Friday Winners, and a Thank You

You guys are really too much.  I can't thank you enough for participating in these little give-aways.  I've had so much fun, and from what you've said you are too.  I'm grateful and happy that you all have enjoyed this as much as me.

This is the final prize I have to give out from this series, and I used child labor to pull names once again (don't worry, the child is rewarded with toast with honey on top so he feels it's fair).  I have to admit that this time only one of the winners expressed an interest in a particular object, so I also popped the yarns into a bag and let him pull them out to match them with the winners. 

So, for the Alice with Flamingo bag and the silk dk we have Penny who said:
WOW!! Look at these yummy giveaways!! Lovely. The yarns all look so breathtaking. I love all three project bags as well! :)

For the daylily bag and the prism blues we have Mujercita who said:
That blue laceweight and Daylily bag is beautiful. It's so nice of you to be doing giveaways like this!

And last but not least we have Girlieknitwit who said:
These giveaways have been the highlight of my summer (so far) These new prizes are just too awesome. Those project bags are phenomenal. You do beautiful work. Thanks to much for your generosity and the fun of this!!

I wish I had enough to give to everyone who entered, you've all been just wonderful through the whole thing and I love sharing :)

This brings our give-aways for the Fiber Fair to a close for 2011.  I hope all of you had as much fun as I did and that everyone gets a chance to go to one of these sometime soon.

I hope everyone will check back around August 17, as I'm working on a project giveaway for the 1 year anniversary of this blog and all the craziness and joy around it.  Just between you & me, I'm putting together a large project, a medium project, a small project, and a single-skein weekend project.

There will be some changes with the blog, and I've got a stack of FO to 1 block and 2 post about in the next few days of the 3 day weekend.  I realized I must block when I saw this waiting for me:

Erm, that color combination can't be allowed to continue, so the blocking must be accomplished.  Thanks again everyone, and congratulations to the winners.  You've really made this fun, and I hope to do it again next year after the 2012 fiber festival!

It's that time again!

Hello!
Welcome back to the Fiber Festival Friday where I share the fun of the NH Sheep and Wool Festival with folks all over the all over.  I'm enjoying this so much, I think I'm going to do it every year.

Anyway, on to the winners.

For the faded blues Mocha's Fiber Designs, we have GailGodwin who said:
My favorite color is the copper penny. But would love any of the colors that you have. I can't beleive all of the beautiful yarn.

For the Lilipad colorway, we have FelicityS who said:
I know EXACTLY what you mean about the lilypad colorway!! I love blue/green combinations with a passion but all the colors in nature are wonderful. Thank you for the opportunity to win something so lovely.

Congratulations!

Now, for the Tanis Fiber Arts Skein in Mallard, we have Mujercita who said:
My favorite color family is definitely blues- there is no contest there! I love a nice pretty blue! Throw in some purple or green with it, and I'm thrilled (that Arauncania skein you have up there? I have that colorway in my stash!) The Tannis fiber arts skein is BEAUTIFUL!

For the Araucania blues and purples, we have LynnIL from the previous post who said they love Sanguine Gryffon as their favorite independent dyer.

And for the Copper Penny we have GreyOwl who said:
 Blues, blues, and more blues! My favorite and a color that looks good on everyone! But I have to say that the copper penny would look lovely on my oldest daughter

Now on to this week's giveaway!

This week, one of each of these beauties:

will be going home with a lucky commenter.

These are from the ball and skein booth, and I had a REALLY hard time choosing.  Never mind getting in the booth itself... these folks have been very popular every time I've gone.

The top one is a fingering weight MCN blend in colorway Cinder.  It's a gorgeous combination of greys, and in a fingering weight with a nice tight twist to it.  It should wear well.

The bottom one is what appears to be roughly 600 yards of heavy lace weight.  The yarn is not on their site, it's named Nerissa and it's in colorway orchid.  This is a 60% seacell, 40% silk combination.  I LOVE knitting with seacell/silk.  I knit it every chance I get, and every person I've given an object made out of this blend falls in love with it too.  I wish more dyers offered it!

