Oh, Yeah, Blogging... ;)

Recently I got a lovely email telling me that I had been recognised as one of the top 50 crafting blogs in the UK, by Homecrafts.

In fact, I'm at number 5... 5! Wow.

Which gave me a bit of a kick up the backside to actually post something, can't really justify it otherwise! So here I am *smiles* I'm glad, because I have missed this, and also a little apprehensive - it's been a few months since I last posted and I'm a bit rusty.

I have actually crafted loads since I last posted, and need to have a mammoth "taking pictures of FOs, new yarn and WIPs" session (you know me, I hate posting without pictures). Which, if I'm completely honest, has been putting me off blogging... I stopped posting when I had nothing to write about, but now I have so much to write about I'm completely overwhelmed.

Gotta start somewhere though!

So, here's a bunch of pictures of yarn. Obviously in the months since I last posted, I have purchased yarn. What sort of knitting blog would this be if I hadn't? *laughs*

MadelineTosh in the most amazing orange (of course) I can't wait to use this, but I can't use it until the perfect pattern appears to me.

Countess Ablaze - I actually have a whole post's worth to say about this, but for now just look at how pretty it is ;)

Discontinued yarn I was sent as a random act of kindness. So squishy, just how I like it :)

Slightly fuzzy, sort of red, destined to be a scarf or shawl for a bit of winter colour

Debbie Bliss Andes - alpaca and silk (my favourite combination). I wouldn't normally buy it, it's a bit pricey, but I had a gift voucher and it was reduced. Who could say no to that?!

Bizarrely purple chunky acrylic. Not quite sure why I bought it, cunning boyfriend is not a fan of the colour, but it's turning into a reasonable blanket, so I'm calling it a win ;)

To be honest, that's probably the tip of the iceberg for new yarn, I have at least 4 other skeins that I haven't taken pictures of, but I think it's good for now *laughs*

Anyway, no promises on when I'll next post, but as I have a case of start-itis at the moment maybe I'll be more inclined ;)

Update

Hello, poor neglected blog!

Yep, I'm still alive, and still (just about) crafting. I never expected to be too busy to post here, and I find myself missing my blog and all the blogs I love to read. I'm not making any promises about posting more regularly because I know as soon as I plan something it flies right out the window, but I hope to be around a little bit more.

I feel like I should have more to update, having been absent for a month, but nothing is springing immediately to mind. Maybe I should make a list. I like lists *laughs*

• I've just come back from a week's holiday with my mum. Had a fabulous time, read a lot of books and generally did little more than lie on the beach for a week. It was a much needed break. 
• I've been working really hard on my business, having a great time doing all sorts of bits and pieces, and hopefully will have some exciting news to share soon. 
• Knitting has been happening, albeit not much *sigh* I'm nearing the end of my Celestarium though, and I can't wait to finish so I can show it off. I started another shawl, but I've made a mistake and can't figure out where it is, so it's in timeout while I decide between fudging and frogging ;)
• Other crafting - I have been doing some other crafty bits, some painting of unexpected items (like shoes, I must take pictures and share) and a couple of other things I will post about at some point (I'd say "some point soon" but let's not be too optimistic *laughs*). I've met a great lady who does lino and screen printing workshops, so I'm hoping to book myself on one of those soon
• I have an interesting decoupaging project on the go at the moment, and I will be posting about that soon (no, really!)
• My yarn stash continues to grow, because if I can't knit I can at least buy... Yeah, I'm not sure of the logic either *laughs*

Now I'm off to get reacquainted with the blogs I haven't read in too long - I hope I haven't missed too much!  And because I don't like posting without pictures - here's one of my new yarns ;) Pretty, huh?

*waves*

Hello, poor neglected blog ;)

I swear, all my posts lately seem to be commenting on the fact that I'm not posting much - maybe I should try and do something about that *laughs*

I'm happy to say that this is mostly a result of me building momentum with my freelance business, which is getting busier than I expected and taking time away from activities such as blogging - not that I'm complaining of course!

