Can you litter train goats?

Besides all the goats and sheep that are part of Shepherd’s Harvest, there was a second, simultaneous event going on at the Washington County Fairgrounds:

Sort of boggles the mind, doesn’t it? What sort of magic do you suppose llamas do? Coin tricks? Levitation? Sydney, as the only magicians I’m aware of reading this blog, could you or Rick help us out here?

While we all wonder about that, let’s move on to what you’re totally waiting for – baby llamas!!

At that point, Jeanne pulled me away from the pen, because apparently the mama llamas were not happy with my picture taking…

Wow, talk about baleful stares… Thanks for the heads up, Jeanne!

Here’s a little prelude to some kitty photos you’ll see next week.

“Hee hee – maybe I can eat off this mousie tail before Mom steals the tail from me!” -Mayhem

Have a great weekend, everyone! I am heading “up nord to da cabin” with my brother and SIL. I’ll try to get caught up Sunday night…

Contests, Randonymity

In which I attempt to catch up

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Nishanna is having a contest for her birthday – leave her a joke, a funny haiku, or anything else to make her smile and you could win a skein of Schaefer Anne. Leave your comments by 11:59 pm EDT, May 21.

Ali is having a summer knitting goals contest – you could win copies of her tank pattern and some Blue Sky Organic Cotton to make it with. The contest runs through the end of May.

Hee hee – apparently I’ve traumatized poor KitKatKnit for life…

Ok, I’ve been getting some grief (*cough* Jeanne *cough*) about how long I can possibly drag out Shepherd’s Harvest. She must think she’s in Groundhog Day or something. Anyway, I’ll give her a break today (no one wanted to see a baby pygmy goat/kid or baby llamas anyway) and turn to some thank yous.

Sallee sent Chaos a very interesting mouse, which I can’t find to photograph. The front half is a regular brown furry mouse. The back half is a soft sparkly red ball with a little bell inside. Finally, there’s a stubby mouse tail sticking out of the ball. Initially, the kitties weren’t quite sure what to do with it, but they’re definitely playing with it now. She also sent some cute stitchmarkers. Thanks, Sallee!

MamaTulip sent me the book Boo because of the cover, disavowing all knowledge of the contents. Thanks, MT! Janet and I set up a little swap between ourselves and she sent me these fabulous cards (I’m not sure I can bear to use them!) and some lovely Hempathy, which I’m looking forward to trying. Thank you, Janet!

“Maybe if I hug this yarn, Mom will let me keep it.” -Mayhem

E and I set up a little cover cd swap and E included this gorgeous necklace in perfect Chris colors! Yum – thank you, E! RheLynn sent me a lovely artist’s card that she painted. Thanks, RheLynn!

“Are you sure that isn’t a cat toy?? Are you completely sure?” -Mayhem

And finally, Frarochvia surprised me with a package yesterday.

“Ok, almost got it…” -Chaos

“Hmm…” -Chaos

“Whatever, big kitty, give it up with the mysterious thing and let me see!” -Mayhem

“Mmmm… tasty box!” -Mayhem

“Yarn and chocolate. It’s always yarn and chocolate, isn’t it, big kitty?” -Mayhem

“You’re catching on, May.” -Chaos

Thanks, Fraro! Bib bib bib bib…