Bella Knitting

Winners!

Sarah

We've got winners in our photo story contest!

First prize, and winner of a $50 Bella gift certificate: Kate (sadly blogless, it seems) whose entry you can see here. In three shots, Kate encapsulated the drama and excitement of a successful first scarf -- and how can you not love her pose in the last photo? Cracks me up every time!

Second prize, and winner of a purse hook: Carol, for her hilarious entry depicting a vicious kitty attack on a knitted mouse. Carol, your cat just looks so thrilled -- "look ma, I gots it!" I love it.

Third Prize, and winner of a knitting care kit: MissScarlett, for her adorable entry titled "Carpooling." My initial reaction, which has been repeated every time I look at that post, is "Awwwwww!"

I have to give some honorable mentions, too. These entrants may not have won a prize, but you should definitely pop over and leave a comment in praise of their storytelling skills!

- Applaud for Shannon, aka RayGunGirl, for telling one of my all-time favorite stories -- winding yarn into a ball! How cool is it that she got the swift and winder for Christmas? Good job, Shannon's parents!

- Marvel at Suzanne, aka Yarnhog, who suffered severe trials and tribulations (not enough yarn! event dates moved willy-nilly!) throughout the knitting process, all in order to give a friend a lovely wedding gift. Actually, lovely doesn't even cover it -- this Icarus shawl is freaking gorgeous. Check it out, and maybe drool a little at the beauty you behold!

Tell Us a Story

Sarah

Thanks for your awesome response to the new Bella web site! I think Laura did a really great job. And thanks to all who participated in the website scavenger hunt! (We had two winners -- I guess Laura hid the third button too well!)
 

You may recall we've had another contest going on for a little while now -- and we've finally set a deadline. You have until midnight (Pacific time) this Sunday to enter our photo-story contest. Remember, to enter you must post a story using your knitting (or crochet, or other craftiness) in three or four photos. A couple people have emailed me to ask if they can use photos that are already on their blog, and the answer is yes -- but you need to put up a new post with the photos and a link back to the Bella Blog. Then just email me with a link to your post to enter. If you don't have a blog, just email me your photo story, and I'll put it up here on the Bella Blog for you!

Remember, the first prize winner gets a $50 Bella Knitting gift certificate! For inspiration, go check out Carol's entry, Miss Scarlett's entry, or the one below, which was emailed to me by Kate G -- it tells the story of her early adventures in knitting. I love Kate's pose in the last photo -- that's exactly how I feel when I finish a project!

Twins

Sarah

First, a quick reminder: enter the Bella Blogiversary Contest! Details are here, and you can check out the cute entry from Carol of Knitting Knot here. (That cat looks so stoked, it cracks me up.)

So, last time I posted, I had just finished knitting one of my Death by Socks socks. It was hard on my fingers (and hands, and shoulders) but I completed the pair and got them sent off to my victim on Thursday, so I'm quite happy about that. For all I know, I'll receive the socks of my doom on Tuesday (in case you forgot, Monday is M.L.K. Day, a postal holiday) but I'm just happy I managed to complete a pair before being knocked out of the game. Any accomplishments beyond that will be icing on the cake, really.

After finishing those socks, my knitting suddenly felt so...free. All of my other needles seemed ridiculously large after handling size 1's exclusively for so many hours over the course of two-and-a-half days. I even finished my Minimalist Cardigan, and am working on the seaming! Bet you thought I'd forgotten that one, huh? I've been pretty good with my yarn diet (buying a new skein for the Death by Socks competition doesn't count, right?) of only buying one new skein after knitting three from my stash. In anticipation of a visit to one of my favorite LYS next Friday (yeah, avoiding the LYSes definitely has helped the diet), I've been happily knitting away at hats for Jason and Measure. I love how hats provide such near-instant knitterly gratification.

Since the Death by Socks socks were my first "real" (fine-gauge) socks in a while, I've been feeling the urge to cast on for another pair. Maybe do a little sock designing. Who knows? So of course I was excited to see my Seasons Yarn Club shipment from Sundara on my porch this afternoon. I opened it up, wondering what fabulous color the little box contained. Funnily enough, "Burnt Cranberry" was almost an exact match for another Sundara sock yarn in my stash, "Heirloom Tomato." The former is in the foreground of the photo, the latter is the one wound into a cake. In person, there's slightly more difference; the "Burnt Cranberry" has an ever-so-slightly orange-ish cast to it, but still, really close. They're definitely fraternal twins.

