December 29, 2011

Winner!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!  I hope your days were filled with joy and good food for Christmas and it will be filled with wine and song to welcome the New Year.  Just don't drink and drive!

I was on Ravelry, minding my own business and everyone else's (as usual), and I came across a forum that mentioned contests.  So I decided to pop in for a peek.  Just a peek.

Now, I'm not one to enter contests.  I kind of feel like I have about as much chance of winning a knitting contest as I do of winning the lottery.  But that day, the topic was send us your knitting/spinning goofs, mess ups, disasters and mishaps.  Because I won a drop spindle earlier this year (Tour de Fleece), I thought maybe my lucky streak would carry over just one more time.  So I entered the contest here, and - wait for it - I won!!

Look at what I got:


Now I can knit Christmas balls!  And make i-cord, as well as sip from the wine glass that says "Knit 1, Sip 1".  LOL!  Does that mean I won't have to drink wine out of a grape jelly jar? I can break out my new Takumi interlocking needle set (best gift yet!) and knit up the two kits I got.  Merry Christmas, eh?!  I've was so lucky!  Woo hoo!

Did I mention that I finished the Hootenanny socks?



I fudged* a bit, but the socks came out just right.  The little bit of blue showing through the brown toe is the sock blocker showing through.  The little owls are the cutest things!  If I could change one thing, I think I'd make the heel brown.  Overall, I'm quite happy with the results.

Pattern: Hootenanny / US #2 needle / Cascade Heritage in blue and brown.

I've got enough yarn to make the socks again only switching the colors.  Of course, my son asked for a pair ... he doesn't care what color socks he wears.

I also blocked my Holden Shawl which was so beautiful that the ONLY reason I was able to give it as a holiday gift is because it went to my mother:


The yarn comes from Spring Tree Road in Slope, which is blue/green .  I used US #3 needles and I had plenty of yarn left over.  I should have measured the shawl, but I have more Spring Tree yarn (which is so soft) and I'll make another for myself - one day.

Normally I only make New Year's resolutions that I plan to break/not start.  This year I'm going to get my life under control - and to that end I've started organizing my knitting system and I've got yarn and fiber hidden in every bag, box and container in every corner and cabinet of my house.

I've resolved to use stash that's been hanging around here since the time of Moses.  Some of the yarn has me puzzled, as in 'why did I buy that?', but it's getting out of here one way or another.  That's my resolution.  Good luck to me.
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* fudged - a polite way of saying I screwed up, but not much.