and the winner is...

I'm so sorry! It totally slipped my mind that I was supposed to draw the winner yesterday. I blame it on sweater brain. I cast on a new sweater (not hubby's) and I was madly knitting on it before & after work yesterday. After last year's sweater fiasco (long story short: I knit a sweater but it's too big because I shrank), I'm knitting a size smaller and I'm dying to find out whether it will fit. The faster I knit, the better it'll fit, right?

Anyways, the correct answer to the contest's skill testing question is 12. I finished a grand total of 12 pairs of socks last year. A very small drop in the bucket compared to Gladys who has knit something like 15 pairs of socks in the last 4 months. I'm sure if we knew how many she knit last year, we'd all swoon with envy.

C., Jade, and pencraftco correctly guessed 12 and the RNG (Ricky is unavailable to assist me; see below) picks pencraftco. Yay! Send me an email at yarnfloozy AT gmail DOT com and I'll get your prize in the mail.

I was grocery shopping last week and had to pick up some cat food for Phoebe. I did a quick browse of the toy section and found Pawbreakers. They're a hard compressed ball of catnip. I threw one of those in my shopping cart.

I had a lot of groceries so it took me multiple trips from the car to get everything into the house. During one of my trips, I found this:


Yes, that is Ricky face-first in the bag hunting around for the Pawbreaker.


After he successfully fished it out of the bag, he proceeded to slobber all over it.


I eventually rescued it from him, wiped the spit off the package, and put the Pawbreaker on the ground. He loves it. It's a little tricky to play with because it rolls really well on the hardwood floors. Phoebe gave it a smack and it rolled clear across the house, through the dining room and ended up under a chair in the living room. So we've quarantined the Pawbreaker in one of their shallow food bowls to keep it from disappearing.

It's a sunny day today so I'll have the opportunity to take pics of my new projects. I hope that sweater fits otherwise, you're getting a picture of frogged yarn.

and the winner is...

Last week, we made a quick trip to Calgary to visit family and on the way home we stopped at the Big White resort near Kelowna which is famous for its snow ghosts. After a day of riding the Snow Ghost Express chairlift, you can hang out at the Snow Ghost Lounge for a little apres ski.

There are 4 correct entries and I tried to get Ricky to help out with the draw.


I don't think he was very interested.


Eventually, a slip of paper slid off his butt. And the winner is...


Bea!!!! Congrats & thanks to everyone else for taking a guess.

belated bloggiversary & birthday plus a contest

Hey Gladys! I just realized that our 3rd bloggiversary (last month) flew by without acknowledgement. So happy bloggiversary - 3 years and counting! And I forgot to wish you a happy birthday on your birthday so Happy Birthday!!!! Question: does the Perwoll smell like WM?

To celebrate our bloggiversary, I'd like to hold a contest. Guess where I am and you can win a sock yarny prize.


Hubby is up there somewhere.


Another shot of the mountain.


And those trees up at the top - it's as if the snow falls sideways and sticks to them so that you can't even tell they're trees anymore. The spooky white shapes are called snow ghosts (this is a big hint).

Contest is open to everyone on planet Earth. Leave a comment on this post with your guess (be as specific as you can). One guess per person please. I will randomly draw a winner from all correct answers. Contest closes midnight PST Wed March 3rd.

Contest closed.

drumroll please!

First of all, thanks to everyone for entering our contest. There are some great stories and it proves that we certainly go to extremes for our craft!

I whipped out the handy random number generator and it said the winners are:


Congrats goes to KJo, Kristen, and Jersey. And we've decided to give out an extra prize to that chick. We think she deserves the award for "coldest yarn lover". We will be contacting you shortly for your addresses. Jersey - you need to email us (yarnfloozies AT gmail DOT com) because we don't have a way to contact you.

belated blogiversary contest

::whoosh:: Didya hear that? That was our blogiversary in January. Gladys and I totally forgot -- pretty sad, eh? So we're belatedly celebrating by holding a contest to give away some great yarns. There are a total of 3 separate prizes to be won and they are:

A skein of Louet Gems Sportweight in colour #83 Mourning Dove; 100g; 225yds (one skein will make a pair of socks): (Note, photo has been replaced from the original post, but that's the only change to this post.)


A skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in colour #1284 Prune Mix; 100g; 433yds:


Two skeins of Mirasol Chirapa in colour #704 Spearmint Candy; total 100g; 330yds:


(one skein has been wound and a few yards knit & frogged)

My yarn is stored in a 2 cat home. Gladys' yarn is pet free. Both our households are non-smoking.

So how do you win? Leave a comment to this post and tell us "What extremes have you gone through for yarn or a project?" Let us know what lineups you've stood in to get a good deal on yarn or how far you've had to drive to get that extra skein to finish a project, or what online stores you've stalked at ungodly hours to score at an update, etc. Winners will be randomly drawn. Contest is open to everyone on planet Earth. Only one entry per person please. Contest closes Midnight PST on March 1, 2009. We'll do a random draw for the winners on March 2.

Looking forward to hearing your stories!

drumroll please!

Thank you for entering my second sockiversary contest. It has been fun reading your comments and guesses. The correct answers to my questions are:

1. How many pairs of socks have I knit in my lifetime? (only count matching pairs)
A: 35
2. How many pairs of socks did I knit in the last year (between Sept 07 and now; again only count matching pairs and don't forget my finished Rivendells!)
A: 15. Sock production slowed down this year while I was knitting other things like the Tangled Yoke Cardigan.
3. How many sock WIPs do I have?
A: 4 at the beginning of the contest; 5 by the end. Either answer is correct.
4. How old is my oldest sock WIP?
A: 1 yr and 7 mos or 19 mos

Two of you got all the answers right and the name that got picked out of the bowl is:


Yay, Katerina!

The randomly drawn winner is:


Way to go, Kristen!

And the funniest comment prize goes to Elaine for the wonderful little ditty she wrote.

Katerina - expect an email from me shortly. Kristen & Elaine - you didn't leave me any contact info and I can't find an email address on your blogs so please email me (yarnfloozy AT gmail DOT com)!

Rivendells and the contest

Pattern: Rivendell by Janel Laidman
Yarn: Hand Jive Knits Nature's Palette Fingering in Hydrangea; 2 skeins
Needles: 2.5mm dpns
Notes: There's an error in the heel turn instructions so I made up my own. When I did the gusset decreases, I decreased to 32 (rather than 31) so that the number of sole stitches equalled the number of instep stitches. I really love this pattern. If I were to knit this again (which I will), I would probably knit a few more rows at the top before doing the wraps. When the sock is on my foot, some of the upper wraps "disappear" into the cuff. I also wrapped too tightly on the first sock so it's a little snug. I loosened up on the second sock but the wraps look sloppy. Oh well... And all pictures of these socks are horrible! They look like ugly flat grey blobs on my monitor but they really are a lovely shade of lavender with bits of pink. And no amount of tweaking will get them to look right. I think it's my camera's fault. Poo!

It's my second sockiversary this month. I've been knitting socks for 2 years now. Yay! My sock yarn stash is so huge that at my current rate of knitting, I'll get through it all in 4-5 years if I never buy sock yarn again (not likely to happen). To celebrate, I'm holding a contest and giving away some great prizes.

1st prize

- a skein of Indigo Moon orangey-yellow sock yarn (the picture is pretty accurate); 404 yds (200g) of super soft superwash sportweight. One skein is enough to make a decent pair of socks i.e. Sivia Harding's Journey Cable Socks (this yarn was used to knit the orange socks in the pattern's picture)
- 2.5mm (US1) Addi 32" circs (not in pic because it's in the mail)
- a reversible sock project bag

2nd prize

- 3 skeins of DGB Confetti Superwash self-striping red/orange/brown (75% wool/25% nylon). This was my very first real sock yarn. I knit my first pair of socks with this yarn and gifted them to a dear friend.
- 2mm (US0) Addi 32" circs (not in pic because it's in the mail)

3rd prize

- sock blocker key chain & instructions plus a little ball of pretty sock yarn to make a mini sock.

