CCCIII - contest winners....

...


are....


from Oz...


DiscoKnitter Lara...


and....


from OS...


WendyKnits....


Thanks for everyone who left a comment to celebrate my 2nd blogiversary and 300th post!


Could the winners email me your address at info@GingerKnits.com so I can get your goodies out to you??

CCC

The VK Holiday preview is up - and my favourite would have to be this gorgeous blue dress below on the right. I'll definitely be hanging out for this subscription issue to hit my mailbox!

I f you haven't guessed from the title, this post will be the last one you can leave comments on for my blogiversary give-away. If you want to win a project bag full of goodies from GingerKnits.com just leave a comment - if you're not sure what to say, tell me what your favourite pattern is from the VK Holiday preview.

Winners will be announced on Friday (Aussie time - which may still be Thursday for some of you).

Everything is comin' up Milhouse!

Fringe!, originally uploaded by pierretheyarnsnob.

Thanks for the good vibes sent yesterday for my interview - I was a little bit nervous, but when I had this fantastic public art installation on my tram (as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival) I decided that it was obviously a sign that there was nothing to worry about...

And today I got a call to tell me I got the job!

I start on the 6th, so I have just over a week to get my sleeping habits a complete 180 so I am no longer keeping the hours of a vampire bat and can stay awake for my 9-to-5 :)

Don't forget that you should be leaving comments as part of my big 300th post give-aways!

I'll be doing one for the locals, and one for the OS 'tourists' (actually, do those from OS know that it stands for Over Seas - or is that a Oz expression seeing as we have coasts rather than borders??)

Edited to add this cool video that Damo posted to ravelry - if you're not a regular on the Australian Knitters boards you may have missed it

more goodies... and a give-away

I totally forgot to mention that there are more cute project bags at GingerKnits.com (specs at the bottom of the post)

You will find them under Knitting Accessories :)

Edited to add - These cute cotton bags are all handmade by me and my trusty sewing machine.

I also missed my second blogiversary - but I am coming up to my 300th post - so leave a comment before my 300th post (not telling when that will be) and will can go in the draw to win a special edition knitting themed project bag full of some goodies from GingerKnits.com

Pure Cotton Project Bag

---

Fully lined, pure cotton project bag - perfect for keeping small works-in-progress in.

Choose from a variety of cute and fun prints to keep your projects together when you are going from place to place. Each bag is handmade, with a plain calico lining. Finished with silver rivets to ensure the drawsting won't snag when you close it.


Approx 20(h)x15(w)x15(d) cm. Will hold up to 200gm of yarn and circular or DPN needles while still closing.

RIP macbook

tis official. I truly did murder my mac.

I got the call at the end of last week.... and basically its screwed. We start at 1800 bucks for the motherboard. 1800! The whole unit didn't even cost that much!

Of course, warrenty and insurance don't cover this. To quote the YarnHarlot - I am now the owner of a lovely white BRICK! Oh.. at least it is a relatively new expensive brick, being brand bloody new in March...

I am currently using my old, dying PC notebook which I thought I had replaced with the mac. The fan doesn't work, so I get perhaps half an hour tops at a time on this poor thing - when I sit it on icepacks to help with cooling. Lets not even think about the fact that all my adobe programs (ie Photoshop, illustrator, acrobat*) are all useless on this beast. (and lets not go into the details about how long it takes just downloading the photos from my memory card, let alone the roadblock it has managed to put in my study!)

I cannot afford the repairs.
I cannot afford a new mac.
And being a student on k-rudd's surf team** I do not qualify for any sort of finace or rental scheme (which really is a last resort as you end up paying double for your computer.)

The good news is, that they managed to save my harddrive... so now I just need a machine to put it into.

If anyone out there would like to give me a poor gal a hand to get back to the macness, there are a couple of ways to do so...

If you have ever popped over to GingerKnits.com and had something take your fancy and not bought it, please consider doing so now - because my mac was rather integral to being able to efficiently run my store all earnings from there will be going into my new project Operation MacBack.

Also - if you want to just give me some money out of the kindness of your heart, I have added a paypal donate button to the top of the sidebar. If anyone does actually help raise funds this way I will dig away in the stash to find some good stuff to give away as a way of saying thankyou.

Anyway- this computer is now having trouble processing my typing at anything but glacial speed, so I will hit publish this post... My time online will be sporatic until I have resolved this problem... excuse me while I go weep over my inanimate macbook.

*the lack of acrobat is why some patterns I promised have been delayed...
**ie - centrelink payments

out of habit...

The Man, pupster and I ran away to the bush block last week, and I am now having difficulty getting the blog posting happening again...

