Category Archives: Contests

Contests, Knitting

Fee, fi, FOs, fum…

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Scout’s having a contest! Caption the picture before Friday and the caption that makes her laugh hardest will win something from her shop.

Bloglines is wonky again – it took 23 hours for my RSS feed from yesterday to update. Grrrr. And I’m sure the only reason I almost (well, within 40 posts) caught up in bloglines yesterday was because it wasn’t updating.

May is doing great!! Her incision is less than 1/2″ long and she doesn’t have any stitches – looks like they used surgical glue maybe?! Chaos is getting over himself and isn’t hissing at her (much) now.

You may not remember, but this is, ostensibly and occasionally, a knitting blog. (I’ll pause to let you recover.) That said, I’ve actually knitted a few things (besides bibs!) recently.

I finished my luridly striping socks over the weekend – 63g of Kona fingering went a bit further than I expected, especially considering my size 11 feet.

“I know that if I look directly at those socks, I’ll probably go blind.” -M

The extra yarn is to the left – I knit each sock toe-up from opposite ends of the ball to make sure I used as much yarn as possible. Interestingly, while one sock had a pink toe and the other a black toe, due to quite a bit of variation in my warping board technique (my stripes weren’t consistent), both socks ended at the exact same spot in the colorway. (Please note that this picture was taken before May’s surgery, when she had a furry tummy…)

Several weeks ago, I knitted a narrow arrowhead lace scarf that I hoped to use at work, when I wear my hair up and my neck gets chilly. I knit this with my not-Rhinebeck La Lana Phat Silk. Unfortunately, my picky neck found this merino-silk blend too scratchy. Right now Jeanne is testing it around her own neck. I was so annoyed, I didn’t take a final picture of this after blocking/ironing (the ironing really made the silk shine).

“Could you work this into a cat bed for me maybe? With a little cashmere, too? I don’t have any fur on my tummy anymore and it’s chilly!” -M
Contests, Randonymity

WTF Wednesday: The British edition

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Anne is having an essay contest – leave an entry by December 15 about why you or someone you know deserves a brand-new Denise interchangeable needle set. (Syd! She has ferrets!)

Thanks for all the well wishes for Mayhem!! She’s doing great – a little sleepy, but in good spirits… except that Chaos keeps hissing and growling at her. Guess she still smells too much like the vet…

“I’ll get you, big kitty, and your little dog Toto, too! Meanie.” -M

“Meanie?? Moi?! As if!” *hissssssssssssssssss* -C

Moving right along… A local grocery store has your basic “ethnic” food aisle. (Although I could make an argument for Thai and Indian being Asian…)

But here’s the sign on the other side of the aisle:

Ethnic British?! Hmm. I searched the store, but no other European countries were distinguished in this fashion, which is a shame, because I’d love to examine ethnic Andorran food. Here’s what the British section contained:

Do you think that’s a good representation of British cuisine? What distinctive British foods are missing?

Oh yeah – Acephalous is tracking the speed at which a meme can spread across the blogosphere for a paper at the MLA. Include a link to his post, explain the experiment, ping Technorati, and you’ve participated.

Contests, Reading, Those Cats

Tuesday, but it’s Wednesday, really…

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…since I only work 3 days this week! So tomorrow is actually Friday…

Valerie is having a contest to celebrate her one year knitting anniversary. If you leave her a comment before midnight, Sunday, November 26, about how you came to be knitting or about the person who taught you to knit, you could win a skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn.

Don’t forget that you have until 7 pm CST, Wednesday, November 22, to leave some words of wisdom for me as I embark on a new decade of my life! (This would be a real-time deadline, not a Chris interpretive time deadline…)

Reading Update
Smoke and Shadows, Smoke and Mirrors, and Smoke and Ashes by Tanya Huff. These three books take up where the Blood series left off, sort of… Wizardry, vampires, and other things that go bump in the night, but in Vancouver instead of Toronto. In one of my favorite bits, the main character muses how peculiarly Canadian it was that he was taking public transportation on his way to save the world…
The Dead Cat Bounce by Sarah Graves. I think this is the first book from the Home Repair is Homicide mystery series… Having read the series utterly out of order, it was interesting to go back to this one and see how things began.
Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. This is the first book in a mystery series featuring Cincinnati witch Rachel Morgan, her roommate (the “living” vampire Ivy), a family of pixies, and more… I already have the rest of the books on hold at the library!

Knitting Update
I’m in the midst of the gusset increases on my second black and hot pink stripey sock. The first sock is done to just above the heel and I’m knitting the second sock from the other end of the ball. Why, you might ask? Well, I apparently had some sort of mathematical meltdown when I was winding off yarn to dye and let’s just say that it’s going to be very exciting to see how tall these end up. I’m hoping for short ankle socks at this point!

