I know why you’re here!

You wanna know if you won something! Without further ado, the winners of the Knit for Dulaan contest

1. Lucy wins the Stitch markers!

2. CeCe wins the Regia Cotton!

3. No Blog Rachel wins the Lana Gatto!

4. Pat wins the Scarves & Shawls book!

Send me your snail mail address and I will visit Mr. Post Office this Saturday. Rachel, I think I lost your snail mail addy. I’m so addled lately it’s just embarassing.

Thank you so much for knitting for Dulaan and for entering the contest. I love that we are all helping with such a worthwhile cause. And, I really love seeing what everyone is working on and stealing er getting new ideas for future knitting projects for Dulaan. You guys are really great, I’m so proud to know you. Okay, must stop now, getting mushy and stuff.

I’ll post up some Sun Run picis tomorrow night, after the hockey game of course! Duh. My boys won last night, in overtime. I don’t think my nerves can take all this overtime. Oh, I almost forgot, I got a new job today. I start on Monday. How’s that for fast turnaround? Now I feel even more addled than normal.

I’m so weak…

But, I don’t think it’s all my fault. I went to Birkeland Brothers today. Oh my. I was just going to get a bit of fibre for spinning for when my Spindolyn arrives. Um yeah, let’s just say that my yarn diet was seriously if not mortally wounded. First there was the Pima Cotton/silk blend, and the Drops Alpaca, and then the Mellenweit sock yarn. I’m so weak. But I did get a lovely little back of fibre for spinning. 100 grams worth, in addition to the 800 grams of lovely lovely yarn I bought.

Worthless and weak I tell you! Worthless and weak. Phe, whatever. Live hard, buy yarn.

Next month Rabbitch is going to be doing up one of the display windows at Birkeland Bros in style. Make sure you stop by and have a look at her goodies. She loves it when folks do that. Snort.

Tomorrow is the Vancouver Sun Run. Think of me out there forcing my rather largesh frame along the 10km course. The weather is supposed to be very good though, which is nice. I’ll try to get some good picis for y’all. Vancouver is a beautiful city so the scenery along the course is good for distracting you from thinking about your aching feet & calves.

Tomorrow is also the last day to send me in your entries for the Dulaan contest. Cutoff is midnight tomorrow night. So far, not as many entries as in last fall’s contest so those of you already in there, much better odds of winning! Those of you who have been waiting until the last minute, time is almost up.

My beloved Canucks lost last night too. I was most sad. They just didn’t seem to have it together, I think that super long game on Wednesday must have ground them up a bit. Plus, they were missing three players due to injury. Not good, not good at all. Have to make sure I’m wearing my lucking underwear tomorrow night. Whatever works baby, whatever works.

Go Canucks Go

Game two tonight! Here’s hoping that the boys just wipe the floor with the Stars within 3 periods of play. Please, I’m too old to be watching quadruple overtime games. My heart can’t take it.

And, we’re getting down to the last few days of the Knit for Dulaan contest. You have until midnight pacific time on Sunday night to enter. Just send me a pici or a link to a pici to the email address in the sidebar to be entered. One entry for each item you’ve made between Mar 1 and Apr 15. Hubby will be doing the draw on Monday night after work and I’ll post and contact the winners then.

There’s still plenty of time to whip up one more hat or maybe a scarf to enter. Can’t wait to hear from you.

Now, if everyone out there could send some very winning vibes to my Canucks tonight the would be great! Thanks.

More entries, and a linkfest

The Dulaan contest is getting exciting! Just look at this! Lucy over at Workbasket submitted 16 items. Whoot whoot! I am blown away.

Now go on over there and wish her a happy birthday.

And Beth, (who I believe is blogless, but if not, please speak up and let us come to your place!) made this gorgeous steppe sweater for Dulaan. I love the colours and it looks amazingly warm and comfy. I love it. Note to self, must make one of these sweaters.

