Monday, August 31, 2015

Monday Quarterbacking

I am not gonna lie;  I'm really happy that Sam Elliott is The Knitters' Hunk.  
I've been in love with him forEVER.  ("Lifeguard," anyone?*) It's one of those things about me that you know if we spend more than, oh, say, 18 minutes together.

Both fields, Hunk and Chick, were top-notch.  Quite a few of the nominees sort of mesmerized me as I looked for photos of them.  Lucy Liu doesn't appear to have ever taken a bad picture.  Pretty much the same story for Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Chris Evans, Julianne Moore and Aishwarya Rai.  Kiernan Shipka is amazing.  Viggo Mortensen is much, much better-looking when he doesn't smile.

 One picture that was/is so brilliant, but, ultimately, unusable:
I can't recall who Harrison was up against when I found this, but I didn't find matching bike shorts and black knee socks for whomever it was.







*

Sunday, August 30, 2015

We Have Winners!

The new Knitters' Chick is
TINA FEY.

In results that were, frankly, unexpected, she defeated Meryl Streep by a most impressive margin (63% to 37%}.  She actually sort of breezed through the whole race, now that I look back on it.

Tina was nominated by two readers --- Kim S. (who actually nominated Fey and  Streep) and Carol.   They will each, therefore, receive a grand prize.  Kim's address I have, but, Carol, if you could get in touch with me (handeyecraftsAthotmailDOTcom) and give me yours, I'll have the packages out as soon as I can.

The new Knitters' Hunk is
SAM ELLIOTT.

The votes were 71% to 29% (more than 2-to-1)  Poor Viggo --- runner-up two years in a row.  Somehow, though, I imagine his life will go on.

The grand prize goes to Sam's nominator, Lorette.  Congratulations to you, too!  And thank you for nominating someone I've, personally, had a colossal crush on for close to 40 years.

One more winner to announce: kmkat wins the yarn bowl!  Watch your mailbox or your porch --- I can't decide if I'm sending things USPS or UPS.

That's a wrap for this year, gang.  Thank you ALL.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Final Photography

Sometimes, there is a wealth of good photos to use in a match-up.  Since this is The Final, I thought I'd just go on and take advantage of that.

Who will be the 2015 Knitters' Hunk?  The winner, either way, will be a first-time champ.  And what a wonderful Hunk he will be.

 The announcement  of all the winners will be made tomorrow at 1:00 PM (ET)




Thank you all for another wonderful field of candidates, and for voting every day!!

Friday, August 28, 2015

Friday Final

It has come to this.

Which of these women do you want to carry the banner of Knitters' Chick for the coming year?  With which would you like to knit, or yarn crawl?  Which would give you empathy when you have to frog that Fair Isle hat, or cheer you on as you try to finish that baby gift in time?

There are many things to consider, but only two choices.  The winner will be announced Sunday, along with the new Knitters' Hunk and the winning nominators, as well as the winner of the yarn bowl.




Thursday, August 27, 2015

Stretch Run

It's interesting to watch how voting goes in these contests.  Early rounds end in ties, or one- or two-vote wins.  From the Quarters on in, the vote differences are larger.  Quite often, they are landslides.   I don't know that that means anything in particular, but it is interesting.

Also happening as the contests go on is I look less and less to find very similar pictures of the people running against one another.  If I find some, great, I'll use them.  But, I figure most of you know what these folks look like by then, so it probably won't cause much of a disparity.

All that said, come tomorrow,
Tina Fey
and
Meryl Streep
will face off to become your new Knitters' Chick.  The four people who nominated the two of them are also facing off in a way --- who will win the Grand Prize?

Narrow the Hunk field now, would you, please?



Wednesday, August 26, 2015

asterisk

Is it cheerleading to say that I think all four of the Knitters' Hunk finalists are uber-worthy?  Hunting for their photos has not, at all, never, been a chore.

Sort of Seeing the End

It looks as if we'll be voting for the new Knitters' Hunk and Knitters' Chick by week's end.  Your Hunk Semifinals will consist of
Sam Elliott
Sam Neill
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Viggo Mortensen

Goodbye to reigning Hunk Mike Rowe.  Take some comfort in knowing you were defeated by a former KH, Mr. Neill.

And, here are your Semifinalists for Knitters' Chick.  Happy voting!


Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Queries Four

Your Knitters' Chick Semifinalists are
Sigourney Weaver
Helen Mirren
Meryl Streep
Tina Fey
The full results can be seen in yesterday's post.  Farewell to reigning Chick Maggie Smith, and former winner Isabella Rossellini;  you continue to inspire and awe.  If you nominated Sigourney, Helen, Meryl, or Tina, you are still in the running for prizes!


