Thanks!

I really want to thank everyone who left comments, birthday and blogiversary wishes and contest entries over the past week. Hope you'll stop by again some time and leave your comments!

I had a nice birthday overall. Lolligagged around the house, stayed on the computer for way too long, took a shower at 3:00 in the afternoon, and then met my cute hubby and another couple for a lovely dinner at Trader Vic's. It was mostly a quiet day, but very nice, especially with enjoying a dinner out with some new friends of ours at the end of it. And reading all of your fun comments made spending most of the day alone seem not so lonely at all!

I haven't chosen the winners for the contest yet, but I'm working on it. I'm so pleased that there were so many entries! I'm still working on going through them to look at all of the links you left, as well as checking out the blogs of all of you who left your addresses. Lots of fun and talented people out there in the blogosphere!

I will try to announce the winners by the end of this weekend, but I am also working this weekend, so please forgive if I'm a little late by chance. In the meantime, for all of you who made guesses about how many skeins of cotton were in the Big Basket of Balls, here's a little teaser for you about how many balls are actually in there. Here's all of the skeins, emptied directly from that now-empty basket in the background and laid out on the floor...

The accompanying minions were not counted in the total, and no skeins were added or subtracted for the picture---just dumped 'em all out and lined 'em up on the floor....

For those of you now suffering with a case of shock and awe at the sheer size of this line-up, try to keep in mind that I've been collecting cotton yarn a little at a time ever since I used to crochet...years ago....before I even learned to knit. So what might first appear to be an uncontrollable cotton yarn obsession is actually a case of slow and insidious self-reproduction by the yarn itself! Yes, it's true! Every time the collection realizes I don't have a new color, they reproduce it themselves! And being snuggled all together in that cozy basket hasn't helped any. Of course, I disavow all knowledge of ever actually purchasing that many skeins of one type of yarn...

Were any of you close on your guess? I can say that there were no entrants that guessed the exact quantity!

Here's the latest project I just started. I had this beautiful (and impossible to photograph) skein of STR heavyweight in the stash in this very cute colorway---Little Bunny Foo Foo---and since fall has decided to start so quickly this year, what better time to knit a lovely little ruffled tea cozy?

I'm knitting it from a pattern I got at Churchmouse Yarn & Tea, while on the infamous LYS Tour last May. Yes, I know I still have an unfinished pair of socks leering at me from the basket, but with the days getting darker and colder, I thought I might start something knit on needles a little larger than size zero.

Love those socks, but a girl could go blind working on them. And I can't cast on another pair of socks until I've finished those. I have very few knitting rules for myself, but having only one pair of socks going at a time is one of them----Progress is slow enough for me on sock-knitting, but I'd never finish a pair if I allowed myself to start a second pair while one is still unfinished! I grew up Catholic, so maybe it's just some little knitting penance I've assigned to myself....or maybe I'm just weird....Either way, there's enough problems with UFO's around here without having two of one thing. Of course, the rule obviously doesn't apply to starting more different projects. (Hey, I didn't say I was a good Catholic...heh heh....). I can make my own rules only so strict if I want me to follow them.

And so I've digressed, as usual. What was the topic of this post again? Oh yeah, thanks again to everyone who entered the contest and commented, birthday, winners coming soon, and making tea cozy, which somehow led to strange, guilty excuse-making about still-unfinished socks and some insane blathering about my self-imposed knitting rules......

Be kind. My brain is a very strange place. It's not easy living here.

I'm really done now.

I'm having a blast!

Having this contest is so much fun! I am enjoying reading all of the comments so much. I'm still working my way through all of the links you've all provided and looking at all of your blogs (from those of you who gave my your blog address!).

Holding a contest has definitely made my belated blogiversary and birthday week way more exciting than it would be otherwise. The contest continues until midnight on my birthday, Wednesday, October 3rd. So feel free to enter on this post or below if you haven't already! And BTW, if you leave an "anonymous" comment, probably a good idea to at least sign your name at the bottom, as I have had a few anonymous comments with no name identifier. I really don't want to announce the winner as "anonymous #3" or some such thing. Make sure I know who you are in case you win!

I'm in the midst of my workweek at the NBRO for the next couple of days, so no pics today. But I will try to post some pics of my new project soon. It involves some Socks That Rock Heavyweight yarn, but it's not socks...Funny enough, I've had some STR yarn in my stash for a while now, but this is the first chance I've had to knit with it, just on a project that's not socks. I can say for now that it is really nice to knit with and makes a great fabric---at least in the heavyweight.

Happy Knitting everyone! And if you haven't looked at a giant basket of balls for a while, scroll down for a good look, make your best guess, and maybe win some new balls for your very own!....snork....I'm a ten-year-old....I can't stop.......I really should grow up some day.....


Naaaaaaah!

Keep those CONTEST entries coming!!

A very nice lady just emailed me to say that she had trouble linking to my blog to leave a comment. Perish the thought that someone couldn't leave an entry!

