Tuesday, February 26, 2008

These Are The Yarns I Like

This is my entry into the third contest over at SITMT, but before I post it, I need to give full credit to Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall fame, for his very obvious inspiration.

These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!
These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solid
It’s 100% merino
Nice and sproingy superwash
It makes really great socks.

These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!
These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!

Fleece Artist Nova Socks
All merino too
Handpainted in Nova Scotia
It’s a local treat.

These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!
These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!

Handmaiden Fine Yarns Sea Silk
Silk and seacell
Whatever seacell is...
Fleece Artist is her Mom!

These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!
These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!


Patons Classic Merino Wool
What’s not to like?
Made in Canada
And it felts up great.

These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!
These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!

Briggs and Little Regal
Comes from Harvey Station
Their mill is really old
One hundred and fifty-one years.

These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!
These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!

Knitpicks Merino Shadow
Perfect for a shawl
Fine like spiderweb
But it is not GROSS.

These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!
These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!

Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud
It’s so nice and soft
The colours are so lush
Knit something for yourself.

These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!
These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!

Noro Kureyon
It comes from Japan
Freaky colour combos
But somehow they just work.

These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!
These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!


Patons SWS
It comes in stripes or solids
Soy is really SHINY
Who knew that you could spin it?

These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!
These are the yarns, I like, I like
These are the yarns I like!

I can’t think of a tenth yarn…
What’s your favourite yarn???


I know that I won't get full points since I didn't list 10 yarns... This was hard to do! Oh - yes - this IS why I'm not a poet. I know my limitations.

Moment of PANIC!!!

It took me a while to figure it all out, but once I did – whoa, BABY! What am I talking about? Why, Bloglines, of course! It’s a great way to know which of the blogs that I like to read have a new post or not. It saves me a whole lot of obsessive compulsive clicking and checking, wondering when the heck is my favourite blogger going to put of a new post??? I still tend to click through to the actual blog, so that I can see the posts how the blogger intended for them to be seen.

So this morning, I checked Bloglines. Yay! Shut Up, I’m Counting had a new post up! Cass had warned us that she was taking the weekend off… But when I read this, I almost hyperventilated! Thank goodness she didn’t hit the delete button. All of us "Crazy Commenter Peeps" would have had to have hit the road to Tennessee to make sure that Slappy the Bait Shop Guy hadn’t taken her hostage so that he could have his evil hillbilly way with her!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

More Randomness

I’ve done the 7 Random Things meme before, but since I’ve been tagged not once but twice with it again recently, I’m going to try to come up with 7 more randoms…

1. Growing up, the one thing that I would have NEVER answered if asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” would have been “I want to be an accountant!” Yes, I am a Certified General Accountant.
2. Even once I started working on my Bachelor of Commerce at Dalhousie University and had accepted that somehow I was going to be an accountant, I very deliberately avoided applying for government jobs… I mean – who in their right mind would want to be a civil servant? I work for the Government of Canada.
3. While I enjoy singing, I don’t do it in public (except in church) following my solo in the Christmas concert when I was in first grade. I dropped my prop present into the audience… I wasn’t an empty box but rather a block of wood wrapped in Christmas paper! I’m lucky no one got hurt.
4. Growing up, our family pet was a rabbit. Its name was Mopsy. We had no idea whether Mopsy was male or female… Mopsy had an outdoor hutch.
5. I never ever cut class when I was in school. Even in university, I just couldn’t do it without a really good reason. I felt too guilty.
6. When I was in Grade 2, I was sent to the principal’s office because I had hit one of the boys in my class with my umbrella. I was protecting a friend of mine, so I wasn’t really punished, but both I and the little boy got a stern talking to. His name was Roland.
7. I am very ticklish! My sisters used to like to use this to their advantage when we were kids. They would wrestle into a blanket and one of them would hold me down while the other one tickled me until I begged for mercy.

I'm not going to tag anyone, since I've done this before, but if you haven't done this meme, considered yourself effectively tagged! (Leave me a comment to let me know that you've done it so that I can come over and read it, okay?) And for even more random facts about me, you could always read this.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

New Homes

Can you tell that Mr. Me and the sons are out this morning? It's quite refreshing not having to fight for the computer!
All prizes from my contest have successfully found new homes. And all of the winners were so very kind and posted photos on their blogs: Aisling, Angela and Moriah. This was an excellent opportunity to do a little bit of destashing on my part, but thanks to Ravelry, I was able to do some "stalking" so that hopefully this has meant that I've managed to award prizes that are appropriate for the interests of the recipients. Ravelry was particularly helpful in identifying favourite colours, and a cruise through the queues on everyone's profiles gave me an idea as to what they like, or would like, to knit.
Thanks again to everyone who played along with me!