I think some of that stems from the fact that I had got into the habit of blogging first thing in the morning, so now if I haven't posted by lunchtime, I don't post at all. Hopefully recognising this will help me break that habit *laughs*

I'm also not crafting as much as I once did. Partly of course due to the new business, and partly because boyfriend and I moved in together. Because he has 2 lovely children, when we didn't live together he would spend the weekends at his house with the boys, and while we'd all meet up I still had a lot more time to myself that I would spend knitting.

Why is this relevant? Well, obviously it explains why there is a lot less knitting content for me to post, but it also explains this next part...

I miss blogging, but with less knitting content I have less to post... Unless I broaden my scope a little bit (I know I do post about other crafting, and cooking at least). So, prepare for slightly more general posts. For example, this weekend we all went to Paradise Wildlife Park, but more about that another day ;)

Spam, Spam, Spam

Just a quick one to let you know that I have disabled anonymous commenting. I seem to have been getting quite a lot of spam comments lately, and although blogger has caught most of them I just want to be sure they're not getting through.

I haven't enabled the "please prove you're not a robot" function - mainly because I find the captchas really difficult to read and would like to avoid them if I can ;)

Musings on Labels

I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see what I post about most often. So I changed the settings on the widget that shows all the labels I use for posting to also display how many posts are in each category (I then changed it back straight away because I found it a bit cluttered, but I kept a screenshot *smiles*)

From this I can see that I have accidentally got two labels for Ooops, one with 3 "o"s and one with 2 *laughs* The irony is not lost on me ;)

I can also see that I have clearly forgotten to label a few things - because I only have one post tagged as "handspun" despite completing more than one skein.

I'm quite amused that I have 41 posts tagged as "New Yarn" and only 16 as "Stashbusting" *laughs* Doesn't that show my priorities rather clearly?!

Unsurprisingly "Knitting", "FO" and "WIPW" are the top 3 tags - as this is a knitting blog that participates in WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays, I think that is pretty self explanatory!

I was slightly surprised that the next highest result is "Socks", though perhaps I shouldn't be. I never set out to write a sock knitting blog, but apparently I am on the way to having one anyway *laughs* Not a problem of course, I love sock knitting and my handknit socks are the items that get the most wear out of anything I have made.

This might be a feature of the tags I am using of course, "socks" seems to be the only project specific label I seem to use. Food for thought...

So, I have a question for you - do you ever look at the tags on blogs you read? Either on posts or on the sidebar? Do you click them, or use them to see what sort of thing the blog covers (garment knitting, sock knitting, crochet, cooking, etc) or ignore completely?

I'm trying to work out if I want to update tags on older posts, making them more useful, or if people aren't that fussed about them and I just shouldn't bother *laughs*

Blogsy

I've seen a few people recommend the Blogsy app for blogging, so I thought I would give it a try *smiles*

I don't think I am likely to use it for long posts, as I can type much faster on an actual keyboard than on here, but it is a pretty good app. It seems to be easy to add and resize pictures, either from my iPad directly or from Flickr etc.

The picture above it actually the outcome of smashing a giant chuppa chupp lolly ;)

Essentially this post is just me playing around!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Pay It Forward

Yesterday I was visiting Tanya's Blog and discovered a really nice idea. So, I commented and am participating. The rules are as follows:

1. I will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this post. The gift will be handmade by me. It will be sent sometime in the next 365 days. It will be a surprise. We all love getting surprises in the mail, right?

2. To sign up and receive a gift, you must play along, too. Pay it Forward on your blog, by promising to make a surprise for the first three people who comment on the post.

3. You must have a blog (that is updated, as I will blog stalk you to find the right gift for you).

4. After commenting here, you must repost this or something similar to your blog in 48 hours. If not, I will chose the next person who comments.