Only eight men are left.  Who gets kicked to the curb, and who lasts another round?

Monday, August 24, 2015

Questions Yet

Who should be sent to the Knitters' Chick Final Four?  It's in your hands. . .










Barring the necessity for any tiebreaker(s) here, the Hunk Quarterfinals will be up tomorrow.  And, it is official, Jon Stewart (by one vote) will round out the Great Eight --- Testosterone Edition.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Why Not?

THE POLL IS CLOSED

Why shouldn't we have to wait a little longer for the Quarterfinals?  This tie needs to be broken before we move on:



Please vote before Noon (ET) tomorrow.  I know that's a change, but it should be plenty of time for you all to make a choice.  Once this is decided, I'll put up the Knitters' Chick Great Eight!

The latest winners are
Tina Fey
Daniel Craig
Helen Mirren
Sam Neill
Rashida Jones
Viggo Mortensen
Isabella Rossellini

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Can You Stand It?

POLLS ARE CLOSED


We're almost to the Quarterfinals!  The pairs below are to determine who gets there.  But, first, the latest winners, and the first into the Quarters:

Sam Elliott
Sigourney Weaver
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Caitriona Balfe
Jeremy Irons
Meryl Streep
Mike Rowe
Maggie Smith

Almost every one of those races see-saw-ed all day.  Defending Hunk Mike Rowe won by a slim single vote.

So, who should join them in the Quarterfinals?

(Just FYI, the quarterfinals won't be posted until Monday morning --- I need time to set the pairs up.  Also, I feel it's time to start hiding the vote counts.  The tensions grows naturally at this point of the show anyway;  why not help it along?)

















ETA: At this moment (8:50 PM ET), there are 10 nominators still in the running for the Knitters' Chick Grand Prize, and 8 for the Hunk's.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Casting Calls

POLLS ARE CLOSED

I don't mind telling you there was some scrambling around at KH/KC HQ last night.  The fact that two pairs had to be set up again for tiebreakers made finding matching photos fever-pitched.  All I can say is, thank goodness Macfadyen and Turner both wore period costumes at one point.  And, I believe all possible combinations of Lucy Liu / Betty White pictures have been found and used.  Except maybe this one:
(Which wouldn't have been used anyway, since one is color and the other's black and white.  All's I'm saying is it was getting really tough to find pictures that worked.)

Betty finally moves on, as does Mr. Macfadyen.  Thanks for your patience, and continued voting.

There are going to be quick voting turnarounds now that the contests have many fewer nominees.  Don't be surprised, then, if you see the same faces two days in a row.

First up in Round Three:















Thursday, August 20, 2015

Well

We won't be moving into Round Three juuuuussst quite yet.  It seems that we now have two ties to break!

First, though, the most recent winners:
Zoe Kravitz
Isabella Rossellini
Timothy Olyphant
Scarlett Johansson
Ewan McGregor
Viggo Mortensen
Congratulations to all of them, and to all of their nominators.

NOW.

Set your minds to work on this thorny problem. . .


And, for the second time, try to find a solution here:

Virtual coin-flip, anyone?

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Blanks

POLLS ARE CLOSED


Keeping with the interesting Photo Facts of yesterday, I ran across this:
Heughan on the left, Coster-Waldau on the right, Norman Reedus in the center.  I'd like to know what the occasion was for this triumvirate.  And, in truth, I've been surprised no one has ever nominated Norman for KH.

ANYway. . .

Upon completion of this voting, all the blanks in the Second Round brackets will be filled.  And we will move quickly and efficiently into Round Three.  Already waiting for us there are:

Sam Elliott
Helen Mirren
Sam Neill
Rashida Jones
Alexander Skarsgard
Meryl Streep
Nicolaj Coster-Waldau

(Has anyone else noticed the surfeit of "Sam"s we have this year?)

There was a tie between Lucy Liu and Betty White, so I'll give you an opportunity to break that, and finish filling out the third round.



















Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Benefitting From Kismet

POLLS ARE CLOSED

Sometimes, Photography Karma is good,  Take, for instance, Pair 18 today.  Perfect alignment, perfect set of pictures for comparing.  And, while looking for visuals for Pair 23, I came across this:
I promise I did not plan this pairing.  This is the second time in all the contests' years it turned out someone had sort of done my work for me.  As you can see, I still found other photos for voting;  I just thought you might enjoy the Alignment of Hunk Likenesses.

