Finally x Two!

Did any of you watch the original Mickey Mouse Club as kids?  On Tuesdays, they would sing:

Today is Tuesday,

You know that that means?

We're gonna have a special guest!

[and then I forget most of the rest until  the end]

Well, because I can remember that, instead of current things that I actually need to remember, I sing that to myself every Tuesday as I'm walking to work.

Which - other than it being Tuesday today, has nothing to do with this post.  

Anyway.

I have two "Finallys" for you.

Finally #1 - Packages for the winners during Christmas in July.  They were packaged and ready to send out, and The Tim offered to take them to the post office, since he passes one every day on his way to and from work.  So, I assumed they were on their way.  Then one day last week, he brought them inside, with the packaging kind of mangled.  He had put them in the back seat and forgotten all about them.  In the meantime, various things had happened which had really messed up the packaging.  

So I re-packaged everything, and FINALLY got them in the mail to the winners last Friday.  Hopefully some/all of you will receive them soon, but at least now you can be on the lookout.  Of course, once they were all sent, I realized that I had re-packaged them, but had failed to include the notes I'd written and put in the packages.  Sigh.  Oh well, they are in the mail, that's what is important, right???

Moving on to ...

Finally #2 - Guess what?  It's Tiny Needle Tuesday, and my honeybee cross-stitch has been completed!

Clearly it needs to be blocked, and I want to find a frame for it, but the actual stitching part is finished, and I love it even more than I thought I would.  This is from a kit I purchased a few years ago, from a company called Modern Needlework.  (I think a shop on Etsy, though I don't see them there any more, so that's really no help, is it?) Anyway, it was a lovely kit and the charts were easy to read and follow.  I'm looking forward to finding a frame and hanging it.  It's got some mistakes, but overall, I'm pleased with how well I did, considering it had been easily 20 years since I did any counted cross-stitch at all!

Next up will be the item for my niece Amanda, which I *think* I can finish before Halloween and send to her.  It's pretty small, and not dense at all.  If it's not finished in time - well, Halloween comes every year, right?  I want to pull out the cross-stitch supplies I inherited from my mother to see if I already have the colors of floss I need before I purchase any, but either way I should be able to start in the next week or so.

I am particularly pleased that my laptop cooperated to I could upload the photo - maybe things are beginning to improve, technology-wise.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed ... :-)

Best Laid Plans and All That

Hello and I'm glad to be back!  It's been quite a few days, let me tell you.  Frustration mixed with fun.

First the primary frustration - I had all of the packages from Christmas in July ready to go (except the one for Roslyn, who I have not heard from yet), and walked them up to the post office on Friday.  But the post office had apparently suffered an electrical outage, and was closed.  So don't be on the lookout for your packages, because when I tried to send them again yesterday, there was a sign saying they would not be open until Thursday, due to electrical issues.  Sigh.  So hopefully I can get them out this coming Saturday - I'll keep you posted.  In the meantime, FRUSTRATING!!!

And Roslyn - please contact me!!  If I don't hear from you by this Friday, August 9, 2019, I'm going to choose someone else for the final prize.  I checked on Ravelry, and the only person with your name in the same location had a photo that did not match yours at all, so I hesitated to contact her.  Please e-mail me at baclancyATverizonDOTnet with GIVEAWAY in the subject line!!

Moving on.

Yesterday I was all set to tell you about our weekend trip.  The weekend in Baltimore was SO. MUCH. FUN.  We got to see nearly everyone, and the weather was fairly hot but not humid, so going around to different places was actually enjoyable.  However, our Internet was down for the whole day, so I couldn't post anything at all (secondary frustration).  Grrrrrr.  I do have some photos to share, but they are all currently still in my camera, so you'll see them later. 

Lots of catching up, lots of laughs, and tons of food and drink.  Hamlet is still recovering.

Guess what?  No rats were seen.  SAD!  ;-)

Two Winners and Soon It Will Be August

Well, all of you certainly had fun stories about growing up, playgrounds, and subjects in school.  I so enjoyed reading all of your comments, often shaking my head in agreement.