Also, there are these from Owl Brook Alpacas Farm

it's ~ 300 yards of alpaca/silk blend in a worsted weight.  Gorgeous red!  It's hard to capture with the camera.  To enter for one of these 3 different prizes, just leave a comment telling me which fiber fair you like to go to (or would like to go to if you haven't had the fun yet) and a way to contact you.  Winners will be announced on June 24.

And finally, for fun, I'm putting the names of the folks who haven't won yet back in the hat to get one of these three beauties each from independent dyers:

Happy Knitting!!

Fiber Festival Friday returns!

ETA:  this giveaway is now closed, but we have a new one up.  Also all folks who entered into this giveaway are being entered into the "I'm sorry my job is evil" giveaway as well.

This week has been insane to put it lightly.  I did get a little knitting in a park in Boston, but it's been yarn-light around here for far too long.

So first things first, our winners from last week's blog post.  Same short-guy generated winners,

First up we have Greywolfie, who posted:

Hi, the yarns are so pretty..!
I've not tried anything other then DK yet..so if I were to choose I'll go for the lace weight..

Next up, is lorraine, who said:

id have to say lace right now..im into making shawls and i love the yardage on some of these hanks..thanks so much fot the giveaway! 

And last, but not least, we have craftink who said:

I like both sport weight and lace. Oh you can never choose with yarn! evrey single skein is just adorable with unlimited potential!

Little man pulled, and we've matched up the yarns with the names and emails are about to go out to the winners.  Congrats to all!!

This week, I have some goodies from a dyer whose cycles I always miss online... the colors I love best are always sold out.  And for good reason.  I found the Dirty Water Dyeworks booth and did a happy dance.  Luckily, the nice woman there didn't run away in fear.  I suspect she gets these reactions from most of the knitters who manage to hunt her down in person.

She does some beautiful work, and the color depth is just luscious.  I've photographed these skeins separately, because photographed together I couldn't capture the beauty of the yarns.

First up, we have:

360 yards of glorious blues and greens in 50/50 merino/tencel.  Drool worthy colors, soft pet-able fibers.... what's not to love??

Next up:

 Such gorgeous blue.  A generous 401 yards, AND 100% superwash BFL.  Did I mention BFL, in superwash??  It's just lovely.  I'm not a big blue fan, but this I could not leave behind.

And finally, this cutie:

75% superwash merino, 25% nylon in sexy peacock greens.  It is lovely.  And an even more generous 464 yard hank.  Sure, you could make socks with this.  But I bet you know what I'd rather make with it hehe

So, because I'm a bad blogger but a good shopper, I got enough for me and enough for the blog!  One of each of these skeins will go home to a commenter.  Just leave a comment telling me who your favorite independent dyer is, and a method to contact you, and I will be posting one winner for each of the skeins next Friday.

Previous weeks winners can always put their name back in the hat.  If I get more than 15 entries, I use random.org otherwise little man chooses our winners.

Err, and I'll be back at home again next week, so I'll be able to blog more and have the winners up at a more reasonable time.  Congrats to all!!

portable camera be darned, fiber festival goodies part 1

 ETA: this giveaway is now closed, congrats to Michaela and GailGodwin!
Check our next giveaway now live at this link.

Ok, I wasn't able to find the specialized cable for my point & click camera.  I realize that this doesn't bode well for what I'll be cleaning (and how many bad words I'll be taking out and examining) this weekend, but I'll keep looking.... and if I can't find that I'll order a new one.  Take that, technology!

I got a question about the hoodie, which will make an appearance or 4 in the festival post once I manage to get the photos off the point-n-click.  The yarn is Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Superwash, and I picked it up at Webs.  Color 32.  The boarder is in Plymouth Encore color 0240.  The Oatmeal contrast band is just a small band of 2 rows of garter stitching, and then 2 rows of k1, s1 with color held to RS of work, then 2 rows garter stitch.  I'm glad you like it!

