Blogiversary Contest Results!

There's nothing like having a contest to bring out lurkers and new visitors!

I have to admit, the thing that I've been looking forward to the most since I started the blog, was having a blogiversary contest. I just love blog contests and have won a lot of yarn! (So many, I've in fact told myself that I don't have to enter every contest anymore....)

The random winner, picked by Random.org among 30 entrants, is:

Kathy B of Irisheyes!

In addition, there were two "secret" contests. The first, was blogger's choice of the favorites. (The blogger who got to choose was me.) For this one, I looked at all the entries and just picked my favorite. It took a while, and there were lots of impressive projects out there! But for me, the one I kept going back to to look at some more, was:

Debra's Lizard Ridge, from Cashmere Dreams!

The other secret contest was a randomly chosen frequent commenter/blogging correspondent. For this, I went through a list of bloggers I've corresponded with via comments and responses to comments, and chose randomly. The random winner is:

Kris, the Knitting Wannabe!

I'll be contacting all of you to find out snail mail addresses so I can send you some goodies!

Thanks again, all of you, for reading my humble blog. I hope 2008's blogging will be even better than last!

Really old FO: Jaywalker socks for The Sweetie

Jaywalker socks for The Sweetie
Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk

I finally took a photo of these Jaywalker socks that I knit for The Sweetie. It was 2006, the year I picked up knitting again. After my knitting Olympics project, I wanted to make something special for my sweetie, and I chose the Jaywalker sock pattern. It looked like fun, and everyone, it seemed, was making them.

I bought some luscious Schaefer Anne at a LYS in Pacific Grove (we were on a weekend getaway), convinced The Sweetie that yes, he did deserve $24 (or however much they were) socks, and started.

Around this time I also ordered one of those aluminum stitch holder tube things that the Yarn Harlot mentioned. But I sent mine back after the aluminum edge CUT THE YARN not once, but several times. And, I had cleverly decided to knit both socks in parallel, from the two ends of the yarn (one center pulled, one outer pulled), in order to avoid Second Sock Syndrome. So, I had to repair the holes with tiny bits of thread cut from the cast-on tails!

In the end, though, I loved the socks, and I tried them on my sweetie's feet. He loved them. But they are too loose in the ankle. My sweetie has especially slender feet and ankles, and (what did I know?) the Jaywalker pattern, being on the bias, has even less stretch than regular stockinette. Le Sigh. So I'm not sure what to do with them. They've been lovingly laid on the bedside table for over a year. I finally washed them (to get rid of the dust) and slipped them into his sock drawer. Maybe they'll be used as house socks. Or maybe I could frog them and make some nice ribbed socks with them (there is a lot of yarn leftover). Or they could be passed on to someone with fatter ankles.

At least I finally took a picture.

Non-knitting FO: cat bed cover

DSCF0001
Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk

The contest is still open until Sunday, January 13, midnight PDT.

When we returned from Christmas, we found the cat bed had been replaced with a pillow wrapped in blanket, with no sign of the cat bed anywhere. I phoned our catsitter and she had it - she'd washed it and was drying it. Admittedly, we hadn't washed it since we bought it (mumble) years ago, and it was thoroughly covered in cat fur (but flea free, as far as I know).

There was evidence that the cat bed had first been washed in our washer and dryer. Much cat fur in evidence in both machines. So we wanted to avoid this scenario again. (Yes, we were spurred to better cat stewardship by our catsitter.)

We went down to the fabric store and got a yard of fluffy fleecy stuff. The fun was picking out the pattern! We opted against the one with cute kitties on it (didn't want poor Fred to have bad dreams) and decided on the leopard-print stripe. I traced around the cat bed pillow, added a little, and cut out a big oval. Then I cut out two half ovals + 4 inches, for the back, so that they'd overlap with a big hole to put the pillow in through. I had enough to make two.

First I seamed the ends of the half-ovals. Then I pinned the half-ovals (overlapping) to the whole oval and sewed around the outside with the stitch length setting to the biggest (6 - is this stitches per inch?). I was thoroughly impressed with my sewing machine's smooth operation. (It hadn't been touched in over a year, I'm guessing, but didn't miss a beat!) Gotta love those old Singers.

I had enough fabric to make 2, so these can go into a monthly laundry cycle swapping them out for each other. Happy Freddy! We placed his cat bed in place with the cover, and he slept on it that night. Note we have never seen him sleeping in his bed (he usually greets us at the door) but there is clear evidence that he spends time there.