I thought it would be a bit of fun to join in, so comment away and sometime over the next year you'll get a present from me *grins*

3KCBWDAY4 - A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons?

A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons?
As spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere start setting their sights for the arrival of winter, a lot of crocheters and knitters find that their crafting changes along with their wardrobe. Have a look through your finished projects and explain the seasonality of your craft to your readers. Do you make warm woollens the whole year through in preparation for the colder months, or do you live somewhere that never feels the chill and so invest your time in beautiful homewares and delicate lace items. How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?

Last July I cast on a blanket. This year the weather turned beautifully warm at the beginning of April, and I was knitting my Narragansett jumper (in a nice and cosy merino/camel yarn)… So it appears that I am not at all seasonally minded *laughs*

I knit what I want to knit, whether it’s the appropriate season or not. Luckily (or not!) the weather here is so variable that most of the things I knit can make an appearance “out of season” anyway ;)

Lately I have been much more interested in knitting cardigans. I looked at my shop-bought wardrobe and realised that I like layering, and my most-worn items tend to be in that vein. It works for the weather – much easier to slip a cardigan or shrug on and off as the clouds race across the sky than to wear a jumper. So I knit Cria and Shalom, I have yarn to knit at least 3 more cardigans once I have chosen the patterns.

I’ve definitely noticed that I lack the inclination to knit summery items. Perhaps it’s because I like the feel of wool, alpaca, angora… And hate the feel of cotton yarn. I’ve tried knitting with 4ply cotton, which was the most unenjoyable knitting I think I’ve ever attempted. Even if I did love the colour!

But, I do want to knit things that work for summer, I’d like to be an all seasons knitter. Well, I have some mystery bamboo yarn in my stash so this may be the year to experiment *laughs* That’s if we get a decent summer of course ;)

In the meantime, I think I'll stick with layering items, cardigans, wraps, shrugs, vests... I like their versatility.

3KCBWWC - Craft your Perfect Day

For today’s topic, I think I’m going to invoke the wildcard. It’s not that there aren’t people who inspire me, it’s that there are many! I’m inspired by my fellow bloggers, by Ravelry friends and their projects, by a few designers whose patterns always appeal to me… To save my inevitable anxiety, I’ll just go with the wildcard!

Craft Your Perfect Day
Plan your fantasy day with your craft, It might just take up one hour of your day or be the entire focus of the day, but tell your readers where you'd love to craft, whether you'd craft alone or with friends, knitting or crocheting something simple or spending a day learning new skills.

Now this one I can do *laughs* I spend plenty of time daydreaming about my fantasy craft life ;)

I dream of having a giant, well lit craft room. In one corner there's a space set up for taking photos, with perfect lights and a crisp white back drop. A long desk runs down one wall, with a computer at one end, a sewing machine at the other and lots of space for crafting in the middle. 


There's also a sofa for sitting and knitting, a TV and a cool storage system for yarn and other craft materials. One wall is taken up with giant whiteboards.


So, now that I've set the scene *laughs*...


In my perfect day, I'd get up and head to my sanctuary. I'd post to my blog, check out my followed blogs and have a quick look at Ravelry. Social media bits and pieces. General online housekeeping. You know what I mean ;)


I'd switch on the TV for an hour or so of knitting on my latest project, waiting conveniently uninterrupted since my last knitting session. 


After a quick break for refreshments I'd head back to the computer, this time to work on my novel. The whiteboards are within easy chair-swiveling reach, for quick notes and keeping track of characters as I work. 


I totally imagine myself looking all intense and distracted at the same time, a pen shoved through my messy bun, glasses slipping down my nose absentmindedly as I type furiously *laughs* 


After a while of writing, I'd head down to my huge (imaginary so far) kitchen and whip up something for lunch. 


The afternoon would be taken up with more crafting - knitting, papercrafting, jewellery making, anything I feel like really. Then, preparing a tasty dinner to be enjoyed with cunning boyfriend, before snuggling up on the sofa together (of course, I'd also have my knitting with me at this point!)