It’s always so exciting to see what other people are creating, especially for something as wonderful as Dulaan. Thanks guys, you rock!

Now, how many of you signed up for Sockapalooza 4 today? I can’t wait to get my partner. I want to cast on right now. Sing out in comments if you’re in on this. I would love to follow along with all of you on what socks you’re making.

Okay, first game of the NHL playoffs tonight. My Canucks are playing the Stars, at home. And…it’s Trevor Linden’s birthday. Swoon. Everything send some good hockey juju for my boys. They so deserve a Stanley Cup.

The only problem I foresee, my gauge is completely screwy when I’m watching hockey, especially playoffs. Should make for an interesting Poppy.

Oh, before I forget, I also joined Hello Yarn’s fibre club. ‘Cause I ordered that Spindolyn. Oh crap, another obsessive hobby. Sigh.

I’m what?

38 you say? Wow, that’s flipping amazing. I never thought I’d be that old, not ever! It’s okay though, I usually act like I’m 12.

The rain has finally stopped here in the wettest place on earth! We broke all kinds of weather records. Most consecutive days of rain, most rain in the month of March, most muddy dog footprints I’ve EVER had to clean up in a month, etc, etc.

On Saturday my mom and I met up with Linda and hit the Sewing and Needlework show in Abbotsford. I was virtuous and bought no yarn. Virtuous might be overstating it, nothing really sang out to me. Which is good. However, I should be flogged for forgetting that Saturday was Linda’s birthday! Can you imagine? I was her secret pal last year, there is positively no excuse for forgetting something that important. Ridunkulous. I’m so sorry Linda, I hope spending part of your special day with mom and me was at least a little bit fun for you!

There was a book vendor at the show, Copperfield’s Books, and they had a tonne of knitting books. Three in particular that I’ve been wanting.
So they came home with me. The mitten book is a great resource book. I’ve wanted Charlene Schurch’s book forever, but unless they reprint, that isn’t going to happen. Her “Hat’s On” book is amazing too, but not available at amazon.ca only at amazon.com. I should send a note and see if they will stock it. We are the great white north, we need hat books!

And, while I was at the momma’s I finished up two more Dulaan hats. Only 20 more days to enter the Dulaan contest. Let me hear from you!

The Patons SWS is really nice stuff. I also started working on my Noro blanket again, finally. After I farted around with the sewing/quilting you see in the last post. Mom and I got inspired at the show on Saturday and we’re both blowing the dust off of our machines. I also picked up enough cotton chenille for a baby blanket for a friend at work so I might just play around with that this afternoon. I’m pretty sure I can sew a baby blanket much faster than I can knit one so I think with all these gals at work having so many babies, that might be the way of the future for me! I’ll keep the knitting time for Dulaan and me!

Okay, I’m out. I’m going to go make another cup of coffee and head to the basement for some more sewing.

Well hello there!

And how are ye? Sorry, we were just discussing St. Patrick’s Day and I’m feeling a wee touch o’ the Irish.

We had the Big Brother’s Bowling fundraiser on Friday night. It was a 50’s theme. Here are couple of picis for you to feast your eyes upon.

Obligatory bathroom shot in the morning before leaving for work. We decided to wear our outfits to work. It was casual Friday after all. Besides that, we’re children.

Here is Vanessa and her amazingly poofy skirt. You wouldn’t think a girl could bowl in that. Vanessa may just be the most agressive bowler I’ve ever seen in my life. She didn’t so much bowl as shotput the ball down the lane!

And here is the lovely Sandra. We had to do wacky bowling, of course, this was Sandra bowling while sitting on Vanessa’s lap. Much harder than one would presume!

We had a lot of fun and our team raised almost $1,500.00 for the Big Brother cause.

In other news, it is still year end at work and yesterday began the days of the the 12 hour shifts. Wow, I had forgotten how long 12 hours felt. I think I’m getting soft the older I get. Oh well, tonight I’m home and I’m knitting and it’s all good.