And so that I don't draw out the process of letting you know who the Week 4 winner is for this year's Christmas in July, let me tell you, the winner is:

Roslyn!!!!

Here are her answers to my questions:

I don't think I've commented here before! This is a really fun thing to do!
My answers:
1. When you were a kid, were you more likely to want to go to the playground, or have your own fun at home in your yard or a friend's yard? - I grew up in a really tiny town and there were no playgrounds! But we did have tons of outdoors to run around in however. My favourite thing to do was to get a book and a blanket and go sit among the trees and read!

2. In school, did you get better grades in Arts classes (humanities, art, music) or Science classes (sciences, mathematics, statistics)? I did better in science, although university level stats almost did me in! (ultimately received a BSc in Biochemistry!)

Congratulations, Roslyn!  Please send me your full name and address, if possible before this coming Friday, since I'd like to send the packages then.  You can contact me at thekittyknitterATverizonDOTcom, and please include GIVEAWAY in your subject line so I know it's spam.  EDITED TO ADD:  I have heard from one of you that this address comes back as Undeliverable - if that happens, try baclancyATverizonDOTnet, or send me a Ravelry message (I'm thekittyknitter there).  Sorry for any problems!

As for my responses, we moved around a lot when I was a kid, so I generally stuck close to home with my book.  However, anytime there were swings or one of those things that you pushed and jumped onto and then it whirled around, I'd suck it up and go to the playground on occasion.

In school, I did really well in Arts classes, and my grades in Science classes were always just barely passing.  Every year, every semester, they brought down my overall grade average.  Other than basic arithmetic, mathematics has always been a complete puzzle to me.  Same way with science, though I sometimes think if I could have taken more specific classes, i.e., botany or ornithology, I might have done better.  Who knows?  I just know that in my last year of college, I took a class everyone called 'Science for Idiots' and actually got a B.  I was ridiculously proud of it, and even *I* knew it was more basic than basic science .... but hey, I got to graduate!

*****

As I mentioned in the post about it being the last week for this year, I have never heard from Anne in Virginia, the winner for the first week's prize.  So I did another pick, and the new winner is:

nypeapod!!!!

Here's what she had to say in her response:

Iced tea, love the smell of coffee but hate the taste. Green salad. On another note I thought I was maybe the only strange bird that carried around her own tea bags. Now if I could only get eating establishments to offer real cream instead of low fat milk I would be totally tea happy.

So again, please send me  your full name and address, as requested above, and I can get your package in the mail on Friday as well.   (And I'm glad to know I made you feel better about carrying your own teabag ...)  :-)

******

THANK YOU SO MUCH to every single person who commented and played along this year!  I had so much fun with this and loved hearing from all of you and finding out more about what everyone had to say.  For my "old" friends, thanks for hanging in.  For the "new" friends, welcome, and I hope you'll stick around!

I'll see you all again next year.  :-)

Christmas in July 2019 - Week 4

I don't know about you, but I find it surprising that we are at Week 4, which is the Grand Finale so to speak, of 

Christmas in July!!!

It makes me a little sad, because I enjoy doing it, and seeing who participates.  It's always fun to hear from people that are new, and are commenting for the first time.  And it's also fun to learn new things about those you already "know."  :-)

In any case, today I have the following for you:

Since my photography skills are so poor, let me tell you what this is.  It's a skein of Caterpillar Green Self-Striping Shawl Yarn.  Caterpillar Green is now Gauge Dye Works, and it turns out that I have two of these exact same skeins!  So one *had* to be a giveaway.  Anyway, yarn details are here, and this is colorway Concrete and Tulips, which you can see here.  This skein is enough to make the Playground Shawl or the Hydrogen Shawl, both of which are free patterns on Ravelry, and were written specifically for this self-striping yarn.  (Of course, you can knit whatever you like with it, no one is going to knock down your door and arrest you ...)

The prize package will also contain some other goodies, which will remain a surprise until I know the recipient has gotten the package.  Not that they are so exciting that it's a big secret, but I think that some element of surprise should remain, don't you??

