One from Column A, Two from Column B, and Then There'll Be a Mystery

Ready for our A, B, C Swap?

The rules are pretty simple.  You will be sent the name of the swapper you will be sending to.  The times for starting and ending the swap will depend upon how many people join.  I'm setting no monetary limits for this swap, but if you like to have a number in mind, I'd say $25 --- all I ask is that you just send nice things.  Your package must contain one gift from each of the following:

COLUMN  A   (Choose one item)

1.  One (or more;  your choice) skein/ball/hank of yarn.  The yarn should be obviously new and unused (band, tag, etc. still attached.)  The yarn can most certainly come from your stash, just please send yarn that would excite you to receive.

2.  Gift card to an online yarn shop.

COLUMN  B (Choose two items)

1,  Stitch markers ( Pretty ones.  Not just rubber or plastic rings.)

2. Tape measure

3.  Small scissors

4.  Instruction/Conversion cards

5.  Lotion

6.  Tea (and/or accessories}

7.  Needle holders

8.  Yarn "bras"

9.  Row counter

10,  Point protectors

11.  Soaps/Soaks/Washes

12.  Pretty buttons

13.  Repair tools

14.  Snacks

15.  Shawl pin/stick

16.  Note pads/Note cards

17.  Cable hooks/needles
18.  DPN holders/storage tubes

COLUMN  C

When I send you your receiver's name, I will also send a "surprise ingredient" for you to include in your package.  You have to wait to see what that will be.  I promise it won't cost anything.

Let me know if you think of something that would make a good addition to the columns.

Just leave your name in the comment section here if you want to participate.  I'll contact everyone later to get mailing addresses.

Please, please, please spread the news about this swap.  There are only 3 people in line so far, and that won't make for an exciting or a very long swap.

K?

SWAP!

Not getting as much feedback on the Beekeeper's Quilt as I had hoped for.  Could you please mention it on your blog?  Maybe we'll have enough to make a baby quilt?

The swap, though, is on.  I will post all the rules here tomorrow, then start sign-ups on Monday.  Again --- tell your friends!  With swaps, the more the better.

Yes, I know that I am a 53-year-old woman, and this request is going to make you question my maturity,

BUT.

McDonald's is in the midst of one of those boy/girl toy things with Happy Meals.  The girls' prize is a set of Wizard of Oz figures:

If any of you find yourself in posession of one of these, could you please send it to me?  I so very much want to have this set.  Weird, I know, and most of you are probably past the Happy Meal years, but I thought I'd throw it out there.  THANKS.

Now, click your heels together and say, "Hexipuffs and Swapping..."

Teamwork

Enough of you expressed interest in the Hexipuff Project that calls for the little jewels will be going out post-haste.  If you will talk about the projects on your blogs, it reaches more eyes.  (My blogfeed tends to seriously plummet after Knitter's Hunk/Knitters' Chick are over.)  If there are other ways to spread the word, please take advantage of them, and let me know what they are, so I can go "begging."

What it is: A call for any and all hexipuffs knitters might have about, having given up on or tired from their Beekeepers Quilt experience.  They should all be mailed to me, as I will be putting them together.  (E-mail me at handeyecraftsathotmaildotcom for my address.)  When you send them in, also include the name(s) of charity(ies) you would like to see the proceeds go to.

Several of you were also interested in a swap, so I will be figuring out the details on that and letting you know here as soon as I'm done.

As I added to my previous post, kmkat figured out that the reason I bought the cherub notecards was because the little guy was left-handed.  You should all know that I am obsessed with left-handedness.  If I could change a single thing about myself, I would become left-handed.  In less than a heartbeat.

Contests? Contributions?

My dear Kim answered my previous question about hexipuffs by saying that she hadn't knit any in ages.  As I was replying to her, it dawned on me that maybe a lot of you out there have hexifpuffs stored away.  And it came to me that maybe we could pool all our hexipuffs and make a quilt we could sell for a charity.  Would any of you be interested in that?  I'd be willing to sew all the puffs together, and we can decide what charity we want the proceeds to go to together.

No one guessed why I bought these notecards:

Shall I offer a little gifte for the first person who sends the correct answer?

I shall.

It will be going to kmkat, who guessed my motive was the cherub's left-handedness.

And would anyone be interested in a swap of some sort?  Again, I'll take it on to organize.  I've been turned down for almost a dozen jobs in the last week.  I've got to have some things to do, or I'll be back in bed for the foreseeable future.

Stray Thoughts

Why do we say "ice" water, but "iced" everything else?

*mind blown*

Is anyone still making hexipuffs for a Beekeepers' Quilt?

My mother used to say that if she wanted to feel "spruced up," she'd just put on some lipstick.  For me, it's putting on a pair of earrings.

Things I need to say more often:

"Am I working alone here, people?"
"Stop juggling those cat fetuses!"
"I'm an expert on my own story.  I was there."

Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to why I bought these notecards?

 Peyton Manning can be really, really funny.

Andy Richter is really, really funny.

The phrase "plays sports" distresses me.

Has anyone else been assaulted by THE COLOR CORAL in the current knitting magazines?