Spring Knitting

Earlier this month, three contests were posted about for those of us playing along in SITMT. I completed Contest 1 promptly. There was a very clear deadline. That works for me. I tend to procrastinate, but give me a deadline and I will hit it! Contest 2 is the Spring KnittingPost contest, where we post about your spring knitting plans.

Do you have a new project in mind? Joining a new group? Any new goals you wish to share? (5 points)

What? You mean I'm supposed to have a plan? I didn't get the memo about a plan...
Not only do I procrastinate, but I tend to be somewhat ad hoc in my knitting, selecting projects as the mood strikes me - or not. I would like to upgrade some of my UFOs back to WIP status, particularly the green and cream cotton cardigan that I started 2 (or maybe 3) summers ago... I really don't think it was 4, but it might have been. I'll try to remember to dig it out to take some photos. It's very pretty. I might have finished it all at once, too, except that Fall came.
I have recently joined some new on-line knitting groups. Big thanks go out to Cheryl, my upstream pal in the Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap, for some excellent enabling through the provision of links to the Sock Knitters Pentathalon, Mystic Light KAL and Lacey Shawl KAL. She has my interests perfectly pegged with socks and lace... (And as point of interest, Cheryl is playing along with us in SITMT, so I'm confident that one of you will get a GREAT package!)

More Contests!

Knitting Gal is having a contest to celebrate 1000 blog hits. When she started the contest, the 1000 mark was approaching, but looking at her counter, she's recently surpassed it. This is a really easy contest. Just leave her a comment and put a link up on your blog. The prizes are a couple of great looking books, and who doesn't need more knitting books?! If you enter, let her know I sent you, okay? That way she'll be sure to know that I fulfilled the blog post part of the contest.
Did you play along with us in the Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap? If you didn't, you missed some fun and some GREAT packages! Check out what I got here... Hot off the press: signups will open for the Spring Fling Coffee Swap on March 20th, the first day of Spring. Post about it on your blog and you're entered in the shout out contest. Easy!
What else do I have to say for myself? Well, all the goods are collected for both my SITMT package and my Scavenger Hunt package. They're sitting on the credenza in my office... I just need to wrap them and post them. Guess what I'm planning on doing Monday at lunch time? My co-workers are enjoying that I've started to wrap this stuff at the office - especially the knitting ones. Although one of them thought that the funny part of my Scavenger Hunt package was a voodoo doll... What? Although that could be funny... I think that my downstream pal will "get it" and find it amusing.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Progress

Secret of the Stole - ii is progressing well. I have finished clues 1 through 4. Yay - me!
Yes - I'm still a clue behind... Oh, well...

Gnome If You Want To...

Gnome if you want to gnome around the world...
Okay - so it's not quite how The B-52s wrote it, but it is what is running through my head.
Flat gnome...
No arms gnome...
Ta-dah!!! The gnome!!!

And this gnome will roam... He will be roaming his way to his new home later this week and just because he is one heck of a nice gonme, he will be bearing a birthday present for my older sister. Once he arrives, my niece can let her Mom start reading the blog again... Thanks, Rach!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

All About Love - SITMT Contest

Life in general has been interferring with our lovely hostess' ability to keep up with contests for SITMT, so we've got three, count 'em, three contests all posted at the same time for those of us playing along with this swap!!! Being an orderly accounting type (stop laughing - I can hear you!), I will start with Contest 1. Okay - it's the one with the tight deadline...

Contest 1: All About LoveSimple enough post - You will post, on your blog, about a memorable Valentine's day you've had. Could be from when you were a child or now. (5 points) Extra points if you post pictures of anything in red, pink and white, for Valentine's Day. (an extra 5 points) Posts must be made by February 14th.

Since I have some trouble following rules to the letter, I think that I will tell you about my favourite part of Valentine's Day when I was a child. I have two sisters, so every year, my father used to buy Valentine's Day chocolates for all four of his girls, Mom, myself and my sisters. I don't know if it was because of his Scottish heritage, simply because he is Canadian (I understand that we have a reputation for being frugal, too), or because he was on the cutting edge of being environmentally friendly (doubtful), but Dad always recycled the heart shaped chocolate boxes. All of the boxes has originally come from Laura Secord, and each year Dad refilled them with Laura Secord chocolates. Clearly there wasn't much of a surprise or mystery to what we were going to get each year, but it was still a treat and I loved it!
Our boxes were no where near as fancy as the current one above... Isn't it pretty?

For those of you who don't know who Laura Secord was, you can read more here. Briefly, she was a Canadian herione of the War of 1812.