SO - if you would like to be eligible to win this prize, let me know in the comments to this post only what your answers are to these questions, which I decided on based on the two patterns for this yarn:

1.  When you were a kid, were you more likely to want to go to the playground, or have your own fun at home in your yard or a friend's yard?

2.  In school, did you get better grades in Arts classes (humanities, art, music) or Science classes (sciences, mathematics, statistics)?

Let me know your answers no later than Sunday, July 28th, 2019 by midnight EDT.  I'll announce the winner in Monday's post.

IN A RELATED NOTE:  I have still not heard a peep from Anne in Virginia, the winner of the Week 1 prize.  I realize at this time of year, a lot of people are on vacation, etc., and may forget to check blogs or may not even be able to do so easily.  But if I have not heard from her by Sunday at the time listed above, I'll choose another winner for that package.  This is primarily because my plan is to take all of the packages to the post office a week from tomorrow, and I want to be sure that I have everyone's names and addresses in advance to have them ready to go.  I still hope she will contact me, but if not it seems only fair for someone else who entered that week to have a shot at the prize.

*****

Remember my plan for last weekend to get my Christmas knitting plans sorted?  Well, I ended up not feeling that well (headache, severe nausea) because of the heat, and hardly did anything - I didn't even knit a stitch!  So I have moved that plan for this weekend, and hopefully I can at least get it started. 

I know you were waiting with baited breath to hear about that, huh?

I have also not knit during this whole week, because my formerly broken wrist and the elbow on that side have been bothering me a lot.  I have a feeling that last week at work I overdid it, since we had to move a lot of stuff due to an upcoming renovation.  I didn't do a whole lot of lifting and moving, but apparently I did enough.  So it's been a non-knitting week, and I've been doing more reading instead.  Things have improved though, so I should be back to my regular variety of knitting, stitching, and reading by this weekend.

That's it for today - I can't wait to see what you have to say in your answers.  Have a good one!

Week 3 Winner and a Happy Milestone

Here's hoping we all managed to survive the weekend heat, and are still able to function.  It was pretty brutal here in Philadelphia, to the point where even if you were only outside briefly, it took a long time to cool off, and every day was a headache day. 

We have a winner for the Week 3 giveaway - YAY!  Drum roll, please, as the winner is:

Kim in Oregon!!

Here was her response:

1, Lake, river, or ocean?
I'm so fortunate to spend the summer where we have to cross a river to get to the ocean! So I'll pick ocean but I do love a river.

2. Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry?
Hmm. Not strawberry. I think it is easier to get really, really good vanilla (that I'd put fudge sauce on) than good chocolate, so I'll pick vanilla.

For myself, I have to say that I am generally fond of all bodies of water, but the ocean is my favorite.  I think it is because as a kid, going to someplace near the ocean was usually part of our summer vacation.  And I am always a sucker for chocolate anything, though I have never turned down an offer of vanilla or strawberry ...

I want to thank everyone who participated, I really enjoyed reading all of your responses.  And I also promise that it's not rigged for only people named Kim to win ... ;-)

So anyway, Kim if you could send me your name and address at thekittyknitterATverizonDOTnet, with the subject line of GIVEAWAY, I'll set aside your prize and send it to you when the others go out.  Congratulations!

Also - Anne in Virginia - I have still not heard from you, so PLEASE get in touch so I can send you your prize!

******

Yesterday was a big day for our family, as one year ago, this wonderful, beautiful boy officially retired from his duties as a Seeing Eye Dog, and came to join our family.

Hamlet turned out to be the perfect addition, and I like to think that he is enjoying his new life.  He has finally determined that the cats are OK (he wasn't sure what to do about them for a long time), and he is known by everyone in the neighborhood, and is, needless to say, *very* popular.  To celebrate yesterday he had some frozen green beans (a favorite treat), which is a safe treat in that the cats are not interested in that at all, like they are in some of his other treats.  So he can enjoy them in peace.