My contest has only been going on for one day, and thanks to all of you, I'm having a blast reading all of your fun comments and looking at the links! And of course, I want everyone who wants to enter to be able to and have a chance to win some fiber-related prizes!

I'm thinking that maybe since my last post was long and had lots of pictures, perhaps Blogger may be throwing one of it's periodic temper tantrums and not allowing any more comments on that post. Hell, I don't know---my technical knowledge of how blogs work doesn't go much past "mouse over and click" (refer to my comments on prior posts about there being no geniuses in the Knottykitty Kingdom...).

So here is another post with no other purpose except to allow more contest entries and comments! So just click on "comments" at the bottom of this post, and keep them coming!

Hope this solves the problem. Good Luck in the contest!

>^..^<

Time for a CONTEST!!....and some actual knitting content!

Don't fall over, but yes, this post will contain actual knitting content. But first, let's commence with my first ever, official blog contest!! I'm not saying it's going to be scintillating or anything....no creative geniuses live in the knottykitty domain, we are simple creatures here. It does, however, have an official name---In honor of my first blogiversary and upcoming birthday, it's time for....

The Belated Blogiversary and Birthday

Big Basket of Balls

Contest

Because here at Knottykitty Knits, we love us some balls!! (Don't be a dirty girl, you know I mean yarn balls, of course!) I'll give a minute to clear that image from your mind.....now, I'll continue.

Since I've been known to knit a dishcloth or two around here, I have managed to acquire quite the stash of kitchen cotton through the years. And, oh! I just so happen to have a picture of it right here, arranged in a lovely basket...

I'm not sure why I thought it was necessary, but just in case, here's a closer view...

All of the balls in the basket are whole (no partially-used) skeins. They are mostly standard Sugar 'n Cream balls, both variegated and solid, with a few of the larger-sized balls in there as well. I believe there are one or two Peaches & Creme balls in there as well.

Here's the contest part---

Leave me a comment on my blog by midnight (PST) on Wednesday, October 3rd (the birthday part--mine), that includes the following:

1. Your guess as to how many balls are in the basket.
2. Your favorite small project to knit, with link to the pattern if available, so we can all have some new patterns to look at, because we love that!
3. Your blog address, if you have one, because we love to look at those, too!
4. Optional: Any kind of birthday/belated blogiversary greeting you'd like to throw in, be it normal, funny, poetry, strangeness or whatever.

[The reason for #3? Because I'll be home all day by myself on my birthday (sniffle) and I'm old (hmph) and I love a good laugh (ha!).]

I'll be giving out yarny and knitting-related prizes for the following:

1. Closest guess on how many balls are in the basket, without going over the quantity.
2. My favorite comment that makes me laugh, or feel better about getting so old, or both.
3. Random drawing.

I will try to announce the winners by the end of the weekend, following the end of the contest.

So what are you waiting for? Get on in here and leave a comment with your guess, your favorite small project pattern and your sense of humor!!

********************************************************************************************

Real knitting content:

Yes, it's true! I've actually managed to finish a couple of projects this past week. First, I finally finished this basket that I was done knitting a couple of months ago, and then let it sit by the washer waiting to be felted. Here's the before picture...

and here's the finished basket....

Knit with Paton's SWS soy/wool yarn---I have to say it again, I love making felted projects with this yarn. The color choices are great and it felts up as soft or as stiff as you want. I didn't have a pattern for this basket. Just sort of made it up as I went along. I wanted a squarish-shaped, low-walled basket, and I think this one came out pretty good for a first attempt at making a basket without a pattern. I also included increases as I knit up the walls of the basket, hoping it would keep the walls from flopping outward after it was felted---and it worked! Finished size is about 7-1/2"L x 5"W x 2-1/2" deep.

This second FO, the Moss Grid Handtowel from Mason-Dixon Knitting, turned out nicer than I expected. It took me absolutely forever to finish, done on size 4 needles, and I was a little worried about how it looked when it was done...

It seemed like the "moss grid" squares really didn't show next to the strips of stockinette between the boxes. I thought it might have been my tension when switching back and forth between the moss stitch and stockinette sections.

So I put it in a nice woolwash soak for about an hour and hoped for the best. Hard to capture in these pictures, but I'm still amazed at what a little soak, a trip through the dryer and some light blocking when almost dry did for my cute little towel!

Those stockinette strips between the squares smoothed right out to reveal the nice little moss stitch boxes! I couldn't seem to get a great picture, but the color is much deeper and it has a lovely sheen to it! Needless to say, I was excited that it came out this well compared to the before pictures!

The fabric also got incredibly soft, with a great drape to it. It was made with Euroflax sportweight. I have some beautiful moss green in the same yarn to make it a set. About 3/4ths of the way into knitting this hand towel, I was thinking I might not be making another one because it was getting a little monotonous. But seeing how this one turned out has returned some of my desire to make a second one to complete the set...later.