AMAZING!

I cannot believe how many people read my blog!  I have "known" some of you for a while, but when I was reading the comments for my last post, I kept thinking, WOW this is a lot of people!  Thank you so very much, it was really exciting to meet some of you, and to touch base with old friends.  :-)

On the one hand, getting so many comments was great ... on the other hand, it meant that I had to draw names for the blogiversary giveaway, and couldn't send something to each person.  So for those of you whose names weren't picked, I apologize.  But I'm absolutely thrilled that you are here!  I hope you'll stick around, whether you comment or not.  I'm the same way, I read lots of blogs, and don't necessarily always comment, especially when - as someone mentioned - it's just to say, "Yes," or something similar.

I've sent e-mails to the winners, asking for their addresses. 

I also deleted three particular comments who were from people accusing me of most likely wanting to get rid of "moth-eaten" yarn.  None of the yarn I am sending has any indications at all of moths, and I promise that I am sending it to you in good faith that it is moth-free.  If by some chance it is not, you have my sincere apologies in advance.  Another person said that I should tell people what the books were in case they were things people already had.  And I guess I could have done that, but you know what?  I'm sending the stuff as a surprise, and if you don't want it or already have it, you are more than welcome to pass it along.  I am only including this here to acknowledge those people, and to say that I was doing this for fun.  Geez!

I have to say that as it turned out, it was an excellent week to be doing the giveaway, as it was a particularly horrible week at work, and having your comments and being able to think about what to send to each of you cheered me up each and every day.

That's it for now.  I'm leaving you with this photo from our walk yesterday at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.  It's about 20 minutes from our house, and yesterday morning the weather was absolutely perfect for being out on the trails.  While you are walking around there, it's almost impossible to believe that across the interstate is the Philadelphia International Airport. 

Lucky Number 7

Seven years ago today, I started this blog.  I had wanted to join some online swaps, and they encouraged having a blog if you were going to participate.  Plus, some of my knitting friends had blogs, and I enjoyed reading them, and finding out what they were knitting, what knitting books and yarns were out there, and just meeting new people in general who were interested in some of the same things I was.

I never expected to become one of "the" blogs that everyone read all of the time, but I was surprised when quite a few people became regular readers and commenters.  I really enjoyed posting, and the fact that others read what I wrote and would comment was pretty exciting (still is!).  As I mentioned in the previous post, with Facebook and Ravelry, a lot of people abandoned their blogs, and also seemed to stop reading others' as well.  But like anything else, new people came long, and new friends were made.  I know that I don't read many of the same blogs I read seven years ago, but I am still an avid blog reader, because I really enjoy the ones I do follow regularly.

And so, whether you have been here for all 7 years, or are here for the first time today, THANK YOU!  I love knowing that you are reading anything I write, and that on occasion you feel comfortable enough to comment or ask a question.  I have no plans to stop blogging anytime soon, so I hope if you like it here, you'll stick with me.

For those friends who I have met as a result of this blog or you own blogs, I hope you will know that I often feel closer to you than to many of the people I see and talk to each day!  And I do hope to someday meet as many of you in real life as I have the chance to - but even if that doesn't happen, I hope we'll stay friends.

Thanks also for your blogs - they keep me informed, inspired, entertained, and amazed!

You guys are the BEST!

**********

In honor of my 7 years of blogging, I'm ready to give away packages of yarns and/or knitting books to at least 7 commenters here.  At the moment, they are not organized into packages, so I can't provide a lot of specifics, though I can tell you that the yarns are mostly wool or wool blends.

So, if you are interested:

Leave a comment on this post before midnight (Philadelphia, PA time) on August 24, 2013.  Please leave an e-mail address or Ravelry ID, since I don't usually get that from Blogger (which drives me nut, bthe way, but that's a post for another time).

I'll announce "winners" on Sunday, August 25, and once I have your address and everything together, a package will be on its merry way to you.