The latest winners are
Jon Stewart
Tina Fey
Daniel Craig
Caitriona Balfe
John Oliver (by a single vote)
Yvonne Strahovski (also by one vote)
Stephen Colbert
Emilia Clarke

A few people (myself included) have had all their nominees voted out, either on the KH or the KC side.  Not to worry, though;  remember that everyone (myself excluded) will have a chance to win the yarn bowl.

Cursors at the ready?  GO!















Monday, August 17, 2015

Bracketology

POLLS ARE CLOSED


First Round Done.  Second Round Begun.  Then, Third Round, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals.  Are you ready to keep going?  Choosing your Hunk and your Chick is a marathon. . .

Cruising toward Round Three are
Emily Blunt
Nathan Fillion
Samantha Bee
Mike Rowe
Maggie Smith
Jeremy Irons
Julianne Moore
Sam Heughan

Your line-up for today:



















Sunday, August 16, 2015

Beginning Round Two

POLLS HAVE CLOSED

Your final weekend winners are
Josh Holloway
Elizabeth Warren
Alan Cumming
Annabelle Fleur
Ioan Gruffud
Zoe Kravitz

What say we get Round Two underway?  Both of your defending champions make their first appearances --- how will they do this year?















Have a good week, everyone.  Keep voting!

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Adieu, First Round (And An Announcement)

POLLS ARE NOW CLOSED

It came to me that maybe something new should be thrown into the contests.  It will be this:
A very purple yarn bowl, which is showing very blue in the picture.  At any rate, I'll draw one nominator's name at random when the Grand Hunk and Grand Chick are named.  (Sound good?  K.)

Your voting on the pairs below will end Round One.  You have moved
Scarlett Johansson
Matthew Macfadyen
Lucy Liu
Robert Downey, Jr.
Katheryn Winnick
Gerard Butler
into Round Two.

Who should join them there?













Oh, how I wish I could say something about what's going on here. . .  Nothing bad, just occasional comments and bon mots.  Must be Caesar's wife, though.  Must be Caesar's wife.

Friday, August 14, 2015

About Done With Round One

POLLS ARE CLOSED (Though there's something wonky going on with Polldaddy, and it may not look like they are.  But they are.)

There are just a few more pairings to go through, before we wind up all of the first round.  Round Two will begin on Monday.

There are several people in both KH and KC who haven't shown up yet.  For most of the men, it was because they were seeded, and exempt from the first round.  For the women, it was, literally, the luck of the draw.  The seeds went in first, then I just filled the bracket blanks in the order I drew names.  A long way to go to tell you that you're about to see and vote on everyone else.

But, first, our latest winners:
Chris Pine
Sela Ward
Jon Hamm
Jon Stewart
Betty White
We also have our first tie --- between Zoe Kravitz and Gina Rodriguez.  You will have a chance to break that tie soon.

For now, send some other folks into the second round!











Thursday, August 13, 2015

Awash in Pretty Faces

The most recent winners:
Kate Winslet
Lenny Kravitz
Caitriona Balfe
John Oliver
Kiernan Shipka
Bradley Cooper

Some of these races are quite competitive;  people are winning by one or two votes.  You're all keeping it very interesting!  And remember, if your nominees are still in the contest, so are you.












Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Ample Time

POLLS ARE CLOSED

The latest winners:
Emily Blunt
Mark Harmon
Tyne Daly
Sam Heughan
Melissa McCarthy
Sam Elliott

You should have picked up that voting is open from 8:30 PM (ET) one night until 8:30 PM (ET) the next night.  Hopefully that gives everyone a chance to fit voting into their schedule somewhere.  Are you ready for the next match-ups?










Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Another Day, Another Set of Decisions

POLLS ARE NOW CLOSED

Our first winners this year are
Harrison Ford
Patti Smith
Nathan Fillion
Aishwarya Rai
Pierce Brosnan
Sigourney Weaver

A couple of those winners won by a single vote.  Which is proof that voting does make a difference.  Congratulations to them, and to their nominators.


Here are your options for today;  you have 24 hours to vote.  I'm not going to lie to you --- there are times when my heart flutters a bit when looking up suitable photos for the match-ups.  And I might spend a little extra time looking at some nominees' pictures, even after I've picked one out.  It's all about the clarity here at HQ.  











Monday, August 10, 2015

And Now, For Those Most Famous Words In Knitter Sports

POLLS ARE NOW CLOSED

Voters, start your mouses!












Almost There

The brackets for both Knitters' Hunk and Knitters' Chick are filled out.  In the spirit of complete transparency, I want you to know that I had to move a couple of names around on the Knitters' Chick side.  It was to keep people from having to choose between two of their own nominees, and it stayed completely random.

