Sorry to be so late – the entries close in a day’s time! >.< Sorwie.. have been caught up with A LOT of stuff which I will blog about later.
But DO pop over to Melanie’s blog – Kimono Reincarnate – for her fabulous back-on-eBay-back-on-Etsy-joining-BrisStyle-Blogtobergest Giveaway!
Not from me this time. 
But, what better to use this oportunity to win two skeins of Malabrigo yarn of your choice in time to make Mossy!
Just use the links below to head on over to my friend, Salihan’s blog for the giveaway.
Yarn is sponsored by my little yarn store, 
We stock Malabrigo yarn and (hopefully) our hand dyed sock yarns will be back soon!
Check out Salihan’s cute new Strawberry pattern and softies too!
Argh… it’s been really really hard to pick a winner!!!!!!
I find most of the stories posted really funny and feel so sorry for some of them! I wanted to choose one entry as the winner but the other judges preferred another. It’s so hard to decide..
And the prize goes to this poster:
purple Says:
January 31st, 2009 at 8:09 am
My mother was a knitter,
But now she is too old,
Her hands are very gnarled,
Especially when it’s cold.
I thought I’d make a pretty scarf,
To wrap around her neck,
I picked a lovely woolen yarn,
Expensive, but what the heck!
It knit up quickly, one, two three,
She was so very pleased
It wound around a couple of times
Or hung down to her knees.
I am a lot taller than Mom,
And I didn’t really figure.
That what fits me fine will not fit her,
Because I’m so much bigger.
But that’s not the problem, I have to admit,
I just called that a feature.
I said it’d keep her really warm,
And make her a gorgeous creature.
But that was not the worst thing yet,
Dropped a stitch, which I didn’t see,
Until one day when she put it on,
And it was shaped like a V.
The dropped stitch had become undone,
Right down to the very start.
And now the long scarf was twice as long,
It no longer looked so smart.
My Mom is such a happy gal,
She said don’t feel like a dummy,
When I die, just wrap me in it,
And I’ll become a mummy!
True story (with only a little poetic license)
Oh, hang on a minute. Another vote came in from one of the judges and we have a tie. Therefore there will be two winners!
Her post is:
Elaine Says:
January 31st, 2009 at 1:51 am
I don’t have a photo. You’ll see why once you’ve read the story. I’ve knit all my life – well since around age 5 which is a looooong time ago. Once my roommate in college’s mother came to visit and saw all my lovely sweaters and asked my roommate would she like her to knit her a sweater. Roommate said, “I didn’t know you could knit”. Sure, said Mom, no problem. So we picked out a pattern and home Mom went to start the knitting. One day roommate gets a note from her mother saying the sweater is done, packed up, and will be mailed shortly, but there was something wrong with it that she could not figure out – maybe Elaine can figure it out.
Uh oh we thought. Uh oh was right. When the package arrived and we unpacked it, I realized she had sewn one of the sleeves into the neck opening rather than the armhole. In order to wear it, you would have to keep your arms in a permanent semaphore position, with your neck craned way over to one side. Not good.
I offered to remove the sleeve and sew it back on in the correct place but roommate thought it was ugly anyway (which is was). It “got lost unfortunately” in the end of year packing 
I will be contacting you via email now to get your addresses.
Thank you everyone for participating. I loved your stories. Truly.
Happy knitting and crocheting!
Just dropping a quick note to say that I will be announcing the winner soon. My dad has just arrived with his wife for a visit and thus I’ve been busy catching up with them.
I haven’t forgot about it! 
Taaaa dahhh!!!
It’s taken me so long to reach my 200th post. This blog has been around since 3 May 2006. That’s more than 2 years! Wow. Can’t believe it’s been so long.
Anyway, I’ve decided to hold a contest, mainly for knitters/ crocheters or people who use yarn, somehow. Sorry for non-knitters.. I know there are many people who read my blog and aren’t knitters and have no use for yarn. I will try to cater for non-users-of-yarn for my next blog contest okie??
