Win Socks for Life from Yarn Canada

Recently, I was made aware of Yarn Canada's Win Socks for Life! contest. It's open to residents of both Canada and the U.S. For details and a link to enter, read on.  There's a deadline for entries, Wednesday, December 7, 2016, so read quickly.

Here's the press release from Yarn Canada:

Win Socks for Life! Well the yarn, you’re on your own after that.

(Vancouver, BC) “To be fair, it’s actually only a 25 year supply, so we can only hope the winner dies early to keep me an honest woman.” - Nikki Smith, VP YarnCanada.ca

After extensive research YarnCanada.ca discovered two key issues which continue to plague the world which we’d like to help bring to an end.

• Some people have hobbies other than knitting (idiots) 
• Other (marginally insane) people buy socks at Costco

“With one final blow we’ll give someone years of knitting and make it so they never need to succumb to Fruit of the Loom again.” - Robert Matherson, YarnCanada.ca

Don’t want to use all the yarn to make socks? That’s okay, no hard feelings.

Yes, some marriages may end as the winner ignores her husband in a multi-year knitting frenzy. But that’s simply a risk we must take. On the other hand, maybe getting non-terrible socks for Christmas could bring families closer together.

The prize will go to whomever can show how their life will most be changed by winning and what you will do with the prize.

Anything could happen:

“I’ll use the yarn to start a knitting business on Etsy!” - Beth C, Winnipeg

“My friends always get together to watch The Bachelor, but goodness it’s boring, now I’ll have something to do to keep me distracted.” - Janet G, Toronto

“Honestly I have no self control. With all that yarn I’ll knit non-stop, stay up for days and miss work. I’ll get fired, not be able to pay rent and get kicked out of my apartment. But… I’d have so many socks!” - Samantha T, Vancouver

“I’ll knit them all up as fast as I can and give them to charity.” – Nicole

Whatever the reason, let us know why knitting is important to you and how a lifetime supply of sock yarn would change your life.

Look here read more about the contest and to enter: Enter to Win a Lifetime Supply of Socks.

Of course, I've already entered. Did you see all of the yarn?

Here's what I said:

"Socks for life? If I were to win, I'd probably kiss the delivery man and then have a smile on my face for weeks delighting in all of that yarn. It would be like heaven!! Seriously, I knit every day, but can't imagine I'd be able to use it all in my lifetime. Perhaps, I'd share a few skeins with friends or maybe donate some to a school or senior centre."

Since learning of the contest, I've been surfing the web looking for projects that I'm going to make when I win. I'll probably make a few pairs of socks, of course, but I'm also eyeing a scarf, a shawl (surprise, surprise!!) as well as some fingerless mitts, and a hat. Sock yarn is so versatile that the sky's the limit when it comes to projects.

So, what will you make if you win? Need ideas? Check out ravelry.

How can you resist?

Really? You're still here? You are probably wondering how to sign up for their newsletter, right? That's easy, go to Yarn Canada's website. Now you are wondering is Yarn Canada is on social media? Yep, they're there, too: Yarn Canada on Facebook and Instagram.

In case you missed the link to enter the contest, here it is again: Enter to Win a Lifetime Supply of Socks.

That's all I got.  Go enter the contest. Or better yet, don't! All of that yarn is mine! Mine, I tell you! Mine!!!  :)   You'll have to excuse me now.  I have to go put on a little lipstick for when the delivery guy gets here.

Needlework Tuesday - On Wednesday - Knitting and Blocking

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

This week I worked on a couple of projects.

Last week, I had started another baby hat to use up the remaining yarn from the stuffed Rabbit project. If you remember, I also made a small baby blanket and a hat for a 12-month old. This new hat is supposed to be for a toddler. However, I think it might be a wee bit short, but only by a few rows. I was running out of yarn and may have stretched it a little to get to the desired length before starting the decrease rows for the crown on the hat. I think it'll be okay, though. I like the orange stripe. Here it is:

Anyway, I have about 5 yards of the yarn leftover. Probably just enough to make a pompom tail for the rabbit, which I totally forgot about.

I'm also blocking a shawl I made months ago. It's the first one, Waiting for Rain, in this post. I haven't done a lot of blocking, but a fellow knitter/salesperson at my local yarn store suggested blocking wires.

It looks a bit wonky, but it's the best I could do. It took quite awhile to get the wires threaded and the shawl pinned down. I measured it several times in an attempt to get the sides somewhat symmetrical. I'd measure, move the pins, measure, move the pins, measure....repeat several more times. It wasn't that much fun and being down on the floor for that long hurt my back and hip. I finally said good enough and left it. My main goal was to open up the lace and have it lie flat. I'll let you know how it works out once it's dry.

As for the wires, I've used them a few times now and they seem to be working out. (I consulted Google on how to use them). However, since I haven't done a lot of blocking, I'm not sure. Have you used blocking wires?

And lastly,  I started another shawl called Jette from Drops Design, a free pattern on ravelry.com. This particular version caught my eye. It's beautiful AND uses yarn that I already have leftover from other projects.

A word about the colour: It's medium green and dark rose.  I would have definitely picked different colours had I not been determined to use up some of the yarn in my stash. I had limited options and this was the best colour combination I could come up with.  All week I've been telling myself to think "rose garden" rather than "Christmas".

Here's what I have so far:

It's an asymmetrical shawl that's essentially knit in two parts. After knitting this part, stitches are picked up along the edge with the stitch markers and it's continued from there. My shaping is backwards because of the whole old left-handed, right-handed thing, but I'm hoping it's going to work out regardless.

This week I'm going to continue to work on this shawl. Also, another project from Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month should be showing up any day, so I'll probably take a look at that.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations.