Everyone that commented was entered (only once) regardles sof which post you commented on. I write everyone’s name on little equally-sized pieces of paper, hum a little drumroll and pick a winner. And apparently I feel obligated to document it with crappy cell phone photos so here you go:

it says Flyin Needles!

As promised, a self-striping prize – Sknitches Syncopation in Dayspa.

woo-hoo!

And the prize will be self-striping….

All of this yarn and fiber. From the top

• Finn top – supersoft fine roving, about 8 ounces
• Socks that rock Mediumweight Space Dust – I didn’t sign up for the sock club, because I am perfectly happy to spend that money on colors that I get to pick out myself.
• The bottom two are Sport Weight Lovesticks self striping yarn in ‘Watermelon slice’ and ‘With a twist’. I love this stuff.

Wanna play? Here is the low down. Anyone can play as long as you head to your stash and get re-excited about yarn/fiber that is NOT new. Take pic, and blog it*, and leave me a comment so I know you are playing (a linkback is helpful but not mandatory). The comment can be on this post or the previous one, but you must leave it by midnight (Pacific time) Wednesday, October 31. (DEADLINE EXTENDED!!) A winner will be chosen at random. I haven’t assembled all of the prizes yet, but rest assured that there will be yarny- and fibery-goodness.

*If you don’t have a blog and would still like to play, flickr entries would work just fine.

Reading knitting blogs in the wake of rhinebeck can be a rough time for those of us that didn’t attend. It seems that almost everyone was there, and is eager to show off all the yarny and fibery goodness they acquired. It makes me jealous. So last year, I decided to have a contest exclusively for those that DIDN’T go to Rhinebeck, and I am going to have it again this year! You probably really don’t need any yarn, and have plenty of little gems that you have forgotten about hiding in your stash. So dig them out and take a picture of them, as if they are your new purchases. Post your pic to your blog, and tell us about your yarn as if it was new. Then leave me a comment by Saturday, October 27 at midnight Pacific and, viola, you are entered! edit: I forgot to mention that the winners will be chosen at random. I’ll summarize the rules again tomorrow

If you did attend Rhinebeck, and have a pile of new loot, you can still play. BUT you still have to head to your stash to re-photograph and reappreciate some of your old yarn to enter the contest.

Stay tuned tomorrow to see my picture, and see what prizes you can win!

p.s…. Ohio is pretty in the fall

There were so many entrants that I decided to also draw a second prize winner.

The GRAND PRIZE WINNER is ….

Julia!! Her comment was even about carders. Perfect!

And the lucky second place winner is

Debbi! I was thinking Debbi might enjoy a skein of handspun

Color totally misrepresented in this photo. It is shades of red, pink and white.

(Here’s the proof of the winners. I went a little overboard with the cameraphone.)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone’s comments (sorry if I didn’t reply to all of them!). Some tools that I love to use that were mentioned were post-it notes and sheet protectors. And the dental floss suggestion… cassandra is genius! It seems like many knitters would be a total loss without their swifts and ball winders. Speaking of ball winders…. look what I found at Value Village:

That’s right baby. $2.50. Hells yeah I bought it! It is a Toyota. As much as I love thrift stores, I thought finds like this were just a myth (along with finding Le Creuset at goodwill). But now, I am living the dream. Colleen is right – Thrift stores are an awesome resource for knitters and crafters alike.

Thanks for all of the helpful carder info. I have been pretty lucky with the Kitchener stitch markers over at the Loopy Ewe (currently sold out!), so I might have one before you know it. I wonder what Sheri would think if I named it Loopy?

I have had this nagging in the bag of my head telling me that I want a drum carder. I have looked into it a few times but never bought one. I want one primarily for blending merino wools with fine fibers. It should be able to handle the slightly coarser wools that I like – Romney and wensleydale for instance. And it should be able to handle the occasional fleece. Ultimately I would like to be able to make blends with soy silk and camel down and other finer fibers. I think the one that might be right for me is a Strauch Petite. I like the petite-ness (studio apartment) and the fine cloth. The only complaints that I was that when processing fleeces on the fine cloth, the second cuts didn’t get separated but that seems preferable to not being able to card fine fibers. And I shouldn’t forget to mention that the comparatively low price is a major factor.

Here’s where you come in… What do you think? Do you know anything about carders or own one that you have an opinion about? Leave me a comment and let me know! You will be eligible to win a prize from me if you do.

Don’t worry if you don’t know anything about drum carders, you can still be eligible to win a prize. Just leave me a comment and tell me about your favorite knitting/ crafting material or tool. For instance, you might tell me that you you couldn’t survive without medium-weight Socks that Rock. Or that your Bernina is your most dear possession. Or that you cannot resist alpaca yarn. I want to hear about what you like!

The contest will be open until next Saturday, June 9th when the winner will be selected at random. I’ll send you some sock yarn, and a sock knitter’s needle case. If a non-knitter ends up as the winner, and doesn’t want the prize we’ll figure something out.

Want to see the prizes?

The red yarn was dyed by me, but never made it into my etsy shop. I dubbed it “unphotographable red” and had to screw with the photo in photoshop to get it to look kinda normal. The colors go from a red-orange to a medium red and it si a superwash wool nylon blend. The Needle case was hand sewn by me in the style of the ones in my shop. Perfect for circulars, DPN’s and crochet hooks. I threw in a little crochet hook that I got at Daiso – you’ll get that too. Finally I added two skeins of Brown Sheep Handpainted yarn. Nice traditional wooly sock yarn. So get commenting!

I used a random number generator to come up with two winners for the Fake Rhinebeck Contest.

The firstwinner is knitnana
Some sock yarn that I dyed and a set of kitchener stitch markers will be headed her way.

And since i was feeling generous, I drew a second winner who turned out to be laura
To her, I will send a skein of sock yarn from the day I attempted solar dyeing. Here’s a secret… i was actually trying to make it match my blog colors, but it doesn’t. Even though it is nice yarn, it’s not the color I wanted.

Hoep everyone had fun!

And much more in the spirit of Socktober than ripping out socks, I finished a pair of socks!

Pattern: my own; toe up; short row heel; 3×1 rib
Yarn: Socks that rock mediumweight in Carbon.

i think…. i guess it could actually be carbon dating. i can’t remember and i lost the ball band immediately. probably when i first brought it home and started rolling around in the big pile of new yarn. i lOVE knitting in the medium weight. The socks knit up quickly, and i don’t mind that the socks are a little thick. it is actually very useful since most of my shoes are too big and i need big socks to keep them on. and i know this probably isn’t new information to you, but man that yarn is nice. I have been coveting the new haul over at januaryone. Go look at it. I mean, does it get any better than that?

click through the photo to see notes

highlights include… Sock yarn! orange from my dye-o-rama pal, Socks that rock leftover from stitches west, and gypsy girl creations from my SP8, and some black and red stripey (bride of frankenstein) that i made myself and am dying to knit up. there is also a big hunk of brooks farms duet in there. Oh and the fiber! oh the fiber! Merino. tons of it. it is soooo soft…
I really like all of this yarn, and it is plenty to keep my busy. It really would be a disservice to this beautiful stuff to add more yarn to the queue. Isn’t that better? you* should try it. Post a picture of your pretend Rhinebeck loot and a bit about it. Leave me a comment or a trackback by Friday, October 27 and my favorite one entry chosen at random will win some handpainted yarn (see prizes here). What are you waiting for? Get pretending!
*By “you” i mean someone that didn’t get to go to Rhinebeck. the lucky knitters that went surely got some new yarn, and don’t need any pity-yarn from me.