Now, of course, it's time for me to start the Webhunt for pictures of the pairs.  I don't know if I'll be done tonight, but check back before you go to bed.  Whenever the pairings do go up, you'll always have 24 hours for voting.

Let's hope Polldaddy will cooperate. . .

The Men's Seeds are:
1) Mike Rowe
2) Ewan McGregor
3) Viggo Mortensen
4) Liam Neeson
5) Sam Neill
6 - 11)(Alphabetically) David Beckham
Daniel Craig
Stephen Colbert
Idris Elba
Timothy Olyphant
Aidan Turner

The Women's Seeds are:
1) Maggie Smith
2) Isabella Rossellini
3) Rashida Jones
4) Julianne Moore
5) Helen Mirren
6) Meryl Streep
7) Tina Fey
8) Angelina Jolie

Hold on to your hats!

Post Time

In total, there are 51 Knitters' Hunk nominees, and 48 Knitters' Chick nominees.  (I'm unsure how to explain the difference, but, I've counted and re-counted, and there it is.)  In KC, there will be 8 seeds, and in KH, there will be 11.  (Lots of guys nominated by the same number of people.)

I shall hasten to work on the brackets now, letting you know when voting will begin.

This.
Is.  
Going.
To.
Be.


Saturday, August 8, 2015

Ooops

My cat-sitting duty is over.  Hannah and her crew have been moving into their new place today, and they just came and picked Klunk and Wooper up.  The cats were never really any trouble while they were here, but I'm glad to have them gone and moving into their new home.

Hannah brought me a Trader Joe's bag full of yarn and patterns that I had given her a while back, and completely forgotten about.  It's rather like a nice, Christmas-y-type surprise.  I haven't gone through it yet;  I'll let you know what goodies there are when I have.

Only a couple of KH and KC nominations have come in today.  Looking back over my paperwork from last year, I realized I had made a mistake about who should be automatically entered.  Viggo Mortensen was the KH runner-up last year, so I'll be putting him into the draw.  Sorry about that, Viggo.
Come on, man --- I feel bad enough.  Don't give me that face.  You're in the draw, dude.

Thank all of you who have nominated --- there are some inspired choices.  Please tell all your friends and fellow knitters to stop by and throw some names into the ring.  They've got until midnight tomorrow night/Monday morning.  More=merrier!!



Friday, August 7, 2015

Live-Blogging The Nominations

9:25 AM --- Man, I wish I could say something about the nominees.  But, mustn't cheerlead.

9:28 AM --- YES!  One of my favorite men to look at, ever.

9:28:02 AM --- Mustn't cheerlead.

9:34 AM --- Laughing out loud at a comment left for me.  You know who you are.

9:48 AM ---  All names, as of now, recorded and prepped for the draw.

10:50 AM --- There are already a few folks nominated by more than one person.

10:52 AM --- My daughter will definitely be voting for him.

11:25 AM --- Chick nominations are always so interesting.  Several people have told me they're more difficult to come up with than Hunks.

11:34 AM --- Great, inspired choice.

11:34:08 --- Mustn't cheerlead.

11:46 AM --- Break for knitting.

12:28 PM --- And a peanut butter sandwich.

1:37 PM --- I know whom a few people are going to nominate, even before they nominate them.

3:48 PM --- Appropos of having just watched this, I remember that I was the only girl in the entire 5th grade who did not have to go watch "that movie."  The boys in my class kept looking at me like I had interrupted all their plans for that half-hour or so.  Still, it's one of my best elementary school memories.

3:53 PM --- Some of these men have been in the contest every year.  I feel like they should be given  some sort of meritorius service certificates or something.

4:11 PM --- Wow.  My friend Kelli has posted this on Facebook:
My friend Kim runs Knitters Hunk and Knitters Chick over at her blog. If any one of my knitting friends joins in, I will donate copies of the winners choice of 5 of my patterns for each contest. Kim Spence Dean just needs to tell me who the winners are. So, go forth my knitting friends and nominate!
Thank you, Kelli!

6:20 PM --- Time to wrap things up here.  As of this minute, 36 men and 33 women have been nominated.  Remember that nominations can come in until Midnight, Sunday.  Spread the word!

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Let the Nominations Begin

Alright, everyone --- give me your Knitters' Hunk and Knitters' Chick nominees in the Comments section.  Remember, only 3 nominees allowed in each contest.
 
Let's do this!

