I can't believe I won!

This year, again, Zarzuela is hosting the Summer of Socks! For those that aren't familiar with it, you cast on and knit socks throughout the summer, and get entered in random drawings when you finish socks. The big prize is the Vacation Photo prize at the end - you take a vacation photo with a sock in progress, and the participants vote on the winning photo. This year it is all taking place within Ravelry - visit the link to the Ravelry group over on the side-bar to sign up. I can't wait till tomorrow to cast on my socks!! I have several patterns and yarn already lined up. :-)

So, anyway, she had a blog button/banner contest, and I said "what the hey" and designed a little button and banner - never thinking I had a chance at winning!! And guess what? I won!! Woo-hoo! So here are my winning button and banner:

And I won a lovely package with sock yarn (of course!) and a bunch of other goodies! I'll post a picture when I get it in the mail. I can't wait!!

If you're in the Summer of Socks group - feel free to copy the banner and button and use them on your blog!

Happy Knitting everyone! Get your needles ready for tomorrow!!

WWKiP Day!

Saturday June 13th was World Wide Knit in Public Day! And what a fun day it was!

The Charlotte Knitting Guild hosted an event from 11-3 at a Charlotte area Books-a-Million, with prizes drawn every half-hour. The Joe Muggs cafe stepped up and had samples of iced coffee and treats for us too!

(Charlotte Purls! Stacey, me, Wendy, Rose, Donna and Angela (seated).)

(Stacey with my SKA WWKiP sock, and her own socks. Aren't they great?!)

After the WWKiP event, I headed home and got a few photos for the Ravelry SKA WWKiP Scavenger Hunt. (Quick explanation: you take photos of a sock in progress with different things, and get points. The people with the highest points win a prize, as well as winners in different categories. All in good fun!)

(Sock with children under 12, in front of (just part of!) my stash. One is knitting! 4pts)

(Sock with a person in uniform. 3pts. heehee!)

Then we headed to the mall, to get a bite to eat before seeing UP with the boys.

(Sock in front of a Landmark. Lowe's Motor Speedway. 5pts.)

(Sock dining out. 1pt.)

Then I did a little KiP before we headed over to the movie theatre.

(Sock being KiP in front of 3+ non-knitters. 6pts.)

I ended up tallying 35 points with my 9 photos (Not all of them are pictured here. You can check the rest out on my Flickr WWKiP set.) We'll see if I win anything. It doesn't really matter if I do - the point was to have fun, and I sure did!

The boys really enjoyed UP!, and we had fun watching for fireflies on the car ride home. Overall, it was a very good day!

Don't be afraid to KiP all year long! Happy Knitting everyone!

Leaf Purse

The Charlotte Purls are having a Bag KCAL, so here is my project:

Pattern: My own design

Yarn: Patons Classic Wool, and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes

Needle size: US9

I started it by hand at the bottom, and then worked in the round towards the top. A few days after I started it, I got a Bond Sweater Machine, so I finished it up using the machine. It only took me 20 minutes to finish it! I then felted it, and needle-felted swirls and leaves on it. The handle is a leather handle from Homestead Heirlooms, and so is the leather leaves and acorn.

I ran out of tan yarn and had to finish up using grey, but you can't really notice it in person. Overall, I'm very happy with it. My Pouchee (I love this thing!) fits inside, with enough extra room for a small knitting project as well.

Woof!

Here's a new FO. And in crochet no less - which I don't do too often lately!

Meet Stitch, the puppy dog:

Pattern: Pomeranian by Brigitte Read

Yarn: Knit Picks Suri Dream (plus some worsted merino on his belly area for contrast)

Hook: F (3.75mm)

This technique is called brushed crochet. You crochet your item, and then literally brush the fur out. The pattern calls for a slicker brush (which you can find at pet stores.) Instead, I used my new handcarders as my brush - and they worked great. Surprisingly, pretty much any yarn will work for this. The suri alpaca worked extremely well to give a nice long coat to the doggie, but the merino yarn I used on his belly brushed out quite nicely as well, although not as long. I ended up with some holey spots (I really needed to crochet this much more tightly than I did), but they were easily covered over with some creative darning and vigorous brushing. :-)

Overall, a very fun and quick project! And now I have a cute doggie of my own, who doesn't need walked and fed! Win, win situation for me!