I must say, it’s rather sweet to be a winner. I think I like it. Many big thank you’s to Julie at Passioknits. She has a knitting podcast, in case you didn’t know it. After you read this post, go listen!

Can you tell I’m not used to winning contests? Last time I won anything, it [...]]]>

I must say, it’s rather sweet to be a winner. I think I like it. Many big thank you’s to Julie at Passioknits. She has a knitting podcast, in case you didn’t know it. After you read this post, go listen!

Can you tell I’m not used to winning contests? Last time I won anything, it was a roll of lifesavers in Girl Scout Camp. We’re talking decades ago, people. About the time I first learned to knit.

Never mind. Here’s a close-up shot of the goodies that are now mine.

Nice, eh? I’ve been a bad girl, though. While I immediately planned to create a blog post all about winning the contest, showing the photos and tooting the horn for Passioknits, it didn’t happen. When did I win these two skeins of yarn? Today, this week, this month? (Hangs head in shame.)

My husband was appalled when he discovered I’d never even emailed her my thanks. He said, “You have no social graces whatsoever, do you?” Sigh. Apparently not.

But here we are at last. Guess what else? I haven’t knit a stitch since July 31.

Why? Because I started the third annual Thirty Day Challenge! If you want to learn how to make money online by having someone guide you step by step and do it for absolutely zero cost, go join! You won’t regret it.

Am I rich yet? Not quite. Why? Because I searched for and found a great niche—but it wasn’t something I’m passionate enough about. I’m to write articles and blog posts every day about the topic, creating content. Lovely. I created maybe a dozen pieces of content, then stalled out. I let my perfectionism kick in.

That little voice in my head piped up with, “Who are you to write about this particular niche when you know nothing about it?” Yada, yada, yada. Never mind that I was researching and learning as I went. I was doing just fine, then two months passed with no progress at all. Argh!

If you want to learn the extreme evils of perfectionism, visit Flylady. I’m battling this demon in my household, let me tell you! I need to stamp it out in my head.

So where was I? Ah! During the month of August my invitation to Ravelry came in. Now I may lack social graces, but I’m not stupid. I’ve seen knitters’ posts and heard their podcasts all telling me what a marvelous and wondrous thing Ravelry is—and what a super time suck it can be.

In August I was grabbing every spare minute to do the Thirty Day Challenge on top of my tailoring, eBay selling and everyday life needs. I didn’t dare dive down the Ravelry rabbit hole! So I’m saying to myself, “Just a minute. Soon as the month is over…” Yeah, right.

I reached some kind of critical mass a couple days ago where I was so itchy to knit I was actually twitching. I hunted up my Ravelry invitation, logged in and started searching for what other knitters have done with two skeins of Knit Picks Shimmer yarn. I was a bit ginger about it, knowing the time suck factor could get me at any moment. I looked around a bit, saw some lovely photos and got the heck out of Dodge.

I went back the next day. You knew I would. And this time I was a little more organized and discovered exactly what I was looking for. And you’ll never guess what I’m going to knit with my prize winnings.

A Clapotis!

Ha! Years ago I looked at the pattern, saw the cost of the yarn and sprinted away. That was back when I didn’t know quality yarn from a mud pie. I thought I might very well be an outsider in the knitting world, one of the few knitters who would never knit or own a Clapotis. I consoled myself with how some knitters abandoned theirs midway when they got bored.

Huh! Back before August when I lost my knitting bearings, I joined Elizabeth’s Year where we would knit a new project each month from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac. In July, it was the Pi shawl. I knit TWO of them!

So I think I can knit a Clapotis. We’ll see, I guess. And this is more than enough blabbering. Can you tell I missed posting about knitting? Yikes!

Second: what [...]]]>
Did you hear about this?  I’m wondering about doing it.  There are a couple “what am I thinking?” aspects, though.  One: I’m already in Elizabeth’s Year where we’re doing a project each month following Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac.  I did a Pi shawl.  In fact I’m about halfway along on a second one.  What??

Second: what are the qualities of yak yarn?  What’s it like?  Might do some research and see.  How about you?

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