Baby Pool + The Best Chocolate Cake Ever

It's getting close to baby time - my due date is October 7th - and I thought, why not a baby pool? Leave a comment with your best guess on the day the little guy will arrive and whoever's closest will win a skein of hand-dyed yarn! The window isn't too huge, so leave a date and an approximate time like AM or PM.

Here's a major hint:

I make giant babies so doc has promised to "help things along" if I haven't delivered by the 1st, so I'd probably guess closer to that date than the actual due date.

In Other News - here's my new most favorite recipe for fudgy, moist, delicious chocolate cake from King Arthur Flour. I always sub sour cream for the buttermilk/yogurt though. I apologize for the pic - it seems that after making cake my kitchen is a disaster area, but if I wait any longer to take the pic, the cake is half gone!

Hmmm... maybe the giant baby issue has something to do with my intense chocolate and sugar cravings that I get in the last month of pregnancy? This recipe sooooo hits the spot!

Giveaway Winner

Congrats to teabird - you're our winner! I'll be contacting you via Ravelry to get your mailing addy and color preference.

If you didn't win, don't worry, you'll have another chance to win when we host a giveaway on The Fiber Cooperative blog. We'll be giving away another bump of this gorgeous stuff there next week!

Tour de Fleece Giveaway

Since the tour doesn't end till the 25th, that leaves us with a couple of weeks to diminish our stash like crazy and spin!

And if you're like me that means you've pre-enhanced your stash to prepare for the stash-busting you'll be doing (and now haven't even spun a thing so my stash is bigger than when I started) or you'll be re-stocking your stash afterwards.

So I thought, what better time to give away some gorgeous spinning fiber? Just leave a comment here, any old comment, and I'll enter you in the drawing - just be sure to leave your ravelry or etsy username or some other way to contact you in the actual comment (it makes my life easier when it's time to contact you and since I'm giving stuff away I can be demanding like that.) You can even get extra entries for sharing about the giveaway on twitter or facebook, just paste the URL of your share into the comments here so I'll be sure to see it.

Here's exactly what we'll be giving away:



A 4oz bump of solid Superwash Merino fiber from the shop. I have it in stock now in black, firebrick, leaf, yellow and celadon. Winner gets to pick from whatever's in stock when I choose a winner on Friday the 16th.

All Knit it Up Clubs are ON SALE!

You may have noticed already, but thought I should just point it out - all Knit it Up clubs are on sale at the new shop.

As you may know, I'm expecting a baby this October, so we're closing the signups for all our clubs - Sock Yarn Cinema and Spinning the Seasons - on June 30th. That enables me to dye ahead and give myself permission to be very lazy for my last trimester and after the baby comes.

Yep I'm thinking ahead. Last time I was literally packing up orders when I went into labor, and putting off going to the hospital so I could swing by the Post Office on my way there.

Anyway - SYC is 25% off when you sign up for 6 months, 20% off when you sign up for 3, or 15% off when you purchase 1 month. Spinning the Seasons discounts are the same. The awesome part is the discount applies to everything in your cart, so you can stock up on other fibery goodness while you're there. (We're doing a shop update tonight or tomorrow - so there will be even more colorways, fibers, and cool new accessories to go around.) Even if you're set for clubs you can use the code KNIT to get 15% off everything else in the shop. Including our Alice in Wonderland Sock Yarn Collection. Let's just say I'm drooling over these colorways already!

Making Knitting Sassy

Saw these babies and just couldn't help but picture it... A little black dress, crazy variegated handknit socks and these amazing shoes from Betsy Johnson.

How do you keep your knitting fashion-forward? Or do you care? Most of my knitting is about comfort - cozy sweaters and scarves, socks that make your toes happy, things that I tend to wear too many times between washings and combined with sweat pants on wintery days. (Of course, I do work from home so many days I get by without seeing any actual adults other than the mailman.)

These shoes could be just the inspiration I need to kick it up a notch fashion wise. Plus they're on sale right now at ideeli for just $84.

Stringin' In the Rain

Drawing Winners

Here are the winners and their prize choices! Congrats to them!
(Prized all shipped out Monday May 10th so you should see them soon!)

1. Jessie from PhatFiber - a year of knitting
2. karino on etsy - a year of fiber
3. lelsesq on etsy - ball winder and swift
4. pookiepie13 on etsy - $50 gift certificate
5. mjlegg on etsy - knitter's starter library

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Sale and Drawing Extended

We've extended our sale and drawing until April 25th! We just had too many new items to add to get them all listed before the sale ended. So now you have an extra week to get brand new items at sale prices!