Not much going on other than the usual this week.  Today I am going for my annual physical, and I don't expect anything major to have changed, so it should go well.  Other than that, everyone in our house is just waiting for the cool down that is supposed to happen in the next couple of days.  It will feel good to be able to breathe again.  :-)

Have a good week!

Christmas in July 2019 - Week 3

Living as I do in the northern hemisphere, Christmastime is generally cold, or at least a decent cool.  I sure wish I had some of that right now ... 

But I digress.

Hello all!  Can you believe that it's already Week 3 of

Christmas in July???

Well, it is, and this week I have another prize and more questions.

The prize this week is the combo pictured below.

That's a skein of Wooly Wonka Nimue Sock yarn, 435 yards/100 grams of 50% silk and 50% merino.  Sooo nice!  The colorway is Spiced Apple, and it's so pretty, especially with the slight sheen provided by the silk.  The small container next to contains seed beads, which due to my poor photography skills are difficult to see.  They are gold with some burgundy on them, and would look pretty amazing paired with this yarn.  It's not that I don't like knitting with beads, it's just that a) I don't do it often, and b) I still have approximately 1 million beads that remain from the few projects where I have already used them. 

So these two items need a good home, where they will be loved and used, separately or together.

Interested?  Well, then you know the drill - answer the following questions in the comments to this post only.

1.  Lake, river, or ocean?

2.  Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry?

Should you comment between now and midnight (EDT) on Sunday, July 21, 2019, you will be entered in the giveaway.  :-)

*****

I have started thinking about who may or may not receive handknit items this year for birthdays and/or Christmas, and what I may want to knit for those deemed worthy.  Right now, I have some foggy thoughts about it, but I have decided that one of the things I want to do this weekend is sit down and actually work it out.  That way, at least in theory, I can start now and not have last-minute worries.  I have been trying really hard to knit from my stash this year, and so I also want to think of things that will not require buying any new yarn if at all possible.  I did purchase yarn the other day for either a birthday or Christmas gift for The Tim, but it was for a very specific reason and only one skein, so I don't feel too bad about it.  I'll let you know if I make any progress on my plan, but I have to say I have high hopes.  

If I can knit even a few items from my stash for gifts, it means that I use up some yarn, and also don't have to spend money I do not have on gifts - so it's a win-win!

What about you?  Do you try to plan ahead, or do you start knitting the day before?

Week 2 Winner and a Weekend Get-Together

Here's hoping that all of you survived your weekend - whether it was hot, rainy, hurricane-y, busy with work or errands, or whatever.  Weekends always seem to go by too quickly, but they can also be exhausting, even for the best of reasons.

There were only a few people who were in the running (so to speak) for the Week 2 prize for Christmas in July, so the random number generator didn't have a lot of work to do.  (And for all I know, those people weren't really interested in the prize, but since they didn't specifically state that thye wanted to be left out, I counted them as possible winners.)  So the little men I always picture inside the computer making things happen didn't have to do as much running around ... as a matter of fact, they probably only needed one little man to make it work, right?

Anyhoo, without further ado, I can tell you that KSD (aka Kim) is the winner!!!  Here is what she had to say in response to my questions:

Favorite Christmas gift: a drum set. LOVED IT!

Best Summer vacation memory: Discovering English muffins and orange marmalade in our motel room's kitchenette in Daytona Beach.

I have to wonder if her parents loved the drum set as much as she did ... and what is more fun than discovering good food while on vacation and right where you already are!  I happen to already have Kim's mailing address, so we're all set on that front.  Congratulations, Kim!!

For my response, I have to say my favorite Christmas gift as a child was a stuffed dog that I received when I was four years old.  I named him Cream Puff (Creamy for short) and he was the only toy of mine that was allowed to call my parents by their first names.  I still have him, he lives in the bedroom and he is as sweet and loyal as ever, if a bit worn.  One of these days, I'll take a photo and share it. :-)

My favorite vacation memory as a kid was when I was about 11 years old, and my parents and I went to stay with my mother's cousin and her husband at their beach house in Beach Haven, NJ, on Long Beach Island.  We went there a lot of summers, and my sisters were often with us, but this particular summer they both had summer jobs and didn't join us.  Anyway, the highlight was when we went deep-sea fishing, because a) it was so exciting - and somewhat frightening to be out on a boat and not seeing land, b) the guy who was our guide was really nice and quite funny, and c) we didn't catch anything (we almost didn't go for fear we would actually catch something).  This was of course before sunscreen, so I got one of the worst sunburns of my life, but it was an amazing day.