So how do you win one of these great prizes? Last year, I made it easy to enter. This year, you have to work for it ;) Find the answers to the following questions:
1. How many pairs of socks have I knit in my lifetime? (only count matching pairs)
Hint: More than 30 and less than 40
2. How many pairs of socks did I knit in the last year (between Sept 07 and now; again only count matching pairs and don't forget my finished Rivendells!)
Hint: More than 10 and less than 20
3. How many sock WIPs do I have?
Hint: More than 0 and less than 5
4. How old is my oldest sock WIP?
Hint: I cast on Feb 2007

Easy, eh? All answers can be found on the blog if you look closely and carefully. Of course, you're welcome to guess. First prize goes to the winner with the most correct answers. If there is a tie, then I'll randomly draw a name from that group. The second prize will be given to a randomly drawn name from all entries. The third prize will be awarded to the funniest comment. I will be the sole judge of that one so make me laugh.

Leave a comment on this post with your answers. One entry per person please and the contest is open to everyone in the entire world. Please make sure you leave contact info (email, blog link, Rav id) so that I can reach you if you win. Contest closes at midnight PDT Sept 14th and I'll announce the winners on the 15th. Good luck!

PS. Allergy alert - yarns are stored in a smoke-free, 2 cat home.

ETA: added hints

my big head and a contest

Since P-la asked, my head is roughly 23" around. Is that big? I think so. When I go hat/helmet shopping, I usually have to buy a large. Most O/S hats are too small. Anyways, the kitty toque is on hold while I wait for my needles to arrive. It seems that all my 3.5mm circs are in use - heh.

I signed up for the Amazing Lace Swap this week. It looks like it's a Ravelry only swap as I cannot find a non-Rav link. It's a pretty simple one with no knitting. I'm saving my knitting time for the upcoming Monkey swap.


I'm ignoring Nancy's sweater for awhile and I thought that I should probably finish up some of my sock WIPs before I cast on a new pair of socks. I picked up my Rivendell's and started working on them again. I'm halfway down the foot and I should have them finished by the end of this weekend. Just in time for my little contest.

It's my second sockiversary. I started knitting socks in Sept. 2006 and last year, I celebrated with a little contest. This year, I'm doing the same thing but the prizes will be bigger and you'll need to do a little work to win one. I'll announce all the details on Mon Sept 1st.

my poor kitties

Phoebe and Ricky went to the vet yesterday for their annual vaccinations. The minute Ricky saw the crate, he meowed "no way" and hid under the ottoman. I shoved the ottoman out of the way and when I picked him up, he was velcro'd to the rug. At the vet's, Phoebe wouldn't come out of her crate. She had all 4 paws braced.

They were mostly ok when they got home. Ricky did have an upset tummy and had trouble keeping his supper down. Luckily, he let out a "my tummy hurts" meow and hubby hustled him into the bathroom. Phoebe couldn't get herself to her bowl this morning so she got breakfast in bed. She's lucky she's got servants. They go back to the vet in a few weeks to have their annual bath and their teeth cleaned.

Yesterday was a bonus mail day. My Monkey swap package arrived in the morning and my Old Mill Knitting prize got delivered in the afternoon. I picked the shawl pattern and the dark blue Naturally Dawn.


Old Mill Knitting is running contests all year long. Once a month (date and time is randomly chosen), the contest is open for entries. The first 3 entries that meet all the qualifications (Canadians only; 2 out of 3 winners must have a Ravelry id) will win a pattern and enough of the featured yarn to knit it. The yarn/pattern changes from month to month. The May contest is over so go check it out in June.

Instead of knitting, I finished the quilt for Gladys' youngest son.


It's only taken me a year or so. I used a product called Quilt Pounce to mark the border. I don't think I'll ever use it again. It's like a chalk board brush but the brush dispenses the chalk. Of course, the dust gets everywhere. I definitely prefer my Clover chalk pens.

Yesterday night, I picked up a skein of Blackberry Ridge lace silk blend in dark clover. It's labelled lace but I think it's closer to fingering. I've cast on for a pair of socks but I think they're going to be too big for my feet. I'm going to frog it and look for another pattern.

thanks all around

Before I reveal what arrived today, I must thank G for giving me two awards - Nice Matters and You Make My Day. It's taken me awhile to mention this because I'm supposed to "pay it forward" and give the award to 10 other bloggers. I've been thinking about it and most of the people I've picked have already received one. So it seems lame to give them the award again. I'll keep working on it.