And whether or not you participate in this giveaway, let me just again say thanks for staying here with me!

This Time I Am Prepared

I realized one day last week that my blogiversary is coming up - which is pretty amazing, since the last couple of years, I missed it!  It's funny, I used to hear from a lot of people via my blog, but not as much anymore, I think Facebook has replaced blogs for a lot of people.  Not for me, though!  I *love* when people leave comments, but I also write this as much for myself as anyone else.

Anyhoo, we have been fixing up the room in our house where most of my knitting-related books and all of my stash lives.  Which means I've gone through both of those, and have some things that I have decided I'm just not ever gonna use one way or another.  Since this is all happening now, I thought it might be fun to have a blogiversary giveaway with some of those goodies as the prizes.  I'm still pondering how I'll do it, so if you want the chance to get some nice yarn and/or nice books/patterns, stay tuned!

Also, do you remember this sweater that I started long ago, and picked up and put down a number of times:

the pattern is from Knitty, and it's Amelia by Laura Chau.  I've been using some Cascade 220 Heather yarn in the colorway Mallard (which is more of a dark blue-green than the photo shows).   I truly love the yarn, but became less and less fond of the project every time I'd pick it up.  So I decided to deep-six it, and use the yarn for some future project that I just cannot wait to make.  The funny thing is that when I was frogging it yesterday, I realized that it was a good thing I was doing so anyway, since apparently every time I picked it up (and there were some long stretches in between), I had a slightly differing gauge!  If I had soldiered on, and noticed that at the end, it wouldn't have been pretty, let me tell you.  So rather than seeing it as a project that failed, I'm seeing it as a project saved.  :-)

Another good thing (I'm just Little Mary Sunshine today, aren't I?) is that now I only have three active projects: my Emerald Hedgerows ('cause I always like to have a pair of socks on the needles.  I also realize I need an updated photo), my Delaware River Waves Scarf (for which my self-imposed deadline is next spring!), and my Breezy Turquoise, which I am hoping big-time that I will finish no later than the first day of fall, so I can just pull it out and actually wear it next spring.  

Other than that, I have a couple of ideas for things in my head that I want to see if I can figure out how to put them on paper and then translate to needles.  My math skills are non-existent, but I'm thinking that if I have real trouble, I can ask some of my friends who design things regularly for some help.  And if all else fails, I'll get The Tim to assist me ... I mean, he has to be good for something, right????

Enjoy this last day of the weekend, and I'll see you in another couple of days with blogiversary info.

It's That Time of Year Again!

Yep, it happens every year at this time, and it's so much fun!  Not my vacation (alas, that was last October), not a raise at work (hah!), not winning the lottery.

It's time for The Knitters' Hunk and The Knitters' Chick competition!!!

Once again, the intrepid Kim is hosting nominations for a contest that it not just fun, but often heated.  She started the whole thing a few years ago, and added The Knitters' Chick last year, at the suggestion of her son.  It is one of my favorite things to do, because people are so loyal, and there are so many different types of nominees. And yes, many of them are attractive, but they also are people that seem like they would be fun to hang around with, whether or not they are knitters.  I love the idea of celebrities being nominated for something like this, since it's so out of the normal awards, but more fun - at least for those of us voting!

Why don't you take part?  The three links above give you all the info you need to know.

Here are my nominations for this year, all of them people that I think would be a ton of fun to be around.

The Knitters' Hunk:

Jon Hamm

Denzel Washington

Stephen Colbert

The Knitters' Chick:

Helen Mirren

Tina Fey

Aisha Tyler

There are even prizes for those who nominate winners, so some extra incentive is there for you.  And remember - when this all becomes The Next Big Thing, you can say you were there at the beginning.  :-)

Home Again, Home Again ...

and late with this post!   Sorry about that, I know I said I'd announce the winner of my contest on Sunday, November 4.  Due to a bad cold, the time change, and jet lag, it was a trifecta of tired.  I seriously did not have the energy to post yesterday, which was frustrating, since I wanted to announce the winner.

