winding the skein

We have some winners!!

2011-07-03T00:32:00.000-07:00

We have a winner! Because of Tabitha Eddington, TRAE BOHLEN won the Fiber Art Lovechild Art Yarn!! Tabitha convo me at the Etsy shop with your address, I'm going to send you some yarn for helping out Trae.

Thanks to everyone for participating! I'll be having another giveaway when I reach 300 fans. This next one will be a little less complicated!

200 Fan Giveway!

2011-06-25T02:04:00.000-07:00

"The hour has come."

(to quote Mr. Badger from The Wind in the Willows when he was going to 'take Toad in hand')

But this isn't about Toad or Mr. Badger in truth. *This* hour is to celebrate 200 Fans on Facebook with a super special skein of art yarn!

This delicious bunch of fiber and color was spun from an art batt I received from Ashley Martineau at Neauveau Fiber Arts.

Refer-a-friend Entry: Your friend must:

1. Like me on Facebook

2. Make a status update on their facebook page that says:

"Awesome Giveaway for fiber lovers! Go check out @windingtheskein - She is giving away a one-of-a-kind skein of super bulky art yarn! Post a comment on Winding The Skein's blog, (not facebook) saying (your name here) sent you, along with your facebook link. Enter giveaway here: http://www.windingtheskein.com/2011/06/200-fan-giveway.html

Make sure to put the @ sign in front of my name so it tags me. Feel free to post this on your blog, twitter, forums, or any other source you’d like to get all your friends to join in!

Every time someone comments here on the blog and posts YOUR NAME saying YOU referred them, along with their facebook link, and “LIKES” me on facebook, you will receive one entry into the drawing.

They *must* complete both steps in order to give you an entry. All your friends can also enter and refer their friends to do the same, to keep it rolling. The more friends you refer, the more entries you will earn. Every time your name is posted here, you get an entry.

BONUS ENTRY:
You may comment here with your own name *ONE* time. In the comment section say: "BONUS ENTRY - (your name and contact into)"

The winner will be chosen Saturday, July 2 at random using Random.org. I will post the winner here and on Facebook. Good luck!!

Lincoln locks

2011-06-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

The other day my daughter and I drove out to a local farm and purchased a raw lincoln fleece. Lincoln sheep have a long, curly fleece.

This farm had 2 Great Pyrenees dogs that lived in the fields with the sheep to protect them from coyotes.

I bought this gorgeous silvery fleece with yellowish white tips.

It was very dirty. I washed it up over 2 days. Then let the sun dry it over time. Wool is amazing, it's light and fluffy, it repels water but it's so insulating that it needs to be spread out to let the air get to it.

I spun up some super bulky yarn and loved the end result. While I was spinning them I had a big, fluffy pile in my lap as my family sat around the living room visiting. We all played with them. I threw a clump to my husband and he put some under his shirt collar to look like he had a super hairy chest! Then my sons pretended to have a mustache and beard, or a funny clump of hair on top of their heads.

The other day I couldn't resist embellishing our weimaraner, Jack. He didn't like the fuzziness and pawed at it some to get it away but in the end he couldn't stay awake to fight it any longer.

He was my pawn to dress up and take humiliating pictures as I liked. :) As a thank you to those who follow and read my blog I have put up a 10% off coupon in the Etsy shop good this week. Ends June 24th. Use "WTS10".

$25 Gift Certificate Winner

2011-06-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

We have a winner!!

Thank you to everyone who entered and shared about the giveaway.

Congratulations to Jen Tamedl!! Leave a comment with your email address, or convo me at the Etsy shop.

And for everyone else stay tuned. When I reach 200 fans I will be giving out some beautiful art yarn.

Word of the Day - Lucubrate

2011-06-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

Lucubrate - \LOO-kyoo-breyt\ , verb;

To work, write, or study laboriously, especially at night

Origin:

Lucubrate derives from the Latin lucubratus, "to work by artificial light."

I learned a new word today. I saw it on thesaurus.com's "Word of the Day" feature. I think we can all relate to this word. Many of us work-at-home mamas lucubrate every evening don't we?

My husband loves new words, he subscribes to the Word of the Day. I'm going to try to slip this word in my conversation tonight and see if he notices.

In honor of all the other ladies out there lucubrating every night, I'm offering a skein of yarn for sale here on this site. This is a skein not for sale in the Etsy shop, at least not yet.

Here are the details. 56 yard skein of super soft merino wool - $18.50 (this includes shipping to the US). If you're interested in purchasing this skein, leave a comment with your paypal address and I'll invoice you. Yarn is not sold until payment is received. I will post an update that this has been sold when it has been paid for. Unless otherwise noted, it is still available. THIS HAS SOLD. Thank you!

Okay all you Mamas...don't stay up too late!

100 Fans Giveaway!

2011-06-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

To celebrate 100 Fans on Facebook I am giving away a $25 Gift Certificate to the Winding The Skein Shop. The winner will be drawn on June 10th (5pm PDT) at random using Random.org. I will post the winner here and on Facebook.

You can earn 3 entries into the giveaway...

1. Leave a comment below sharing what you hope to buy with your gift certificate.

2. Click "Follow" at the bottom of this blog under the "Fans" section and let me know that you did.

3. Share about the giveaway on your Facebook page and link to my facebook page as well as this post for another entry. Make sure to tell me that you did.

Psst...I'll be having another giveaway when I reach 200 Facebook fans.

Baby Surprise Jacket

2010-03-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

Have you ever admired Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket? They are beautiful but you can't really appreciate them until you make one and see the genius that is EZ.

Huroness

2009-11-10T23:42:00.000-08:00

I loved Jared Flood's Huron and wanted to knit one for my 4 year old daughter. I didn't have the pattern but I studied his sweater and tried to come up with my own color work pattern.

Since it was such a smaller cast on than an adult sweater the pattern didn't quite work out.

Here you can see that I did a double white row but realized it threw the pattern out of balance so I ripped it back and tried something different.

This was another of the failed attempts to get the pattern to look right.

Finally, I arrived at something I could live with.

This was knit in the round, using Elizabeth Zimmermann's seamless sweater style pattern. So easy!

Gauge: 4.5 st per inch
Needles: #7

CO 110

Cuff CO: 28 st, increasing up to 56 st. before joining to body.

Underarm stitches on waste yarn: 9 st.

Here is what I ended up doing to mimic the Huron for a smaller sweater.