Anyway here are the rules and instructions:
- The theme of the contest is, “Knitted (or crocheted) items that have gone wrong.”
- Anyone can join. Even if you are not living in Australia.
- The prize will be a skein of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in the colourway “Stonechat”, kindly sponsored by Yarnandkisses. Here is a picture of it. Drooly drooly:
Here’s what it is : All you have to do is to write a story (doesn’t have to be too long, just precise would be good) about a project that you have started and realised it’s not going the direction you wanted it to go.
- You must include either a photo or a detailed description of the project, or both if you want to!
- You may write it in any style you like. Narrative, suspense, comedy etc etc…
- Injecting humour into your story would help too.
Ways to enter:
- Write a blog post on your blog and link it here by posting a comment ON THIS ENTRY. Not on any other entry, please. Even if this entry is no longer the current one, I still check past comments as they are highlighted everytime I log into Wordpress. So don’t be worried that your comment or link will not be read.
- If you do not have a blog, that’s fine. You can email your story (title it “Blog contest”) to :
me [at] inoriz [dot] com
Replace the [at] with an @ and the [dot] with a .
- Otherwise, you are more than welcome to leave a comment with your story ON THIS ENTRY.
- Go around, spread the word about this contest among fellow knitters/crocheters/bloggers! The more the merrier!!!
- You do not have to submit your personal details. The winner will be notified and details will be collected only then.
- The contest will be open for 3 weeks. Ending Friday, 20 February 2009.
- Judges’ decisions are final! Yes there will be more than one judge so don’t throw rotten eggs in my direction if you don’t win!
Go forth and think of your stories! I shall start the ball rolling by posting mine!
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The Bootie Gone Wrong!
When Sunshine was a wee little newborn, I was worried about her feeling cold (it was cold in the hospital room) as she kept kicking herself free from her swaddle. The midwife then handed me a knitted cardigan for Sunshine to put on. The cardi was soooo teeny and adorable.
Most importantly, it made me want to knit for my darling daughter. And that desire only grew stronger and stronger each and everyday I held my precious bundle.
As a Chinese (No, I’ve never been to China though but my ancestors were from China), I believe in and follow post-maternity ‘guidelines’ that have been passed down from generation to generation. They call this the ‘confinement period’. And it is what it’s stated – being confined for a month indoors. Both baby and mummy.
This is to prevent diseases from getting into us since we are most vulnerable during this time. It also prevents us from catching a chill from the cold winds outdoors.
So during that month, I wanted badly to pick up knitting. But how? I cannot go out!
So I asked Nad to please, go to the library and borrow books on knitting. Especially knitting for beginners.
He went and borrowed this awesome book and I loved him so much for being spot-on choosing such a perfect book.
Then, I got my God-sis to come over to teach me the basic knit and purl. She also taught me how to cast on and bind off.
Then, I asked Nad to go to spotlight to get some wool and a pair of ‘Size 6′ needles.
And I got started! I knitted the simple bootie in that book. It was my very first project and I was so excited! It had yarn overs and decreases and all those funky stuff! Woo hoo!
And then I stitched it up!!! Woo HOO!!
And this was how it looked like:
Hey! Not bad for a beginner! Right!?
Except that when you compare it to how a normal bootie should look like:
It’s TOO BIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GIGANTINORMOUS!!!!!!!!
Dear beginner knitters (and even seasoned ones alike), check your pattern if “Size 6″ needles refers to US6 or Metric 6mm. Because, Huge . Difference .
In Australia, the metric system is used for needle sizes while in USA (where the designer lives and where the book was published), they have their own sizing guides. It’s again, different in the UK. So check your sizes! US6 is equivalent to 4mm. Which is 2mm smaller than the 6mm needles I was using! You can check sizes on this chart.
Anyway, it was a very funny and good experience for me. The lone bootie (no way I’m knitting the other side for a giant baby!) was left hanging by the cot and used as a handkerchief dispenser.
It actually fits Sunshine somewhat now.
Hehhehehe.
Have fun and good luck to all participants! Come on! Flood the comments!