There was lots of 'rain-on-the-tin-roof' of the shed when we were tucked up nice and warm in bed, lots of reading by candlelight, knitting by day and crosswords in front of the fire. 

I ventured down into Colac one afternoon and hit the jackpot at the lifeline shop - I went trawling through the knitting patterns and about 2kg of vintage knitting patterns followed me home for only 50cents! 

I happened to double up on a couple of them, so Taph aka Queen of the Vintage Patterns, if you would like some more for your collection get in touch.

The prototype Kimoncho is now complete(rav link - photo in progress sidebar) and will get the pattern written up pronto. I'll be offering this in different sizes so it will take a little while to up-size it a bit (It is supposed to be a loose fit so my size will be the smallest). Because of this extra effort it will be offered for a nominal price.

GingerKnits.com is also donating door prizes for the Bendigo/ ACS/ Ravelry Brekky meet-up in a few weeks time. There will be two prizes will each consist of a skein of handspun and a new product that will not be launched until after theWool and sheep show weekend - the Fibre Freak Stitch-marker Charm Bracelet . 

Well - it appears that I got into rhythm of writing again! 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back with a few photos...

GingerKnits.com May competition winner!

Congrats to Rosemary of Chiswick, NSW - winner of the May shoppers competition! 

Another month is upon us, and so there is a new competition - All shoppers in June will go into the draw to win a $10 Voucher.

Just a reminder that the Good Kharma Sale will continue throughout June - details on how to get a 10% discount and free shipping can be found by following the link in the sidebar.

As well as all the handcrafted goodies I am always talking about here, I also have a couple of great knitting books and some knitting accessories that may be worth checking out while the sale in on.

Store Update...

Just some of the beauties I have uploaded to the store tonight - shawl pins and chunky necklaces can be found in accessories, and the tubs of lip balm under pampering products!

Read the post I wrote earlier today for details on discounts, free shipping and the competition...

Good Kharma Sale

A great big thank-you for everyone who is out looking for Pop's marbles... At the moment we have marbles flying in from all corners of the country, and it looks like we have saved Pop's wind chime production. 

In the interest of spreading Good Kharma, I have a couple of announcements to make. 

First of all - everyone who has found some marbles in will be entered into a competition to win one of the recycled cutlery wind chimes. I'll take a couple of pictures at the market on Sunday so you can see how they look.

Secondly - as a thank you to everyone hunting down the toy aisle in search of the elusive 35mm marbles I am having a sale at GingerKnits.com : use the code LOSTMYMARBLES (all uppercase) at checkout to get free shipping and a 10% discount. Don't forget that every shopping in May will be entered into the draw for a $10 voucher as well. 

Thank you again - My Pop says a big thank you!

of winners and stock...

It was very remiss of me not to mention who won the april shoppers' contest over at GingerKnits.com - truth be told, May slipped in under the door so quietly I didn't even realise I hadn't drawn a winner until we were a week into the new month.

Bad bad me!

However, a winner has now been drawn - feel free to pop on over to Artificially Mythic and  give the Caffeine Faery a pat on the back. She has already picked out a skein (bunny moth) that will be on it's way to her next Monday.

Of course - I am now running a new competition for the new month. Every shopper in May will go in the draw for a $10 store voucher - those that stopped by in the last week or so, don't worry - you have already been entered. And you don't need a blog to win either - it's just been co-incidink that the winners of the first two comps both had blogs (and both live in Canberra too....)

I have some new stock I'll be adding to the store over the coming week as well - I have some chunky fabric beaded necklaces, scarves made by my Mum (in gorgeous merino/ alpaca / angora/ microfibre yarn blends), beaded shawl pins and some organic* lip balm. I'll be doing a product shoot and website upload with the stock remaining after tomorrows market at Point Lonsdale. I'll post here as I get each item up in the store.

I am also working on a new sock pattern - the plan is to make a pair of socks using entirely garter stitch, two needles, be worked in the round, entirely out of squares, without any grafting. Sounds impossible, non?

If I manage to achieve this design feet feat, the pattern will be for sale through GingerKnits.com. If you curiosity has been piqued, check back in a week or so when I hope to be doing a call for volunteer test knitters. 

*it is 'organic' (little o) rather than Organic (with a captial O) or Certified Organic because it has been made from natural, organic ingredients (such as bees wax, avocado and lime), not from chemicals - I am not going to pay big bucks to claim Certified Organic, which I think is a bit of a crock anyway. 

stitchmarker frenzy...

I literally just added hundreds of stitchmarkers to the store - and rather than put them in sets, I have them all up for individual sale, with prices starting at $2.50 a piece.

