For the second night of our Hanukkah-palooza, Elyse wanted to offer a prize collection for the crafty Bitches out there. Take it away, Elyse!
Elyse:
For this year’s Hanukkah giveaway I wanted to share some of the items that have brought me comfort and a sense of peace this year.
Some people ask me how I can live in Wisconsin where it gets terribly cold, but the truth is I love winter. I love snowstorms that are eerily silent and peaceful, like the entire world is holding its breath, waiting quietly for the weather to pass.
And I love knitting cozy things during winter, things that I know will bring warmth and comfort when they’re worn.
Firstly, this giveaway will include romance novels because obviously. I’ll include several romance novels across different subgenres.
I’ll also include a copy of Knits About Winter by Emily Foden. This book really took this year’s Indie Untangled by storm, and it offers a variety of beautiful, winter-in-the-country themed patterns.
This book has fifteen total patterns, for sweaters, socks, wraps/shawls, hats, and mittens–basically everything you need to stay toasty. Some of the patterns are charted. I think this book would be appropriate for beginner and intermediate level knitters.
One of my favorite patterns is the Full Moon wrap. Isn’t that texture gorgeous?
I’m also including some yarn. All of the yarn I’m using for giveaways this year is from indie dyers and was sourced at my local yarn shop, Fibre. Shop local, y’all!
The yarn I chose is from Round Mountain Fibres. They’re an indie dyer inspired by nature and they have three collections: ornithology, etymology and botany.
I’m including two skeins of fingering weight yarn (approximately 400 yards each) that is 100% superwash merino wool. The colorways are Hummingbird Purple from the ornithology collection and Cacao Pod from the botany collection.
That’s enough yarn for two hats or two pairs of socks or some mittens.
Finally, I’m including a set of stitch markers by Wee Ones. I discovered this vendor at Rhinebeck this year and I love her stuff sooo much. She makes polymer clay stitch markers, and she does lots of different dog breeds, cat breeds and critters, so it’s a perfect gift for the pet-loving knitter in your life.
I’m including a set of her winter hedgehog stitch markers, which are perfect for adding whimsey to any winter knitting project.
Aren’t they adorable?
Sarah: I think whatever part of my nervous system that handles cuteness has just short-circuited.
Want to enter? Yay!
Leave a comment below with your favorite craft project you’ve started this year!
Standard disclaimers apply: I am not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and ready to get crafty! Let’s pour one out for all the crafts we’ve started, that inevitably wind up in the project bin of shame. May your yarn always be soft and remain untangled.
Comments will close Tuesday 4 December 2018, at or near 12pm ET, and winner will be announced shortly afterward.
Good luck, Happy Hanukkah, and thank you for being part of Smart Bitches!
Winner update: Congratulations to Emily Frances King! Be sure to check your email and spam folders.
Keep an eye on the rest of our Hanukkah-palooza giveaways!
The only craft project I started this year is a wooden box I’m decorating as a gift for a friend (I plan to fill it with some letters she can open throughout the year because we live on opposite coasts). I started decopauging (?) it, but it turned out awful, so I’m beginning again and am going to do a simple paint job. Fingers crossed the second attempt turns out! Also, this is a really cool prize! The yarns are beautiful.
I´m enjoying the Windhover-Shawl (from Poetic Crochet) I´m crocheting right now as a Christmas gift; it has a nice texture and looks quite elegant when finished. My favourite project was the Chinese Dragon Shawl (Interweave Crochet Fall 2012), which is just amazing.
I’m working on a piece of calligraphy that says, “This is not Burger King, Federal Express, or the Library of Congress. Therefore I do not do it your way, deliver overnight, or know everything.”
Wish I could put it up at work.
I’ve been setting up a traveler’s notebook for use starting in January, and I have been paper crafting like mad to get it all prettied up!
This year, I mostly worked on finishing my first sweater:
Shapely Boyfriend
Using
In the Navy by Blue Moon Fiber.
I still have a bunch of worsted left over, so I’ll do a scarf. I also have a skein of it in fingering, so I’ll do the Sock Head hat.
Yesterday, I went to a barn quilt sign painting class, which was a ton of fun, although it reminded me of when I failed coloring in first grade. 🙂
I’m working on a crochet blanket made of old sheets as the yarn! It’s gorgeous AND frustrating!
I started to finger-knit a beany for my nephew 🙂
All of my knitting projects are my favorite once I start going. So much fun! I love it! Why don’t I do this all the time? But which one is my favorite? The colorwork socks? Mittens? Hats? The stripy garter shawlette? The shawl of many textures that I really should get back to?
Okay, I’ll just randomly choose the Speedy Selbu Mittens (by Skeindeer Knits) that I mostly knitted up in 24 hours…now if I could only get those thumbs knitted, I could have warm hands…
I’m currently working on a set of cross stitch Christmas ornaments of the Grinch. I recently placed my mother in long term care and am slowly getting back into crafting now that I have some “me” time.
