Giveaway Winners!!

Congratulations to Liz and Jessica - the winners of the knitting patterns and biscotti. Please check your e-mail inbox for a message from me.

Thanks to everyone else that visited my blog over the past few days. It was amazing to read through your replies and learn so much about the origins of creativity. I will be reading through the comments again this week and hope to post a summary soon.

Thanks also to Sew, Mama, Sew! for hosting such an amazing collection of blogs for their giveaway day.

A giveaway

I could blame it on the holiday weekend, the gardening or the kids. But the fact is I just simply forgot to note the sign-up deadline for the Sew, Mama, Sew! giveaway day on my calendar. Melissa over at Tigerlily Tinkering - be sure to check out her recent apron adventures - reminded me of this amazing creative effort and I felt the urge to jump in too. So…I'm not sure if I am an officially sanctioned participant, but I will host a giveaway anyway. Here are the details:

I'll be giving away two knitting pattern collections, both by Melissa Matthay and Sheryl Thies (rav link), this one and this one. This means there will be two – yes two – winners here. Each pattern collection will arrive at it's destination packaged alongside a homemade, freshly-baked batch of biscotti. I usually make chocolate-almond, but I am happy to accommodate any food preferences or sensitivities.

To win, leave a comment describing either who taught you to knit (or sew, or create, or do what it is that you do) or why you began. Beginnings and origins are interesting to me and I'm curious to learn if crafting/creating is something that we are raised with, or whether we reach for it during particular moments in life. Or is it both? My twin daughters will pick the winners from a hat at 12 noon CST on May 31st. Lucky for them there are two winners! I will post the winners later that afternoon. Unfortunately I won't be able to send these items internationally, so the giveaway is only for individuals in the U.S. and Canada.

Good luck and I look forward to hearing from all of you!

Fiber Gathering

Kathy Mack from Pink Chalk Studio (blog) hosted a great giveaway last week. And I won. I didn't quite believe it, even after we exchanged e-mails. But then I received the book, Fiber Gathering: Knit, Crochet, Spin, and Dye More than 20 Projects Inspired by America's Festivals by Joanne Seiff, in the mail over the weekend and I knew it had to be true. Fiber Gathering reminds me a lot of a cookbook on my shelf, Local Flavors by Deborah Madison.

Both books take you from coast-to-coast showcasing the best fiber festivals and farmer's markets (respectively) in the United States. I love that I can open each book and travel immediately to another part of the country - and learn a tremendous amount along the way. Included in Fiber Gathering are a host of patterns and how-to tutorials for dyeing, spinning and other assorted fibers skills. I'm excited to give both dyeing and spinning a try some day, and this will be my go-to book when I am ready.

Cheers to the wonderful blogosphere and the way that unique, talented and supportive individuals reach out to others; to encourage creativity in every aspect of our lives. You can be sure I will pay it forward soon.

Giveaway Winner!!

We have a winner! This afternoon, in the middle of mac 'n cheese, the girls selected a winner. First we had to decide who was going to make the drawing. That was decided by ennie-meanie-minee-moe, and Abby won. Abby then took the cup and drew out Carissa's name.

Carissa, please e-mail (bethmocallaghan@gmail.com) with your mailing address and I'll send off those sock blockers. And the rest of you check out Carissa's website. The pictures of the cupcakes make my mouth water!

http://creativecarissa.blogspot.com/

Thanks to all of you for playing along and visiting my blog. Here's to a creative, happy and healthy New Year!

My First Giveaway - Start the New Year out on the right foot!!

I didn't do a giveaway on my 100th post, and it's too early for a blogiversary giveaway. But, a great opportunity has presented itself and I couldn't resist. It's the new year - why not start out on the right foot?! (sorry, bad pun but I couldn't resist...read on.)

My husband gave me a beautiful pair of handmade solid wood sock blockers for Christmas. I loved them so much I encouraged him to immediately make more.

Can't wait to get your own pair? Well you can, with my first ever giveaway!

Want to enter? Just leave a comment on this post and then link to my blog from yours (if you have one). Tell me your best New Year's resolution, or at least one that you haven't already broken.

Also, I know that I have struck up friendships with folks that aren't knitters - so for those of you who would like to participate, but would appreciate something more sewing or craft related let me know that too - don't be shy, I've got few other gifts for those non-knitters out there!

I'll use my own personal random number generators (3 year old twin know-it-alls) to pick the winner at 12noon on Wednesday, January 7th. My apologies, due to the cost of international shipping, the giveaway is only open to folks in the United States and Canada.

In the meantime you can learn more about these sock blockers here.


















The socks shown here are the embossed leaves pattern, by Mona Schmidt, which can be found in Interweave Press Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs. The yarn is essential sock yarn (color: lantana) by Knitpicks.

Auburn Studios

The inspirational font of, more than a few, creative benders [seriously, I have left my computer in the middle of reading her posts and dashed to my sewing machine] Mr. Monkeysuit has just opened her own etsy shop, Auburn Studios. Go over and check it out - I promise her products and patterns will help you along your quest to create lovely handmade holidays.

Crafty Giveaways

www.craftygiveaways.com

What a brilliant, lovely idea. Jen is clearing out her stash and helping all of us learn some new tricks along the way, like how to fold fabric flowers. Amazing.

Girl dress giveaway!

Check it out and enter to win. The dresses are adorable.

http://playisthething.blogspot.com/2008/07/giveaway.html