Bad News, Good News Prize No. 3

Tell the world you're a knitter and proud of it with this car magnet!


If you'd like a chance at this goodie, send an email to nancy@nancyherkness.com with "car" in the subject line.

I'll draw a winner on July 20th.

We have a winner!

Due to a brain blip, I forgot to draw the winner for the Hawaiian earrings until today. My apologies!






The Random Number Generator chose lucky number 13 in my entry list: Adrienne Fong. Congratulations, Adrienne! Email me your snail mail address and I'll send them your way! My email is nancy@nancyherkness.com.

Lace Knitting in Paradise

That's my Arctic Lace scarf draped over a sculptural piece of driftwood on the North Shore of Oahu. Beside it is the gorgeous lei I was presented with at our hotel's luau.

I am happy to report that my No. 3 bamboo needles passed the airport security inspection and accompanied me on my looooooooong flight to Hawaii. Lace knitting is a perfect way to pass the time on a ten-hour flight; it requires just enough concentration to keep your mind off the fact that you're 36,000 feet up with nothing between you and the ground except very thin air (can you tell I'm a white-knuckle flyer?) but doesn't tax the mind overmuch the way revising a book proposal does (can you also tell that I took the book proposal on the flight and didn't touch it?)

I wasn't sure if the needles would get through so I had my lifeline threaded through the last row, ends securely tied together, just in case I had to sacrifice the needles to the war on terrorism. But the screener didn't even flinch.

One evening I was so exhausted by the delights of Hawaii that I even sat and knitted on our lanai overlooking the blue, blue sea. Mostly though I was out on the beach or kayaking to a volcanic island or eating sushi so fresh it practically swam off the plate. Can you tell I really liked Hawaii? There will be more on that later, after I sort through all the photos I took (over 700, but, don't worry, you won't have to look at all of them).

Because I love you guys on RTY, I thought of you even whilst immersed in paradise. I couldn't find a knitting shop but I did find these beautiful earrings which are based on a Hawaiian quilt design and brought them back as a prize for some lucky knitter.




If you'd like to enter the drawing to win them, send me an email at nancy@nancyherkness.com. I'll draw a winner on Monday, August 11th. (I don't want anyone to miss the drawing due to a vacation!)

Aloha!

Top O' the Mornin' to All! We have a winner!

Erin Go Bragh!

The luck of the Irish was with "dobarah" at dobarah@yahoo.com today. She is the fortunate winner of the pearl earrings. Dobarah, email me your snail mail address and I'll send you your prize jewelry.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all the knitters here at RTY!

Last call to enter the earring contest!

I realized I hadn't put a deadline on the earring contest so I thought I'd mention that I'll be drawing the lucky winner on Monday, March 17th (Blarney Day!). Maybe the luck of the Irish will be with you and you'll win these pretty pearl danglies. Make sure to email me at nancy@nancyherkness.com to enter!

New skills and a prize

Cindi asked what new skills we've been trying out. While on vacation, I learned ( and I use that term loosely) to make earrings. At our hotel in the Poconos, Catherine, the lovely lady from Cate's Jewelry (see her designs at http://www.catejewelry.com/) taught my daughter and me to make our own earrings. We had the best time rummaging through the gorgeous gems she brought along for us to use, oohing and ahing and pulling out the ones we liked best as we decided which combinations to use.

Here's my first pair which have large mother-of-pearl dangles and pearl accents.

I probably bit off more than I should have with the double dangle on each one but Catherine saved me by suggesting that I insert a tiny bit of chain at the top to give the earrings movement. They're such fun to wear because I get a quiet music everywhere I go as the mother-of-pearl clicks together.

Catherine very graciously let us make a second pair since we had extra time. These are my second design:

Although the amber chunks at the bottom were drilled to support the wire, my daughter gave me the idea of wrapping the wire around the stone for decoration. I liked the chain so much in the first pair that I incorporated it into the design of these. These colors go with just about everything I own so I find myself wearing them a lot. There's something wonderful about having jewelry that suits you personally because you made it yourself.

Making jewelery is a lot harder than it looks. Catherine coached us in the basic techniques of bending, twisting and cutting wire and chain but she had to give us more direct aid with tasks such as attaching the hooks to the earring. I came away with a new appreciation for the jeweler's art.

Since I had so much fun, I decided to give away the earrings below to a lucky RTY visitor.

I'm afraid that these were not made during our session but they're pretty and I bought them in the hotel's gift shop. Send an email to nancy@nancyherkness.com with "earrings" in the subject line and I'll enter you in the contest for these pretty pearl danglies.

Has anyone else tried a new craft recently? Tell us about it!

A celebration prize!

Marching band season is officially over, I can walk on my sprained foot, and I'm knitting once again. To celebrate all these improvements in my life (although I'm starting to be a little sad about the end of marching band since my daughter graduates this spring), I am giving away this fun, funky pin I found at a local craft fair. If you'd like to be in the running to win it, leave a comment on this post. I'll generate a random number on Monday, Nov. 26th (after the Thanksgiving turkey is fully digested) and let you know who won.

Hope everyone has a Thanksgiving with many blessings to count!

Prize alert: Malabrigo gorgeousness!

I promised you Malabrigo "Molly" but, alas, it was sold out. However, I fell in love with this stunning Malabrigo worsted in "Brisa", a lovely, lovely colorway of lavender, pink, and misty grays. So I bought two skeins of 216 yards each for one lucky winner. Add your comment to this blog and I'll break out the Random Number Generator on Friday and pick the person who gets this beautiful yarn in the mail.

(I saw a funny tee-shirt which said, "The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance." Mathematician humor!)

And the Qiviuk winner is...

Kim, aka " kshotz"! Congratulations, Kim! Email me your snail mail address at nancy@nancyherkness.com and I'll send you your soft, warm, woolly muskox fiber. We'll be eagerly waiting to hear what you create with it.

Next week, I hope to have some Malabrigo to give away as promised during Yarnapalooza. I stopped by my LYS today but it was closed for lunch and I didn't have time to wait. If I can't find Malabrigo, I'll get some other lovely yarnish goodie for my favorite bloggers.