I have had a beading marathon, and my hand is now bruised where the handles of my pliers and wire-cutters dig into the fleshy part of my palm.

There are a wide variety available - cloisonné, glass, acrylic, polymer clay, metallic and enameled - and cute funky motifs, such as pirates, shoes, handbags, animals, cocktails, butterflies and candy-coloured glass beads. If you need a little knitting bling, pop on over and check it out. Some tempting images are below to whet your appetite.

Ravellers already get a discount, but if you are reading this and you haven't yet gotten past the Ravelry velvet rope drop me a line at info@gingerknits.com with the subject "Discount Puh-lease" and I'll let you join in on the savings :)

Don't forget that every-time you shop at GingerKnits.com in April you go into the draw to win a skien of handspun!

Who got free stuff???

Bells got free stuff!

For the month of April, each time you shop at GingerKnits.com you will go into the draw to win a handspun skein of your choice from the shop.

So far the small project bags are proving to be very popular - I only have two left in stock at the moment, but am currently chasing some more down. If you have been eyeing these off and they just aren't quite in your colour check back towards the end of next week when I should have the new stock updated.

Free Shipping anywhere in Oz

Hey everyone - 

Tomorrow is my birthday - and to let you all join in the celebration I am offering free shipping over at GingerKnits.com until the end of the month - and yes, it is available with any other discount*. The caveat is that this offer is only available in Australia^ - and it will take a day or two in the post as The Man is taking me away to Daylesford for a dirty romantic weekend.

Happy Shopping!

*discounts are available via blogs "Pimping my store"(see post above) and there is also a discount for Ravelry users...

^Australia Post is too expensive for overseas packages for me to cover the costs - something to do with us being so dang far away and surrounded by water...

Want some free stuff???

To help promote my new store over at GingerKnits.com I am having a competition and a sale.

All you need to do to win stuff from my store is to "Pimp my Store" and offer a discount to your blog readers. 

Sound easy???

Here's the deal - 

1: you must have a blog....

2: email me at info@gingerknits.com with details of your blog.

3: I will email you back with a unique code you can pass onto your readers for a discount at my store.

4: post this code, with a link to my store and the GingerKnits.com button (shown in top sidebar at right)

5: The bloggers who generates the most customers and/or the most sales for GingerKnits.com gets $50 to spend at GingerKnits.com

Promotion starts from now until the end of March. The sooner I get your email the sooner you can start to "Pimp my Store" and direct your readers my way.

THIS is it!

Exactly one year ago today, I was so bored at work that I decided to start a knitting blog…

(A few short weeks later, and blogger was no longer accessible on the work network… hmmm, a tool for procrastinators, perhaps?)

Hoodathunk that single action would have had such an effect on my life… I made so many friends, some I have even managed to catch up with in the real world!

oh, and… Pierre has enjoyed the last year too – and yes, he is still a snob. He is currently interested in my newest pet skein (and a treat for myself for my blogiversary), some gorgeous buffalo gold from Mandie at Ewe give me the knits. Don’t know who is going to get socks from it, but I’m just going to enjoy carrying around and stroking it for a while J

Don’t forget to leave your comments to win prizes! (And I will not be parting with the buffalo, so don’t get any ideas too ethotic!)

PS – did you know stashes can hide passports?

Whoring for comments…

I know – rather selfish of me to not post for over TWO WEEKS, and then expect you all to leave comments for me, but it appears that my blogiversary is coming up this month and it has become tradition to thank your readers by doing a bit of a giveaway…

But first – I have been rather busy… I have moved (well – as much as I can fit in the back of the focus with the seats down) in with a buddy, and as part of the fantastic services Tel$tra provides – was without the interwebs for a few days. Living with my parents again was only ever supposed to be a temporary arrangement, so when my intended accommodation didn’t become available when expected and a room opened up at my old haunt, the decision was easy to make. The new house has a fully enclosed backyard that Pierre can run around in at his leisure, so he is enjoying the new digs too.

I have also been spinning like a fiend. I went to my first market on the weekend (lots of interest but unfortunately no sales) and have been trying to get a nice stock of handspun together. I be doing a market tour around the Bellarine Peninsula this summer, and once I get it all together will wack up a list of dates and venues in the sidebar.

I will also be teaching knitting through LYS, Stitchery Blue – starting with a 3 hour ‘Anatomy of a Sock’ workshop on the 8^th of September. More on that in a few days…

And now back to the whoring for comments…

Everyone who leaves a comment in August will go into a draw to receive some goodies… not entirely sure what those goodies are, but most likely it will be some stitchmarkers or handspun (for the knitters) and if there are non-knitters I’ll make up sumfin’ special… a pair of socks or what-have-ye

This goes for all comments on all posts – yes, comments on previous posts, comments on Black Dog Friday posts (which – BTW will be back this week).

