Wednesday, January 27, 2010

100th post celebration!


Yes, you read right: This is my 100th post! It's taken me almost 7 months to reach this number, which I don't think is too long. And to celebrate this, we're of course going to have a competition! To enter the competition, you can go about it in three ways.

1) Write me a comment and tell me what your favourite finished object you made is, and why.
2) Become a follower to this blog (all of you who are already followers will get this entry for free :).
3) Write about this competition on your own blog, and then write in my comments, telling me that you've done so.

Those are the entry ways, and you can get three entries in total. On January 31st I will draw a random name from all of those who have entered, and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter. And now I bet you're all wondering what you can win, right? Well, I've been raving for a while now about a recent favourite sock-yarn of mine, Kunstgarn from Hjertegarn. So naturally I went out and bought a skein for you! Here it is, the grand prize:


The yarn is 75 % superwash wool/25 % nylon, and the skein is 100 g, which is 420 m. It should be enough for a reasonalby sized pair of socks, I used about half a skein to make my Ishbel shawl a while ago. I love the colouring of this yarn, and it's very nice to work with. So go ahead, bombard me with comments!

On my own knitting front, I've actually picked up the green bolero, and I'm trying to finish it soon. It's a pretty bulky yarn, and I'm working on 7 mm needles, so it's a pretty fast work. I finished the second sleeve yesterday, so now I'm working on the last stretch of the body. I decided to make it into more of a cardigan, so I added the last skein I had of this yarn too. It will probably reach my waist, or around there. I really like it so far, it's very soft and cuddly. And once I finish this one, I can cast on for something else!


On a more somber note, I guess you all know about the horrible situtation in Haiti, right? A lot of knitters around the globe have really stepped up, and are donating lots of stuff, both money and more material stuff. I chose to give money, I've donated some to Doctors without borders. And I also took the opportunity to buy some patterns that I've had my eye on for a while, where the designers are donating 50 - 100 % of the proceedings to different Haiti charities. On Ravelry, when you browse for patterns, there is now a button you can click, and then you get a full list of all the designers who are giving away their proceeds to charity. It's a great function, and it seems like it's in good use. I read on Ysolda Teague's blog that she just sent away a donation of over $6000, made from sales of her patterns. Aren't we great?!

And for those of you who want to know, these are the patterns I bought:


The Betta Loves Shetland shawlette

The Faro-Easy shawl



The Coraline cardigan (and yes, that' Ysolda herself in the photo :)

I don't really know when I'll have time to knit all of these, but in this case it doesn't really matter. It feels good to know that you actually give something to charity while purchasing what you want for yourself :)

As you might notice, I've today updated my blog lists a bit. There are a lot of blogs that I've recently discovered, but forgotten to add to my blog roll. Now I think they're all there! Some are only listed under the Lace KAL, but once that's over I'll just add all of those blogs to the other blog list.

And can you believe that we're now up to 19 participants in our little KAL?! It's going to start on February 1st, and it's going to be so much fun! If you want to join, just tell me in the comments, or you can click on the button in the right column, that takes you directly to Kate's original post about the KAL. There are practically no rules: We start on February 1st, there is no deadline, you can knit anything lace-y you want, and you must have fun :) We have a Flickr group set up too, where we can chat and exchange photos.

I've surfed around these past few days and had a closer look at all the participants, and as usual, all the knitters seem really nice. We seem to be chosing a lot of different stuff to knit too, so that should be fun. If my KnitPick's order gets here in time, I'm going to make myself a Haruni shawl of the pink Shadow yarn I orderd. If it doesn't arrive, I'm thinking of starting a Percy shawl, in my Kermit green Simone yarn from Chili Gredelin. I'll just have to wait and see :)

Haruni shawl

Percy shawl

All photos of the patterns are borrowed from Ravelry. My sister pointed out to me a while ago that all my Ravelry links are not working for all of my readers who aren't Ravelry members. I guess most of my readers ARE members, but I know that my mother and sister aren't, so these photos are for them :) I noticed when I put them up that some of them are too wide for my blog format, but it's just too much of a hassle to fix it, so I'll just leave it. You'll have to cope...

Now I'd better continue reading, I got a lot of new reading tips from my co-superviser yesterday so I have a lot to do today. I find that I have a hard time concentrating on what I read when I'm at the office, so I ususally stay home to do that. And today we have a huge snow storm, so it's extra nice to curl up in the sofa with my bathrobe and PJ's, with Hobbe in my lap. Too bad I can't just surf around the net the whole day ;)

/ Jenny

29 comments:

ImplausibleYarn said...

