Yeah, I hear what you're mumbling. Or shouting. I'll address that in a minute.
I meant to have a contest in celebration of my 400th post, but it slipped past me. This is 402, I think, so this will have to do instead.
For this contest, I'll give you a Peter Cooper cd, Mission Door, autographed by Mr. Cooper himself and witnessed by my partner in crime, Joan. I'll throw in a little yarn, too, to keep it interesting.
What I would like from you is your best knitting tip. Funny is not only accepted but encouraged. Rules: Post your funniest knitting tip or story in the comments section. If you link to this on your blog, you'll get an extra entry (hi, Courtney!), and if someone leaves a tip and says you sent her, you get an extra entry. Usual stuff. I need funny this time of year.
Contest ends Tuesday night, Sept. 30, 2008, at midnight EDT. That's right, isn't it? Eastern Daylight Time? Anyway, my time. If you come in a little late, I'll let you in. I won't be checking at midnight anyway.
Now for the last contest, which is still up in the air. I have chosen winners, yarny prizes, but I haven't put them together. My excuse this time is that I was sick for the last two weeks with either one odd bug or about 4 of them and just didn't do a damn thing at home (as if that's news). We're going to be out of town Friday-Sunday night, so nothing will be done then, either, but I will get the winnings in the mail next week. For the last contest. I'm not making promises yet on this one.
So check Peter Cooper's website (sidebar) (I still don't have my linkie page handy), listen to his music (some good stuff), and enter the contest. Shout it far and wide.
I still have a Last Train Home dvd (or, as B2 says, dvdv) to give away, too; maybe for post number 450. Or whenever I get this other stuff mailed out.
On your mark, get set, GO!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
23 comments:
Here's my little knitting tip
When a stitch you're supposed to slip
Don't let it slip off the needle's tip,
Into the great abyss.
Especially if the yarn is fine,
As it was in the sock of mine,
It disappeared for all time.
At the time, I did not miss.
Then later on I saw the hole,
Big enough for a chubby mole,
Right there in the sock's sole,
What was I going to do?
So I tried to catch it best as a could,
And make it look the way it should,
Instead of like a splinter of wood,
So it wouldn't bunch up in my shoe.
I hope that makes you smile - I know things have been tough!
My knitting tip, especially for newbies is to count! A lot. And to use stitchmarkers where ever possible. counting helps you avoid the problem of dropped or added stitches and the stitch markers haleps you avoid the counting if you put them in your knitting every so often (maybe every 50 stitches?) so you do not have to count as often.
I've posted a pointer to your contest on my blog - I'm determined to win this one :-) And if not, at least I'll have the enjoyment of laughing at some of the entries I hope.
Elaine told me to come over and give you a funny knitting tip.
Well ... how's this?
Don't roll skeins of yarn into balls on an airplane while sitting in the aisle seat. Especially if the yarn is fine like laceweight or sock yarn with lots of yardage.
No matter whether you ask the people who are sitting in the middle or window seats if they plan to get up soon, and they say no, they are lying and are just waiting till you get the skein positioned on your knees, have begun rolling the ball so you can't move the yarn and then decide they HAVE to get up. You can ask them politely whether they could wait a few minutes, but they will inevitably say no, they have to get up now. Most likely it will be the window seat because that way 2 people will have to climb past. You have 2 choices, both terrible:
1) try retracting your knees and letting them squeeze by. The yarn will catch on their sleeve (or purse, or backpack) and get yanked into the filthy aisle in a tangled mess.
2) try picking up the unwound yarn in one hand and the ball in the other in which case they will probably bump into you or the cart will be on the way down the aisle and both the ball and the unwound yarn will wind up on said filthy floor.
Trust me - this is a great tip from someone who knows!
My knitting tip is...Dont leave your yarn where your dogs can get it :-) I learned the hardway with silk.... :-(.... I cant think of any good tips..but now looking back it is pretty funny...especially remembering the look on the dogs face when I walked out and caught her chewing it. :-( I will post about the contest on my blog :-)
Elaine sent me.
I used to knit while I commuted every day on the train. Note I said "used to", and therein lies my knitting tip.
What I discovered is that if you knit on a moving rush hour train, your knitting will be a magnet for the contents of half the cups of coffee whether it is Starbucks, Duncan Donuts, 7-11, or homebrew. Miraculously, the owner will trip just as they get to your seat and spill their coffee, or lean over and ask what you are doing and pour it on you. They will always apologize, but generally, the more costly and beautiful the yarn, the more likely it is to be doused.
The tip: DON'T KNIT ON A RUSH HOUR TRAIN IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU ARE KNITTING.
Here is a good tip...do a gauge swatch no matter how much you hate it...
hmmm...thinking of more :-)
Use a lifeline when knitting lace! There is nothing worse than dropping a stitch or making a mistake in a complicated lace pattern and not being able to pick the stitches back up and winding up losing everything.
