Winner of the Last Week of the October Contest

Congrats, Cristi-Lael, you've won the last week of the contest! You'll be getting some yarn in other goodies in the mail as soon as you get in touch with me. My profile has my e-mail address, or my Ravelry ID is jecrowley. PM me your address!

In other news, my Friday was harrowing, with me: biking to the voting station in NC (quite a distance), waiting in line while trying to finish a paper due at five, finding out that they couldn't take my form of ID for some technicality I didn't register (mostly because I was having difficulty holding myself together until I could get to a bathroom to cry), biking back to campus, getting the necessary paperwork, desperately finding a computer so I could e-mail the essay to my professor, biking back, and finally FINALLY voting.

To top it all off, on the way back an SUV's driver hit the gas instead of the break, and launched himself over an embankment and retaining wall not even a yard in front of me. I do not kid. If I'd been a half second further along in my bikeride, I'm fairly certain that I would not be here typing this. More than likely, my head would have been swiped off (the helment doesn't really protect against an SUV) and my body squished flat, impaled by my crumpled bike.

My life just doesn't stay boring for long.

In better news, I'm alive, I got fiber in the mail and have more on the way, I have a bunch of RAK packages and MY FIRST ETSY sale to send off tomorrow, and the begining of the Mix Makers Swap is starting off without a hitch.

Right now I need to go to dance pratice.

Until later!

Wonderful support

Hey all, thank you so much for your well wishes and prayers. This last week I've been in a sort of daze, going through the motions and nothing more. My grandmother did get out of the hospital and is doing much better, though there were some rough patches while that was going on. Thankfully, things are better now.

Perhaps because of my emotional turmoil, and stress, but I've been doing a lot of spinning lately. The result is some very nice yarn, but even better, I was able to achieve some emotional blankness that was very welcome. I've also done quite a bit of crochet and knitting... I have a lot of updates for both my Etsy store and Ravelry.

Which brings me to another thing. I did not manage to post once at all this week, which is grossly unfair to those of you who have been reading. starrypurplehaze, I have not managed to send out your yarn, though I did get your address, and I have a proposal to make.

I'd like to make the second to the last week and this upcoming week count for one big, last prize. I would post more, and there would be double to the amount of yarn to send off. People who have commented in the last week, your comments would count towards this last drawing (if that makes sense).

I think this is only fair, because I didn't give people much of a chance to comment. Hopefully y'all agree with me, because that's what I'm going to do.

Look forward to some more posts this week!

FIrst Week Contest Done, Second Week Starting!

So the first week of the Month-long contest had a great start. I got lots of responses, and I got to see some really cool projects! (I'm planning, towards the end of the contest, to create a post where I feature all the different Halloween- themed projects).

I also got to meet a whole bunch of crafty- bloggers that I didn't know where out there. It was so nice meeting ya'll. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better as the weeks progress.

I wanted to give you a glimpse of this week's wonderful prize. Congrats Bronwyn, you've won yourself a skein of Gryffindor Yarn. Drop me an e-mail, and I'll get your yarn sent.

Now, as you're all (hopefully) aware, things only get better from here. We're entering into week two, and I have another handspun yarn to show off for you. Take a look! What do you think I should call it? It's bulky and it's got a wonderful squish to it, but I'm debating about a name. Suggestions are welcome. And also this week there will be a mysterious prize! I'll let you know what it is closer to the end of the week.

As for the contest, the rules don't change. Comments give you an entry. Showing me/everyone else your Halloween themed projects get you an entry, and posting about me on your blog gets an entry. Since it's another week, you can re-mention me in your blog if you want (I don't mind publicity). But your crafts only get you one entry- one entry per one craft. Sorry.

So tell me, what should I name this week's contest yarn?

Wednesday Contest Shoutout

I'm debating about making this a Wednesday feature, where I mention any of the contests I've come across the previous week. What do you think? Is it a good idea, or can you find the contests on your own, and you don't need me to mention them?

Well, until I get your responses, I'm going through with this week. Contests I've come across:

Knitting in the Bellybutton of California has a sock yarn contest for her 100th post. Tell her what you want to make next out of yarn, and/or mention her on your blog.

