For the $25GC, everyone who made a purchase during October and November were entered into the contest.  I assigned each purchase a number and let Random Number Generator do it’s thang.

Congrats #56 – Ann Moran!

For the Grand Prize drawing I asked for projects to be entered into our Flickr project page.  I assigned each project a number (not including my projects) and again I called on random number generator.

Congrats #14 – 3pommes’ Emma Tunic in Wexford has won!

If you are a lucky winner, please contact me at pullingatstrings(at)gmail.com.  I’ll be in contact with you if I don’t hear from you by Friday.  Thanks again everyone!

Here’s what you can win:

A copy of Alana Dakos and Hannah Fettig’s new book Coastal Knits

A fun vinyl decal

A RoseKnits notions pouch

A Becky’s Paper Creations mini journal

A full 4oz braid of SW Merino Tencel spinning fiber from our April 2010 club dyed by Julie of Selah – Spring Raincoats

And finally, a full skein of Bamboo Merino Sock (fingering) from our November 2010 clubs dyed by Jessica of Nurturing Threads – Juliette.

This prize is worth over $84!  This prize also wants to land on your doorstep, so go ahead and upload some finished objects.  You have until tonight at 8:00pm est to do so.  I’ll announce the winning number on my blog tonight at 11:59pm est.  Good luck!

So what’s new:

1. The colorways each month will be limited editions, already dyed and ready to ship.  While this means that the number of skeins and yarns may be limited some months, there will be NO WAIT time.  Yarn and fiber will ship immediately!  This also means that the photographs will be of the actual yarn I am sending out which will ensure ACCURATE color!
2. We are lowering the prices!  A club membership with 1 braid of fiber and FC/parcel shipping will be offered at $25, 1 skein of yarn with FC/parcel shipping will be $28.  As usual, all additional braids or skeins will be offered at MSRP for that month’s dyer.
3. Aside from FC/parcel flat rate shipping, for an extra $2 you can opt for priority/Canadian flat rate shipping.  International club members will be asked to please choose this option.  For some countries where I must ship in multiple packages, additional shipping costs may be needed (although if additional costs are accrued, they will be discounted.)  Please contact me for any questions.
4. Orders will be placed through the site.  Full year, half year, and quarter year club members will have first dibs each month and will order through the Current Club Members section.  These members will also get 1 extra every three months on me.
5. By the month club options will be available after all current club members have placed their choices.
6. Each month club members will receive suggested projects and/or tips for that month’s selection.

Here’s what is staying the same:

1. Memberships will be available as full year, half year, quarter year, OR by the month memberships
2. Memberships can be paid in full or monthly with discounts for those who pay in full
3. Each month you will still have the two fabulous colorways to choose from and you will still be able to add any additional skeins or braids in any colorway regardless of the base you are subscribed to.
4. Flat rate shipping – no matter how many braids or skeins you order.
5. If you aren’t enjoying the selection, you have the option to skip.
6. Current club members will have first dibs on club renewals.

Now for the LINEUP!

January – Pigeon Roof Fibers

February – Wildflower Whimsy

March – Wild Hare Fibers

April –  Kim of Greenstrings(Fiber) Stitches Under the Sun (Yarn)

May – Family Roots

June – Family Pendragon

July – FatCatKnits (fiber) KR Dyeworks (Yarn)

August – Mosaic Moon

September – CreativLEI Made

October – Huckleberry Knits

November – Three Irish Girls

December – Becoming Art

2012 Club memberships will be available starting November 28th (Cyber Monday.)  Hope you’re ready to Dance!

1. The first contest is open to ANYONE who purchased an item from the store during the months of October and November.  Doesn’t matter if it is a $3 item or a $30 item, if its downloadable or has to be shipped = if you make a purchase you are automatically entered into the drawing.  For this contest, the prize will be a Pulling at Strings Gift Certificate worth $25.

2. The second contest is open to any crafters who upload a finished project into our Flickr Project Gallery.  This project can be made from yarn or fiber purchased from the store (using any technique you would like) OR it can be a project you made using a pattern you have purchased from the store regardless of where you purchased the yarn.  The winner of this drawing will be receiving a copy of Alana Dakos and Hannah Fettig’s new book Coastal Knits, a fun vinyl decal, a RoseKnits notions pouch, a Becky’s Paper Creations mini journal, PLUS a full skein of a past club yarn AND a full 4oz braid of spinning fiber from a past club month. This prize is worth over $84! Upload your photos by 8pm EST November 30th, 2011 for a chance to win this amazing prize!

