That is until you see it somewhere else. Just remember where you saw it FIRST. (I joke! I’m joking my friends!)

Today is La’s Birthday, so I thought I’d give some stuff away!!!

Introducing….drumroll please….

Two BRAND NEW COLORWAYS from Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock. THEY ARE NOT AVAILABLE FOR SALE until sometime in the New Year so please don’t bother the Blue Moon folks. As soon are they are available, I will let you know. And the best part? Part of the proceeds from the sale of G-Rocks will go to fight Skin Cancer!!! [Ed note: this was my error. $2.00 per skein will go to fight Skin Cancer.] THANK YOU BLUE MOON! You know I love you! Again, these colors are not available to the public yet – when they are I will certainly let you know.

BUT!!

You can win them here. (You knew that was coming….)

You didn’t think I was going to let the birthday pass without a giveaway did you? Silly, silly! Winners will receive one skein each of G-Rocks and January One (Lightweight Socks That Rock), one of my beloved Orange Chibis (god I love these needles so much!), a box of my Yarn Cards and three Mini-Soaks. I’m a complete Soak convert, so I thought I’d pass on the love.

How do you win? Here we go.

I’m currently knitting what will most likely be the last sock I knit this year. I want you to guess which sock I’m knitting. Here are the clues:

1) It is a MATE to a single sock already knit.
2) I may or may not have knit the first sock sometime this year.
3) It may or may not be a pattern I have knit before.
4) It may or may not be knit out of Socks That Rock.
5) All of the first socks have been featured on the blog, on my foot.
6) There are SIX possible socks that it could be.

But only one is the right answer. TELL ME THE PATTERN, YARN & COLORWAY IF APPLICABLE. Leave your guess in the comments. Comments will close on December 31, 10 AM EST. One guess per person. There will be SIX winners – the first three people to get the correct answer will win. Then three winners will be chosen at random. Winners will be announced at (or close to) December 31, 11:59 PM EST.

Happy Birthday TO ME!

Please accept my apologies for announcing the Haiku Contest winners so late. But really – YOU try reading four hundred haikus. And THEN choosing winners. I blame no one but myself. And maybe Ann because I like to blame her for stuff.

RANDOM WINNERS:

FAILLE

boyfriend sweater, one
fantastic idea (not)
knit him socks instead

JODIE

Yarn Pirate Plunder
January One treasure
Sock wool for peg leg

(Jodie writes that she really does have a peg leg! So all you wanna be pirates beware. Jodie’s the REAL DEAL! 😉 )

CHRIS

January One
warms the worm with hand knit socks
how fantastic dude

PEGERELLA

A worm is lucky.
Knit but one fantastic sock,
Whole body yarn fest

THE CHOSEN ONES

KATHY

Dude buys me some yarn
Hopes to get me in the sack
I knit socks and laugh

Kathy’s haiku is by far my favorite. I just love that it tells a complete story – there’s a conflict – motivation – an arc to it – character development – resolution. In three little lines. It’s a perfect story and I’m utterly jealous that I didn’t write it. WELL DONE Kathy. Extremely well done.

LISA

Pirate needs warm spot
To put his worm in winter
Maybe sock, or sheep.

DUDE! Don’t tell me NOT to pick it and then give me this! Because really I’m PERVERSE at heart and I freaking love it. NOW TELL ME WHO YOU ARE?!?! LISA (IF THAT’S YOUR REAL NAME) LEAVE ME A COMMENT OR SEND ME AN EMAIL WITH YOUR ADDRESS. YOUR ANON EMAIL BOUNCED BACK.

ELLENE

Glad I’m not a worm.
No feet, no socks, no fingers.
Couldn’t even knit.

The idea that worms can’t knit was a popular one, but I like this the best because it’s very sad for the worm. I mean, can you imagine if we couldn’t knit?! And not knit socks?! Thank you Ellene.

ADELLE

[Ode to her lawn boy, who was the first boy she ever kissed]

Oh lawn boy, you worm
First kiss, drool fall(s) down my face
I sock the poor dude

LOVE THIS! Adelle uses all the correct words and yet the haiku has NOTHING to do with knitting, socks, yarn, etc! Excellent!

THE WORST HAIKU EVER
There was some stiff competition for this designation, but I’m proud to say the winner is:

MARY

January sock
One sheep on linoleum
“What the hell, Frankie!”

Surely there were haikus that were worse, you say. Well there was one about a toenail that made the worst cut, and one about the offspring of worms and sheep which…is that SHIT of some sort? And there were others that just didn’t make any sense to me whatsoever, but Mary’s haiku was intriguing to me in it’s incomprehensibility. Is that a sheep in the kitchen? What’s a January sock? And last, but not least, WHO THE HELL IS FRANKIE?

Okay. That’s it. Nine winners. Thank you all for playing. I’ve learned a very valuable lesson here – I will never, ever, NEVER ask you to write haikus, or any poem for that matter, in order to win yarn again. But be prepared. I may ask you to write a song.

All winners will receive enough sock yarn for a pair of socks and an orange chibi.