Another thank you goes out to Nikki. I won her blog contest and she sent me some lovely things.


A skein of STR, a catnip toy for the kitties, some Soak, and a little sheep.

Ricky woke up from a dead sleep (in the sunshine) and went straight for the toy.


I pried it out of his mouth to detach it from the cardboard backing and he'd slobbered all over it. Ewwww!

And a package arrived from Phyl. Thank you, Phyl! Ricky and Phoebe won her Central Park Footie contest and I get the prize.



Phyl sent me some lovely purple sock yarn - KP Memories and Amethyst supersock from Discontinued Yarns. Ricky was hanging around to see if there were more cat toys - see his feet by the yarn?

No knitting today. I'm trying to finish Geoff's quilt in the next few weeks now that some of my commission knitting is done. I still have a baby hat and a pair of baby booties to knit but those won't take too long.

I've started a top secret project - it's so secret even I don't have all the details yet. A friend is helping me with it because I don't know what I'm doing. LOL!

"chomp chomp" - Ricky

"I love you, Nikki - send more nip" - Ricky

the winner is... (and a bunch of other stuff)

The contest ended yesterday so now it's time to announce the winners. I thought about trying the cat random number generator again but they weren't in the mood.


"You can't get me off this couch" - Phoebe


Ricky didn't even crack an eyeball at me. So I used one of those online things and asked it to give me 3 numbers (Gladys added an extra prize :). After sorting through the comments, the winners are: Nicole, Sharon Rose, and Robin. Congrats to the winners (we'll be contacting each of you shortly) and many thanks to everyone for your stole suggestions.

Lookit - a FO. Sadly, not one on my WIP list but I was under immense peer pressure to knit these.


Pattern: Fiber Trends Felt Clogs; mens large
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino; colour denim marl; 4 skeins
Needles: 9mm circs

Of course, they still need to be felted but I'm going to knit myself a pair and felt both of them at the same time.

At knit nite, Francesca asked if one of us wanted to knit the Bloody Stupid Johnson hat - the just-released Knitty surprise. By the end of the night, no one had volunteered so I did. I love Terry Pratchett so this was a no-brainer. This is what the hat looked like this morning:


It doesn't look like this now. I knit another 40 rows and then I ripped out about 60 rows. When you're working the cable band, it's attached to the ribbed brim at the same time. For every 4 cable rows, 3 brim sts are joined to it. The instructions say knit chart B 3 times but as I was nearing the end of the second repeat, I noticed that I didn't have many brim sts left. I did some math and I seemed to be short 11 brim sts. Wha??? I double checked everything and I was still short. So I checked Knitty for errata. Well, there have been some major changes to the pattern since Wed night. Chart B is a completely new beast. Sigh... I was hoping to finish the hat today.

And I'll leave you with a garden "first" - my snowdrops in the snow. Lemme tell you that this is as rare as a white Christmas.


Updated: I didn't use 6 skeins for hubby's clogs, only 4.

Happy Bloggiversary to us!

It's our first ever bloggiversary! One year of knit blogging down and many more to go ;)

So as a thank you to our readers, we're having a contest. To enter, leave a comment (one per person please) before midnight PST Jan 31st. And in your comment, please include a link to a knitted rectangular stole that you think Gladys should make (she's got a lot of lace yarn and she's looking for the right pattern).

Gladys says: This was inspired by Vicki's contest last year at Simple Knits. She was looking for triangle shawl ideas and ended up with 336 patterns, sorted by amount of yarn required. I love triangle shawls, but I'd like to do a rectangular stole, and I've got a lot of laceweight yarn, thanks to a few sales this month! (Dotty enabled me into the Ram Wools sale, where I also picked up some sea silk.) I'll sort all of our entries by amount of yarn too, so that at the end of this contest, we'll also have a useful list for everyone's reference!

We will be drawing for at least 2 prizes (we reserve the right to add more if there are lots of entries! :)

Gladys is giving away 2 balls of Jojoland Quartette in Blue Rose Sprucestone. It's a very soft merino-cashmere blend fingering-weight yarn.