You have entirely way too many WIP’s right now.  I mean I can understand 2 or 3, or maybe even 4; but when you run out of fingers counting WIP’s you have to acknowledge the fact that you indeed have a problem.  I know its tempting looking around ravelry pressing the “hot right now” button.  I know you have bins full of yarn and fiber calling you like a siren in the night.  Heck I even know you have a husband who is in utter disbelief at the amount of yarn (you’ve let him see) in your personal stash, BUT enough is enough!  This Elliebelly Juliet yarn is the LAST skein you are casting on until you get your WIP’s down to a more reasonable amount.

Love Always – Jenn

How Yarn Got Its Name

Once upon a time there was a pirate named Captain Swarshy. Captain Swarshy was filled with vim and vile, with looks that followed suit.  He was a nasty pirate with 1 crusty eye and a splintery peg leg that kept popping out of place.

like Jack Sparrow, minus an eye, leg, and hotness factor

One day while sailing he came across a sinking ship full of bleating sheep.  Having not eaten in days, Captain Swarshy ordered his crew to bring over as many sheep as they could from the sinking ship. “Avast ye whiney brats!  Bring me those there salty sheep so that I may feast or I’ll have ye walk the plank!  YARRRGH!”  Piles and piles of sheep were amassed.  So much so that the captain’s peg leg kept getting caught up in the white fleece.

Unable to see clearly among the moving mass of cuddly sheep, Captain Swarshy tripped over a huge ram and fell off the side of the ship.  As the captain plummeted to the cold, open, shark-infested waters he screamed, “YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR….”  Suddenly he stopped falling, held only by a string strand of fleece caught on his splintery peg leg, “…..RRRNNNN?”  Captain Swarshy climbed up the woolen strand onto the ship and into the sheep filled deck and immediately hugged a very confused ram.

That night the crew enjoyed a huge feast and returned the rest boisterous flock to the nearest farming island.  And then they pillaged it, they are pirates after all.

The End

Here’s where the problem lies.  I am pretty sure he thinks he’s done taking pictures and that he photographed the stash in its entirety….

Yeah.  I probably shouldn’t mention that Sharon and Victoria made me buy 4 more skeins of Carpe Yarnem yarn on the 4th of July….I mean how could I not walk away without taking home a skein of Can’t Leave Well Enough Alone on TIG’s new Cotton/Rayon Sport

Doesn’t that just scream at you to pick it up, wind it up, and knit it?  And don’t get me started on the 2 skeins of Awesome with a Side of Sauce and the ever so coordinating Destined for Greatness on Wexford.

I have no clue what I am making with this, none.  I just knew I had to have it.  And therein lies my problem.  I don’t know what more than HALF my stash is meant to be.  I just know that I need it.  Man.  Poor hubatron, he has so much more photography to do.  And poor me too, I guess.  Once everything is finally loaded onto Ravelry I probably should *sniffle* send some of my skeins off to homes that will love them…..

Diane of BugSnugger is a good friend and an amazing dyer.  When she showed me her Pulling at Strings colorway it was love at first sight.  I guess that’s not a surprise since it is based off of the colors in my website and logo, but really, she did an amazing job evoking a fresh feel and visually interesting take on my site.

Pulling at Strings is a fun blend of  azure and various blues, cantaloupe and various oranges, lavender, and touches of green.  The colorway is calming and fun at the same time and looks AH.MA.ZING. both in the skein and knit up.

BugSnugger’s Garter Hug

Her shawl is knit using Posh and after seeing this, I knew I had to have it on Posh for the store.  Posh is a superwash merino, cashmere, nylon blend that just takes dyes wonderfully so that they are saturated and really pop.  I have Posh available in three weights: sport, fingering, and light fingering/lace – perfect for baby knits, shawls, and socks.  For those who prefer a heavier weight yarn, the colorway is also available on SW Merino Bulky, a base that I have fallen quite hard for over the past few weeks.

Pulling at Strings on Cestari SF

The Pulling at Strings colorway looks equally amazing on non-superwash yarn too though.  Available in Cestari Super Fine and Gaia Worsted, the project ideas are endless – longies, sweaters, blankets, hats, mittens, heavy weight shawls…what’s even more fabulous is that there are two different trim color choices for each yarn base.  Hello stripes and colorwork!

Pulling at Strings on BFL/Tussah

Spinners, don’t worry, I didn’t forget you!  Available on SW Merino, Merino/Tencel, BFL/Tussah, and Merino/Cashmere, there’s something for everyone.  I seriously cannot pick my favorite fiber base.  The Merino Cashmere feels amazing, I adore the colors on BFL/Tussah, I am intrigued by the Merino/Tencel, and being a newbi *ahem bad* spinner, the only fiber I’d dare to attempt (ie. create super thick twisty tampon yarn) with would be the SW Merino.  Go on, save the fiber from me.