Listening to/watching Al Green sing makes me happy.

I'm working on three all-garter-stich projects right now, and I'm not fed up with any of them.  Yet.

More Tens

Thinking about the "Dancing Songs," I realized that several of them could also be included in a list called "Songs That Immediately Improve My Mood."  So, that (extremely partial) list had to be made:

1.  "Roll With It" --- Steve Winwood

2.  "Down On the Corner" --- Creedence Clearwater Revival

3.  "Stomp" --- Kirk Franklin and God's Property

4.  "Do Not Pass Me By" --- MC Hammer

5.  "To Love Somebody" --- Bee Gees

6.  "Cathy's Clown" --- The Everly Brothers

7.  "Carrying Your Love With Me" --- George Strait

8.  "Funny How Time Slips Away" --- Al Green, Lyle Lovett

9.  "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" --- Mary Chapin Carpenter

10.  "Nessun Dorma" --- Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti

Then, this morning, I watched my latest Netflix disc, "Sergeant Rutledge."  It was astounding.  As in, it now has a place on my Favorite Movies List:

1.  "The Sting" (Always and forever)

2.  "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead"

3.  "To Kill A Mockingbird"

4.  "The Philadelphia Story"

5.  "Letters From Iwo Jima"

6.  "Duck Soup"

7.  "Jurassic Park"

8.  "Bringing Up Baby"

9.  "Sling Blade"

10.  "Sergeant Rutledge"*

+ Others

*

Ten on Tuesday

10 Songs That Make Me Want to Dance

1.  "Jive Talkin' " --- Bee Gees

2.  "Stayin' Alive" --- Bee Gees

3.  "Do Not Pass Me By" ---  MC Hammer

4.  "Stomp" --- Kirk Franklin and God's Property

5.  "Addicted to Love" --- Robert Palmer

6.  "We've Got It Goin' On" --- Backstreet Boys

7.  "Down On the Corner" --- Creedence Clearwater Revival

8.  "Every Time I Roll the Dice" --- Delbert McClinton

9.  "What Have You Done For Me Lately?" --- Janet Jackson

10.  "Roll With It" --- Steve Winwood

Just a little taste of one of the songs:

Mid-Life Crisis?

Scanning through online yarn stores, I find myself looking at lots and lots of green.  Is my brain trying to tell me I've got enough purple?

Picking Up Sticks

Managing to knit while alternating between (possibly) over-using Neo-Synephrine and blowing, blowing, blowing, blowing my nose.  And it never fails to amaze me that two sticks can fashion one long piece of string into such remarkable shapes.

No, not a scarf --- a long, long rectangle that will be seamed into a cowl.

Same here:

I am really liking the striping on this.

My twinnie introduced me to Feza's Candy yarn, and I ordered some.  I had no idea it was going to come in an oh-so-cool carrying bag:

When I haven't felt like knitting, I've been looking at patterns, which is always dangerous for me.  Looking through my yarn for something I had that was the perfect thing to send to Camille for her Hunk/Chick win, I was reminded of some yarns I had forgotten about.  The combination of "new" yarn and discovered patterns has got my Knitting Meter running at top speed.

You?

I Don't Know About You. . .

. . .But I'm pretty good in a crisis/at crunch time.  It's when the crisis/crunch time has passed, and the adrenaline stops flowing, that I collapse.  Quickly and completely.

Witness this miserable head cold/sinus thing I've been suffering from all week.  Knitters' Hunk and Knitters' Chick come to an end, and, bam, I'm down for the count.  It has been a miserable five days --- not being able to breathe, taking enough medicine to dry everything up but my nose, just wanting to sleep.

This year's contest was quite wonderful.  Lots of new faces, lots of nominators and voters participating for the first time, great donated prizes.  The cold has kept me from sending the prizes to Camille and Kim, but I"m going to get them out as soon as possible.

Thank you, thank you, thank you all so much for another fun year.

And Your 2013 Winners Are. . .

Isabella Rosellini

as Knitters' Chick

Ewan McGregor

as Knitters' Hunk

Both won by landslides:  Rossellini 81% to 19% over Jamie Lee Curtis, and McGregor 88% to 12% over defending champion Liam Neeson.

Camille Wahl nominated both Isabella and Ewan, and so will win a combination of the Hunk and Chick prize packages.  Kim Sheehan nominated Jamie Lee, and will receive a very nice runner-up prize.  Hooray for them both!!

Again, thanks for playing along.  Let's meet again next August and do it all over, want to?

Last Day

Before you vote, please let me thank you for enduring my silliness for another year.  It's always great fun to set these contests up, and your enthusiasm and appreciation make it more than worthwhile.  Thanks also to those who donated prizes --- winners are going to get some very nice knitterly things this year.

Okay.

Ready to crown some champions?

And, just because it exists:

All winners will be announced tomorrow;  good luck!

Nineteenth Day

What's going on in your neck of the woods?*

Today's winners will meet tomorrow to crown The Champions!  Deep, cleansing breath and here we go. . .

*I'm hiding the results today, as well as tomorrow, for a little added suspense.  I'm such a scamp.