Hugh Pitches In

Yesterday was my regular therapy day.  I got all dolled up, went to my car, and it wouldn't start.
Stone dead.  Not even the tiniest "gr-gr" sound.  And I really needed to unload on someone yesterday.  There wsn't a reschedule available until next Wednesday.

Cue headACHE.


I was able to get the battery going just a little while ago, and took the car out for a few minutes, hoping to recharge it.  A storm blew in, so I wasn't able to stay out for very long.  So, I'm back home, preparing to prepare for KH and KC nominations to start coming in.  It's about to get busy!




Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Rules for Rookies

As the opening bell gets shined up here at KH/KC HQ, I thought it time to review the contest rules for anyone who might be new.  

Both Knitters' Hunk and Knitters' Chick are single-elimination contests to determine which male and which female readers would like to 1) knit for, or, 2) knit with, or, 3) knit next to.  My default setting for deciding on my own nominees is to look at a chair in my den (where I do almost all of my knitting.)  Then I imagine the potential nominee sitting there.  If I feel good, relaxed. happy --- that's a nominee.  If I feel intimidated or blush-y, or can't-catch-my-breath-y, thaaaat's not going to work.

(The above disclosure explains why Kim Spence Dean, owner and proprietor of Knitters' Hunk, Knitters' Chick and this blog, has never nominated Robert Redford.)
(She's just sayin' . . .)

Anyone can nominate candidates for either contest, but only three (3) for each.  The only criteria are that the nominees be alive (otherwise, Paul Newman. . .
I'm just sayin'. . .), fairly well-known (so voters don't have to do a lot of Google searches), and have photos available from the Web.  

There will be four seeded nominees for both Hunk and Chick.  They all enter the contest automatically, and, so, do not have to be nominated by anyone.  (The seeds are past winners and runners-up.)  Nominees' names are placed in the contest bracket entirely at random, their names
having been drawn from The Fedora of Fate.
(Not the actual Fedora of Fate, but its twin in all respects.   I'm comfortable on the couch, and don't want to get up and take a picture of the hat.)  The contests proceed until only a single winner remains in each.

There are prizes.  The person(s) who nominated the winner(s) will receive gobs of good stuff.  So, too, will the nominee(s) of the runners-up.  And you do not have to be a knitter to nominate, or vote.  There are lots of non-knitter prizes, too.

So.  There you are.  I will begin accepting nominations this Friday (August 7th).  Nominations will close at midnight (ET), Sunday (August 9th).  Nominations should be listed in the Comments section of this blog.  NO ONE has to nominate these eight (8) people:

Maggie Smith
Rashida Jones
Isabella Rossellini
Julianne Moore

Mike Rowe
Ewan McGregor
Liam Neeson
Sam Neill

Spread the word!  Invite your friends!  Prepare for fun, and painful decision-making!





Monday, August 3, 2015

There's Always Paperwork

Getting things together for KH and KC: index cards for recording nominators and nominees,  cutting slips of paper bound for the Fedora of Fate, each nominee's name written on one.  Writing is the worst thing for me to do with my dead fingers, and there's a lot of writing to do.  Fortunately, none of it has to be seen by anyone but me, so it all works out.

I'm knitting again, though it's kind of painful, too, and I've chosen probably the worst yarn to work with:
But, I got the urge to make mitred cotton squares for a blanket.  I made one a few years ago, and, for some reason, the fever returned.  Ultimately, it will look a little like this:
The pattern is from Mason-Dixon Knitting's first book.  I forget how I finished the edging on the first one;  probably single-crocheted all around the edges.

If you look into the background of my photo, you can see a table covered with yarns from Camille.  I have finished unpacking the box, and there are some gorgeous colors and textures;  the winners are going to be so spoiled.

Still taking care of Klunk and Wooper.  They'll be with me through the weekend.  This is how Klunk spends pretty much all of his time:
Yes, it's 100 degrees outside, and he stays wrapped up in fleece blankets.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Babies Help Me Out

Camille's Prize Package is still being unpacked. 


I know!  I'm taking one skein/hank out at a time, every now and then, daily.  Mostly because if I don't have something, anything, to anticipate, I will not have a reason to move forward.  The Pit will loom. 

My son was over yesterday, and we were talking about KH and KC.  He's trying to come up with his nominees, and I'm sort of wavering on a couple of mine.  We got around to the idea of contests where only people who have passed away could be nominated.  Paul Newman. . .  Persis Khambatta. . .  Clark Gable. . .  Ingrid Bergman. . .  I think I'll tuck that idea away, and revisit it in a few months.  What do you think?




48

If you've ever rented a movie on Amazon Prime, you know you have 48 hours in which to watch it.  (By the way, why do we "watch"...