This is not a funny tip, but it could be a lifesaver (pun intended)
I came over from Elaine's blog.
so are you going to tell us who won the other contest.
My best tip is not to drink and knit. I'd been warned about this, but I had to try it for myself and then try it again before I was convinced that it wasn't a good idea.
Seroiusly (I don't know of any way to make this FUNNY perse...) My best knitting tip, is to ENJOY it. If it becomes a chore, I really fail to see how it's a good hobby. I zone out while I'm knitting. I knit instead of taking prozac. I'm serious. At least knitting doesn't keep me from having an orgasm like Prozac does!
When you use hand dyed or hand painted yarn with multiple skeins, interleave the skeins you use every couple of rows. If not, you will wind up with bands that look different and often awful. I speak from experience, (says she as she rips out the entire front of a jacket with a very complex stitch because she was too lazy to do that)
I came over from Elaine's blog.
Courtney said to come say hi
What did 50 Cent say to Eminem when he gave him a sweater for Christmas?
-Gee, you knit? (G-Unit)
Why don't crows spend all their time Knitting?
-Because They're too busy crow-chetting.
What do you call someone who knits cartoons?
-A knitwit.
What does a pirate knit with?
-"Yaaaarrrrrrrn!"
Other uses for a knitting needle
1. Hair sticks
2. Shawl pin
3. Pin to keep an outboard motor on the boat
4. emergency birth control (see if you're still in the mood after getting poked rolling around on top of your knitting)
5. Chopsticks
6. They work in a pinch to make a lazy kate so you can spin the yarn you want to knit with
Ok, out of humor for now. In seriousness, I use knitting as a way to relax, unwind, and to take my mind off my medical conditions. Having something you can focus on so totally when in pain is a blessing, as is being able to be productive while watching TV or reading.
I followed a post Georgi left.
If instructions don' make no sense, ask someone else to look at it. IF it still don' make no sense, it's likely that it's WRONG. Especially if it is in a magazine.
My other tip is a riff on EZ.
"It's just string. You are the boss of it."
Here's my knitting tip: Don't knit in the bathroom!
Why, you might ask (unless you're sane and don't need to ask). Well, there are just so many things that can go, hmmm, awry. Shall I enumerate?
1) You drop the ball and it rolls into the, er, toilet.
2) You drop the ball and it rolls under the radiator. For those of you who don't live in an older house with radiators, and are unfamiliar with these critters - they are where dust bunnies live in bathrooms and you really do not want your yarn mixing with them.
3) You can get absorbed in your knitting and wind up glued to the seat - not fun!
4) People can get scared that you're in there too long and come barging in while you are sitting there not wanting to be barged in on, and knitting no less. You feel very sheepish (that's a joke).
5) I won't mention all the other things that can go wrong - you can imagine them yourself.
Trust me. I know!
Feel happier!
That is tooo funny!!!!....Dont knit with your pants down can be the moral of Toms story LOL
I forgot to say that I came over from Elaine's blog.
I'm glad I made Courtney-with-so-many-friends smile. I hope you do too Rita.
There are some great tips here, and some funny stuff! You know, as obsessive as I am, it never even occurred to me to knit in the bathroom. I always take a book! Thanks for the caveats!
I love the list of other things knitting needles can be used for. We're always creative!
Keep 'em coming, guys!
Gee, I knit in the bathroom all the time, I especially like to knit in the bath tub (tho I do try not to use my bamboo needles when my hands are wet). I find it quite relazing :-)
Joan says...I have no tips, but I can attest to the fact that Peter Cooper signed the prize CD, knowing that it was going to be a prize for this blog. Rita told him. I listened to Mission Door during an all day trip yesterday. I was out of the car now and then, but mostly I was driving, driving, driving, and I never got around to changing cd's because this one is just so good. I had other much loved cd's with me, thinking I'd change to one when Mission Door finished, but each time, it was "one more time" until I was home. From around noon until nine at night.
I love that man. Uh, his songs/voice/lyrics/humor/etc.
I even gave a review on his iTunes page.
One of you is going to be very pleased to have this cd. I usually have not strayed too far into alternative country, country, folk, or however Peter Cooper's music is classified (I've seen it described all three ways), but he made a believer of me.
I hear those songs in my head now...and that's okay. :)
Yikes - maybe that's what my husband is doing in the bathroom when he's in there for an hour. Oh wait, no, he doesn't knit :-)
All right, Joan! It really is excellent music. Peter usually has a story that he tells before he sings a song, which makes the songs more interesting, knowing where they came from. He does have a beautiful voice and gorgeous hair. Even when it's sweaty.
Post a Comment