Feline Update
Chaos has been, well, chaotic lately. More on that tomorrow. Here he was in an unguarded moment last night:

“If you’d named me Meditative Trance, you’d have a leg to stand on here, Mom.”

Mayhem could not be reached for comment, since she was hiding.

“I am an invisible jungle kitten, hiding in the foliage!”
Contests

Lordy, lordy, look who’s 40…

152 Comments

Yikes, it’s me!!! 🙂

Well, ok, such an event requires a contest – a contest that encompasses Chaos’ third birthday (since he was sick at the time), my 40th birthday, and my first blogiversary on November 22… Leave me a comment with the most useful piece of information/advice you’ve ever received. The information you wished you’d known when. The information that you think we’d all be better off knowing.

Leave your comment by 7 pm CST Wednesday, November 22, and I will use the magical random number generator to select the winners. There will be at least three prizes and possibly more: knitterly prizes for knitters and other prizes for non-knitters. Knitterly prizes will include the autumnal skein of laceweight I dyed at Deb’s on my vacation and skeins of Socks that Rock from the 2006 Rockin’ Socks Club.

“You guys can so do this – you have opposable thumbs!”
Contests, Those Cats

In which there are acrobatics

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Kristin is having a first knitting anniversary contest. Leave her a comment about how you learned to knit by noon CST, Wednesday, November 22.

Danielle is having an unusual vegetable contest (yup, you read that right). You have until Wednesday, November 29, to complete your unusual vegetable mission!

Lucia (Rhymes with Fuscia) is having a contest – answer her question and support your answer and you could win some sock yarn.

Last night I went over to Jeanne’s house to knit and was surprised to find Deb there – and presents! An offer from Jeanne to knit the fingers and thumbs of a pair of gloves for me (my dislike of knitting thumbs, particularly the 10 “thumbs” required for gloves, is well known)! Flourless chocolate cake! Candles! Pinot noir! Cats! And even a tricky package from MrsPao and Pao, all the way from the UK! I will share more details (and pictures) of the wonderful things next week, after I’ve had time to actually take some pictures. My heartfelt thanks to all of them for starting my birthday two days early! 🙂

Work has definitely calmed down. Whew! Also, on Monday, the locksmith (who was cute!) replaced the lock guts and no kitties missed their feeding time. I was glad to find out that it wouldn’t have helped if I’d put graphite in the lock, which I’d been meaning to do for weeks…

Ok, I know you’re all waiting for the acrobatics… I’ve mentioned that May fetches and catches toys. Yesterday, for the first time, I got pictures of some of those feline acrobatics. Go, May!!

Contests, Reading, Those Cats

Chaos Oblique

44 Comments

Not an Artist is having a contest to name one of her knitting creations. Submit your idea by Saturday, November 18, midnight EST.

My work fun continues, but hopefully things will settle down later this week. My week isn’t starting off too well – my front door lock jammed as I was leaving this morning and I had to leave the key sticking out of the lock. No cats will be fed until the locksmith comes, since I can’t get into my condo!

Reading Update
Shakespeare’s Counselor and Shakespeare’s Christmas by Charlaine Harris. Two more Lily Bard mysteries, completely out of order.
Vanishing Point by Marcia Muller. The latest mystery about San Francisco PI Sharon McCone is a solid, enjoyable read that kept me guessing (wrong) for a long time.

Some of you have been wondering if Chaos is hiding from the blog. Whatever gave you that idea?! He’s fine, BTW – I think he’s just kind of stunned about how much energy May has. 🙂

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

The Bedjacket Edition

54 Comments

Local knitblogger Christy is having a caption contest to celebrate her blogiversary! Caption the cute cat picture by November 11 and win some yarny goodness.

Gwen’s having a contest to welcome back her knitting mojo and celebrate being almost done with her holiday knitting. Leave a comment before Friday, November 17, about what you’re knitting for holiday gifts and whether you think you’ll finish in time and you could win some lovely Tess’ Super Sock Yarn.

Sue is having a comment contest – leave a comment before November 23 and you could win a copy of the book Toys To Sew or the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits.

Check out the new goodies Scout has for sale! Love the kitty shawl pin! And I’m curious as to how the Namaste Jetsetter knitting handbag compares to the Jordana Paige Knitter’s Satchel – anyone know?

Reading Update
Blood Debt and Blood Bank by Tanya Huff – the last two of the Blood Books. Blood Bank contains some very clever and enjoyable short stories, two of which should be read before Blood Debt.
Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton, book 13 of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter. This one is odd, considering how the series has been going recently. It’s short (under 300 pages), compared to the 752 pages of Incubus Dreams (book 12). And it’s a lot more like the early books of the series, which is a good thing.
Shakespeare’s Trollop by Charlaine Harris – a Lily Bard mystery. I’m not managing to read these in order and I’m ok with it. Another solid mystery about Lily Bard, who lives in Shakespeare, Arkansas, trying to keep to herself but becoming part of the community anyway.

