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!

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.

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!

Scavenger Hunt Upstream Pal

Thanks for the comment on my blogiversary contest. If you win, I'll hold your prize until the BIG REVEAL. You did manage to post your comment anonymously, although you're not the only one (blushing here) who tends to inadvertently reveal herself... And that means that I am not tech savvy enough to be able to backtrack and figure out who you are if you post the contest link on your blog... Just have anyone who you refer say that they are sworn to secrecy about who sent them.
And I've checked all of my various e-mails (since I never remember who has which ones) and no message is to be found from you in any of the various spam, bulk or regular folders! If you're comfortable leaving your anonymous e-mail in a comment, I could always try e-mailing you...

Things That Didn't Get Done, Things That Did Get Done

This weekend I didn't get to:
- take and upload knitting pictures; or,
- blog, although I did manage to check my e-mail.

This weekend I did get:
- the washing part of the laundry pretty well caught up; and,
- survived Older Sons' 12th Birthday Party. His birthday is tomorrow, but since it was a sleepover, it had to be on a weekend. Seven boys. One 13 year old, one 12 year old (what's a few days?), four 11 year olds and Younger Son, 7.5 years old. I did not take up drinking to survive the event. I was tired enough after preparing homemade pizza and cake, that I left Mr. Me in charge and went to bed around 10pm. That pretty well meant that Younger Son, who can sleep like the dead when tired, and I were the only people to get a decent night's sleep. Older Son and two of the other kids stayed up all night. Care to guess who was just a tad cranky yesterday? Why - yes! You're all so smart! Given the choice between a cranky baby and a cranky 12 year, pass me that baby.

Getting back to me checking my e-mail, I am completely and totally overwhelmed by the number of entries into my contest! 49 discreet entries to date, since I won't be able to tally up all of the links and referrals until the end, now will I? Included in the entries is my very first comment from a family member! A great big "Hi" and "Thanks!" goes out to my niece, Rachael.

And speaking of contests, Tami is having a 100th post contest. Pop on over and say "Hi". Tell her I sent you, okay? I get extra credit for it!

It's My 1st Bloggiversary Today - and My 1st Contest!

I had thought that I had started blogging on the 25th of January last year, but in checking past posts yesterday evening, I discovered that my first post was on the 24th. Hard to believe that I've been doing this for a full year.
Sometimes I have lots to say, and sometimes I don't... I guess that that very accurately reflects the ups and downs, the peaks and valleys, of most peoples lives. In reflecting on the year, I also reflected on why I started to blog. Last January, I was approximately 2.5 months into a six month stretch of French Language Training. I was spending my days in a classroom with 5 other adults and a teacher having those unnatural discussions that you only have when you're learning a second language. To make matters worse, 4 of the 6 students had already spent a considerable amount of time together doing their "foundation work". So there I was in an unrealistic situation and having to fit into an established dynamic that I didn't really understand... I decided to start blogging because it gave me an opportunity to "talk to myself" without causing people to look at me funny on the streets. I wasn't sure whether anyone would ever read what I wrote or not...
Fast forward 12 months. I'm still "talking to myself", but I love that sometimes other people jump into my monologues. Blogging has given me the chance to virtually meet some wonderful people with whom I share many common interests. Often I'm surprised at how much I enjoy people with whom I would expect to have absolutely nothing in common. It just goes to prove how misleading our "labels" can be!
In celebration of this milestone, yes, I am going to have a contest. I don't know for sure what the prize(s) will be since I don't know who the winners are yet. You'll just have to wait for a surprise (or maybe more) at the end.
Here is what you have to do: Leave me a comment telling me why you blog. If you don't blog, maybe you can tell me why you read me (or if you just stumbled across me...). You'll get an entry for the comment. If you link the contest on your blog and send others, you will get an additional entry for the link, and an additional entry for each person that came to see me via your blog. See? That's not too hard, is it?
You have until the stroke of midnight on January 31st. I won't specify time zone. If you entry is date stamped January 31st or before - you're in!