different shades of red

Looks like I'll have a cowl after all. OK, Inspira did not work out for me, but this time I am on the right track. Normally, this would be a wordless WIP Wednesday post, but this yarn, oh this yarn, it does need telling about. It is soft, shiny, has a nice twist and feels great when knitting. But this colour! Depending upon the light and other colours around it, it changes from dark red - yes, almost wine red - to orangey brown. I love looking at it. I was quite on sugar rush last week. That cake had to be eaten. Expect some FO pictures soon.

Oh, and the nice thing, Christine has her yarn on sale today. 

world's most travelled yarn

I ordered this yarn on Webs' annual sale back in May. I am sure to tell first this as that was before the great pledge to not buy any more warm-weather yarn. Anyways, there are these 7 skeins of Noro that are guilty for the fact that this parcel could not be sent out to me immediately. It was on backorder which meant that I had to wait wait wait. I was happily spending the last passing summer days in Lithuania when oh no! an email from Webs reached me that my yarn was on its' way. Unfortunately for me, so was my husband - he was on his way from Switzerland to Lithuania. And the next two weeks there was nobody in our flat who could pick up the parcel. No worries, I thought, mail from the US takes ages. Wrong! When we got back, there was a notice from the mail to pick the parcel up until September 15th. It was September 18th as I read it.

Oh well, I will have to pay the postage again. It was unfortunate, but there was nothing else I could do. So I emailed the nice ladies at Webs and asked them to please reship the yarn. Which they did on October 4th. October 13th the yarn was still not here and we were getting ready to leave for London. We quickly ordered a mail hold service for 10 days and left. However, it was still October 13th and our mail hold service was valid from the 14th onwards only. Guess what, of course the yarn arrived on the 13th in the afternoon. We were gone, so a notice was left. And 7 days later my Webs order was back on its fourth trip over the Atlantic.

Today it finally made it safely to me. 2 skeins of yarn are missing, but oh well, Noro is here. And Cascade 220. Winter can come now.

The third winner

There was some shuffling again...

 ... and a winner was chosen. Congratulations, Kasia!

Now, I have to say that these three giveaways were more fun than I thought. It is nice to give. Who would have thought that parting with yarn feels good? Also, I wanted so many of you to win. There are these blog friendships that have developed through the years and I was feeling partial as of who should win. There was not enough yarn this time for all of you. I will surely be repeating this sometime.

Anyways, as a consolation prize I'd love to invite all of you to indulge with me into this. I already had a piece for breakfast. It is really good, nice and gooey. And if you go with high quality dark chocolate as I did, it is not too sweet. A perfect birthday cake for me. It's up to my number one chocolate cake.

FO: Mousie dress

First, there was this cute button. Somehow I knew straight from the start that this cute button will be for a future Little Sister's dress. It's already my third go at the pattern and definitely not the last one. 

I loved knitting with this yarn - Frog Tree Pediboo, 80% merino and 20% bamboo. And it holds up pretty well to wear. The leftovers were used for this hat, which has been worn lots and is too small by now. I bought the yarn in Boston, but shoot me I don't remember the shop's name right now. It was not in the city center, but rather somewhere off, I just know it was next to the tram tracks. :) That's loads of help, I know.

And lastly, a thank you to Sonata whose today's post made me put up these pictures on my blog and count this FO as done. It's been finished in August, but only now it fits my little one.

wordless WIP Wednesday

A winner and giveaway III

I did a quick draw this time, so no pictures of chubby little hands. The winner is Wooly Stuff! Congratulations to you, Jasmine, and let me where to mail this yarn to!

The next giveaway is very special and it is hard for me to part with this wonderful yarn. It is New England Shetland, 2 skeins of 50g each fingering yarn. 100% pure wool. And listen to this: it is made in Harrisville, NH. I don't know how many mills there are in Harrisville, but it might be the one and only where Brooklyn Tweed's yarns are made.

It is enough for a smaller shawl, some nice mittens or who knows else what. I'll be choosing the winner next Tuesday, November 22, 2011, at 9 am GMT. Good luck, everyone!

The happy sheep in Switzerland

wordless WIP Wednesday

A winner and giveaway II

I decided to do it the old fashioned way and not go for random number generator. That way, once all is mixed up, there's no difference anymore who commented first or second. :) One person was eliminated as indeed family members are not allowed to participate at this giveaway. And especially non-knitting family members as that would have meant that I would have had to knit something for my sister. That's not the reason for this giveaway. I do know what this yarn is good for and I would use it if I had the time, if there were no other 100 projects that I'd like to knit first and and and.

First, I wrote all the names down.

Then it was all cut out. And folded.

My little one helped me to get it all mixed up nicely.

And then a winner was chosen.

Congratulations, CelticCastOn! Please let me know your address so that I could get the yarn into the mail for you.

OK, and now onto the second giveaway. This time I have some nice mohair yarn for you. It's Kid Seta Madil, 70% super kid mohair and 30% seta/ silk. A total of four skeins, so it's definitely enough for a bigger project. I bought this yarn initially to knit something out of this, but I changed my mind about the colour.

To enter the giveaway this time, please write down what you'd use this yarn for. I'll be choosing the winner next Tuesday, November 15, 2011, at 9 am GMT. Good luck, everyone!

blocking wires - need some urgently

Hey guys,

do you know where do I get some blocking wires? I've blocked a shawl, pinning it out with needles, but it came out all wonky. I do not have the patience nor the time needed for careful blocking (baby is taking all my attention these days). And I hear it all works out much easier with blocking wires. I need a shop that ships to either Germany or Switzerland, KnitPicks unfortunately doesn't. Do you know of a shop that ships to Europe?

Thank you for your help!

FOs: Avia + Trix

This pattern has been for ever in my queue. You know, for those baby knits that might be needed one day, for a friend's little one or so. I only got round to knitting it for my own baby. I admit, I did not swatch, 'coz Elizabeth Zimmermann said hats are the best swatches anyway. That's why the first one came out much too big. I did think for a second or so ripping it and starting from the beginning, but then, I still had enough wool from those two skeins, so I started a new one. This one fits better, is maybe somewhat too big, but that'll sort itself out in a couple of weeks.

giving it up for now

This was frogged. Somehow it was just not working for me. Maybe I should have incorporated some variegated yarn instead. The picture does not do any justice to those wonderful Drops Alpaca colours, but this was a shot I managed before ripping it all back. I'm not going to restart it yet again. For now I settle with no Inspira Cowl for me. I'll get back to the pattern sometime in future.

wordless WIP Wednesday

Giveaway I

I went through my stash this weekend and had a hard time deciding what to choose for the promised giveaway. But then I did find something nice and it will be three giveaways instead of one. This way three of my readers will get a little something.

First up is Ranco Solid by Araucania, colour 121. It's a 100g skein, so you'll be able to get a nice pair of socks out of it. Or something else if you're not one for socks.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below between now and next Tuesday, November 8, 2011, 9am GMT as after that I'll be announcing the first winner.

Oh yes, I am shipping worldwide.