So, can anyone shed some light on what the heck the point of bedjackets was?! And if you were wearing a bedjacket, presumably in bed, would you need to be wearing slippers at the same time? Yes, another thriftstore find. Check out how well this booklet held its value. 😉

I like the lace pattern used for this one, but those slippers…

I actually kinda like this bedjacket, too, although I would call it a cardigan. I wouldn’t put the ruffles on the cuffs, but the construction is intriguing. However, once again, those slippers… *shudder*

This next one….. *blink blink*

And without the fringe, this isn’t a bad shawl. But, um…… are those slippers or small fuzzy dogs?!

Love her “you woke me up for what?! Well, hurry up then” expression….

And the back cover… priceless. I think this is a blurb for some early superwash yarn?? Whatever it is, “no sighs about size” gave me the giggles. Heh.

“I totally could model bedjackets. If I wanted to.”
Contests, Randonymity

Of contests and cleanliness

19 Comments

Wendy has started her Heifer International 2006 Holiday Season Drive. For every $10 that you donate, you will receive an entry into the weekly and grand prize drawings. The grand prize drawing will be January 2, 2007.

Mim’s having a fun motivational/demotivational caption contest. Leave your caption comments by Friday, November 10, midnight MST.

Did you vote yesterday? If you did, you can participate in Kat’s contest. Emails must be sent by Friday, November 10, 6:00 pm EST.

For you competitive sock knitters out there who haven’t had enough after Sock Wars (my head is still spinning from trying to follow that one), check out Sock Madness, which starts in March 2007. I’m sure a competitive sock knitting reality TV show must be in the works by now…

“Why, yes, it does take a long time to clean such a long and lovely tail.”

“Hmph. I’m going to let that one go…”
Contests, Knitting, Reading

*gasp* An FO!

36 Comments

Carol and Margene are asking us to use the two weeks from November 18 – December 2 to Knit Unto Others. This is the second year they’ve coordinated this effort, and this year there will be prizes for those who participate!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was extremely relaxing, which I really needed after some long days at work last week – and with more long days ahead in the next week or two. Spending so many hours working in front of the computer is cutting way down on my blog reading time and inclination – when I get home, I can’t bear to be in front of the computer anymore. But I’m also frustrated about being behind in what everyone’s up to. *sigh* And then I have this significant birthday coming up in less than two weeks, which has me a bit contemplative about life, the universe, and everything. So, I’ve been distracting myself with reading and knitting (I know, how is that different from any other time?!).

Reading Update
Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton. Another Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel (book 12, apparently) – um, yeah, I couldn’t help continue rereading this series… Moving right along!
Blood Trail, Blood Lines, and Blood Pact by Tanya Huff. More books from the Vicki Nelson series about Toronto vampire Henry Fitzroy. These are good reads. I’m curious how accurately they depict Toronto (well, beyond the obvious supernatural stuff…) – they seem very descriptive of the city!

Ok, totally not in time for Socktoberfest, but I finally finished the Flatiron socks, knitted from yarn I dyed.

A little color correction actually got them slightly closer to reality – the pink and purple defeats my camera. Strangely, no cats were lured by knitting photography…

However, lurid yarn on the floor (more hand dyed, now wound up for a new pair of socks) drew them right out.

“Stay back, big kitty! Your aged eyes might not be able to deal with this brightness!”

Contests, Reading

Pin-up calendars

29 Comments

Nicole’s started a new group called Fitter Knitters and is having a contest. Leave a comment with a link to a healthy online recipe by Tuesday, November 7, 5 pm Eastern, and you might win two skeins of Noro Kureyon, color 163!

Reading Update
I know, all the vampire books lately – started out reading one series (the Sookie Stackhouse books), then wondered when the heck the Anita Blake books had gone astray, then people kept recommending stuff… ‘Tis the season, right?!
Undead and Unwed, Undead and Unemployed, Undead and Unappreciated, and Undead and Unreturnable by MaryJanice Davidson. A vampire series that takes place in the Twin Cities! Betsy (Elizabeth) Taylor didn’t want to be the queen of the vampires – she just wanted to own really expensive shoes. We can’t always get what we want… Another fun vampire series – once again, Peeve knows her vampires!

As I mentioned yesterday, Deb of Chappysmom is having a maybe contest – show her pictures of what your November calendar page(s) look(s) like. Here are mine – the first is a knitting calendar that hangs in my kitchen.

The second is the calendar I have at work.

And the third calendar (also in my kitchen) isn’t going to surprise anyone…

Remember this picture? Here’s a new picture of May for size comparison – even I can tell she’s getting bigger!

*glug glug glug*

“See, Mom?! I told you I was getting bigger! Look out, big kitty, I’m going to be big enough to squish you soon!”