Dotty will make a fabric project bag (winner chooses fabric) and it will include some hand dyed bamboo yarn plus a few more goodies. Don't these sound great?

Go leave a comment and good luck to everyone!

felting flop

Look - I'm blogging from the laptop!


Yesterday's software installation was mostly painless. I spent an hour figuring out why the laptop wouldn't go into hibernate mode when you closed the lid. It turns out that Windows Installer (needed to install Windows updates) prevents the laptop from snoozing. I still need to install the 3000 fonts that I got for Christmas. And there's one more problem that I need to look into - IE crashes when I try to view a blog that has a poll. Hmph. On the upside, I have iTunes back so I can listen to the 900+ songs in our library.

Remember that I was going to use the leftover yarn from the tea cozy to make a matching potholder? Well, I did and I felted it.


Interesting looking shape, eh? It was originally 12" x 13.5". It now measures 11.5" at the ends and 9" in the middle. The length varies depending on which part of the wavy bit you push down. Yes, it does not lie flat despite my efforts to pull it into shape before drying. It's the yarn's fault. I was running out of the multicoloured so I added in a few stripes of solid green. Of course, the two yarns (from the same manufacturer) decided to felt differently. Any suggestions for salvaging it?

It's our first bloggiversary on the 17th and we'll be holding a contest. I don't have all the details yet so you'll have to come back on Thurs to check it out.

it's a good day

So today is the day I pick the winner of my blog contest. My first idea was to put all the numbers in a bowl, bury some cat treats, and let Ricky/Phoebe help me.

Here's the bowl with a healthy amount of kibble at the bottom.


Here is Ricky nosing all the paper out of the way so that he can eat the kibble (he's thinking - "mmmmm breakfast in bed, I could get used to this"):


Not a single piece of paper was pulled out so I reloaded the bowl and tried Phoebe.


That still didn't work so I had to resort to the old fashioned method of just sticking my hand in there and pulling out a number. The winner is comment 24 - Jen! Yay! Jen - I've sent you a message on Ravelry.

Just after I drew the number, my friend Anna showed up and she's ok'd the yarn for her mumble mumble mumble. I called Three Bags Full to have the rest of the yarn put aside for me. I am using Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool in the colour 10 (medium denim). Now I have to wait for the Addi needles to arrive (they might have been mailed this morning) and then I can cast on.

Anna stayed for lunch and we had a nice chat and got caught up on our lives.

My Monkey swap pal, Jenn received her package from me! The Monkey socks fit (first time I've knit for a complete stranger) and she likes all the goodies I sent her. I'm happy that she's happy. Many thanks goes to my sister for buying the monkey nightshirt and mailing it to me. I had seen it before I signed up for the swap and when I went back to buy it for Jenn, they were all gone. I called my sister in Calgary and asked her to look for it. She's a super shopping queen and she found it for me. I owe her big time.

Yesterday night, I hunkered down and finished the socks for Pauline.


Yarn: On Line supersocke 100 Fun colour 763
Needles: 2.5mm metal dpns
Pattern: plain toe up (60 sts) with short row toe/heel and picot cuff

It is cold out there so I'm making curried squash soup for supper. I was also going to make lamb and cabbage rolls but I have to head into work for an hour so they'll have to wait until tomorrow. Bummer!

ETA: My Ravelry messaging is fixed. I had no idea that it was turned off. Wah! Please message me if you tried before and it didn't work.

first sockiversary

Happy sockiversary to me! I started knitting socks last year in September and I haven't looked back since. I've made lots of socks for myself, for friends/family, I've test knit, and I've done some sample knitting, too. I started knitting plain socks and I'm moving towards patterned socks. I used to knit just for people I know but now I'm knitting for a complete stranger (my Monkey Sock Swap pal). I have a stash the size of... well, we won't go into details in case hubby is reading this. I'll just say that it's big. I feel like I've learned so much from everyone out in blogland/Ravelry/KALs. Thank you! And special recognition goes to my co-blogger/enabler, Gladys. It really is all her fault.