Favorite 2007 FO: Possum lace scarf

Possum lace scarf
Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk

The contest is still open until Sunday, January 13, midnight PDT.

In fairness, I thought I'd share my favorite FO of 2007. After much deliberation (I love the Cal baby sweater and the pair of Pea Pod sweaters very much!) I went with the lace scarf I kept for myself. It's just gotten a bit chilly and I've been accessorizing with it (unlike many of my clothes, it still fits!). It's soft and warm without being suffocating. Yesterday I noticed a pull and when I got home I fixed it all up, good as new. It's really held its blocking well and the stitches and holes remain well-defined. And it's so pretty!

In fairness, I'm not entered into the random drawing. But you knew that. =)

Looking forward, Looking back (or, Blogiversary and a contest)

Recent purchases
Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk

Well, 1 year ago today, I began this blog. I quickly thought up a few names and found one that wasn't taken, and started my Blogger existence. I started with a humble entry and found I had lots to say - especially at the beginning, when I wanted to review a bunch of knitting I'd been doing while I didn't have a blog but read knitting blogs.

It's been a fun year - meeting more people through blogs (because now I have an address on the Internet), and sharing my blog with friends and family. I've met Rhonda, Kadiddly, and Inky in person, people I'd never run into casually. I've learned to take pretty good pictures with my camera, started a Flickr account, printed MOO cards to use as blog calling cards, and become the one in the family most versed in Internet community technology.

Looking forward, I'm happy to feel back in the swing of blogging again. In fact, I was a little sad my blogiversary came up so soon after the holidays, because I have so many blogging ideas in my head (which I'm sure will be gone tomorrow....) I'm looking forward to knitting more in 2008, especially baby items, and maybe even getting an early start on Christmas presents. However, I'm not going to push myself by joining any KALs or anything - just taking things as they come.

Thank you, all of you who read my blog, offering support and enthusiasm! It's so nice to get to know you through your comments and by looking at your blogs!

Now on to the contest! A while ago, I won a contest over at Brenda's blog, her pre-blogiversary contest, where I suggested what her real blogiversary contest would be. I like that idea so much, that I'm going to repeat it here.

What is your favorite FO of 2007? You can leave a link in the comments ON THIS POST to your blog write-up of it, or your Ravelry project page (blog write-up is better, because some people are still not on Ravelry), or create a new blog write-up of it. If you do not have a blog, write about it in the comments and link to a photo if you have one online, or consider starting a blog!

I'll give a prize to an entry chosen at random, and maybe other prizes as I see fit. The contest ends Sunday night, January 13, midnight PDT.

Note: Blogger has updated its software so that it permits people using other blogger software to include links to their blogs, so in most cases I will be able to contact you through your blog. If you do not have a blog, or do not think you have left a link to your blog, please check back to see if you've won. If you're not sure, you can drop me an email - click on "View my complete profile" to get it.

FO: Baby socks

Baby socks
Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk

I finished these on the way to The Sweetie's parents' Christmas party. The Sweetie's brother and his wife were leaving to go see the precious recipient of these Better-than-booties (tm), and so I finished the second one and wove in ends, and (like a good blogger) took photos in the car heading up the 101 at 70 mph in the waning sunlight.

Pattern: Better Than Booties, Cable Rib version. This is one of the free ones downloadable from the Interweave web site. (pdf)
Yarn: Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks, Kona superwash, colorway Moody Blues. Not very much. Maybe half a skein?
Needles: Size 2 dpns, Clover/Takumi.

The cable cuff was interesting - I unvented a way to do the 1x1 cable without a cable needle, without extra shuffling of stitches around. The heel gave me no trouble, although it was kind of a drag to have to refer to a section of a different pattern for the instructions. Also, I think I should have rotated the beginning of a round by 11 stitches before starting the heel (this was in the paragraph preceding the instructions for the heel), but ended up doing whatever rotating was necessary afterward. The cast-off creates a toe seam which is bulky, but they're not really meant to be inside shoes, so I lived with it.

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Stay tuned tomorrow for my first blogiversary contest!

Merry Christmas

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Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk

Thank you, all of you, for sharing our happiness at having a boy (we would be equally happy having a girl).

Here is a nice photo of Fred - he made himself comfortable on a Christmas tablecloth-cum-chair cover.

Merry Christmas to all - and if you don't celebrate it, have a happy holiday or whatever you do. I'll be signing out now until 2008. But shortly thereafter will be my first blogiversary, so there will be contests and winning and more celebrating, so stick around!