Speaking of which, I found out recently that a friend of mine is pregnant with fraternal twins. Any suggestions on what I should knit for them? She doesn't know the gender(s?) yet, but I can at least have some pattern ideas queued up and ready for when she finds out.

Stitches, Web Site, and A Most Deadly Game...

Sarah

Quick reminder: enter our Blogiversary contest for a chance to win prizes! It'll be good times, people -- good times.

Right now, we're busy gearing up for Stitches West, which should be a lot of fun -- last year was our first time there as a vendor, and it went really well. Will you be there? Be sure to visit us! Our booth is #822/824. It'll be February 21-24, and just like last year it will be held in the convention center in Santa Clara. This is what our booth looked like last year, but we'll be changing things up for 2008 -- Laura has a plan for a very cute theme, so be sure to drop in and check it out. (If you can't make it, no worries, we'll be sure to blog about it when the time comes!)

Aside from Stitches, Laura is also working on the new Bella web site, which is very nearly done (assuming that the shopping cart software starts working the way it's supposed to!) and I'm busy with a few things of my own. A pattern of mine was accepted for publication (sorry, can't give details on the blog yet, but needless to say I am totally stoked) so I'm working on a sample. I'll have to set that aside tomorrow, though, for the start of Death by Socks! I decided to join after reading about it on Liz's blog. Hopefully I'll manage to take a few other knitters out before meeting my doom, but who knows? Even if I knit my socks super-speedily, I'm still at the mercy of the Post Office of Doom. Cross your fingers for me!

We're One!

Sarah & Laura

Wow, can you believe it? (You probably can.) The Bella Knitting blog is a year old today! During the past year, we've written something like 285 posts, and met all kinds of new blog-friends. It's been fun, and we're looking forward to next year!

We'll be celebrating our blogiversary for the next week or so with a little contest, a look back at the past year, and by introducing our new web site! Laura is working around the clock to finish it up, and it's quite close. But first things first: today we'd like to invite you to enter our Bella Blogiversary Contest!

Inspired by Bittersweet's recent contest, we're asking you to tell a story with your knitting (or crochet, or fiber, needles, hooks, etc -- you get the idea) in just three or four photos. Be creative! To enter, post your photo-story on your blog and email us a link to the post, or, if you don't have us a blog, send it to us in an email. Try to get your entries to us within 10 days -- that's January 20th -- and we'll announce the winners shortly after.

Oh, yeah, there will be prizes! The first-place winner will receive a $50 Bella Knitting gift certificate, the second-place winner will receive a purse hook, and the third-place winner will receive a knitting care kit. We're looking forward to your entries!

Mushbrain

Sarah

I have a serious case of mushbrain. It's terrible -- I try to play sudoku, and it's taking me about twice as long as usual to finish a puzzle (when I can finish them). I try to read through my blogs (over 130 in my Bloglines, and counting) and I can barely focus. Normally I am a regular commenter, but lately the effort of even putting together a coherent sentence as simple as "nice socks!" has eluded me.

The project above is a Bella non-garter Log Cabin baby blanket -- the Honey Comb stitch version in three colors (cream, sky blue, and navy.) I started it thinking it might make good "hospital knitting" for while I'm in labor, but now I'm starting to think I might finish it before I even go into labor. It's perfect mushbrain knitting -- there's enough going on to keep me interested, but it's still simple enough that my hands can work on autopilot most of the time. It's about all I can handle right now, and it's perfect.

The mushbrain, I believe, is all little dude's fault. He is smugly comfortable right where he is, and he is not going to budge anytime soon. In the meantime, I am getting very little sleep, and even less quality sleep. I know, I know, this is supposed to be some sort of hazing ritual so that I will be prepared for the interrupted nights when little dude actually arrives, but I will happily trade this pre-baby sleep for post-baby sleep -- at least being awakened by a crying baby isn't physically painful. Being awakened by intense "practice" contractions, leg cramps, backaches, and heartburn is.

