CONTESTS! CONTESTS! CONTESTS! - update #2

Good morning. (It's four a.m. in my sleepless, struggling to finish the book world.) You know the drill. I'll knit a few rounds of my ubiquitous black Fixation Bulkys while you commune with Liam.

You gotta love a man in a kilt.

September 1st is right around the corner which means we'll be announcing the Grand Prize winner and the 5 other winners of our Launch contest . . . and which also means you might like a sneak peek at some of the goodies in store for you.

If you can tear youself away from Mr. Neeson, take a look at the other photo. Yes, that one. The extremely lucky Grand Prize winner will take home those two gorgeous skeins of Noro Kureyon in wonderful #40 and a signed copy of MERCY by our Jean Brashear. Our GP winner will also receive (courtesy of yours truly) signed copies of SOMEONE LIKE YOU and GIRLS OF SUMMER, a copy of the incredible WENDY KNITS; a skein of Lion Brand Fun Fur because sometimes a girl has to play; a breathtaking skein of Lisa Souza's Earth Birth superwash sock yarn; #0US 47 inch Addi Turbos so you can try to Magic Loop; and Clover blocking pins, the best blocking pins on the planet. (In my estimation, at least.)

BTW, both Jean and I hold monthly contests at our websites. The links are on the vertical nav bar or you can click here for Jean or here for me.

Believe it or not, that's not all. It's not even close to all.

Sandra Marton offers to the grand prize winner signed copies of THE KNIGHT BROTHERS, her Waldenbooks Best-Selling trilogy that came out in March, May and July. Sandra also holds monthly contests at her website.

I'll let Nancy Herkness tell you about her current monthly website contest herself:

While vacationing in Colorado, my family and I went shopping in Manitou Springs, a quirky town near the Garden of the Gods. We found this great boutique (where my daughter went on a regular shopping spree) and I spotted this gorgeous cascade of beads. It can be worn tied as a necklace, draped like a scarf, or, if you’re slim, wrapped as a belt. The colors are lovely and reminded me of the natural shades we saw in Colorado: mossy green, deep lavender blue and rosy pink. My husband says it’s so fabulous that I should keep it for myself but I bought it for my readers so here it is as my latest contest prize. Good luck!

And then there are the goodies for our Grand Prize winner: signed copies of Nancy's SHOWER OF STARS and WELCOME TO WISTERIA LANE: ON AMERICA'S FAVORITE DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. Nancy says, "Welcome to Wisteria Lane is an anthology of essays about the television show; all sorts of writers contributed." She's also donating a great magnet for your car that reads K2TOG so everyone knows you're dedicated to your craft.

Fran Baker is donating a large print copy of THE WIDOW AND THE WILDCATTER and a surprise goodie.

Jamie Denton, who also holds monthly website contests, is contributing an autographed copy of HARD TO HANDLE, an autographed ARC of THE MATCHMAKER and a "grab bag of yarn"

Terese Ramin also blogs at The Lip Service Gang where they hold a monthly contest.

Elizabeth Boyle is donating a signed book and a skein of something gorgeous.

Laura Phillips is supplying the Grand Prize winner with an assortment of her back titles and something wonderfully knitterly.

There's more to come. I'm sure there will be some changes, some additions, and I promise to take a picture of the fabulous sock yarns waiting for the 5 other winners.

Now I'm going back to work.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: ENTER THE CONTEST! You can click on the blue button marked CONTEST at the top of your screen or click right here. Just put CONTEST in the Subject line and click send. We'll do the rest.

Good luck!

Barbara