Posted in giveaway, knitting, Ravelry, Rose City Yarn Crawl

Giveaway Wrap-Up!!!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway in my Ravelry group!! It was so much fun, and I appreciate everyone who dropped by, whether it was just for a quick “hello” or to stick around and chat and get to know us a little better!

Congrats to Ravelry user Kepanie, winner of the grand prize!  Here’s her swag!  I had sooooooo much fun choosing these wonderful yarns and knitting notions at the 2016 Rose City Yarn Crawl.

Giveaway Grand Prize

Gathersnomoss won a mini-giveaway for these Gobstoppers:

Gob stoppers (2)

And heatherg7 snagged these Unicorn Tails:

Unicorn Tails

Congrats Becky and Heather!!!

A great time was had by all and I hope you will join us for one of our next great events!  Coming soon: a fantastic summery swap – sign-ups most likely will start in May – and the Ravellenic Games in August – a Ravelry-wide event, with knitting all during the Olympics, (virtual) medals, fun competition (mostly with yourself) and, of course, in my group, prizes!!!

post-milestone-100-2x (2)
100th post!
Posted in giveaway, Ravelry, Rose City Yarn Crawl, yarn

A Giveaway Update

Hi everyone!  The giveaway in my Ravelry group is still going strong.  There are mini-giveaways going on until we reach 5,000 posts in The Cafe thread.  Current post count: 4,854.

When we reach 5,000 posts, I’ll choose the winner using a random number generator for this prize:

Giveaway Grand Prize

I wrote all about the lovely yarn and goodies here: Giveaway Details.

In the meantime, I am giving away smaller goodies that I purchased during the Rose City Yarn Crawl.

CURRENT MINI-GIVEAWAY:

Gobstoppers

Two terrific Gobstoppers, mini-skeins of worsted weight yarn by the Knitted Wit. Soon I’ll randomly choose a winner for this mini-giveaway and then will start the next mini-giveaway. Come on over to The Cafe and join in!


MINI-GIVEAWAY WINNERS SO FAR:

Mini-giveaway 1

DSCN9607

Won by Ravelry user Kepanie.  She wrote about it in this post on her blog: Wooly Cakes and Wooden Spoons.


Mini-giveaway 2

DSCN9657

Just in time for Easter, this See’s Easter Treasure Egg was won by Ravelry user stamura.


Mini-giveaway 3

Knitted Wit Gumballs

These awesome Knitted Wit Gumballs, mini skeins of yummy yarn, were won by Ravelry user QueenKally.


Mini-giveaway 4

Happy Knits Bag

A wonderful project bag from Happy Knits.  Adorbs!  Won by Ravelry user PLC1.


Mini-giveaway 5

One of a Kind buttons

Awesome and amazing buttons from One of a Kind Buttons.  We discussed it in the group and we think the first one belongs on a mug cozy.  Won by Rav user saminar.


I hope you will come check out the group, the thread and the giveaway if you are interested.  We love to chat about knitting, yarn, and life in general, and we love to have new knitting friends join in the fun.

knit equals joy

Posted in knitting, Rose City Yarn Crawl, yarn

Giveaway Details

Hello dear knitters!  This giveaway is long over, but the beautiful yarns and products are still lovely and worth reading about..

All of these lovelies were purchased last weekend at the Rose City Yarn Crawl. It was so much fun shopping for locally made fiber products. The Pacific Northwest truly has a strong creative community, and it is a joy to share a little bit of that with you.
Giveaway Grand Prize

My only goal while shopping the Yarn Crawl was to find skeins of yarn that caught my eye…oh, and I was looking for yarn in a PDX Carpet colorway.  The first store I went to was Twisted, and right away I found it.  Score!!

The Details.

1. Knitted Wit Victory Fingering.

I love this yarn!   It’s the yarn I used (in Golden Delicious) for my Metolius River Mitts.  It is amazingly sproingy, works up wonderfully, and comes in terrific colorways. I love how this colorway picks up the colors in the original PDX Carpet.

