Wow! You guys… Wow! Do you guys know how much fun it was to watch your entries roll in to win a space in the new Swatch Like You Mean It course?!?
Seriously, within hours, there were so many comments that I could hardly keep up. And the information in those comments — your answers to the question, “What’s your number one excuse for not swatching?” — actually paints a beautiful picture as to why this course is really needed. I was texting Mel (the podcaster at Singlehanded Knits and creator of the course) to tell her she had to read through every single one. So much great insight!
We have a Winner!
But, none of that is why you’re reading this, is it? You want to know who won! So, without further ado, the winner is…
Carol, who said, “The reason I don’t think I ‘need’ to swatch is because I can see how it will look in my mind’s eye. Sadly, I have to say that my mind’s eye is mostly not very accurate.”
Carol, congratulations! We’ll be in touch soon with info about your prize.
You Can Still Join!
Ok, so maybe you aren’t Carol and you didn’t win.. . but this is going to be an awesome class and registration is still open so you can still grab your space!
In Swatch Like You Mean It, you’ll get:
To work at your own pace
Lessons that will enrich & enliven your swatch making
Weekly audio/video of a key technique
Bite sized activity to practice & master
Small time commitment~Big time results
Two patterns designed exclusively for class….one for you and one for your home
Clear & informative weekly PDFs to download and keep as reference
That’s seven weeks of great instruction and exciting exploration of everything that swatching can teach you about your yarn and the project you’re about to make! You spend so much time creating your project and you know that swatching can be the difference between a fabulous finished object and one that just… doesn’t… quite fit.
This class is exactly what you need. And all that for less than $25? Click here to join!
You should swatch. You know that, right? I mean, it’s right there in every pattern you start. And even if it weren’t there, you’d know anyway. Everyone knows you should always swatch before starting a project.
Y’know what? I’m realllllly bad at swatching. I mean, I do it… most of the time. And pretty grudgingly, if I’m honest. It feels like a waste of time — nothing but a hurdle between me and that pattern I’m just itching to cast on.
So I have always been impressed (and a little shamed) by the attitude that Mel of Singlehanded Knit’s brings to swatching. She not only does swatches every time, but she really enjoys it — embraces it even! She uses it as an opportunity to get to know her yarn, and to make better decisions about how to adjust her pattern because she really understands how her yarn behaves.
Huh! Now, when she puts it that way, it actually sounds like something worth doing. So I was seriously chuffed when Mel announced a new class she’s created that all about learning to love swatching! Swatch Like You Mean It explores the good side of swatching — the exciting, informative, and yes, even fun side of swatching.
Lessons that will enrich & enliven your swatch making
Weekly audio/video of a key technique
Bite sized activity to practice & master
Small time commitment~Big time results
Two patterns designed exclusively for class….one for you and one for your home
Clear & informative weekly PDFs to download and keep as reference
Giveaway!
And here’s the best part… Mel is offering you the chance to win your placet in Swatch Like You Mean It! All you have to do is leave a quick comment below telling us the number one excuse you have for not swatching, and you will be in with a chance to win. Make sure you comment by midnight (PST) on Sunday, and then check the SpaceCadet blog early next week to see if you’re the winner!
And then get ready to learn to love swatching!
There’s gotta be small print: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to entrants worldwide, age 12 or older. Void where prohibited. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Sweepstakes ends 11:59 p.m. PST on January 19, 2014. Entry is made via a comment on this blog post. Limit one entry per person. Sponsored by Singlehanded Knits and SpaceCadet Inc, PO Box 113312, Pittsburgh PA 15241. Prize is one (1) space in the Swatch Like You Mean It course, valued at $24.99. Winner will be selected by random drawing. Cannot be redeemed for cash. Cannot be substitued. Employees of SpaceCadet Inc are ineligible. A list of winners will be available on the SpaceCadet blog on or after January 21, 2014. For full official rules, visit https://spacecadetyarn.com/2014/01/13/giveaway-swatch-like-you-mean-it.
We had a great response to the Origami Stitchmarker Giveaway! And no wonder — The Sexy Knitter‘s little vial of paper stars are just adorable. And it was just so cool of her to give us one to give away.
And thanks to all of you for entering! You guys are what makes these giveaways fun.
The Winner
And now, without further ado, the winner is….