So, before we go any further, I'll tell you where we visited this time.  As I mentioned, we were flying in and out of Dublin, and we traveled around seeing lots of places.  But besides Dublin, the places where we actually spent a night or two were:

1.  Kilkenny

Kilkenny Castle

2. Blarney

Rock of Cashel (near Blarney - pictures from Blarney are in my camera, 

which needs a new battery)

3.  Limerick

View from our hotel room in Limerick

A couple of you guessed, "Cork," and though Blarney in is County Cork, that's not the same as Cork City.

Only Susan aka paintermom guessed one of the places correctly, saying "Galway, Limerick, and Cork."  So she wins the prize!  Susan, send me your name and snail mail address at thekittyknitterATverizonDOTnet, and I can get it ready to send to you.

Thanks to everyone who played along - most of you got close, and you all guessed places we visited on our last trip, so it was not out of the realm of possibility ...

*****

I'll bore regale you with more tales of our trip once I am better organized.  But I would also like to remind you to 

VOTE TOMORROW!!

Whether you are a Democrat

Republican

or Independent

Voting is a privilege that is one of the most important ways that we can participate in our governmental process.  Don't take it for granted.  And if you don't vote, then don't complain about the results!

Go dté tú slán!**

To us, that is!  This afternoon, The Tim and I will be heading to JFK airport in New York to board a plane for

IRELAND!!!!

We have been planning this trip since late summer, and it's finally here.  We're flying in and out of Dublin (pictured above), and renting a car, and then the adventure begins - YAY!***

This is our second trip, the first one was eight years ago, pre-blog and pre- a lot of other stuff.  That time, we flew in and out of Shannon, and also rented a car and stayed in guest houses, with our last night in a castle.  It was simply amazing and wonderful and fun and we have always wanted to go back.

This time, our trip package has us staying in what appear to be really nice hotels (you know, the kind we could never afford otherwise), so it will be interesting to have that part be different.  We have a bazillion plans and ideas, and hope to do at least five of them ... one thing we're know we'll be doing for sure is next Wednesday (Halloween!), we have booked ourselves for a tour of the Abbey Theatre, and then that evening, we'll be back there, seeing a performance of "The Picture of Dorian Gray," by Oscar Wilde.  How cool is that?  On our last trip, we had hoped to do something like this, but while we were in Dublin, they were in-between plays, so the theatre was dark.

You may be thinking, "Well, just be sure that you remember that they drive on the other side of the road."  We are well aware, especially after our last trip, when I often spent the time in the car dodging hedgerows on my side of the road, when The Tim would be trying to stay out of the way vehicles coming the other way ... (Also, The Tim kept referring to Euros as "dollars" or worse yet, "pounds," so I've already given him reminders to try to just start thinking in terrms of Euros ...)

Anyway, other than Dublin, we will be staying overnight in three other cities in Ireland.  I thought that I might have a contest here on the blog, and the prize could be a souvenir of our trip!  I think it would be fun, so here we go.

Here are the "rules," such as they are.

• Between today, October 25, and Friday, November 2, you must leave a comment ON THIS POST ONLY, with your guess of where else we will be staying overnight (besides Dublin, since I've already told you that!). 
• If someone guesses all three correctly, they will win the prize.  If no one gets three, but guesses two, they'll win.  If no two-guess comments work, anyone with one of their guesses will be the winner.
• In the event that there is a tie, or that no one guesses the other places, I'll choose a winner via random number drawing.
• The winner will be announced on Sunday, November 4.

OK, now it's up to you.  Have at it, and have fun!  That's it for now.


**The title of this post the Irish Gaelic equivalent of "Bon Voyage," which of course is the French equivalent of "Have a good trip."  This phrase translated, means "May you go safely."

***Lowlifes and no-gooders - just because we won't be in our house, it doesn't mean no one else will be.  So don't bother, it won't end well for you.