I'm sure everyone's been wondering what happened to me for the last three weeks, though hopefully you've put it down to having a newborn in the house.
I must confess, though, that my absence is only partly because of a baby and mostly because of a pattern deadline. And every night I've been going to bed thinking "I have to do that blog post and sort out winners tomorrow."
Finally, the right tomorrow is here and the two patterns I've been spending every spare minute working on have been sent off and I am writing my blog post!
So, it was three weeks ago yesterday, about this time, that I was heading home from hospital with a gorgeous little newborn baby.
Just four hours old
A little boy! (But not so little, really.)
Born on 5 September 2012 at 6.45am and weighing in at 3960g (about 8lb 11oz) he was a bit of a shock - both that he was a boy and how big he was!
Cuddles with Papa
The baby socks and hat I made didn't fit. The cardigan I made that I thought wouldn't fit for a bit, was perfect (in the picture above). And all my worry about not having any baby clothes was made worse by the fact that he was already fitting well the few NB size clothes I'd bought and would outgrow them very quickly! Fortunately I have generous family with little boys of their own that have lent me clothes for now.
Three weeks later, life has settled into a predictable routine. The girls love him to bits and are really good about taking turns holding him. And even though he keeps me rather busy and all the things I used to do take twice as long to get around to now, I'm sure I will be boring you all with lots of baby picutres and new little boy designs to knit soon enough!
And now, for the winners of my guessing competitions!
The closest guess for When is Cas who guessed 6th September.
The closest guess for How Big is Kelly who guessed 8lb 2oz.
And the random winner of those that guessed Boy is KiwiFi.
Congratulations everyone!
(I will contact the winners to arrange prizes later today, though if you don't hear from me, feel free to give me a hurry up!)
Thank you everyone for entering! I'm pretty sure if I had put in my prediction for this Little Man I would've been so wrong!
***CLOSED*** Winners will be announced in due time...
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Easy peasy question this time!
Boy or Girl?
So far we have three girls...
(And, no, we don't know ourselves!)
Make your prediction in the comments!
(This time the winner will be chosen by Random.org from those that guess correctly!)
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And the prize for this competition?
The winner's choice of pattern(s) gifted via Ravelry to the value of $USD20
(More than one pattern can be requested to the total combined value as stated. If the winner is not a member of Ravelry - you don't know what you're missing out on! - an alternative, similarly valued prize will be arranged.)
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Just a few rules:
Scroll down or click
here and
here for the previous two questions.
I finally made it to 100 Posts! That means it's time for another giveaway.
The last two giveaway prizes were for something I made so this time I thought I'd give something for YOU to make - one of my knit designs and the yarn to make it with!
And because I now have a few designs available, I thought you might like to choose your own prize.
So, you can win the Clara singlet top pattern and 100g of either Treehugger or Maize 4ply Superwash Sock from Vintage Purls (this is enough to make up to a size 5 or 6 years)
See the beautiful detailing in the lacework
Treehugger
Maize
Or, the
DK version and 150g of either Rosebud or Cranberry Classic 8ply from Bendigo Woollen Mills (this is enough to make up to a sze 5 or 6 years)
Rosebud
Cranberry
Or, the
Sweet As... tee pattern and 200g of Honeydew Cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills
I love the cute litte hearts!
Honeydew
Or, the
Elisaac jersey/jumper pattern and both 150g balls of Rosebud and Cranberry Classic 8ply from Bendigo Woollen Mills. (I don't have any boy colours in stash, but these two go together nicely for a girl. You can either use a third colour of your own for the bands or just do the bands and a stripe the same colour.)
What a handsome young man!
And all you have to do is let me know which prize you want in the comments below!
I will do the random thing on Friday afternoon/evening to pick the winner.
I will send the yarn in the post, but the pattern will be gifted via Ravelry (or emailed in pdf format if you're not on Ravelry). And please make sure I have a way to contact you!
May is my birthday month so I'm having a few giveaways to celebrate!
Today's giveaway is being hosted by Sew, Mama, Sew!
If you're here for the first time, you probably want to know a little about me and my blog.
I'm a busy mother of three girls, living 'downunder' in New Zealand. I design knitting patterns for children's clothing, constructed seamlessly from the top down (my patterns can be found here). I also love to sew, mostly clothes for my girls, and currently teach basic sewing skills to a group of 10-12year olds once a week at the small school my girls attend. This blog is a way for me to showcase all the crafting and creating I get up to.
But what you really want to know is: What is my prize for Giveaway Day?
Last year I made myself a knitting work-in-progress (wip) bag that is used constantly.
My wip knitting bag
I loved the pattern from the first time I saw it on the
U-Handbag blog and since making this one I've wanted to make another one just for the fun of it. I decided that it would be a perfect bag to have as the prize for my giveaway!
