Christmas Giveaway :)

Well i was too late to join in the sewmamasew bloggers giveaway day, but thought i would have one anyway :)

Up for grabs, some delicious 10ply Luxury hand dyed yarn inspired by Ron Weasley ( my new fictional crush ;) hehehe)

To enter, just leave me a comment telling me who YOUR fictional crush is ;)
I will draw the giveaway on Friday morning (17th) and will happily ship internationally :)

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Blogtoberfest Day 22- Christmas Wishlist

Blogtoberfest Day 22

i highly doubt i will get any of this but thought i would put it out there anyway and try my luck ;)

Here is what i would LOVE to get for christmas this year

Season 2 and 3 of Trueblood on DVD
ANY/ALL of the stereophonics albums ( we only have a mixed up best of cd we made)

Some zauberball yarn from Vintage Purls in the "cranberry" colourway
A voucher for a massage and facial!
( i have never had either in my life, or a manicure/pedicure either!"
A bowtie necklace from KuTE KIWI
And a Crouton necklace from Rhiannon


so whats on your list?

And the Winner is..............

And the Winner is........

JOANNE!!!!!

Congratulations!!!

Email me at h_carni@hotmail.com and we can talk about what you would like for your prize ;)

Thank you all so much for participating!! hope you had as much fun as i did :)

Blogtoberfest Day 17 - Today is.....?

Blogtoberfest Day 17

Giveaway Time!!!!!!

So who has been following my blog this week and noting down the scavenger hunt words?
Hehe i had lots of fun tyring to fit the words into my posts and hope you guys had fun playing along!!

A reminder that the winner will get a custom dye job by me on a yarn base of their choice!



So what was the phrase i hid in my posts?

If you already answered in my last post or by email that is fine and you will still be counted :)

I am going to draw the winner at 8.30pm tonight (nz time) so you have the rest of the day to enter your answer :)

Blogtoberfest Day 15 - YARN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blogtoberfest Day 15

Today i have been busy organising yesterday's Red Riding Hood Yarn's update and writing out labels, getting courier bags etc.

Here is some if it waiting to be packaged up

But amongst all that i received a courier package with yarn FOR ME!!!
Now since i started Red Riding Hood Yarns i haven't been buying any yarn for me and i have really missed it :( So i thought i would treat myself in the latest 100purewool co-op on a forum i am part of. I have bought from them before and just adore the softness of the yarn. You never know exactly how the colourways will turn out that so its a bit of a gamble. I should never have feared though as here is the two skeins on "Sahasen" fingering i bought

nom nom nom. it was destined to become a shawl for me but i am trying to score 1 more skein to make a cardy of some description ;)



I also bought 3 more skeins of undyed worsted ply to dye up and make something for me too :) Its about time i made some stuff for myself and summer is ME time.

Blogtoberfest Day 10 GIVEAWAY!

Blogtoberfest Day 10

Time for a giveaway!!!! I've spent today thinking about a fun way to do a giveaway and have come up with a good idea!

For the next 7 days i am going to highlight one word in my daily blog post and next Saturday ( 16th) those who can tell me the whole sentence will go in the draw to win!!! ( if it makes it easier to remember then you can comment on each days post with the word then comeback and read them on sat)

What will you win?

A custom dye job from me :) You can choose your yarn base ( 4ply, sock yarn, lace, 10ply, 8ply) and your fav colours and then i will do the rest!!! i will also add in some chocolate ( of course) and maybe some extra goodies too ;)

Here are some examples of my work ( and pop over to my yarn blog Red Riding Hood Yarns to see more)

Good Luck!

Blogtoberfest Day 9 Hansel and Gretel

Blogtoberfest Day 9

WOW the days are flying past!!! and I'm super impressed i haven't been stuck for a blog topic so far :)

I am concocting up a giveaway at the moment which will be lots of fun so stay tuned for that tomorrow!!!

Today however is all about Hansel and Gretel! That was the theme of the fairy tale yarn swap i put together this week.

here is the delicious "Sweets and Sprinkles" sock yarn i dyed

And here is everything together
Some cupcake candles, gingerbread stitch markers and a big box of gingerbread men cookies !!!!!

Here's a closeup of the stitch markers


They were made my a very talented friend of mine Tammy and i am going to be working with her on a special project in a few weeks ;)

And all wrapped up!