HAPPY SOCKTOBERFEST!! I’ve listed some HONORABLE MENTIONS in the jump. ENJOY!!
L, C

[Read more…]

And DAYUM she done sung. The Haiku contest is now closed. Thanks for playing – and for giving me something to do on my vacation next week. Winners will be announced at some point – maybe during the week, maybe not. We’ll see. I have to figure out how many more prizes I can come up with. Seriously though – thanks for all the comments. I was worried for a minute that my blog might actually explode, but all seems okay (except, of course, for the ONGOING style sheet problems that just freaking KILL me.)

PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION IF YOU CAN:

If you have flown UNITED AIRLINES domestically within the United States (I’m flying NY to LA), since the whole liquid adventure in London, have you been able to take knitting needles – be specific if you can – on the plane without incident? I have flown American Airlines numerous times (as recently as two weeks ago) and have never had any trouble with my metal Addi Turbos – all sizes – but I’ve never flown United and I’m worried they will have a different policy. THANK YOU!

ETA: I’m fully aware that the TSA has a list of what can and cannot go on the plane – according to the TSA, knitting needles are allowed. I always print out the list from the website just in case. AIRLINES may decide indescrimately what can and cannot go on their planes, just as an overzealous TSA agent can tell you that you can’t take on ABC. I’m looking for information on UNITED only. I’ve flown a million times with my knitting – as recently as two weeks ago – I just haven’t flown United. Also, lately, I’ve had my bags checked at security and AGAIN at the gate. Primarily I think they’re looking for liquids, but you never know. THANKS!

PS – I have 13 rows to go on Seraphim – three more for chart 3 and then the edging. I alternate between enough/not enough yarn about half way through each row. Fun times.

And here I thought I was being so damn smart to actually make you people work for the free stuff. Turns out I’m an ass because guess who has to read through all these haikus and pick the best? Thank god it’s all subjective!!

THIS IS A REMINDER: for the three people left on the Internet who have NOT entered this contest, your Haikus are due in the comments of the previous entry by 11:59 PM EDT, September 23rd. I will be closing the comments at that time! ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. (If you left more than one, the first will be counted.) FOUR RANDOM WINNERS. Two more winners: one will win because I think it’s the best and most creative and one will win because it makes me laugh my ass off – and I may add yet another winner – the one that is just beyond bad. I’m sorry – I praise you all for your creative talents – but some of you should stick with knitting. 😉

For all of you coming by for the first time – WELCOME! And why thank you, yes, I took all the photographs in the header (and 99.9% of the photographs on the site in general.) And yes, I set up the site and banner myself. Thank you for coming by. Feel free to refresh as much as you’d like. I’m glad to have you!

Our plans have changed. I’m coming home tonight – Saturday – and instead of leaving Sunday for The Hamptons or Cape Cod we’re going to California on Monday! HUGE trip change. Very last minute. I will hopefully announce the Haiku winner sometime next week. I won’t be back until Sunday and then I’m off to Philly again to atone for my sins. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired just thinking about it. (The traveling – not the sins.)

I’ve got 22 rows left in Seraphim and I’m desperate to finish it – I’m so worried I’m going to run out of yarn. But I don’t think I’m going to be able to get it done before we leave. I might just take it with me and block it while I’m away. Maybe a special vacation photoshoot if all works out. No promises though.

I’m closing the comments on this post because I don’t want anyone to leave any Haikus here – I’d like to keep them all in one place. I’m glad you’re all having so much fun with it! THANK YOU!

Feet get cold in Fall.
January One rocks socks.
Play to win YOUR pair!

Heh heh heh. I think I’ve out done myself with this one. Here it goes:

l to r: Lisa Souza SOCK! Merino in Peacock, Interlacements Toasty Toes color 409, Ellen’s Half Pint Farm Merino/Nylon Sock Yarn, Three Waters Farm Superwash Merino in Aunt Maude’s Mauve, Spirit Trail Fiberworks Sock Yarn Merino/Nylon, and Lisa Souza SOCK! Merino in Jonquil.

How to win: WRITE A HAIKU. But not just any haiku. YOU MUST USE AT LEAST THREE OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS IN YOUR HAIKU: january, one, rock(s), jet, fall, sheep, wool, feet (or foot), knit, yarn, pirate, fest, dude, fantastic, worm (that is WORM. With an O. My 5.5 yr old nephew gave me that one.) AND EVERY HAIKU MUST USE THE WORD SOCK. (So that means FOUR REQUIRED WORDS.)

Need to know HOW to write a Haiku? Check here and here.

ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. LEAVE YOUR HAIKU IN THE COMMENTS. COMMENTS WILL CLOSE SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th 23rd at 11:59 EDT. Winner will be announced sometime the following week.

There will be six winners. FOUR will be chosen at random from the entire group of entrants. TWO will be chosen by me – one because I think it’s the best, most creative Haiku, and one because it makes Ann and I laugh for like a half an hour straight and we have to call each other a million times to laugh about it some more and then I tell my sister about it and we laugh our asses off and basically my day is made because you wrote a haiku. That one DEFINITELY wins. Each winner will receive one of the above sock yarns – enough yarn for a pair of socks – and an orange chibi. And maybe some candy for Halloween. If I’m feeling good that day.

Remember, you’ve got to be in it to win it! PLAY BALL!

PS – You guys are all nuts. I LOVE IT!!!!!