Happy Etsyversary - Prizes Totaling $900!

This Easter Sunday marked our 3rd blissful year on etsy. Which we celebrate each year with the opportunity to win some amazing prizes - and this is our biggest giveaway yet!

How it works:

1. You get one free entry into our drawing here, just by leaving a comment.

2. You get another entry for every item you purchase from April 9th until April 19th.

a. Yep if you buy 20 things, you get 20 entries into the drawing

b. Also, if you buy a club membership, you get as many entries as months in the membership (ie. a 6 month Sock Yarn Cinema purchase = 6 entries).

Oh yes, and we'll have discounts and other deals that change with my daily whims. But you can count on 10-30% off everything in the shop (except subscriptions).

Just a note - I know not everyone knits or spins but sometimes does the other exclusively, so the first name drawn will get to choose between the two first prizes, then the next name drawin will have the option of taking the one that's left or passing for the next prize, and so on and so forth. Choices - aren't they great?!

The Prizes:

A Year of Knitting (Value: $325)

12 Skeins of gorgeous hand-dyed yarn in a brand new Namaste Monroe Bag in Eggplant. (Skeins will be selected from available stock at the time of the drawing.)

A Year of Fiber (Value: $300)

12 braids and/or batts of gorgeous hand-dyed fiber in a brand new Namaste Monroe bag in Lime.

Ball Winder and Swift (Value: $120)

Every hand-dyed yarn lover's dream! No more hand winding those skeins.

Knitter's Library Starter (Value: $100)

5 of my all time favorite knitting books to start a library or add to your current one:

A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker

Luxury Yarn One-Skein-Wonders by Judith Durant

Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman

Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick

Getting Started Knitting Socks by Anne Budd

$50 Gift Certificate to Knit it Up (Value: $50)

Use it immediately, save it for a rainy day, or gift it to a very lucky fiber friend!

So what are you waiting for?! Leave a comment with your email address or etsy username to get your first entry, then hop on over to the shop to find some great deals on stuff you actually want and get even more entries into the drawing!

(Sale starts April 9th, but all purchases between now and the 19th will qualify you for entries into the drawing.)

Winter Is Over

My husband thinks this photo looks like proof in an abuse case, but I think it looks like the end of winter! Scraped knees are a sure sign of warm weather and active children, so I'll take it.

Knitting Fashion

I think I know her problem - she's holding those needles all wrong!

Selfish Knitting

So I was just driving home from my first OB visit, and passed an LYS. I've seen it a few times (but had a car full of children with me). This time it was just me and the boy - age 2. Not a great age for LYS shopping, but I had to take the opportunity to pop in and check it out. After living in rurual New Mexico, I now shop for yarn almost exclusively online. There was no LYS within a 3 hour drive! (That's actually what drove me to start dying and spinning my own yarns.)



Anyway, I'm out of the habit of using my LYS, and today reminded my why they're so great. You never know how they'll be - snooty or nice - especially when you have a sticky-fingered munchkin in tow. (Literally sticky-fingered - not like he's a notorious yarn thief.)



I immediately relaxed when I spotted the table filled with kids toys at the door. Or I should say, when my son spotted them! One Stitch More in Cincinnati has an awesome selection of Rowan yarns, which is pretty rare, sweater's worths in stock so I had no excuse to order it online instead.



I love Rowan patterns, especially Rowan Classic (they seem to be more... well... classic than the other Rowan patterns which can be a bit edgy for my taste). So I decided to treat myself. I thummed through a few books, found one with patterns I loved, bought the yarn and now I just need to go and cast on already!



Here's my new project!
Pattern:

Woodland by Martin Storey from the Rowan book: "nature"

Yarn:
Rowan Bamboo Soft in silvery grey (so soft!)

Just Because

So we're finally moved in and I am officially expecting baby #3 this fall! I promised myself I'd become a regular blogger once the move was finished so I'll definitely be posting more, but I am going to be tired a lot, so it may be simple things that make me smile. Like this...




Seriously - what's better than a knitting clown?

Spinning Wheel Winner!

Congrats to mamakass - you're the Spinning the Seasons member who won the Ashford Kiwi! I'll be contacting you to get all the information I need to have one shipped off to you ASAP.

Thanks to everyone else for participating! Watch for more awesome giveaways in the future - they're just so fun to do!