I thought it might be a bit too big and bulky to post so I shrunk the pattern to approx 3/4 size and left out the fleece padding to make a cute compact handbag.
The bag measures approx 24cm wide x 20cm high (approx 9.5" x 8") and the handles are about 18cm (approx 8").
I've put in a handy little internal pocket (approx 7cm/3" x 12cm/5") and the bag closes with a single metal snap. I can't remember the name of the fabrics used as it was a stash-busting project, but the main fabric is light pink with swirls and the lining is a lavender mini floral.
The bag is fully interfaced, including the handles, which is a bit stiff when new, but softens up nicely with use.
Now, how do you enter?
It's really easy. All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me what it is that keeps you interested in a blog and makes you want to comment on a post?
I will draw the winner on Friday evening (27 May) so you have until then to enter. Only one comment/entry per person and there are no extra entries for facebooking, twittering, etc but you are welcome to anyway!
This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere that I can post to.
PLEASE include a way for me to contact you in your comment or your entry will not be valid.
PS. I will be celebrating my 100th post very soon with another giveaway, so make sure you become a follower so you don't miss out on hearing about it! Also, scroll down (or click here) for a chance to win a hand-knitted shawl in my Birthday Giveaway!
It was my birthday yesterday. But I thought it might be nice to give you a present!
In the Summer Sock Yarn Club from Vintage Purls the first installment was a beautiful shawl pattern called Connie:
This is a club-exclusive* pattern.
I've been doing so much pattern-design related knitting lately that I feel the need for a mindless knitting project (meaning a pattern that I just follow the instructions for without having to think about). I was thinking that Connie would be the perfect pattern to do.
So, if you would like to win your very own Connie shawl, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me which of the four Vintage Purls colours below you would like it made in. It's as simple as that!
Maize
Tree Hugger
Matrona
Orion
I couldn't find a suitable picture of the skein of this, but here is a picture of it knit as gloves to give an idea of the colour.
The deadline for my latest design is Friday, 27 May which means I will be ready to start my next knitting project then. I will close this giveaway and draw a random winner that evening, so you have plenty of time to enter! This is open to anyone, anywhere (that I can post to!)
Please note that I will be knitting this shawl FOR YOU so be aware that it may take me two weeks to make after I know who the winner is and what colour to make it in.
Feel free to blog, facebook, twitter, or whatever you want about this competition, but only one entry per person will be counted. Please make sure I have a way to contact you through your comment (link a profile, email or something).
Also, check back on Monday to find out what I'm giving away for the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day for your chance to win something else handmade by me!
*club patterns remain exclusive usually for 12months when they become available for anyone to purchase through Ravelry
This giveaway is now closed, thank you to all that entered!
It's finally here! Sew, Mama, Sew!'s Giveaway Day! I'm so excited as it's my first giveaway too!
So, what have I got to giveaway?
The Prize:
I've just released my Clara pattern this month on Ravelry (if you're a knitter and not a member, you so should be!) So I thought I would give away a special, signed copy of the pattern and a skein of Vintage Purls superwash merino sock wool to go with it. If the winner is on Ravelry, I will also gift a pdf copy for free (if it's already been purchased, I will refund the purchase price).
And because I couldn't choose what colour yarn to give away, I'll let the winner decide from the four pictured below!
(Click on the name to see a better picture of each colour)
Make sure you check out my other designs and keep an eye out for the 8ply/DK version of Clara early in the New Year! I'm also (mentally) working on several other trans-seasonal designs I plan to release in the coming year too!
How to Enter:
I'm always after ideas for new knitting designs, so leave me a comment on this post telling me what children's clothing you like to knit or if you've seen an interesting item of clothing (sewn or knit) that you'd love to make (pictures - or links to - would be great!) or even just a motif/design feature you like.
Or, if you've just spent hours commenting on 101 other blogs' giveaways, just say 'Hi, me too, please!'
(Only comments on this post will count for the giveaway, though feel free to comment anywhere!)
For an extra entry, become a follower - make sure you are a public follower or I won't know you are and it won't count! (This also guarantees that you'll be one of the first to hear about any new designs as they progress too!)
Please include an email address or link to a Blogger profile, etc to contact you by, otherwise make sure you're a follower so you can contact me when I announce the winner.
The Details:
I will ship to any address, so international entries are welcome!
The giveaway will be open until Friday 17 December, but I will randomly draw a winner sometime on Saturday afternoon/evening to allow for time differences.
The winner will need to make contact by 20 December or I will re-draw.
I will try my best to ship the prize as soon as I have an address but because of Christmas and school holidays I can't guarantee getting to the post office easily so please be patient with me (I will let the winner know when it has gone.)
The prize is as stated above and there are no exchanges - if you don't want it, don't enter!
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