I Heart Winning

Not so recently, Chappy's Mom hosted a contest in which she was trying to encourage people to watch Chuck. I already watch it, but, due to that, I was prepared to take her quiz and answer her questions! I did so and she politely wrote to me, right after Nathan's latest asthma flare, that I had won the contest.

That seemed the ideal time to check out what the prize was. No, really. I entered the contest solely for my love of Chuck and to spite people who disagreed with her Ravelry forum post. That's the way I roll -- entering contests to spite people who will never realize they've been spited.

It turns out I won twelve(!!!!11!) skeins of Sublime yarn, a knitting DVD, and season one of Chuck on Blu-Ray. I was pretty psyched, especially since I had expected the prize to be something like a skein of dishcloth cotton. Not that I don't love dishcloth cotton! But, beautiful cashmere, silk, merino yarn?

Mmmmm.



I shall say it again.

Mmmmm.



That was me gloating, by the way.

Thank you, Deb. I highly encourage you all to check out her blog(s). She's got nice photographs and she can write nicely. You all know that I don't have much higher praise than that for a blog.

A Christmas Stocking

Growing up, I had no idea what sewing entailed besides that somehow it must require that giant desk/sewing machine that every woman I know had, but which was never in use. When my cousins moved over from California, I quickly found out that my clothes horse cousin was wearing a lot of handmade goods. Her mother would whip together things like fully lined cropped wool jackets for her that were just gorgeous. Occasionally, I'd receive a hand me down from my cousin (like said jacket), but I almost disbelieved that a human I knew could make polished clothing for real.

When my mom's family had their big New Year's Day celebration, my aunt was there with a nice gift for Nathan -- a handmade stocking.



There were other gifts too, but I knew I had to share this with you. The buttons are all sewn shank, and there are letter stickers placed over them.



My aunt even used a contrasting colored thread on the tie that holds the stocking to the mantle.



I sort of wonder if she ran out of the green thread that she used with the main print. If I had, I might have used red thread for the tie. I'll chalk it up to a bit of artistic flair, but if it was just a refusal to run to the craft store for thread at the last minute, I would totally understand.

This was a neat gift to receive after spending a year reading about sewing and attempting to finish projects. I'll make sure Nathan appreciates it one day! It'll also save him from my somewhat lame attempts to glue glitter onto a cheap-o stocking. I'm sparing you all from pictures of my sad stocking with the word 'Jenny' falling off of it.

I Love Getting Stuff

I'm a fairly greedy person, in case you are not aware. I love to receive gifts and I love to win prizes. This is why this will be one of my favorite recent posts! It's about things I've both received and won!

Quite recently, I began to follow the blog Knitter in the Kitchen, mostly for her beautiful photography. She's not a frequent blogger, but then... neither am I. I must forgive this fault, or I am simply the pot to her kettle. Really, if you go to her site, you'll see that her photography more than makes up for her infrequent posts. However, I tend to follow craft blogs for their photography. A bit after I subscribed to her feed, she ran a nice post about her craft room that included a giveaway at the very end!

I have recently stopped trying to win giveaways because they are often swamped with comments and I don't want to win something unless I really want it. I couldn't ignore this, however. First was the fact that her sewing area is the most gorgeously coordinated sewing area I've ever seen. I'd weep with joy to sew in her room every day. (Seriously, check her ironing board out. My own ironing board is a mini version with a stained white cloth cover.) Second was the fact that she decorated the room in orange, brown, and white with a lot of linen. I love a color combined with brown and white. If you know me in real life, you'll know that Nathan's room is primarily done in green, brown, and white, and my own bedroom is Tiffany blue, brown, and white. Lastly, she was giving away two Amy Butler patterns and she hadn't advertised the post as a giveaway, meaning it looked like I had a shot in hell of winning. So, I took a chance. AND WON!

I now have my very first Amy Butler pattern and it's sitting on my pattern shelf silently intimidating me.



See? There it is, going, "I need interfacing to work, Kitten." I have tried to shush it with the fact that I want to do eighteen hundred other projects first, and I don't have any fabric worthy of it, but it makes chicken sounds at me.

Thank you, Knitter in the Kitchen. I hope I make something gorgeous.

Next up? My birthday presents from Paul's parents. I say parents, but let's get real on who picked out these gifts. Thanks, mom!



What you see there are Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson, a cute circular knitting needle holding case from Della Q, a tiny ladybug tape measure from Lantern Moon, and a gift certificate to Knitting to Know Ewe.

My mother-in-law was super cute when she gave it to me and told me that she was now obsessed with Lantern Moon. A long time lover of their rosewood and ebony needles, I understood where she was coming from. She told me we would have to go together to spend the gift certificate, and I am happy to do so. I love going yarn shopping with people, and I imagine it'll be fun shopping with her for yarn. I would say that we would likely have nothing in common yarn-wise, but I have looked askance at Helen's purple yarn purchases, and Christy has called some of my yarn loves "unicorn puke colored", I believe. Just because you have a lot in common with someone doesn't mean that you'll have similar yarn colorway tastes!

Someone help! My tape measure is attacking me!



I love getting cute tape measures!

How are all my readers doing? I see you all blogging about your crazy knitting, so I assume well. I'm still chugging along myself, and I expect I'll have some anklets to model for you all soon, as well as the start of Shalom. Helen, when do we get together?