And The Winner Is...

Thank you all for your lovely comments; they certainly make pursuing the blog worthwhile.

Last night I closed the Comments, and drew a number. Click here to see that I did it fair and square. The winner is:

No. 38 = Rebecca!!!

Rebecca (posted 5th October at 17.23), please email me and give me your address so I know where to send your yarn! Alternatively, PM me on Ravelry; I'm Rowanberry.

I hope you all enjoyed this little competition as much as I did. it was a first for me, and seeing a new comment (or three) every so often really put a smile on my face!

Giveaway!!!!!!!!!

Hi Everyone,

I and my blog are celebrating our one-year anniversary! I can't believe it's only been a year, it seems like I've been doing this for years and I can't imagine life without blogging now!

I started this blog in August 2008 as a way of venting about my knitting projects, showing any (limited) success I had, and trying to meet fellow knitters. One of my favourite things is hearing from non-knitting friends about things that they've read or seen on the blog.

Over time, my skills have definitely grown, and so the blog has grown with me. I now have free patterns available that I designed, and am pleased to count as friends, those who visit me in cyber space. The blog (and comments I got from readers) also gave me the idea to start up a knitting group where I live, as I realised how popular the craft had become. Hammersmith Stitch N' Bitch is now also thriving, with new members coming along every week!

Anyway, to celebrate, I am giving away a small token from my stash. This helps me too; like most knitters' stashes, mine is getting too big to handle! So what's up for grabs, I hear you ask? Well, see below:

Three balls of Debbie Bliss Rilato Aran (100% Merino Wool, extra fine superwash, 80m/50g, wash at 30 degrees, recommended needle size 5mm):

1 ball stone-blue, colour 21203, dye-lot 78

1 ball forest-green, colour 21209, dye-lot 79

1 ball teal-blue, colour 21211, dye-lot 86*.

I bought the yarn to make some Fetchings for some friends, but didn't get around to making them, and probably never will (my to-do list is growing!). I made a pair for myself some time ago, which I love. They keep the hands toasty while allowing the fingers to work! I wore them all last winter.

Each ball is enough to make a pair of Fetchings, that's right, a whole pair! So you could get three pairs in total out of these balls. Of course, you don't have to make fingerless gloves; you can make whatever you like, incorporate them into a small blanket pattern perhaps.

**Edited 05/10/09**

Sorry, I should have said, leave a comment before 11th October.

People in the US and Canada are not excluded from the competition. That wouldn't be fair now, would it. The giveaway is open to everyone.

Here's what to do: leave me a comment (making sure I'm able to find your email address) about something you like about Rowanberry, or something you saw or read in one of my posts, or anything you'd like me to blog about or see more of on the blog before 11th September, and I'll put the numbers in to the Random Number Generator, and come up with a winner. I'll then ship the yarn to you, covering all postage and packing expenses. If you have a blog I'd really appreciate you mentioning Rowanberry (everyone could do with more site traffic).

*This yarn comes from a pet-free and smoke-free home.

Here's to another few years of Rowanberry!

*** Edited 11/10/09 at 19.51 ***

Thank you so much for your lovely comments. Comments are now closed.

Aren't these fetching!

I made these this weekend. They're a very quick knit and the yarn really shows off the cables. This was my first cabling project, and easy, despite the tight knitting (in order to use one skein, as specified). I'll have to make another pair for someone with the emergency skein I have - unfortunately in the same colour. Looking at the skein I couldn't believe I would get two gloves out of it, but I did.

Pattern: Fetching by Cheryl Niamath for Knitty
Needle: US 6 / 4.0 mm

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran (1 skein = 87.5 yards (80.0m)/50g) Colorway: DBRA03
Yarn purchased at: Stash, Putney

Here in Brook Green Autumn is in full swing and the rowanberries are out on our street. My favourite time of year:

I'm getting ready for Christmas too with these mini Christmas trees to hang on the real tree. Some will be off in the post to my Mum, and I'll hang the others at our house. The pattern is by Frugal Knitting Haus. I've made them in snippets of malabrigo worsted and koigu (using a much smaller needle):