Remember if you want to join in the fun of a yarn swap then sign up to my Bloggers Summer Yarn Swap !! It will be lots of fun :)

Blogtoberfest Day 7 SUMMER YARN SWAP

Blogtoberfest Day 7
My Creative Space

I always seem to get alot of interest in the yarn swaps i do when i blog about then so i thought "Hey why not make up a blog one?"
So here it is :)

The aim of the Game?
To create a swap package containing hand dyed yarn, a small gift, and a treat!
That's all, very simple, and a wonderful way to share some love around this time of year.
I though that Summer would be a great theme as it lends itself to fresh, happy colours and fun.

Want to be in?
To join in this swap you have to be in either NZ or OZ and have a blog.
I need to know your name and address, blog address, likes and dislikes and any allergy's in your household. Let me know which type of yarn you would prefer too ( sock yarn, 8ply etc) so you don't get something you wont use.
Send your details to h_carni at hotmail dot com with the subject line "Summer Yarn Swap 2010"

I will leave sign up till next Friday 15th October and mail out will be Dec 1st :) so please only sign up if you are going to be able to honour the deadline, and also make sure to let me know if you are happy to post over the ditch. I would prefer to mix people up so we get to try new yarns etc.

So let the fun begin!

Blogtoberfest Day 6 YARN

Blogtoberfest Day 6

I have been participating in a local yarn swap and i got my gorgeous package this afternoon :)
We had to choose a fairytale of our own choice to give to your swapper to base our swap on and i choose "Alice in Wonderland"

here is my fabulous Swap


100g "vintage purls" birthday suit yarn dyed in "Hatters Purple" some T shop tea "Grandpas Orchard" a teapot tea difusser, some beautiful key stitch markers, and a floral mug i ADORE everthing, it is just perfect. The yarn i am going to use to make some Daphne socks for me

I havent delivered my one yet but will post photos once it have been recieved on Friday :)

My Creative Space - yarn galore

I have been super dooper busy this week.
Firstly with the launch of my my new business Red Riding Hood Yarns and with two birthday to knit for over here .

Yesterday however i was back in the kitchen with my dye pot and whipping up a storm, here is what my fireplace looks like:


head over to Kirsty's for some more creative spaces!

And for my 200th post!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 200 posts to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And on this special occasion I am very excited to present my new business venture!!!

Red Riding Hood Yarns in a hand dyed yarn boutique i will be operating over here .
I also have a facebook fan page that INCREDIBLY attracted over 120 fans yesterday alone!!!

My first stocking will be live this afternoon between 1-3 so pop over and have a look!

Hotshot is finished!!!

i finally cast off Ashton's Hotshot jersey/vest on Sunday night. It took a whole 6 days of hardcore knitting which for me is AGES. The end result is totally worth it though.

Now to make one for Flynn!

My Creative Space - Hotshot

I had 4 days without picking up my needles this week EEEEEEEEEK. But when i picked them up again i decided to cast on a Hotshot - a gorgeous new pattern by my friend Julia over at Just One WIP

This pattern is one in a series of 3 unisex patterns designed by Julia, to be knit in the round and to fit from newborns up to size 10 !!! now that's versatile! As well as this veste there are full length jersey and cardigan options with hoods, collars, contrasting edging and more! To purchase these beautiful patterns, go here.

I am making the 4 year old size for Ash, but using 10ply 100purewool instead of 8ply so hopefully it will come out a bit bigger :) I hand dyed the yarn for this project and it is just Divine to knit with!

head over to Kristys for some more creative spaces!

Sock Lovers Swap V2

I have bene having a bit of a break form swaps at the moment as i felt they were taking up too much fo my time and energy and i wasnt having enough left for my own crafting mojo. Whent he second Sock Lovers Swap opened up though i could say no!!!

I chose the theme "kakariki" ( green in Maori) as my inspiration and we had to create yarn that our hubbys would like to wear.

I dyed up 100g paytonyle sock yarn in the colours of our native NZ bush:

Then i chose some other kakariki inspired gifts, watermelon seeds, dark peppermint NZ chocolate, and some peppermint tea.

I added in a pattern called "No green Socks" and sent it on its merry way! My swappee has allready knit up and finished her socks and they look awsome :)

I received the most amazing swap package in return! In my signup sheet i mentioned that my hubby loves music so thats waht theme my swapper went with!