I was pretty excited to see the comments on Mom's sweater!  I spent nights up knitting it, and ended up knitting it in 5.5 days over coffee and tears because our ancient cat chewed on the original yarn I'd started knitting it in the first time.  He loves alpaca, and he's ~14ish, so I have to hide my alpaca yarn if I don't want it to be suckled into non-existence.  I foolishly didn't, and ended up buying the Vintage on May 7th for a sweater I had planned to finish for May 5th.

This was Mom's anniversary present, Dad's was supposed to be a gift certificate for Audible but Audible closed down their gift center.  But that's a tale for another blog post.

Anyway, folks are really here for yarn!

So let me introduce you to today's Friday Yarny Goodness:

Yum!

Okay, so as the tag shows, today's yarn feast was purchased at the End of the World Farm booth.  There were a few vendors at this year's Fiber Festival that I was hoping to see.  This wasn't one that I had planned on, but their display was so visually stunning that I ended up running back and buying the above.

This yarn is 100% Tencel.  It drapes and knits like a tightly spun silk, but it is machine wash and dryable.  It's also nigh-unto-impossible to snap.  I don't recommend trying it, it will leave serious dents in your fingers.  On the other hand, the lovely folks at the booth said that tencel yarn wears like steel.  It's tough as nails.  And soft and cuddly, and LOOK at those colors!!

So, although I hadn't planned on them being a highlight of my trip... well, they were.  And a wonderful one to boot.

This is a heavy-lace weight yarn in my book.  And it ladders just like silk if you drop a stitch.  But the drape!  The coolness... it will make perfect warm weather things.

So without further ado, the first of the free yarn!  The lovely gold and orange yarn are in need of owners, and I know there are people who are in need of some really awesome yarn.  I am ashamed to admit, I've already knit up the red... one skein makes a perfect Joie shawl... and I've been arguing with myself about giving away those gorgeous sunny colors.  But I'm going to do it!  Captain Alpaca says it must be done:

If I fight with Captain Alpaca, he might wake me up again in the morning.  And as lovely as he is, he's a bit unnerving full in the face at 5 AM.

So, to enter just leave a comment about what you'd like to try in Tencel and a method to reach you.  One winner for yellow and one for orange will be announced next Friday, and when they're announced the next batch of festival goodies will go up.

The sweater

So I'm sure everyone remembers this, it was only one post ago:

I love texture

Here it is on its recipient:

it almost matches the lilacs!

Front action!

So, this is a free pattern from Berroco that I knit up for my Mom.  It uses their Vintage yarn line (info available from pattern link) in the color used for their photo shoot.  I almost never use the color/yarn from a pattern, but this time the color just said it needed to go to Mom... and so it has.

The buttons are from JHB, and they are imitation pua shell in pretty neutrals with a little bit of blue.

As to the craziness:  This was knit for a petite woman of about 5 ft 2.  I had to change the way the increase and decrease rows were knit.  So, to make sure they matched, I knit the 2 fronts and the back at the same time so that the increases were in the same place on all pieces.  Then, because I needed to make the sleeves for someone who doesn't have orangutan arms, I knit the 2 sleeves at the same time.  The big trick is to have a really long needle to do both of the fronts, and a separate ball of yarn for each thing that's cast on.  So, the fronts & back were knit on 2 needles, as though I was doing 2 at a time socks or something.  The sleeves were also knit on the same 60 inch needle so that I knew that they were knit at the same increase/decrease rate and that they were definitely the same length.

The pattern called for 8 skeins of yarn, I used about 6.5 total.  I have some left-overs and I'm not sure where they'll go.

We did go to the wool and fiber festival this weekend and as soon as I find my smaller cable I will pull the pictures and do a full post about it.  I was hoping to get this up on Sunday, but ended up working on Sunday plus late hours the last 2 days....

But shortly, you will hear the story of this handsome beast :

and I will be giving away some yarn as well.