Overall, I'm not nervous about labor and delivery -- not because I am expecting it to be easy, but because I know it will be difficult. I can deal with that. One thing I'm a little concerned about, however, is just how "little" little dude is going to end up being. A quick look at family history suggests he'll be at least an 8-pounder. Jason was 8lbs at birth, I was 8lbs 13oz, and -- just to get a sense of what the upper limit might be -- my brother weighed a staggering 10lbs, 10oz. Any guesses? Leave yours in the comments -- just as with the due date guesses, I'll award whoever is closest with a gift of something nifty from my stash.

Anytime Now...

Sarah

Dear Mr. Fetus,

This is an eviction notice. Please vacate the premises within 30 days. Thank you for your cooperation,

The Management

I'm really, really ready to have the little dude. Anytime now. Sure, my actual due date is in a couple of weeks, but anytime now would be fine. I'm ready. Jason is ready. We've got a car seat, a stroller, a crib, a changing table, and many wonderful baby gifts from family and friends. (This cute little bunny was a gift from my mother-in-law, knit from a Debbie Bliss pattern.)

The thing is, Jason and I were each about three weeks late (sorry, mom!), and our siblings were all a couple of weeks late as well, so I have very little hope that little dude will take the eviction notice to heart.

Any guesses as to when I'll deliver? Give me a date and time in the comments. Tell you what...if your guess is the closest, I'll send you something spiffy from my stash. And if you are the sort of person who tends to have good luck in contests like these...please, please, for my sake, guess that he'll be here soon!

Internet Scavenger Hunt Winners!

Sarah

Thanks to everyone who joined the Bella Internet Scavenger Hunt! It was a lot of fun looking through everyone's entries. So who won?

Elizabeth of Trailing Yarn is our Grand Prize winner! Elizabeth, you have won one of our favorite Bella projects, the Seventh Heaven peek-a-boo scarf, in the color and style of your choice. Enjoy!

We had so much fun reading through the contest entries, we decided to draw a few more names and hand out a few more fun prizes! Congratulations to Jennifer J., Cecilia, Lolly, and Betty! You win your choice of either a Bella care kit or a Bella mouse pad! It may be hard to decide:

The mouse pad is pure yarn-art -- we think it will help you to brainwash other members of your household into loving and appreciating yarn as much as you do.

The Bella care kit includes a lovely gift card, a small bottle of wool wash, a mesh bag, and instructions on caring for a hand-knit gift. It's a good way to help the recipient of a knitted gift avoid tragedy -- or you can just use it yourself!

Congratulations to our winners, and thanks to everyone who joined in the Scavenger Hunt!

p.s. There are still some bags left from Bella Bag Friday if you are interested! See below.

Join the Bella Scavenger Hunt!

As promised, we're kicking off an internet scavenger hunt! The hunt begins tonight, and all entries are due by midnight (California time) next Thursday, March 1. We'll pick a name at random from all the entrants who completed the scavenger hunt correctly, and the winner will recieve one of our favorite Bella projects as a prize!

The hunt is simple: listed below are ten things you must find on knitting blogs. When you've found all ten, send an email with "scavenger hunt" in the subject headline to Sarah@bellaknitting.com listing the exact URLs where we can see each of the ten items (so we'll need a URL to the exact blog entries – not just to the main page of the blogs.) We aren't looking for any one "right" answer for each item, we're aware that many bloggers may have done the same project. They may all be from different blogs, but finding more than one item from the same blog is fine. Please do not use your own blog or the Bella blog in your list. One contest entry per person, please!

Here are the 10 things – good luck, and happy hunting!
1. A felted purse.
2. A blue baby sweater based on an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern.
3. A tutorial/explanation/demonstration of how to dye yarn with Kool-Aid.

4. A pair of socks knit from handspun yarn.
5. A tutorial/explanation/demonstration on recycling thrift-store sweaters.
6. A hat knit for charity in more than two colors of yarn.
7. A picture of a cat or dog wearing a knitted item.
8. A post responding to a meme.
9. A post in which the blogger writes about teaching someone else to knit.
10. A post in which the blogger tells the story of how she/he learned to knit.