Luiza Shawl

Remember the shawl competition that Jane was running last week over at Colours from chaos? Y'know, the one I said I'd never win as I was comment no 1? Yup, I WON!!!! I won this lovely shawl pattern - isn't that so cool? Totally amazing as I never win these things. There was a lot of happy dancing going on yesterday:-)) AND a lot of stash rummaging, hunting for the perfect yarn to use.

But I didn't find anything I thought was going to do this pattern the justice it deserves. So, I've decided I'm going to dye some especially for the occasion - maybe I'll call it 'Lucky Luiza' :-)) I'm thinking a lovely deep rich colourway, slightly variegated but only subtle tonal variations, and I think I may even push my limited shawl skills to work with 2ply laceweight instead of the safer 4ply/fingering! (I will dye some fingering too - just in case!) I'm also going to make extra long skeins of fingering (150gms) so I don't run out like I did with the nightsongs shawl - about 2 rows from the end.

I do love the cobweb look and feel of the finer gauge but I'm a bit dubious of my ability to achieve that quality - but if you don't try, you don't learn and this is so nice, I just have to try!!

This is going to be good for me as I really needed to get my ass in gear and start dyeing some more yarns for the shop. It's been languishing a bit so it could do with a revamp for spring. And of course, I may even have a little yarn giveaway nearer the time......:-) I have some new types of yarn to try out - silk/wool mixes in lace and fingering weight as well as some worsted weight wool, so lots of playing will be going on soon!

Thank you Jane for the opportunity to knit up your lovely shawl!

Giveaway winner!

Well, the rug giveaway has now closed and the lucky winner is....... Glowgirl! The rug above is the rug of glowgirls choice and isn't it lovely? I didn't find that on my search. Just goes to show just how many rugs there are on the CSN rug site!

Glowgirl, an e-mail is on its way to you now so we can get the rug to you as soon as we can! I'd like to thank everyone for taking part, the choice of rugs was really interesting and I wish everyone could have won! It's been good fun to run a competition and I might have more giveaways from now on!

I have my second blogiversary coming up in a month or so, and I think to celebrate I may have a yarny giveaway then - sock yarn dyed in your own colourway? And maybe some dyed fabric for the quilters and collagers out there. Still thinking. What would be your ideal prize to win in a competition? I think there should also be more than one winner:-) Three is a nice number and spreads the happiness around! And worldwide! I'm happy to post anywhere :-)

Thoughts?

Rug Giveaway!

Today, I've got some good news for you! I'm hosting a rug giveaway!! The kind people at CSN Rugs are offering one US reader the chance to win any rug from their extensive collection up to the value of $55.

The rules are very simple. To enter, just pop over to the their website, look through their extensive range of rugs and choose your favourite rug up to the value of $55 but not over, and come back here and leave a comment saying which rug it is you like. Do make sure you leave an e-mail address so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner.

The competition runs until next friday 19th June and will end at midnight (GMT) where the winner will be drawn at random. So plenty of time to have a good look through the rug collection.

They do host a very comprehensive range from soft florals, geometrics, art inspired, contemporary, traditional, oriental, designer, stripes and natural styles so there should be something for everyone there.

Unfortunately the offer only applies to US readers at the moment. I hope we can hold another giveaway sometime in the future that will include more of us as it's a lovely opportunity!

So, remember to say which rug it is you like, leave your name and your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win. And the winner will get their chosen rug sent to them absolutely free! This is so cool! I love presents in the post!

So, off you go! Have good browse and let me know what designs you like. I look forward to seeing what you choose!