*wistful sigh*


Ah, a girl can dream. 

3KCBWDAY3

3KCBWDAY2 - Photography Day

Uh oh…

My photography isn’t the best, I must be honest! I don’t havemuch space in my little flat, so most photography takes place on top of myantique travelling trunk. The light is probably better in my bedroom, but thenI’d have to use my bed for pictures, which involves all sorts ofunpleasantness, like ironing sheets *yikes face*

Ok, so with that disclaimer out of the way *laughs*...

I'm a big fan of texture, something that can be difficult to convey in a photo when it comes to knitted items! I love this photo I took, of some twisted ribbing in squishy yarn:

With some knit pictures, they need a little tweaking to show the texture. So, although this one had just the right light to show what I wanted, I decided to see what would happen with some tweaking anyway...

Just changing the brightness, contrast and saturation really changes the way the texture appears. I love it :)

Colour Lovers

So, I'm participating in Knit and Crochet blog week again this year. I had such fun last year finding new blogs, and new readers, so here goes... 

Today's prompt is:

Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

Great first topic *smiles*

I love colour. I actually have mild synesthesia , so the world is already pretty colourful to me. I'm not keen on neons or pastels, but other than that I'm a fan of pretty much all colours. Unlike most people I know, my favourite colour is orange - but you can probably tell that from my blog colourscheme *laughs*

I do tend to go through phases when it comes to what I buy or knit. Right now, almost everything I am working on is grey (I love the soothing sense I get from the colour, or lack of it!) A while back, everything that came off the needles seemed to be blue:

Then I'll go through a green phase, or a purple phase. Thinking about it, I have quite a lot of purple yarn in my stash right now, so I have a feeling that I'll end up overtaken by purple some time soon *laughs*

When it comes to knitting garments, I prefer solid or semi-solid colours. Subtle tones work well for me, so that there is depth to the colour but nothing crazy. I save the crazy colours for my socks, where pooling is welcomed and clashing colours positively encouraged *grins*

 See - told you I like orange ;)

I also love playing with colour, and have experimented with dyeing my own yarn...

It's amazing what you can achieve with kool aid and food dye! I want to dye everything I can get my hands on now, but I shall resist for the time being - until I have a need for more crazy sock yarn *grins*

To find other posts from today's topic, google 3KCBWDAY1. And for more info, go to Eskimimi's blog :)

Blog Tag

Apparently I have been blog tagged... Thanks Susan *smiles*

Susan has asked 11 questions for me to answer, which seems like a fun way to start the week ;)


What is your favorite animal and why?


It changes, to be honest. I love Meerkats, just because they are so much fun to watch. I love tropical fish, they're so beautiful and relaxing. I also like big cats, particularly Ocelots. I don't have any pets, although I'd like a cat at some point.

< Ocelot. Don't think I'll be getting this type of cat though!

What do you love to make above and beyond anything else?

That's quite a tough question actually. I just love making things in general! I definitely go through phases, so sometimes my favourite thing to make is socks, sometimes it's garments and sometimes it's cake *laughs* I love being crafty and being able to make all sorts of things. 

Cake or socks?! 

What's your biggest wish for the future?

Happiness for myself and my loved ones. 

What would you say is the worst thing about you?

Hmmmm... I have bad habits, like anyone, but I don't know about "worst". I can be a bit of a procrastinator, and I can definitely be stubborn. I don't like being a learner, when I start things I want to be able to do them properly straight away. 

I think that's why I clicked with knitting so well, I picked it up and found it easy. This might also explain why I don't really crochet - everything I make with it looks like a learner made it *laughs*

What would you say is the best thing about you?

It's always hard to answer this sort of question, I hate sounding like I'm bragging! I think I have lots of good qualities; I'm loyal, creative, inquisitive, intelligent (that sounds big headed, doesn't it?!) and other stuff too *laughs*

What's the most treasured memory you have so far in your life?