I received 100g paytonyle dyed in "Rock" inspired colours= silver, red and hints of purple:

I also received two rock themed mens sock patterns and this awsome guitar fabric bag!



Knitting the yarn up into socks for Rob will have to go on the back burner for a while after my last mammoth sock knitting mission for him, but i have decided to use the Jay Walker pattern when i get around to it!

My Creative Space, and giveaway winners!!

Well i did it!!!!!!! and with 12 to spare! i cannot believe i have had an extra 32 followers since this time last week, you guys are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!

Julia over at Just One WIP generated 7 of those all by herself by pimping me out on Ravelry and her Facebook and Julia it paid off!!! You are one of the winners!!! I drew your name first too (thanks to random.org) so you get to choose which skein you would like first.

Rachel (xmasangels) was the second winner so congratulations to both of you!!!!!! Rachel and Julia could you either PM me ( on TNN) or send me an email with your details please and i will get these beauty's into the mail!

I thought it was hilarious that you are both TNN ( thenappynetwork for those who have no idea what i am talking about haha) members, and i even drew two more names after yours just to see and yup, two more TNNers haha, lovely to see so many of you supporting me :)

right onto the yarn!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man oh man was it hard to dye this yarn!!! it took AGES for the yarn to absorb the dye and then when it did it just sucked it all up and it hardly made a difference. i had to use ALOT of dye and still the colours are quite "dull" and not nearly as vivid as i was going for. They still look great mind you, just not quite what i was trying to do.

I went with blues and purples, and pinks and greys in the end :) Both would make beautiful shawls i think, but then again I'm a bit biased don't you think? haha

hmmmm that last pic doesnt look right, there is no green, just rich blues and purples
Pop on over to kootoyoo for more creative spaces

5 more to go! What colour shall i dye?

So i am 5 followers away from my goal!!!!! i am going to remain confident that i can make it to 100 by the end of Thursday so i am going to prep the yarn!!



I am going to dye up 200grams of 4ply 100purewool which is the softest and snuggliest yarn you will EVER touch.

So what theme shall i go with? What do you want? earthy colours? brights? pastels? 200grams of the same colourway? 2 separate colourways? ( i have two 100gram skeins) I could also so two winners of 100grams each...............(so double your chances to win ;) )

Thank you to all my friends who have pimped me out on their facebooks!!! i have a new follower thanks to Kate and 2 thanks to Julia!

So, tell me what you want, what you really really want!!!

My Creative Space - and a giveaway.

My creative space this week has been a little quiet.

I started and finished another shawl, #7 to be exact! It is for my husbands grandmothers 75th birthday next month but i haven't taken photos of it yet.

We have been away for a few days at my own grandmothers funeral, so i haven't had any more time for crafting.

HOWEVER! I am 20 followers away from 100, after last weeks mammoth blog visiting expedition and i wonder if i can make it up to 100 by next Thursday??? If i CAN then my creative space next week will be a giveaway of some lovely hand dyed yarn by me, drawn from my followers.

So tell your friends, and if you refer someone here and they follow me, get them to leave a comment saying so and i will give you another entry in the draw :)

here are some examples of my dyeing

I have some gorgeous and soft 100purewool waiting to be dyed!

Head on over to Kootoyoo for more creative inspiration

Winter Rose

I have been so busy getting organised for our big move tomorrow that i haven't had much knitting time. I managed to finish off my gorgeous Blackrose socks last night though!!



This yarn was given to me in the TNN sock lovers swap and i had cast on the day it arrived!!! Its taken me three weeks to get them finished but finally they are done, ready to warm my cold little feet.



Now they match the gloves i got in the swap too!

Socks #3 in my 10 in 2010 challenge :)

Dolce

While our Internet was down I finally finished off sock #2 of my Dolce socks! Just in time for mothers day.



Both the pattern and the hand dyed yarn come from my lovely friend Sheryl over at Shortly Stitches.



I made them super long as i find there is often enough yarn left in a skein to make long ones and the lace looks gorgeous in big long columns.

Mum loved them!

These were pair number 2 for my 10 socks in 2010 challenge but never fear, i have two more pairs on the needles at the moment so i will complete my goal in time!