One comment per person per day will count – and at the end of the month each comment will go into the draw and pick out a couple or more winners at random. So the more you visit over the next couple of weeks and comment the more chances you have to win. It also means that those of you who have dropped in the past 2 weeks, when I haven’t posted, and left a comment get a bit of a head start.

Anyhoo – start the ball rollin’ by letting me know what you would like to win from Chez Pierre – especially any non-knitters lurking out there.

Now I need to go catch up with my bloglines – 1000+ unread posts! YIKES!

kniterature - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off

Review of the Yarn Harlot's new book to follow shortly! ***NOW UPDATED*** see below!

(I am heading out for a birthday dinner, but will complete this when I get home. In the interim, please feel free to click on the skullcandy banner at the top of my sidebar to help me get my 100 clicks and free headphones :)

Just want my kniterature reviews and none of the other content?

Subscribe to the feed at kniterature.blogspot.com and just get updates of when I add kniterature reviews. Now that I am once more an unemployed git this will be happening on a weekly basis - look out for updates on the weekend.

KNITERATURE REVIEW

Title: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off
Author: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
ISBN-10: 1580176585
ISBN-13: 9781580176583
Format: Paperback
# of Pages: 224
Publisher: Storey Books
Published: 2007
Book Source: Amazon.com via my family
Price: Gift - but check out the prices on the amazon link above
Skill level/Audience: Beginners to Master Knitters

The self-proclaimed Yarn Harlot's latest offering reads as a Lonely Planet Guide to the land of knitting. Following the format of such guides, the chapters have titled 'Population', 'History', 'Politics', 'Religion' and'Social Customs' and provide a witty interpretation of how knitting can conform to such topics.

Similar to Pearl-McPhee's earlier books, it contains a few of the colourful anecdotes that made Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter such a great read, great one-liners reminiscent of At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much and some of the great "reason-to-or-not-to" lists from Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks - without a doubt you are reading a Yarn Harlot book.

S.P-McP Casts Off is a book full of light entertainment. The sense of humour is cute, and will appeal to 'muggles' who have learnt to live with knitters, the illustrations are cartoon-like and suit the text, and I found the content very easy to follow - although sometimes I thought that perhaps the Harlots was preaching to the choir. This is, perhaps, a book that would suit someone just beginning their fibre-craft obsession, rather than those beyond help - however, I think those beyond help (like myself) would devour the book with a knowing little smile as they turn the pages.

The book is very conversational, and has none of the technical content of Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks, but isn't quite as engaging as Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter. My favourite parts of the book are the letters at the end of each chapter which chronicles fictional character Alice's fall down the rabbit-hole into the land of knitting. As Alice continues her downward spiral towards cashmere, stash and gauge one cannot help thinking that the author is including tidbits from her own autobiography in these segments (c'mon Steph, tell us how many times you have been held up by customs for import duty!)

I tend to do most of my reading at night, tucked up in my bed - and found this was the perfect type of book to snuggle under the doona (duvet) with. The book is quite lengthy, and it took me three or four nights to get from cover to cover. As I tend to read until the early hours of the morning, a person with normal sleeping patterns may find this entertaining for a week or more.

Basically, the Harlot ends this 'travel guide' with concept that one does not visit, but rather takes up residency in the land of knitting. And because of this - I know that every resident of this land that loves the Yarn Harlot will enjoy getting their mitts on this book, and as soon as possible.

I haven't seen this in any Australian bookstores yet, so I doubt you would find it in a library - I would suggest you buy yourself a copy, enjoy it and pop it on a shelf for a little while. If you happen to teach someone to knit, or find a friend new to the hobby - gift the book to them. Pearl-McPhee doesn't say this outright in the text, but we all know that the land of knitting is a lot like the Hotel California - you can checkout whenever you like, but you can never leave. A newby knitter may like to know a little more about the place, once the have entered the hell of struggling with dropped stitches and problem yarn-overs. Who knows - it may even help to keep them sane (or a least as sane as the rest of us are!)

Help a gal out!

After Pierre ate the original headphones that came with my ipod, I went a hunting for a replacement.

I decided to buy some skullcandy earbuds for 3 reasons:

1 - the were a funky pink colour
2 - they donate funds to increase breast cancer awareness (if you buy the cool pink headphones)
3 - they have this cool warranty - no matter how you destroy you headphones they will replace them for half price.