I have many. I have been extremely lucky to have had some incredible experiences in my life, and all of those memories are treasured. 

However, memories of my dad are the most precious, as he passed away a couple of years ago. My most treasured memory is actually one of the most mundane memories I have - just a hug and kiss from him in the family kitchen, whenever I'd come home for a visit. 

If you won the lottery what would be the first thing you would buy?

A boat.

What is your favorite type of flower?

I adore Freesias. The smell is one of my very favourite smells in the world. The orange ones smell the best, followed by the pink and then the white. Yep, I have indeed ranked my favourite flower by colour *laughs* So, although I tend to prefer white flowers, with freesias it has to be orange ;)

What's the most favorite thing you have in your wardrobe?

Interesting question - and again, it's something that changes depending on my mood! I love the things that I have made, I get such a sense of satisfaction wearing them. 

Currently my Shalom is one of my favourite garments. But there are times when my favourite thing is a dress, and others where it is my jeans that fit just right and are the right level of worn in *laughs* 

The most versatile thing, which you may have noticed from my FO pictures, is a white long sleeved t-shirt. Boring, but I love how it goes with everything! 

What started you blogging?

After I started knitting, it seemed like an excellent way to show my mum what I'd been making *smiles*

What's the best thing about blogging? 

The community, for sure. I've met some amazing people through blogging, participated in great fun things like Knit and Crochet Blog Week (and I'm looking forward to this year's!) and the Blog Hub Swap. I've won some really cool prizes in giveaways, and had great fun posting giveaways of my own. 

So, yeah, the people. That's the best thing about blogging *grins*

Now, according to the rules, I'm supposed to come up with some questions and tag 11 other blogs. But it is Monday morning and I really don't have the brainpower! So, please feel free to tag yourself and answer these, or any other questions!

Behind the Times

Ok, so I know I'm totally behind the times on this, but I finally got round to playing with "That can be my next tweet".

For those not already over and done with it, the premise is that you type in your twitter name, and the site analyses your past history and generates some... well, gibberish really *laughs*

• That where she possesses her sister.... wtf! ok, you've convinced by the concept but I made bread too! Apart from making bread, which I do do, I cannot fathom where this came from!
• Yay, go for kidlets too : Glad the musical biscuit tin! I finished my comments : hmmm, strange The biscuit tin is a clear reference to the M&S rotating musical Christmas biscuit tin I bought thanks to a dangerous tweet from Mooncalf. 
• Damn right, sometimes I made yarn so pretty much quicker ; I can't do evening - I had such amazing things This sounds bizarrely wistful to me *laughs*
• I don't know for reverse stockinette in ears and always think just got a year! It makes no sense, but I find it pleasingly lyrical ;)
• Glad the bookclub section in my willpower is currently intact This is the only one that actually appears to be a correct sentence, although it makes very little sense! 
• Yay - I find patterns or cookery books - I pretty - your tweets are always forget that I don't remember? Why thank you, I am pretty *grins* And I do like patterns and cookery books.

So, conclusions... I say "yay" too much and use too many exclamation marks *laughs* 

PS: Sorry to everyone who doesn't do twitter, please ignore this post entirely ;)

Simple Pleasures

I got up this morning and the weather is grey and miserable and I had nothing particularly exciting to blog about...

So I decided to be positive and think about the simple pleasures that counteract the grey *smiles*

Like the fact that cooler (or, more accurately, downright cold) weather means I can wear more of the things I have knitted ;) The fact that I can make things that keep me warm, just by using a couple of needles and some yarn still amazes me sometimes *laughs*

The pleasure of a simple but tasty dinner last night. It was only pork chops with little roasted potatoes and fine beans, but everything tasted just right and it was warming and filling and just generally satisfying ;)

Having a meeting this morning that meant I didn't have to get up as early as usual and could enjoy waking slowly and luxuriating in Egyptian cotton sheets.