Wow! Congratulations on 100 posts! How exciting! I would have to say that the moose mittens are my favorite but it was really hard to choose everything was so lovely. That is a beautiful skein of sock yarn you are giving away.
Also, blondies are like brownies except that instead of chocolate you use brown sugar to give them the flavor.

Maiden Jane said...

Thanks for the contest! The sock yarn is so beautiful.

My fav FO - I was just looking at my Rav projects page and I don't know....I think my "Must Have Cardigan" because it was my first cable adventure and fits so well and is comfortable. I'm afraid I may have felted it a wee bit, though. It feels a bit stiffer to me. Sigh.

I think the Haruni is simply stunning. I am thinking of making the Blue Jeans shawl. Your other purchases of patterns are great fun - and those mittens - wow! I can't wait to see it all knit up.

Kitty said...

Congratulations on 100 posts- what an accomplishment!

I think that my favorite FO is my fiddlehead mittens. They came out better than I thought they would, and my expectations are usually set too high!

I love your blog- it's one of my favorites- and can't wait for 100 more posts! Cheers!

Anna said...

Hi there!
100 posts, oh my, you've been busy! ;) Okay, so I am supposed to name my favorite of my FOs... ehm, that is hard you know! I am not good on choosing only ONE favorite (at all!!!). But, if you are making me I think hat it will have to bee... ehm... eeeh... Goldie. I love that I was given both the yarn and the pattern from a dear friend, that many of the Lkpg Knitters where involved one way or another (you helped med find the buttons!)and that it came out as good as it did. It is my first real garment and I do wear it a lot. :D
Looking forward to many more posts here! Keep it up! :D
xxx
Anna

kelly said...

hooray for 100 posts & hooray for yummy sock yarn!

my favourite thing i have made in a while would have to be the 'neighbourly' (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/neighborly )i made for my daughter, she has got loads of wear out of it, which make me very happy.

love the patterns you brought, especially the Coraline cardigan!

Jenny said...

Congratulations on your 100 posts! I'm new to your blog but love following your knitting.

Since I'm new to knitting I don't have that many FO's to choose from but it doesn't really matter because my first project is my favourite. It's a Garnverkets Myssan in a grey Rowan Cocoon and I think I have worn it practically every day since I finished it. I love the style and the yarn. It's comfy, warm and soft.

Best of luck on your next 100 posts!

Best regards, Jenny (jenda)

Stacy said...

Congrats on 100 posts, Jenny. I'm sitting here drooling over all of those gorgeous patterns that you bought. That was generous of you to contribute to Doctors Without Borders and buy the patterns. As far as my favorite finished object, it would have to be a little lace baby sweater that I made. It was my first (and only) sweater and actually turned out exactly the way it was supposed to (to my shock and disbelief). Thanks for the giveaway, that sock yarn looks great! I will mention it on my blog probably on Friday and come back and let you know.

Kate said...

Congrats on 100 posts! You got some excellent patterns there, the Guinevere gloves are going straight into my queue. I can't believe Ysolda managed to donate over $6000, amazing!

Hmmm. I think my favorite FO is either my Central Park Hoodie, since it was my first successful sweater, or a scarf I made using some beautiful Diakeito Diamusee yarn - I used Karen Baumer's Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf pattern and the yarn had just about every color imaginable in it, but I knit it before I had a digital camera and have never managed to take a photo! Have to remedy that soon, it's one of my most-worn knits.

Sarah {The Student Knitter} said...

You know I'm a super fan of yours, darlin'! My favorite of my fo's right now is my fluffy socks I just finished! (wearin' 'em right now in fact). You know i'm already a follower. hehe

I'll make sure to direct peeps from my blog too. I hope you get skype this weekend so we can chat!! :D

ps - my code word I have to type in for verification is "tertiple", which totally made me giggle.

Esther said...

Congrats on 100!
That is some gorgeous yarn

My favourite FO is so old it isn't even on Ravelry.
It is a short sleeve top in cotton ribbon yarn. The stitch pattern is complicated with slipped stitches and the yarn draped over the front.
It was very fashionable at the time and I amazed myself at the 'eveness' of my stitches. And it was only my second FO.





I follow

Caryn said...

I just became a follower, and not just for the contest! So far, I've enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to more!

My favorite project... its so hard. I have almost 200 in Ravelry and there are dozens I did before joining Ravelry.

Probably my February Lady Sweater. I picked up some Shepherd's Wool when I was in Michigan and its a beautiful peachy color. Also, the yarn is as soft as Malabrigo, if not more, and it has worn really well. Its also one of my more successful sweaters, in terms of how frequently I wear it.

One Sheep said...