Chatongris’ Emma Tunic

Embroidering this little lambie is actually pretty simple.

You will need:

1. to know how to make a french knot, chain stitch, and how to duplicate stitch.
2. a tapestry needle
3. a fluffy yarn for the wool (preferably one that is fuzzy and blooms, I like single ply merino personally)
4. a plied yarn for the face, ears, and legs (I prefer plied superwash merino)
5. a plied yarn for the eyes (plied superwash is your friend)
6. the item you are embroidering

For this particular embroidery, use yarn that is the same weight or slightly heavier so the the duplicate stitch adequately covers the yarn underneath.  Ok, do you have everything?  Good.

First figure out where you would like your embroidery to go.  I tend to always gravitate towards the bottom right or left corners, but that’s just me.  This embroidery is actually pretty small since the body is only 5-6 sts wide, and the whole lamb is just 13-14 sts tall.  You can lay out your fabric and place it, OR you can just eyeball it.  I tend to eye ball.  Now that you’ve decided where to place your lamb, thread the plied yarn (for the face, ears, and legs) through the tapestry needle.  You will want around a yard or so total.

1.  We are going to start with lambie’s head.  Using duplicate stitch, stitch 3 “V’s” across from left to right.

Now directly under these from left to right, duplicate stitch an “M” (the right side of a “V”, 1 “V” and then the left side of a “V”.)

Underneath the “M,” do 1 last “V” in the center.  Keep this one a little loose and rounded, it makes for a cuter head shape.

2.  Now its time to give this little head some ears.  I like to start on the left, but you can really start on whatever side you would like.  Using chain stitch, do a single chain on either side of the lambie’s head.  Placement it up to you.  Ears placement is fun since just slight changes in angles and placement set the tone for the lamb’s personality.

3.  Go ahead and thread your fluffy and fuzzy yarn onto the needle now.  It’s time to add warm up this lamb’s head.  Starting from left to right and in between lambie’s ears, add three french knot.  Keep these kind of loose.  You want the fleece to look springy and fluffy, but not easily unknotted.  If you want to do more than 3, go ahead.  You can make the fleece as thick and plentiful as you’d like.  I just happen to like the look of three french knots on top.

4.  Lets move onto the body now.  I like to work from left to right and from top to bottom.  It makes for a somewhat cleaner backside.  On either side of the muzzle (is it called a muzzle on a sheep?) place a single french knot.

From here we will go down 1 row and out 1 stitch on either side and create lines of french knots.  Continue this until the body width equals that of the ears.  While you do this, make sure that none of the knit fabric below is showing, and as before, you can make this fleece as thick or as thin as you’d like by simply adding more or less french knots.

Now instead of adding 1 stitch to either side, we will subtract 1 from either side.  We’ve basically made a fluffy circle.

5. Lambie now needs some legs.  Now, IF you want to embroider 4 legs, go for it.  I like embroider 3.  There’s not quite enough space for that last leg and if you look at it from a technical point of view, based on how I place the legs, the 4th leg is hidden by the front two legs anyways.  So with that said, grab your plied yarn and using duplicate stitch create 3 “V’s” under the bottom of the fleece as pictured.

The back leg is to the left, and the front legs will be center and right.  Starting with the back leg, using short little lines moving from left to right and bottom to top, create a little leg shape.  You can really freeform this and make it as wide or thin as you would like.  I love to experiment based on my mood.  Today lambie’s legs are going to be a little chunky.

Move on over the the front legs now.  If you want chunkier legs, duplicate stitch another “V” under the two existing “V’s.”

Otherwise just free form the legs using short series of lines.  Make sure the front legs are slightly longer and more vertical than the back leg.

To finish off the legs, add a french knot at the bottom of each leg to give the illusion of a hoof.  When I do thin legs, I often add a french knot on the front legs for knees.  It gives a cute wobbly newborn look to the lamb.

6.  Time to give Lambie a face.  Usually I use a white plied yarn, but you can feel free to use whatever you’d like – beads would probably look fantastic.  Eye placement really is totally up to you, as is eye angle and size.  I tend to stitch the eyes using a single line stitch on either side of the muzzle between the top and middle set of head stitches.  Play around and see where you like your eyes.

7.  To finish, weave in all your ends on the back side.  For an extra special touch add a button or little embellishment and sit back and enjoy your little lamb!