Annethologist
Congratulations! Please email me at spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com, with your full postal address, and I’ll have those stitchmarkers winging their way to you lickety split!
In a moment, I’m going to tell you about a delightful little giveaway, but first let me show you some yarns I’ve put in the shop this week. I’m really excited about them because, before I held them in my hands together, I hadn’t realised what perfect compliments they are. But they are! They are absolutely perfect together. The variegated yarn makes a wonderful accent against either the purple or the pink yarn and I am sorely tempted to keep them all for myself… But I’ve put them in the shop instead, and I think I shall have to go into the studio and see if I can recreate them instead.
Left to right: Estelle fingering weight yarn in Truth, Faithful, and Throb
The Sexy Knitter Origami Stitchmarkers Giveaway
I was so excited about the fabulous stitchmarkers that Sarah at The Sexy Knitter made for the members of the InterStellar Yarn Alliance (that’s them, there on the left) that I wanted to give everyone else a chance to nab some of her origami stitchmarkers too. (Seriously, origami! Like you did in school — how cool is that?!?)
And Sarah immediately offered a set for me to giveaway to one lucky winner! Squeeee!
So, here’s what you have to do to enter:
First, make sure you are a subscriber to my blog. All you have to do is click on the Subscription button there in the right-hand column.
Then, just help spread the word about this contest by retweetingthis tweet(if your twitter name doesn’t relate to the name you’ve subscribed under, please leave me a comment here helping me tie the two together)
And that’s it — you’re entered!
And if you want an extra entry, just mention this contest anywhere on the web (on Facebook, on a forum, in a blog post) and leave me a comment here with a link that allows me to confirm the mention.
The giveaway will end on Sun 31 July, and I’ll announce the winner in the next blog post after that. Good luck everyone!
Everybody loves smallprint: Sweepstakes opens when this blog post is published and closes on Sun July 31 2011 at 11.59pm EDT and all entries must be made before the close. All entrants will be verified, and must be a subscriber to the blog and then retweet the specified tweet in order for entry to be valid. The valid entry must be completed for any ‘extra’ entries can qualify and ‘extra’ entries must be mentioned in a comment on this blog post which includes a link to verify the entry. Invalid entries will be disqualified. Winner will be announced on this blog after sweepstakes close and must respond within 72 hours or we reserve the right to choose another winner. No purchase necessary. Only one entry per person. Odds of winning are dependant on the number of entrants. Retail value of prize is $5.00. SpaceCadet Creations reserves the right to substitute prizes. Prize cannot be redeemed for cash. Sweepstakes open only to entrants aged 18 years or older and resident in the United States or Canada. A-a-and breathe out…
Sleep, as it turns out, is not optional. For over a week, I’ve been trying to knock this bug from TNNA on its head. For ten whole days. And the bug is beating me because it’s figured out my weakness: I need sleep.
I cannot sleep when I am coughing. And I am coughing pretty solidly from about 11pm to 4am, when I finally slip into a slumber from nothing more than sheer exhaustion. But until then,I lie in bed and keep very very still and breathe very very slowly, just willing this cough into submission long enough for me to sleep. It doesn’t work.
And so, the past ten days have felt like a total loss to me. Almost nothing done, almost nothing achieved. *sigh…* All I want in my bed, and that lovely, dreamy, delicious feeling of just slipping under the surface of sleep…
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Is it any wonder that the yarns I’ve put in the shop today are all of the softest, gentlest colours? Cool blues and sleepy greys that make me think of an inviting bed, of soft, dreamy light falling through sheer white curtains…
But there’s something far more exciting for the rest of you than going to sleep. Today is the day that I draw the three winners of the KnitCircus Summer 2011 Pattern Collections! First, a huge thank you to everyone who participated — I really enjoyed reading your comments and find out your favourite patterns and articles.
And now, the winners are…
vitpil
Dawn Hays
PandaLark
Congratulations! You’ve won the complete Pattern Collection from the Summer 2011 issue of KnitCircus!
Please email me at spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com with your email address (and remind me of your Ravelry name), and I’ll pass your details onto Jaala Spiro at KnitCircus so she can send you the collection. Enjoy!