I havnt really done a lot of knitting or crocheting this year but a couple of my friends are pregnant so I want to make somthing fir their babies.
I made invitations to my son’s birthday party and thank you cards for all of the teachers at his daycare from the parent organization. Just last week he was asking if I could knit him a red scarf (his favorite color).
I’ve been working on cross-stitch blankets for my niece and nephew (my sister had twins at the end of August!!). Given that I’m in grad school and working full time, they may not get these blankets until they get to kindergarten, but we’ll see.
@Sally–I love the Grinch! Where did you get the cross stitch patterns?
I started mittens, with little UFOs on them
A scarf I started on a snowy day in Brussels. Had such fun exploring a foreign craft store.
I’ve been working on several large cityscape cross stitch patterns!
I am currently finished the Raindrops and Roses shawl. I love this pattern. It is very easy but not boring.
Sandy L
My favourite two crafts projects this year have been a romper for my baby boy (who is now a frankly terrifyingly large 10 month old – luckily I sized it large) and a baby blanket for a friend.
I started a scarf that’s knitted in the round so it can be done quickly and also warmer with some really pretty yarn from Mad Tosh.
I’m crocheting rainbow gifts for my team: a rainbow turtle amigurumi for our ocean lover, a rainbow pussy hat for our activist, and a rainbow wrist pouch for our hoarder!
I am working on a scarf.
My favourite project is the secret sweater I am knitting for my Dad. He is retiring in May so I am trying to get this done before then. Which is harder than it sounds because I am working off of measurements from old dress shirts and a 45 year old sweater that his aunt knit.
Right now I’m working on my third (adult) sweater of the year, a satisfying lace and cable pattern that’s easy enough for distracted knitting (I like to knit and read), in a beautiful hand dyed yarn.
Judy Marples’ Dovetail Shawl!
I fell deeply in love with my local creative reuse store and it turns out that when fabric costs me a dollar a yard I make sooooo many things. Best craft this year was curtains for my kiddo’s room that magically extended naptime (14 dollars for all the fabric and findings for four windows!), second best was definitely the toddler chair I made from four upcycled pillows and more fabric.
(Psst- these folks keep a list of creative reuse & scrap stores around the world if you want to find one near you (not comprehensive though, so also worth a local Google): https://www.artofrecycle.org/our_neighbors.html)
I’m still a beginner and have been working on crocheting a blanket for a while now.
My favorite that I started (and finished) is a shawl made from the navy baby Alpaca yarn my son bought for me on his 6th grade trip to France. I made it last spring in his 1st year of college. It’s beautiful, the first time I’ve added beads to a project, and I wear it at least one a week.
I knit a really nice, soft cowl with rasta yarn this year. It’s my new favorite.
This summer I began doing squares for Knit A Square (mentioned by Elyse’s Crafting for a Cause back in July). There are so many great things about doing squares – trying different stitches, patterns, and color combos, being able to pick up and complete a square quickly is very satisfying, and that the squares are going to help make blankets for children.
I just finished the Smock It shawl by Stephen West and it’s definitely one of my favorite knits this year!
I’m working on a pair of kilt hose for a friend
I started bullet journaling this year. It’s been a great outlet for getting some creative time in my week. It’s also helping me improve my brush lettering skills
I’m 90% done with my On the Spice Market shawl in the Leaf Peepers set (which is good because it’s a present that I’m gifting on the 15th). It’s the fanciest thing I’ve knit so far and I’m really proud of myself!
I started doing embroidery on felt and I really love the contrasts of both color and texture. Plus the pieces tend to be small making them both portable and satisfying.
I haven’t started any new crafts this year but the yarn in the picture is definitely inspiring me. I would love to make a scarf with them.
I started (and finished) a Dragon Wing Cowl for my daughter, after seeing a knitted sample at Stitches West. The yarn I used (same as the sample) was actually from the devil – not sure what I was thinking about using a drop stitch pattern with a fuzzy yarn. But the final product was beautiful.
Knitting was something I had done in Home Economics at school in the eighties but never followed through. After continuously drooling over Elyse’s Knitting on the site i decided that my New Years resolution for 2018 would be re-learning to knit. I stocked up on cheap yarn, needles, youtube videos and a library book and many scarves later here I am. That said, my favourite was a colour block scarf in grey and black that both my son and I love to wear – not together obviously.
I have made two lovely Junction Shawls (see Ravelry) for my nieces with beautiful ombré yarn from The Blue Brick.
My favorite craft projects are the ones my daughter does. She got a sewing machine last year and makes what she calls “very useful bags” that her granny in Scotland taught her how to make. <3
I have approximately 4-5 lace scarves in my basement that I have knitted over the last couple of years that I have never taken the time to block. Apparently, I enjoy the process more than the fashion statement.
I made the Freer cardigan by Berroco. I originally knit it for me, but it turned out to be a little too tight in the arms. So I gave it to my stepmom and will make the next larger size for me. It’s a great, flowy kind of summer cardigan and the name of the yarn–Quinoa–is very descriptive of the texture!