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…
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.
Someone… who shall remain nameless… Someone in our house is celebrating a birthday this week. A big, BIG birthday. The sort of age you know you’ll get to someday, but you never really believe you’ll ever reach. A tough birthday …but a fun birthday.
So, on Sunday, we had a big family celebration, and it was a fantastic day. You can imagine the scene in your mind: a table spread with amazing food, glasses filled deep with buttery white wine, a luscious chocolate cake covered in strawberries… And everywhere, everywhere that beautiful, dreamy, glowing light of a summer’s afternoon, gently dappled as it falls through the trees. It was a glorious day, and a glorious start to a new decade.
Today’s shop updates are yarns that evoke beautiful, lazy, summer days. Days filled with good food and plentiful wine. Days filled with golden sunshine, and evenings of glorious twilight. Even if it’s not your birthday this week, you deserve a little celebration too…
Congratulations! Send me a quick email to spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com to confirm your correct email address, and I will pass your info onto Leslie and Rock&Purl Ruth.
Thank you to everyone who participated!
(…and just to let you know that we’ve got some more great contests coming up in the near future, so stick around! If you’d like to hear about them first, be sure to subscribe to the blog, using the subscription box over there in the right-hand column)
The contest to win a $25 SpaceCadet Gift Certificate ends tonight, so — quick! — make sure you’re entered! All you have to do is go the SpaceCadet Creations Facebook page and click the “Like” button right at the top — and that’s it, you’re in with a chance!
After that, you can earn up to four additional entries by:
It’s the last few days to enter the giveaway to win a skein of SpaceCadet Creation’s hand-dyed Sock Yarn or two 2oz braids of hand-dyed fiber! The giveaway will come to a close at the end of Monday (11.59pm on May 31st to be exact) so, if you’re not entered, make sure you get entered before the end of the holiday weekend!
All you have to do is put your email address in the subscription box over there on the right, just above the SpaceCadet’s head. And, once you’ve done that, there are six ways to earn extra entries — for all the details, click here.
But remember, those extra entries will count only if you’ve subscribed to the blog using the subscription box right over there at the top of the right-hand column. While I am sincerely grateful for all my followers, I can’t see the people who subscribe through other feed aggrigators (such as Google Reader, Bloglines, etc) and so I’m afraid those subscriptions can’t count as entries. If you prefer to follow me through another feed aggrigator, please go ahead and do that, but also subscribe through the blog just for a few days, so your entry can be counted for the giveaway.
Thank you to everyone who has subscribed and entered so far. It’s been so exciting to “meet” all of you! Now go out there and tweet, post, follow, and friend your way to extra entries. And GOOD LUCK!