*****

The weekend was for the most part, the usual mix of chores and nothing.  Though on Sunday morning, I met my friend Andrea for coffee.  She is the friend who used to also work on Sundays at our late, lamented LYS with me, and we try to get together regularly to catch up.  But it's been longer than usual, so it was especially fun.  We must have spent about 2 1/2 hours talking and laughing and it was just the best.  I don't miss any of the politics of the yarn store and some of the others who worked there, but I do miss our Sundays together.  Hopefully it won't be as long of a time in between get-togethers next time.

Have a good week, everyone!

Christmas in July 2019 - Week 2

Time for another giveaway, because we are in week #2 of 

Christmas in July!!

This week, I have another book, as well as a fairly good-sized mesh bag that could be used for notions, a tiny project, or however you want to use it - packing, cosmetics - you do you!  Like last week's book, this is a good one, and I have used it for reference on occasion, but not enough to justify keeping it.

Are you interested in having a chance to win these two items?  Well then, answer these two questions in the comments to this post only.

1.  What is your favorite Christmas gift you received as a child?

2.  What is your favorite memory from a summer vacation?

You have until Sunday, July 14, 2019 at midnight EDT to comment.  I'll announce the winner on Monday, July 15.

Anne in Virginia - if you are reading this, I still need to hear from you about last week's prize!  Please get in touch when you have the chance.  

***

Just to amuse you:  this morning, I decided to stop and get an iced tea on my way to work.  When I got to the place, a woman was coming towards the door, with her hands full, and those white earbuds in her ear.  I opened the door, and stepped aside to let her come out.  As she passed me, I said, "You're welcome."  She turned around and looked at me and said in a truly irritated manner, "I didn't say anything to you!"  So I replied, "Well then I guess only one of us has good manners."  

If looks could kill ... 

And yes, I should have just left it all alone, but I couldn't help myself, because you could tell she was just SO important!  ;-)

A Winner and a Long Weekend Recap

Hi all, and I hope you have a lovely long weekend if you are here in the U.S., and a lovely regular weekend otherwise.  Alas, as usual, all good things must end, and Monday has returned as we knew it would.  I have a dr appt this morning, and I don't have to leave as early as usual, so I figured I'd go ahead and get this post out there.

Because although it is Monday, something good is happening - we have a winner for the first week of Christmas in July!   Some commenters particularly said they did not want to be included in the giveaway, so I took the number that were still participating, and cranked up the old random number generator.  It chose #7, who is Anne in Virginia!  Here is what she had to say in response to my questions:

Hi! Longtime lurker here, not having posted before. But the Coffeehouse Knits is one I've considered getting for awhile, so here's a shot at it: Iced coffee, oh, iced coffee, definitely! I have some of my own home-roasted Ehiopian Yirga Cheffee black over ice at my right hand at this moment. On this 98 degree day, it's what is needed. And as for the salads, definitely green salad with a homemade dressing -- it's what's on the menu at my house most days from Spring through Fall.

Thanks for taking the time to share your life with us.

How exciting that someone "new" (at least to me) took the time to comment and then won the first giveaway.  Congratulations, Anne!  Please send me your full name and address at thekittyknitterATverizonDOTnet.  If you could also put GIVEAWAY in the subject line, that would mean that should your e-mail go to my Spam folder, I can suss it out easily.  I will probably wait until the end of July and send all of the prizes at once, but this way I can at least have your package set aside and ready to go.  

As for me, I must admit that my first choices would always be iced tea and potato salad.  Not that I don't like the other choices, just that I drink A LOT of tea, and anything involving potatoes will always be my favorite (you'd never guess my ancestors were Irish, right?).