The thing that I love about knitting, the thing that calls me back to the needles time and time again, is the way knitting grounds me. There is something about the warmth of the yarn, the feel of the needles, the gentle repetition of stitch upon stitch that makes the whole world slow down a little so that I can exist just in that moment. And that incredible sense of calm is the way it’s been making other knitters feel too — for generations and generations. Knitting is ancient, simple, essential.
So every now and again, when I stop and reflect on how the knitting world has changed in the last ten years, it blows my mind a little. I use my phone to keep track of the rows I knit, I can check Ravelry to see how my pattern worked out for hundreds of other knitters, and I tweet back and forth with my favourite designers. Knitting is still ancient, essential, and grounding …but now it’s also all about the techno. Yeah, sometimes that really blows my mind.
And one of the best things to come out of this techno-revolution is the rise of online knitting magazines. Fresh, individual, quirky, and oh-so-vibrant — opening an online knitting magazine gives an instant virtual fiber rush. It makes you want to cast on something gorgeous. It makes you want cast on now.
Here my three hands-down favourites:
Did Knitty start the online knitting magazine craze? Even if it didn’t, it did for me. Knitty is the brainchild of Amy Singer, who launched her online magazine alllll the way back in 2002, and quickly became the starting point for thousands of new knitters and the launching pad for hundreds of new designers.
Filled with informative features that help new knitters find their feet and advanced knitters move on to higher planes, and offering instant access to a library of entirely free patterns, Knitty has revolutionised the concept of accessibility for a whole generation of knitters.
Twist Collective
The Twist Collective began with a mission: to treat designers and writers honourably by giving them a place to display their talents and get paid fairly for their work, while still having the option to use and build on their work after publication.
But beyond even those loftly ideals, what the Twist Collective ultimately achieves — through luscious photography and beautiful designs — is downright seductive.
KnitCircus
Starting out as a print publication, KnitCircus transitioned to an online format in 2010, and I’m so glad it did! Another magazine with an emphasis on treating designers fairly, KnitCircus is also committed to supporting indie fiber businesses, which gives readers the wonderful opportunity to discover new dyers and fiber artists that they might not otherwise find.
I find KnitCircus an absolute pleasure to read, partly for the totally trivial reason that the pages flip by delightfully (just like a real magazine! go try it!) and mostly because the articles are absorbing, the photography is sharp and fresh, and the patterns are utterly lovely.
Enter to Win the Entire KnitCircus Summer 2011 Pattern Collection
And here’s the bit that’s got me crazy-excited: KnitCircus‘s editor, Jaala Spiro, has generously offered me three copies of the KnitCircus Summer 2011 Pattern Collection to give away!
Wait, what’s that? Did I just hear you go squeeeee?!? Oh yeah, I know you did!
Ok, here’s what you have to do to enter:
Click on the links the three magazines above and choose your favourite pattern or article out of all of them (just one favourite, not three).
Then, come back here and leave a comment below telling me what your favourite is (and feel free to tell me why — I’d love to know!).
Now, because this is such a fabulous prize, I’m going to give you a way to get two bonus entries. To enter up to twice more, all you have to do is:
Mention this contest in a post on Ravelry (anywhere except the SpaceCadet group board and the InterStellar Yarn Alliance board)
Then, make sure you leave a comment here to let me know you’ve done it (include your Twitter and Rav names).
And there you go — you’re in with three chances to win one of three copies of the Summer 2011 KnitCircus Pattern Collection. And you can’t beat that with a stick stack of magazines!
—————————————————————————– Rock the details: Sweepstakes opens when this blog post is published and closes on Mon June 20 2011 at 11.59pm EDT and all entries must be made before the close. All entrants will be verified and must complete the mandatory entry (that is, mentioning in a comment on this blog post a favourite pattern/article from one of the three knitting magazines) before completing the ‘extra’ entries (retweeting the specified tweet and/or mentioning this sweepstakes in a post on Ravelry). Please take note: completion of all entries must be mentioned in a comment on this blog post to qualify, and comments must include the commenter’s Ravelry or Twitter name (as applicable). Invalid entries will be disqualified. Winner will be announced on this blog after sweepstakes close and must respond within 72 hours or we reserve the right to choose another winner. No purchase necessary. Only one entry per person. SpaceCadet Creations reserves the right to substitute prizes. Prizes cannot be redeemed for cash. No geographical or age restrictions apply because knitting knows no barriers.