Talking of sensory luxury, the sensation of knitting with really gorgeous yarn that slips through my fingers like butter... The heated seats in boyfriend's car on a really cold morning... The gingerbread oil burner I always get out at this time of year, that makes my house smell like baking.

Blogging from my phone, having finally got round to downloading the blogger app. I saw a picture online recently that had a photo of a cassette tape and a pencil, with a caption that said "your children will never know the relationship between these 2 items". It made me laugh but also made me realise just how much technology has changed in such a short space of time. I remember my dad having a car phone the size of a small suitcase and now I'm posting to my blog on the move. Pretty amazing really.

And for a shot of colour to finish brightening up my morning...



So, tell me, what are some of your simple pleasures?

Exciting Friday :)

So, today I can finally show off my finished Hitchhiker scarf *grins*

But I won't keep you in suspense, I know you're keen to know who won my knitting-birthday giveaway ;)

So, thanks to the trusty random number generator, congratulations to the following people (I'll get in touch directly to get your addresses!):

Winner of the Shunklies yarn is: Kathleen (A Surprise Every Time)
Winner of the mini skeins is: Leah (Good Enough Knits)
Winner of the crochet book is: Tink (Master of a Thousand Things)
Winner of the cable book is: Sarah (Crafts from the Cwtch)

Thank you to everyone who entered - I was blown away by all the comments and honestly wish I had more prizes to give out!

Anyway, after the excitement of that, on to my FO...

It's really quite hard to take a picture of a scarf with nowhere to drape it and no good light! 

Yep, my Hitchhiker is finished. Well, it was finished last week but I was too busy being excited about my giveaway to post it *laughs*

I love this scarf. I love the pattern, the yarn is heavenly, it is just so warm and squishy. I anticipate it getting a lot of wear as the weather gets colder and colder.

Details:
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend, in Capricorn
Pattern: Hitchhiker
Mods: used DK weight yarn rather than sock weight and just carried on until I ran out!
Rating 5/5 - love the squishiness of the garter stitch, as well as the way it breaks up the pooling of variegated yarn

And, just to prove that I do (sometimes) smile in photographs, here I am wearing it:

I like to have the main part wrapped around my neck, with part hanging down to show off the sawtooth edge (which boyfriend claims looks like a dragon tail *laughs*)

PS: Don't forget the usual suspects: Tami. Natural Suburbia. Wisdom Begins in Wonder ;)

I'm Not Here...

Well, not here on my blog anyway.

I have written a guest post for Craft Blog UK, so technically, today I am here *grins*

If you do go and check it out (and you should, it's an excellent post if I do say so myself), please come back and let me know what you think ;)

Yay... It's a Giveaway ;)

Sorry to anyone who is expecting pictures of my completed Hitchhiker scarf, I have something else for today...

Tomorrow afternoon represents my biggest finish to date - I will have been knitting for exactly one year *grins* To celebrate this, I have decided to have a giveaway. I've been very lucky to win some fantastic giveaways since I started blogging, and I wanted to give something back to the community that has welcomed and inspired me over the last year.

Before I get too sappy, I'm sure you're interested in the prizes:

So, clockwise from top left we have: 

• A 50g skein of Shunklies hand-dyed 4ply Superwash Merino in "Royal Gala"
• A selection of sock yarn mini skeins - including Mini Mochi, Regia, King Cole and Zauberball - so many people knitting the beekeeper's quilt that I couldn't resist ;)
• Cable Collection knitting book - I've noticed quite a few blogs recently where people are trying out cables and discovering how easy yet effective they are
• Party Crochet book - really good pattern book - some bizarre ones but some really pretty garments that prove crochet can be really beautiful

I've had a great time over the last year, and I'm grateful to everyone who has read this blog, left comments and generally been lovely. The last 3 Fridays, where I have gone through my archives to remember my earliest projects, have been great fun. So, thanks so much for joining me and I will have real finished objects to share next week, honest *laughs*

I'm quite excited about my first giveaway (in case you couldn't tell already!), but before I forget, here is the smallprint-type stuff:

To enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. If your email address is hidden on your profile, please make sure you leave me a way to get in touch with you if you win! If you have a preference for which prize you'd like, let me know in the comments. Giveaway is open worldwide. Closing date for entries is Midnight (GMT) on Thursday 10th November and I will announce winners next Friday. 