Monday, February 11, 2008

300

No - we're not talking Spartans. We're talking about a contest over at Days Go By in honour of Nancy's 300th post. It's a very easy contest.
Leave her a contest and there's your entry.
Post it on your blog and there's another.
Have people tell Nancy who sent them and yes - more entries.
And finally, post a knitting tip for a final entry.
Here's my tip: Figure out how the stitches in your project are supposed to look. Do whatever it takes to get them to look that way. This may be more important to me than others, but as a left handed knitter who spent YEARS following instructions to the letter with sometimes bizarre results, when I realized that I didn't have to do exactly what the pattern said it was a very enlightening moment. Yes, sometimes I am "challenged".
And don't forget to tell Nancy I sent you!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

February Blahs

Is it just me? Or is anyone else out there feeling the February Blahs? I just don't feel like doing much aside from taking a nice cozy nap... Unfortunately, Mr. Me and the kids don't agree that I should be allowed to hibernate all winter long while they fend for themselves. Even when I do feel like doing something, it just doesn't hold my interest for long. This may (in part) explain all of my started knitting projects...
There's the socks for my SITMT pal - although I have finished the first sock and am a respectable way into the second sock. Sorry, but I won't reveal too many details until they're done and shipped.
And there's the Secret of the Stole ii... Clue 1 below got finished in absolutely no time! Clue 2 has since been knit and photographed, but not downloaded. Clue 3 is about 60% knit... So that doesn't leave me completely in the dust, but still a little behind.I missed the first stole, but I'm pretty sure that it will lull me into a feeling that my life can't continue without it and I will eventually purchase it. Resistance is futile! I think that the stole is in cahoots with the Civil War Shawl... Since it seems to be whispering to me too.
There are numerous other partially knit things around, but I haven't been able to concentrate long enough to take pictures of them... I did clean out my closet last week and took some pictures of some of my finished objects from "the past" to put up on Flickr and then Ravelry, but I somehow got distracted. I've uploaded the photos, but I think that actually trying to figure out what some of the patterns are really called put me off...
Another sign of the February Blahs is my Visa balance. It was started to look kind of under control. Then February came. But I'm sure that the needles and froggy notion holder that I received in a shipment from Knitpicks on Monday will make my life a happier place. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Library Expansion

I firmly believe that you can never have too much yarn, too many books or too many pairs of shoes. This week I seem to be concentrating on the books, although to be fair, since all of them came in the mail, technically I started working on this at least a week ago...
This week Selbuvotter, Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts Amigurumi and Son of Stitch and Bitch all arrived. Oh - so many things that I want to make - so little time...

Mom Brain

I sometimes joke about "Mom Brain"... About how being pregnant and then assuming the responsbilities of motherhood has made my brain and memory kind of fuzzy. Turns out I was right! Check out the article here. What a relief!!! (What a great excuse...!)

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Just Don't Tell My Friends...

Younger Son, who is 7, very kindly agreed to be my "model" so that I could check the fit on the Gooseberry Hat that I made for Megan. She's 6, so I figured that his head would be a reasonable substitute... The condition of his agreement? That I not tell his friends about the fact that there is a picture of him wearing a girl hat! Most 7 year old boys don't read knitting blogs - do they? (Or if they do it is because it's their Mom's blog and there is probably a picture of them wearing something equally embarassing. I'm pretty sure I'm safe.)

Drumroll, Please...

After double checking all of the entries, links and referals, the final tally for contest entries was a whooping 115! Given the large number of entrants (far more than I had ever expected), I did a quick search for a random number generator. And the winners are:

Moriah! Moriah is a med school student who also knits. I'm guessing she doesn't sleep a whole lot... She blogs here.

Angela! Angela is very clearly a devoted sock knitter. From the title of her blog, she seems to think she is delusional... Hmmm... I'll have to read more here to find out for sure.

Aisling! Aisling is a very busy homeschooling Mama. I'm guessing she doesn't sleep much either, but with the pending arrival of a new baby in May, she will soon be sleeping even less. You can read more about Aisling here.

Congratulations to the winners, but thank you to everyone who entered. I have e-mailed 2 of the 3 winners and posted to the third winner's blog, however, if you see your name here and haven't heard from me - give me a poke! I'm MissMe1964 on Ravelry, or since the cat is feeling kind today, you can always e-mail me at crazycritter99 AT yahoo DOT ca.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Happy February!

My contest is officially closed! However, I am completely and totall overwhelmed by the number of entries. There were a total of 112 entries - 80 via direct comment and 32 via links and referrals. I'm impressed with you people! It was loads of fun reading the comments and finding out why other people blog. I haven't created a database or done a statistical analysis of the comments, but many of us blog for similar reasons - to have a creative outlet, to keep in touch with friends and family that are far away, to belong to the larger knitting community that is out there, but so often not physically present in our lives.
I did try to respond to everyone's comments, but I will admit that with all of the comments, it kind of got ahead of me and it didn't completely happen. So I'd like to take this opportunity to publically thank each and every one of you for sharing with me.
Given the number of entries, it's going to take me a bit to announce the winner, but since it is Friday (yippee!!!), I promise to have the winner announced by Sunday evening... Or maybe it will be winners - you just never know!