Thank you to everyone who commented and participated.  Stay tuned to see what will be happening on Thursday of this week.  :-)

***

Our July 4 weekend was lovely.  We were both pretty wiped out by the heat, so we really didn't go out and about other than to walk Hamlet and run a few errands.  But I did get some cleaning done, and I got quite a bit of crafting done, which was so nice - having time to just work on something with no interruptions was great.  

I made some good progress on my Pabaigh:

It's a lot of stitches, in fingering weight yarn, but I am about 2/3 through the initial area where you do increases every eight rows.  I'm enjoying it, partly because of the color and partly because other than the decrease rows, it does not require any intense concentration.

Also, how cute is my crabby progress keeper?

I ordered him last week from Bad Wolf Girl Studios, and he is even cuter than I thought he would be.  This is the week my sister and all of her family will be at the beach, and since this year we can't join them at all, I decided that I deserved a treat - and what better thing to represent Maryland and Delaware (this year they are in Bethany Beach) than a blue crab?  

The other thing I did was watch the World Cup matches, particularly the final that was yesterday between the U.S. women and the Netherlands.  WOW - that was some match!  I have to say that the goalie for the Netherlands had some magic hands - I counted at least 4 times that she kept the U.S. from scoring.  I was so excited for the U.S. players when they won, and I hope that their attempts to get paid on par with the men will progress from here.  

So, on to this week - let's hope it's a good one!

Christmas in July 2019 - Week 1

Hi all - well, here we go!  I'm so glad that so many of you had a positive reaction to doing

Christmas in July

again this year.  Without further ado, let's get going, shall we?

Here is the prize for Week 1:

On the left, a tea bag carrier - yep, this little pouch lets you put up to three teabags inside, then you can zip it up and put it in your purse or your knitting bag, etc.  You always have the tea that *you* like with you!

On the right, the book Coffeehouse Knits - containing 20 patterns for all types of lovely things.  It really is a nice book, but I have looked through it several times, and I know that I'm unlikely to ever make any of the patterns.  So why not give it a good home?

If you are interested in this prize, please answer the questions below:

1.  Iced coffee or iced tea?

2.  Potato salad, macaroni salad, pasta salad, or green salad?

Let me know in the comments for this post only.  You have until midnight on Sunday, July 7, 2019, EDT.  I'll announce the winner on Monday, July 8.

Please note that this is open to anyone who wants to enter, but the questions must be answered in this post, so that they are all in one place.

*****

And, on a separate note altogether:

Happy Fourth of July!

This is one of my favorite photos, taken a few years ago, when I was walking around in the neighborhood on July 4th.  This is Delancey Street, where the houses are all lovely, large town homes, originally built for wealthy people who needed a place to live when they came to town for work, "the season," etc.  The houses are still extremely expensive, but also really pretty, and fun to look at (and look into at dusk when the lights are on).  I just loved how, when the flags were out, the street still looked as it may have looked in the 1900s on this day. 

Enjoy your holiday, and remember, in spite of things currently happening, we live in a pretty amazing country where, with work and determination, we can make things how we want them to be once again.

It's Back!

Christmas in July 2019!!

I had so much fun with this last year, I've decided to do it again.  

Every Thursday during July - beginning this week - I'll post a photo of the prize for that week.  You can have a chance to win the prize by posting your answer (in the comments) to a random question.    I'll give you the deadine and then choose a winner, using a random number generator.

Since the last Thursday of July is the 25th, I'll also do like I did last year and make that one the "Grand Prize" so to speak, since Christmas itself falls on the 25th of the month in December.

Please note:  You do not have to celebrate Christmas in order to participate.  You can celebrate whatever holiday you like, or no holiday at all, to be eligible.  The giveaways are called "Christmas in July" because I think it's a) a good name, b) it makes me think of cooler weather, c) it's a way to have a month of giveaways for things that are little gifts, and d) it's my blog, I can do what I want!

So stop by on July 4th or after to see how we are starting off, and to see what you might win.  Tell your friends!

I hope this will be a good time for all of us.  :-)