Good luck, and thank you for stopping by *grins* 

PS: Don't forget the usual suspects: Tami. Natural Suburbia. Wisdom Begins in Wonder ;)

Cookbook Challenge Update

So, this week has not seen a cookbook challenge happen *sigh* But then, I knew there would be some weeks where things were a little too busy to be worrying about an untested recipe.

However, I am really pleased to say that last night, I made the Griddled Mustard and Herb Chicken that I posted about here. It was the second cookbook recipe that boyfriend and I had tried, and we'd really enjoyed it. As the only time it takes really is marinating, it's an easy one to add to the weekday repertoire ;)

The recipe calls for tarragon, but we first used thyme (because I prefer it). Last night I used lemon thyme, which I like even more *laughs* It really worked well with the mustard, so I think that will be the herb of choice from now on.

In other news, I have added my blog to CraftRie's Universal Craft Blog Directory.

The aim, I believe, is to find out how many craft blogs are out there and compile a giant list of them. Pretty huge undertaking, but the principle is that you add your blog and then post about it... That way the idea should reach through lots of different bloggers fairly quickly. Just click the image above to go direct to the relevant post :)

The Babe With the Power

A short while ago, I left a comment on Karen's blog Nothing But Knit 2. I then received an unexpected and very exciting email...

The email from Karen said that she had been running a secret contest on her blog, and as I was the 1000th commenter, I won *grins* She asked for my address so that she could send a surprise skein of yarn (side note: I love the knitting community - in any other context I'm sure I would have been very suspicious of a relative stranger emailing to ask my address!)

And this is what I got in the post, on a day where I needed cheering up slightly:

Lola-Doodle's handpainted classic sock yarn. Karen said in the enclosed note that she wanted to send something I might not have tried before, which I think is one of the most fun things about giveaways (especially secret surprise ones!)

The colourway name is "Who Do Voo Doo", which should explain my post title, but for anyone who has not seen Jim Henson/George Lucas' film Labyrinth (and let me take a moment to tell you that you should) the film includes the following exchange:

You remind me of the babe,
- What babe?
The babe with the power
- What power
The power of voodoo
-Who do?
You do

Hmmm, it loses a little something when it's written down instead of sung *laughs* To make up for it, here is a picture of David Bowie as Jareth, the Goblin King ;)

So now I need to find a pattern based on goblins or mazes, or something *laughs* And I shall leave you with a close up of the cool colours which, for a change, is a pretty close match to reality!

Lovely Leibster

I was chosen for a Leibster Award *big grin* Thank you to Lovely Light, who sent it to me. I've always liked this award particularly.

The Liebster award (“Liebster” is the German word for dear, sweet, darling, beloved) originated in Germany.

The aim of the award is to bring more attention to blogs with fewer than 200 followers, that people think deserve some additional attention. 

The rules to accepting the award are:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.

I've been trying to think of 5 blogs that deserve the award, which is tough as there are so many out there that I love! 

So, with that disclaimer in place, I would like to award this to:

Master of a Thousand Things - because honestly, she's my crochet alter ego

Crafts from the Cwtch - because hopefully this will make up for me not finishing my blanket yet and only showing teaser shots ;) also, it's a really lovely blog (although I can't see a followers widget, so I'm not sure if you qualify Sarah!)

{a 1/4 to}  - because of all the pretty pictures and crafts

It's Geek to Me - because any blog with a picture of Nathan Fillion in the header is worth reading (not the only reason though!)

When Did I Become a Knitter - because she makes me laugh with pretty much every post :)