Anyhoo - I use the headphones mainly when I am spinning, as I like to zone out and listen to audiobooks. The earbuds I got were noise-cancelling, and incredibly comfortable...

Until Pierre got to them...

...and created this carnage...

I am in contact with skullcandy at the moment to organise a replacement, but while cruising round their site, found that they were having a promo - but their banner on your website, have 100 people click on it, and get free headphones. Considering my run so far, I think I could do with all the headphones I could get...

So see this banner (here and in my sidebar) - click it. If possible, leave a comment here if you do so I can try and keep count of how many clicks I get.


And I also need help...

...to find a new stitch'n'bitch in Victoria. I'm keen to have one inGeelong (I'm thinking pubknitting) and haven't had any luck finding a group there yet. I may have to start one!

But - I'd also like to meet some of the Melbourne knitters - or gate-crash other groups in Victoria. So if your a Victorian knitter and you stumble across this, please let me know about any knitting groups. If I've missed a crucial website that has this info on it - please point me that way!

finding spirit..

As much as I wish I could control every little detail affecting my life, I can't, and as I briefly touched upon yesterday, the last week or so required some very difficult decisions in response to decisions made for me by other people. In order to get through this period, I shut myself off from the world, picked up a project I could work directly from a pattern (so my mind could wander) and decided what I wanted.


And I want to go home. In a month or so, Pierre and I will be making the move interstate, back to small city Geelong, to rejoin the community I left just over two years ago for work. This decision feels right - and as such I spent the last week sorting out the details in my head (while sitting on the couch knitting).


If you listen to sticks&string, you would know that just over a week ago a few of us Rubi&Lana gals went on another road trip to catch up with the Blue Mountains faction of the NSW knitting guild. David invited us to visit his LYS in Katoomba (review coming) beforehand, and I bought this pattern:
... and 9 balls of Freedom spirit in colour #507 "essence". I cast on last Sunday, and late last night I wove in my final end to finish with this...
THE STATS
NAME: Spirit Bolero
PATTERN:Twilleys of Stamford, freedom Spirit leaflet#9039
YARN: Twilleys of stamford freedom spirit colour #507 'essence'
YARN SOURCE: Katoomba wool and craft store
NEEDLES: 4.5mm tulip bamboo 80cm circulars, Birch 5mm 80cm circulars and Knitpicks Options 4.5mm and 5mm (yes - knitpicks, in oz! and a needle review will be up shortly too!)
COMPLETED: 25 March 07


A quick knit in a great yarn - I had trouble with getting the required tension.I went up a needle size, and was still out, but like the feel of the fabric so I made a size larger than I required. Of course, I forgot that this also meant I was out on the row gauge, so had to recalculate the sleeve caps to fit, and pick up heaps of extra stitches for the collar.

Even with adding in extra rows for the sleeves, and extra stitches in the collar, I still have a bunch of yarn left over.


90 gms - just shy of two whole balls, but it is actually five partial balls. Due to the fact that I was getting two different effects in the yarn (even though it was all the same dye lot) I started each piece of the pattern with a new ball. You will notice that the left and right front have a different pattern on them - the right has bold stripes while the left has more subtle narrow stripes. It is not quite as obvious as in the photo, but rather than stress I decided to just follow the pattern and go with the spirit!

I just finished sewing a green button on, so the bolero is now completely done!

And just a funny picture of Pierre - just so you know that I am not neglecting him with my marathon knitting.
Oh - and apologies to all tropfest DVD winners... due to the hair-pin turn in life they haven't yet made it to the post office.

DVD Winners...

are listed in this post....

But first - meet 'Shadow'
Shadow was a serendipitous mistake! While playing with dye last week, I tipped over my bottle of black, and used the skein of yarn I was dying to mop it up.

I was trying to get some great forest greens and navy blues - but after cleaning up the spill, thought I was only getting black and green.

As the yarn was drying, I realised that I must have spilt some pink dye a little earlier on (I was dying on a black marble bench - so the pink spill wasn't visible!) and ended up with these fantastic maroons and mauves in the skein.

I put Shadow (and its twin) on my esty site last week, and, if you pop over there now, you will see that it has gone missing - neither for sale or sold. Because Sally wants to take it (and it's twin) off my hands. So this fantastic mistake yarn , that I probably will never be able to re-create - is my first yarn sale!

YAY ME (oh, and YAY Sally!)

...and now the winners...

Bells, Ape-Hap, ChocolateTrudi, TangelledAngel, Jejune, Taph, and Carrie...

Send you address to ginger_nut(at)bigpond(dot)com - you have Tropfest DVDs coming your way!