To celebrate (and spread the sock love), I'm holding a contest. The prize will include sock yarn, a sock project bag, and a few other goodies. To enter, leave a comment telling me why you love sock knitting - include your Ravelry id and blog address (if you have one). The contest will close midnight PDT September 30th. I will randomly draw a winner from all entries.

Good luck and happy sock knitting!

fibrefest loot

*yawn*

Well, it was lots of fun. I went with Grete (pronounced Greta) and we went a little crazy. The first booth I saw was Hamels Fabrics which set my quilting heart a-flutter. I zoomed over there and Grete ditched me to look at yarn. She came back awhile later and said, "you're still here!". My relationship with fabric runs deeper than my relationship with yarn. Fabric always trumps yarn. We decided to split up and meet for lunch at 1pm. I bought some co-ordinating FQs and 2 other FQs that I need for another project.



I eventually stumbled over to Fun Knits and found the Addi Turbo lace circs that I've been looking for. I also bought 2 mini sock blocker kits. Aren't they adorable? Fun Knits has the Regia Canadiana line of sock yarn but they're still out of the Vancouver colour.


Gladys - Since you had to miss out, I bought one of these for you. Which colour do you want?

One of my favourite dyers had a booth - Trish of Indigo Moon. She didn't have any fingering weight sock yarn. I did get some yarn although, I didn't pay for it. And no, I didn't steal it. I'm going to do some sample knitting for her. I told her about the socks that I knit for Sivia out of her yarn. Trish is a weaver and not a knitter so she doesn't have any knitting samples to show off her yarn. I'm knitting her a pair of simple socks and I'll knit a small lace sample with the leftover yarn.


I wandered around some more. Pinched and squeezed a lot of yarn - cashmere, angora, and buffalo to name a few. I found this great skein of suri alpaca at the Dovecote booth and when I pulled it out of the bin, the tag said "not for sale". ARGH! It was soooo soft and it was a lovely grey-blue. I was going to buy it regardless of the price but it wasn't for sale. I asked about it and was told that I could contact them after the show to place an order.

I eventually strolled into the Homespun Haven booth where I found some hand dyed Bambu 7 100% bamboo. The yarn should be renamed "Bambu Heaven". I didn't buy anything during my first visit. But after lunch, I zoomed in there and bought all the indigo bambu (5 skeins; approx. 600g/2800yds) and one skein of blue/purple bambu (approx. 120g/550yds). Several booths had bambu 7 (Jane Stafford Textiles and Fibres Plus) but Homespun Haven was the only one that sold hand dyed bambu. I have no idea what to make with the yarn. Suggestions?

Now that my wallet was tired and empty, I went looking for Grete and found her at the Jane Stafford booth buying her second batch of Euroflax linen (hey - it was on sale). I had to laugh. I think she bought a total of 9 skeins. She also bought 10 skeins of black shetland/alpaca from Shepherd's Cottage Wool. The yarn's not black-black but more of a dark-brown-black. It really depends on the lighting. I can't wait to see what she makes with it.

You're probably wondering what the damage is and who won the contest... I spent a whopping $130.82! What can I say - there was fabric. And the winner is - KnitNZu. Congrats and thanks to everyone for playing.

a leetle contest

Inspired by Purling Pirate's blog contest (she had us guess how many skeins of yarn she would buy for herself at the MDS&W - neither of us won), I think it would be fun to have a contest here. I am going to Fibrefest on Fri (similar to MDS&W but way way smaller) and I'll be doing a leetle shopping. Leave a comment on this post before midnight Fri May 11th with your guess as to how much money (don't forget it's CDN and not USD) I'm going to spend. The winner will be the person closest to the total without going over.

I'll be picking up my knitting needles tonite so there should be some knitting content to post soon.

Kimberly received my KTE goodies and she likes what she got. Phew! I still haven't received mine. There was a slight hiccup and the parcel was returned to the sender. But it's on it's way and I should receive it soon.

BTW, Ricky's back home and we're force feeding him liquid antibiotics. Not Fun. His purr was kinda growly when he got home but now it's fine. We'll find out the lab results later this week.

ETA: I have changed the cut-off date for the contest to midnight Fri May 11th to give everyone an extra day to get their guesses in. Good luck!