Beckyknitstoo is having a contest where you tell her about your favorite Halloween costume.

The Knit Witch is having a Halloween Ghost-story telling contest. Tell her about a ghost story of yours and post her contest on your blog.

And of course, My contest is still going on! Writing a comment will get you an entry. Mentioning the contest in your blog will get you TWO entries, just make sure that in your comment you link back to your blog. Thirdly, if you make a halloween-themed object during this month, leave a link on the comments and you get TWO entires. You can comment as much as you want (if you spam my blog, that will get you disqualified), you can make as many halloween themed stuff as you want.

So what do you think? Do you like the Wednesday Contest Post?

There's so much to blog about!

It was so nice to get back from my "Art to Alabama" trip over the weekend to see all the comments on my blog. It made me really happy, because one of the reasons I'm doing the contest is to foster connections with other blogs on the web. I've been trying to comment on all of your blogs for those of you who left a note if you have blogs, and though I haven't gotten to everyone yet I'll try to.

So what did I do over the weekend? I went on a trip one of my friends arranged to go see art. We began by driving to Atlanta, where we went to the Botanical Gardens and to the Hie- which I absolutely loved. It may sound dork-ish, but I always thought that museums were boring (one of those stereotypes you get when you're a kid, and that just doesn't vanish from your head.) but after going to many museums in Sweden (my blog about my adventures there is here) and some in America now, I've found that I actually do like art museums. Perhaps it also has something to do with me knowing more about art, so I can appreciate the thought and feeling that goes into differnet pieces. I think as a child I hadn't expierenced a depth of emotion great enough to understand what I was looking at.

The next day we went to Rural Studios in Alabama. It's a really neat place because the archetecture there is built with an eye to aestitics, but also with afordability and durability. Not all the buildings are conventionally beautiful, but a lot of them are beautiful because of the amount of work put into them. One of the projects that Rural Studios work on is models for low-income housing. You see, (as I understand it) there are grants from the goverment for low-income people to buy houses, but currently the only afforable price houses you can buy are trailer houses, which depreciatte in value (because they fall apart). Rurual studios are trying to figure out a way to build houses for less than the price of a trailer house, but that will increase in value and last for the person's lifetime. The houses are really really cool.

So, I will be posting pictures.

Well, this trip involved a lot of driving, so I got quite a bit of crocheting done (and less homework than I would have liked done because I grabbed the WRONG BOOK) , so I will post some pictures of what I got done.

And now to the last matter. Remember the sclupture I was making out of crochet? Well, my professor wants it to be in the student art show in the spring! I'm really really really excited!

That reminds me, I need to post pictures of that also. Tell you what. I'll give you another taste here, and then post the rest up with my next post.

Ta da!

So tell me, what is your opinions about museums? Take them? Leave them? Let me know.

Remember: My contest is still going on! Writing a comment will get you an entry. Mentioning the contest in your blog will get you TWO entries, just make sure that in your comment you link back to your blog. Thirdly, if you make a halloween-themed object during this month, leave a link on the comments and you get TWO entires. You can comment as much as you want (if you spam my blog, that will get you disqualified), you can make as many halloween themed stuff as you want.

Halloween Contest

In light of October being my favorite month, I've decided to run a contest. It's a big one, but here's the twist: Each Friday I will draw from all the comments of the past week and one winner will receive a skein of my handspun. Those of you who have been reading might know that I recently got a spinning wheel, and since them I've been spinning up a storm. I've opened an Etsy shop to sell some of my handspun, but I also want to share some of it with you guys. Each week I'll also include a Halloween-themed treat, because I love Halloween.

So how do you enter? Writing a comment will get you an entry. Mentioning the contest in your blog will get you TWO entries, just make sure that in your comment you link back to your blog. Thirdly, if you make a halloween-themed object during this month, leave a link on the comments and you get TWO entires. You can comment as much as you want (if you spam my blog, that will get you disqualified), you can make as many halloween themed stuff as you want.

So, you tell me, you want to know what the prize for this first week is, eh? I don't blame you! I'll give you a hint: It's inspired by Harry Potter (who I think is very, very Halloween-ish!).

So tell me, what are you planning to do During the Month of October, as the leaves change and the air gets crisp? What things are you looking forward to?