100% Superwash Merino, 4 ounces, 380 yards, in PDX Carpet.  Purchased at Twisted.Knitted Wit

2. A PDX Carpet notions bag by Rose City Totes.

This was purchased earlier, but inspired the theme of this giveaway grand prize. Interested in the PDX Carpet iconic design? Read here.PDX Carpet

3. Rosewood cable needles.

Lovely cable needles made in Eugene. Rosewood Cable Needles2

4. Black Trillium Fibres Pebble Sock.

This is lovely yarn.  I bought a similar skein for myself, in a slightly less blue-toned colorway, and I can’t wait to see how it works up.

100% Superwash Merino, 100 grams, 380 yards in a one of a kind colorway.  Purchased at Happy Knits.Black Trillium

5. Bumblebirch Heartwood.

I have heard whispers about this yarn.  I have heard people waxing rhapsodic about it. It is truly, truly, lovely.  The colorways have depth and the bases have a very pleasing hand.

4-ply fingering weight, 100 grams, 463 yds, 75% Superwash Merino/25% nylon in Glacier. Purchased at Close Knit.bumblebirch

6.   One of a Kind Buttons button.

I was fortunate to make it to the One of a Kind trunk show at the Knitting Bee.  Artist Candace Wilson designs these lovely buttons, and I got to chat with her for awhile. Her story is great, as are her buttons!  This is the one I chose:DSCN9678

7. Blissful Knits Sublime Yak.

This yarn is just stunning.  It is shimmery and just plain gorgeous! Truly exquisitely crafted.

Sockweight, 60% Superwash Merino/20% Silk/20% Yak, 3.5 oz., 400 yds in the colorway Abyss.    Purchased at the Knitting Bee .Blissful Knits

Thank you for your support.

xoxo, Carol

knit equals joy

 

 

Posted in Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival, fiber festivals, knitting, Ravelry, Rhinebeck, Rose City Yarn Crawl

Fiber Festivals as Travel Destinations

In 2010, I went through a difficult time personally.  It was suggested to me that I plan something to look forward to as a way to get through and beyond what I was going through.

Even though I began knitting a few years before, in 2009 my knitting really took off and I also discovered the amazing fiber arts resource and website, Ravelry.

The following year, one of my new Ravelry friends filmed a video as she and a friend drove to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, affectionately referred to as Rhinebeck.   Her video showed the beautiful landscape of Upstate New York in all its fall glory, but more than that, her excitement for Rhinebeck was contagious.  I was hooked!  I wanted to go to Rhinebeck!   Rhinebeck would be my something to look forward to.

The planning started.  I purchased airline tickets.  I found my roommate (the friend above).  Someone (not me) found a great place to stay in the Catskills.  I made my Rhinebeck sweater.

I signed up for classes; if I were going to spend the money to fly across the country, it should be not only a social and shopping time, but also a time to increase my skills. I took a class on sweater design and one on Tvåändsstickning (!)-  a Swedish knitting technique in which two strands of yarn, usually of the same color, are twined together.  The classes were terrific!

Rhinebeck highlights:

My Rhinebeck Sweater
Carol, Nicole, Suzanne
Fall Color at Rhinebeck
Yarn from Rhinebeck, most from family-owned farms such as Weston Hill Farm

Best of all was the realization that a meaningful trip could be built around fiber activities. Thus began the quest for yarn festivals, retreats, yarn crawls, and any other event that could be classified as fiber-related.

Since then I have attended the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival , the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Barn Sale, the Rose City Yarn Crawl, and Vogue Knitting Live Seattle 2014, and my sisters and I toured Ranch of the Oaks during our 2014 Sisters’ Weekend.  Each is worthy of its own blog post, but…well, my hope is to write up reviews after I attend events in the future.

This fun video introduces the next fiber event I’ll be attending:

I wholeheartedly recommend fiber events as the kernel for travel planning.  They provide terrific opportunities to meet wonderful people, to become more educated in the craft, to have something exciting to look forward to and to plan for, and, of course, to increase the stash!

Meet-up for bagels before the 2015 Blue Moon Fiber Arts Barn Sale:

Left to Right: Carol, Melissa, Debby, Richelle. Photo, Melissa Keating, used by permission.