I wanted to give some links to some fun knitting items that you might like to consider for Dulaan. Then you can enter the contest and maybe win a little something something. Wink wink. You know you want to! Anyway, you can find some very nice items to knit here, or here, or here, or here (as suggested by Mary on the Dulaan Knits Group), or here. That should give you a few good ideas to get the creative juices flowing. Now go forth and create! Then tell me all about it, my email is off to right there.

How you doin’?

Happy Sunday all. It is raining here like maybe I should be building an ark. So wet, and all you can smell in the house is wet dog. Yummy. Here’s a pici of the Glampyre sweater I told you about. A very quick knit. I’m going to do a picot turning round at the bottom of the body in the blue and the a turned hem on smaller needles. Should be good. I think the cuffs will be the same. This unspun Peruvian is so soft I just love knitting on this. I have two more bags in black so maybe a wee cardigan or something. I’m getting a lot of roll around the neckline so I think a round of single or reverse single crochet might be in order there.

On the Dulaan contest front, look at these adorable, (and perfectly matched) mitts that Pat made! I love them, and they look so warm. Her Swallowtail shawl is gorgeous too.

Don’t forget, every item you make and send me a pici of or a link to a pici of, you get entered to win some yummy knitting swag! You have until the middle of April so there is plenty of time, but don’t wait until the end to share your creations! We all want to see them! My email link is over there on the right.

That’s about all I’ve got for now. The day will be spent knitting, doing laundry, and making some lentil soup to keep the cold and wet at bay! Keep dry and warm everyone.

Misc.

Wow, it’s been a challenging week here at casa beentsy. Stella’s epilepsy has been particularly bad the last two days and we’re all a bit exhausted, Stella in particular. Hubby is fighting a cold and I’m knitting like a fiend to keep my sanity!

However, being the closet optimist that I am, I know that good things are always on the way. Then when they show up I can be all cocky about it! Good eh?

First good thing, Lizz is back blogging! Yay! Missed reading your stuff and seeing your knitting girl. Go look at her Christmas stockings on March 5. I’m in love with the Canucks one. Lizz has exceptional taste in books, especially when it comes to Guy Gavriel Kay. After the Fionavar Tapestry I think my favourite of his is Tigana. That book reads how good music feels. It just washes over you. Gorgeous.

Second good thing, I found the book prize for the Dulaan contest. It is the Shawls and Scarves book by Knitter’s. Lots of lace to lust over in this one. Luckily being in a box due to renovations doesn’t seem to have done it any harm! I’m not going to try taking a pici today, it is way to grey here. Pop over to amazon and you can have a peek at it.

Third good thing, with all this down time with the dog I’ve knit half of a sweater in about 3 days. No kidding, I am booking. Granted, it is on 6mm needles but I’m still well chuffed with my progress. It’s the easy top down raglan (click on pattern shop and scroll down), by Stephanie Japel. Very nice and very user friendly. I’m doing mine in denim blue Cascade Pastaz (#31) for the yoke and some charcoal unspun Peruvian wool that I got in a bag sale at Elann about 3 years ago. I’m starting to have a deep and personal relationship with my stash. Which is a excellent. I’m also burning through about 3 balls a day of this stuff so that’s all good!

See, silver lining. Oh, and I’m Bowling for Big Brothers tomorrow night. This is my third year being involved and it is such a lot of fun. It’s a fifties theme this year which should be a hoot. I have my little fuzzy cardigan and my matching scarf to tie around my neck in a jaunty manner, hair in an obligatory pony tail and chewing gum all ready. Besides, I get to wear bowling shoes. I love bowling shoes. I really should google and see if I can find a place to buy some. Hmmmmm.

Are you ready to rumble???????????

Sorry, I’ve always loved that! Makes me wanna go to a truck and tractor pull or a wrestling match.