My favorite FO is a skein of yarn that I spun up. It was my second attempt, and looks about 500% better than my first. I finished it several months ago, but haven't found the right pattern for it yet.

One Sheep said...

PS: Congrats on 100 posts! That beautiful yarn knocked all the good manners right out me. I'm sorry.

ImplausibleYarn said...

I've posted about your blog contest, I'm so excited for you!

Kitten With a Whiplash said...

Congrats on 100 posts, and many more to come. My favorite FO is the crocheted blanket I made over 25 years ago and is still in use on my bed today. It's acrylic - which accounts the long life, single crochet - which makes it dense and warm, and very bright - about 20 shades of pinks, purples, greys and black. Thanks for having the contest.

Stacy said...

I just posted about your giveaway on my blog ...

Trollmamman said...

Wow 100 posts in 7 moths! I have managed 225 in about 2½ years :-)

Of course I would like to participate in your competetion!
1) My favourite FO is probably the accordon hat that made me start wearing hats again: http://trollmammansgalleri.blogsome.com/2007/12/10/julklappshemlis/
I have so much hair that I look like o fool in every hat I try, but this model, made a little wider than the pattern calls for, is perfect!

2) Is there a special way I should become a follower? I have added your feed to my "Google Reader" ...

3) Done!

Trollmamman said...

Nu fattar jag! Hur det funkar med "Followers" alltsĂĄ :-)

Hittade hit via "Anna bland andra", och "Både varken och ..." och trodde först att jag kommit till "IFM-Jenny". Det var evigheter sedan jag senast var på ett stick-café, men jag har hört att det finns flera Jenny i gänget nu. Jag gissar att du är någon av dem ;-)

Med tanke på längden på dina inlägg är jag nu ännu mera imponerad över att du har fått ihop hela 100 stycken!

Kommer med glädje fortsätta följa dig!

Allison said...

Congrats on your 100th post!

My FO is any Icelancic sweater I have knit. I blogged about your contest and posted one of my favorite sweaters.

ikkinlala said...

Congratulations on 100 posts!

I think my favourite finished object that I've made is my Pomatomus socks - they fit really well and they always seem to impress non-knitters.

petitevache said...

hello there Jenny ^^/

first of all congrats on the 100th post! ::does a happy 100th post dance::

my friend Sarah from The Student Knitter blogged about your free giveaway so i found my way over here to enter. you've really got a lovely blog here, i can see why you have so many followers, you do a great job :)

as to my all time FAV finished object, it would have to be my modem cord change bowl that i knit using an old modem/phone cord. the cord was really thick and very hard to work with, AND it was also one of the very first things i ever designed so it was definItely a labor of love. that's why it's my favorite ^-^

i've also done the honors of mentioning your lovely giveaway in my own blog over at petitevachedesigns.blogspot.com, so now i can only cross my fingers and hope i win!

once again congrats on your blogging success, may the blogging gods continue to smile upon you :)

~Carla Cappi

zenrain said...

Just found your blog and it's beautiful! Congrats on your 100 posts!

Kitten With a Whiplash said...

I've posted to my blog.

Anonymous said...

My favorite finished object is a hard question. I love most things I make in different ways, but probably it's my Green bolero I made last year that I wear all the time now: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/artohline/shawl-collar-vest
But I also really really like my Endpaper Mitts I just finished! http://www.ravelry.com/projects/artohline/endpaper-mitts

By the way, I follow you on NewsFire reader, but for some reason it doesn't show up on your reader list. Can you still count that? I've been following you for a few weeks now. :-)

And I have now posted about it on my blog...a little late, sorry, but I finally managed to get it up there!

Unknown said...

Congrats on 100. I can't manage 1!

Hope it's not to late to enter. My fav FO is a sweater I knit using Colinette point 5. The color is luminous, the design is mine, and I just love it.

I'll try to become a follower.

Elaine said...

I've been to Linkoping and my daughter spent a few days in school there when she was 8 years old or so while I was visiting the university.

My favorite FO is a clapotis scarf I knit is a very beautiful hand-dyed yarn. This is for the very same daughter who will be 22 next week.

I will post this now on my blog. Of course it may not be Jan 31 in Sweden any longer.

PixelatedMushroom said...

Congrats :D
umm fave finished project.. usually the thing I finished most recently, which at the moment is my imladris fingerless gloves pattern, but I also am proud of my tiny crochet DrWhos

I love those Guinevere gloves too! Looks like it will be a great pattern :)

PixelatedMushroom said...

Oh and I'm following now too ^.^

pixelatedmushroom at gmail dot com

Rigmor said...

Wow! So beautiful knitting you have done :) so much nice :)