The contest rules are the same as last time:

1. My blog, my contest, my rules. Why yes, it is like a dictatorship and that’s okay!

2. Make an item for Dulaan, send me a pici or a link to a pici of item and bingo, one entry into the contest. Each item counts as one entry. Make 50 items, get 50 entries.

3. You can knit, crochet, weave, sew, macrame, whatever. Just make it warm and well for someone in Mongolia.

4. Ship your finished items to FIRE in time for their July 1st cutoff to be sent to Mongolia for the coming winter.

5. Email me your entries at beentsy AT yahoo DOT ca I’ll post that email in the sidebar when I get a free nano second.

6. Feel good that you did a good thing and helped someone that you’ve never even met. Nice eh?

Now, this little contest is going to run from tomorrow, March 1, 2006 to Sunday, April 15, 2007. At that time I will use the incredibly advanced selection process perfected last time we did this and select winners. How cool is that?

Here are the prizes you will be knitting for this spring.

First Prize: 2 50 gram balls of Lana Gatto VIP – this gorgeous! 80% wool and 20% cashmere, 200 metres per skein. Maybe a Flower Basket shawl (scroll down)? Just a thought.

Second Prize – 2 skeins Regia Cotton Color – 100 gms each 41% superwash wool/34% cotton/25% polyamide. ‘Cause spring IS coming and you will need cotton socks!

Third Prize – 7 little stitch markers assembled/made by moi. 2 purple, 1 cloissone (sp?), 4 in a black/teal/purple colour. Kinda cute if I do say so myself. Fits up to a 5.5 mm needle comfortably.

Fourth Prize – is a book. That’s packed due to renovations. I don’t want to list the title just in case the packing of the book has hurt the book in some way. When it has been unpacked I will reveal all! Suffice it to say, it’s a knitting book. Duh, right?

ETA: The book is Shawls and Scarves by Knitters. Some very yummy projects in here!

Okay, I have to go. Hubby says I have to stop playing with my friends and come eat dinner. I’ll finish this later.

Now get creating!

A quickie with some picis

Vanessa, my friend from work, and the daughter I will never have, got me the greatest gift! Look at how cool this is. It’s one tremendously long zipper that you zip up and up and up and up into a purse. It’s my new small project knitting bag. I love it!

To prove that Nessa is the daughter I will never have just look at this. We bought the exact same geek shoes two days apart and when we weren’t even together. Love it!

I also got these in the mail yesterday. They are really nice! I am seriously swooning over the pointiness of these needles and the smoothness of the join. Wow. I think I’m gonna buy the set.

To that end I will be selling my Denise set + an extra 52 inch cord (very handy for ponchos and blankets). $25.00 US plus shipping via Paypal and she’s all yours. If you’re interested drop me a line at beentsyATyahooDOTca.

I’ve also been a busy little beaver lately making some stitch markers and such for the upcoming Dulaan contest. We’re gonna start the party on March 1 so get you’re needles warmed up. I’m thinking some stitch markers, a book, some yarn, and I don’t know what else there will be for prizes. Aren’t you excited? Wicked!

Oh, and I got the new Spring IK. I am not amused. IK is not supposed to have all the patterns in the back like Vogue and FCEK do. That’s one of the biggest reasons I like IK. Make the OH! noise about a pattern, look to the side, check out the pattern and see if you have the yarn, is is something you want to attempt, what does the designer have to say about it, etc. etc. etc. Oh well, whatcha gonna do eh? That said, I love the Green Tea Raglan, the Bauhaus Fair Isle, and the Dollar and a Half Cardigan.

And Kat, you are totally right. Matching is probably highly overrated! And to that end, I scavenged a really cool mirror yesterday when I was at work. A woman who was moving was putting out a bunch of stuff for the garbage and I swept in and saved the mirror. Within about 15 minutes everything she had put out was picked up and taken away by people. I love recycling!

Okay, gotta go do laundry. Must have clean undies & jeans for casual Friday. Too much information? Yeah, you’re probably right.