Birthday Contest!

When I was a kid, I thought it kind of sucked having a summer birthday because it meant I couldn't bring cupcakes in to class to celebrate with all of my friends the way everyone else did (because somehow, out of 115 people in my graduating class, there were only a handful of us with birthdays from June through August). But as I've gotten older, I've liked my birthday better and better. For starters, it occurred to me around third or fourth grade that my birthday was exactly six months away from Christmas, making the distribution of presents through the year more equitable (unlike the poor kids with December or January birthdays, who often got their birthdays rolled into other holidays, or mostly left off in the post-holiday slump).

I don't know about you, but I love presents! Since today is my birthday, I thought I would give all of you lovely people on the internet a chance to get one.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by 11:59 PM June 30th (EST) telling me what your favorite birthday memory is. It can be your birthday, or someone else's that you helped make special. Don't forget to leave your name and a way for me to contact you, either through email, Twitter, or a blog.

On July first, I'll draw two winners using a random number generator. First place with get a free PDF download of my pattern, "Charlotte" and some lovely yarn to knit it out of:

Cascade Yarns Luna Paints in Color #9701
100% Peruvian Cotton, 100g

Second place will get the free pattern.

Winners will have until the end of July to redeem the coupon code on Ravelry (if you're not on Ravelry, just let me know and I can email you a copy).

(All of my photos of "Charlotte" are on the laptop, which I still don't have back yet. A preview shot can be found here, however.)

Small Business Upgrade

Insert crackly announcer voice:
"We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog for this special report..."

Some of you may have noticed a link I added at the bottom of my last post (some of you are probably even wondering why I'm posting twice on the same day). That link, in case you missed it, goes to my entry in a contest for small businesses to win $5,000 for business improvements. I can't even tell you how much $1,000 would mean to me right now, let alone five times that.

1. I know that my patterns aren't the best they could be. I do most of the photography myself. I do all of my own charts. I haven't designed sweaters because I'm not ambitious enough at math to attempt grading. The FU scarf had to be updated a few times because of errors. This money would mean I'd be able to pay a tech editor and photographer, and maybe even a couple of sample knitters, making my turn around time infinitely faster.

2. All of my photos are taken with a crappy little point-and-shoot. I'd love to be able to get an SLR (even a low end or used one) and possibly some lighting, both for photoshoots and for actual craft usage. An OTT light has been on my wishlist since I was working for a craft store in high school.

3. Most of my samples are knit with acrylic yarn. I got a box of it for free last year. It's not great, but it will suffice. I'd love to get a mix of fibers, though, so that I could experiment with different techniques and garment types. It would also be nice to have a swift for winding those hanks of yarn into a ball.

4. My "studio" is currently just storage. I can't even afford a table and chair from the thrift store (at least, not one that is even remotely sturdy/comfortable), let alone nice storage. So right now, I just have a stack of plastic notes and a couple of cardboard boxes down there. It would be nice to have some bookcases and/or units with drawers for storing and labeling yarn and fabric.

5. I'd be able to join professional organizations like The National Needlearts Association and The Knitting Guild Association. I used to be a member of the TKGA, but couldn't afford the fee to renew it. Joining these groups would give me better access to events, education, and other services.

6.  I'd be able to advertise my patterns, and if my book proposal is rejected, I'd have a base to use for self publishing costs and advertising.

7. I've been using Excel/Numbers for my charts. I'd like to get some actual chart-creation software, and something that I can use to create graphics/schematics. In an ideal world, I'd also go back to working on a Mac, and purchase another backup hard drive for saving files in case of another computer implosion like I had at the end of last year.

In the off chance that anything was left after all of that, it would go into overhead costs. I think I mentioned that our heat last winter ran $500/month. We will probably be moving to a cheaper place, but if we can't find one I'd like to be able to pay down some of the debt I incurred and look into alternative heating.

So, if you're so inclined, please take a moment to vote for me here, and please share the link if you could. I only have until the 12, and the business with the most votes get the prize!

Where would you go to await the end of the world? CONTEST!

Someone on another blog I follow posed this question, after being asked by a reporter for our local paper. They took a fairly serious view of it, but my first thoughts were humorous--probably because I spend so much time with gamers.

For me, it depends on the type of apocalypse we're talking about here. If it's the flame-out, one fell swoop and it's over kind of thing, then you'll most likely find me at the yarn shop or a library or book store, since book and yarn are what keeps me sane, and who wouldn't want to go out buried in cashmere?

But, if we're talking more zombie-style, fight-for-your-life apocalypse, then I'd have to pick my basement. In part, this is because I'm a Mid-Westerner, and when disaster strikes, we hide in the basement (provided it hasn't flooded). But, since this is MY basement (and we're assuming that by the 21st that I have it cleaned, organized, and properly stocked, since we have warning of this impending doom) I not only have a room full of yarn and pointy objects (all the better to defend myself with, my dear), but there's also probably food and companionship down there. And medical supplies (you should see our first aide kit), and any number of improvised defenses. If you're going to ride out the end of the world, do it on your own turf, and in in style, that's my philosophy.

Where would you go? Leave a comment below.

Make me giggle and I'll send you a prize. I've got two little prize packs--one for typists, and one for knitters. Specify which one you want and give me a way to contact you, and it's yours. Deadline to enter is midnight EST, December 20. Winners will be selected by who makes me laugh the most, or random number generator if I can't decide. I'll share some of my favorites here on the blog.

Contest

No, not my contest. Though I am donating one of the prizes.

Missouri is giving away a copy of her new book, The Hanged Man's Ghost, on her blog. Also included in the prize pack is a set of knitting needles and some handspun yarn (made by yours truly).

A quick summary: Detective Fynn Adder's life is quickly sliding out of control. Since the death of his longtime partner, Fynn has been plagued by the ghosts of the dead, and thanks to his drinking habits his job with the Chicago Police Department is hanging by a thread. Now, neck deep in a new investigation, it appears that the latest victim is tied to his partner's death and to make matters worse IA is sniffing around, and Agent Voight is determined to make anything he can stick to Fynn.

With suspense, romance, and even knitting, this book is sure to be a crowd pleaser!

To enter the contest, just visit Missouri's blog for details.

Something not so different

So the theme for today is "something different." The idea is to blog about the regular content in a different fashion. Quite frankly though, I don't have the energy to come up with a "different fashion" at the moment. It's been a weird couple of days at work with everyone grumpy or sick/suffering from allergies, on top of the cold, gloomy weather we've been getting. So you just get the regular content.

The winners of the Japan Relief Drawing were Clasina and NewbieKnitter84 (Ravelry names; comments 5 and 27). Congrats, ladies, and I'll be sending your packages out sometime this week.

In other news, I now have a Ravelry Pattern page! I've got two up right now (well, technically three, but one is a repeat because I had a technology fail and I don't know how to remove it), and another will be going up this week. Right now the patterns are all free, but I'll be adding some for pay later. (Also, can I just say how awesome everyone is who faved the latest pattern? 17 faves before it was even up 24 hours!)

At the moment, that's all I've got. I'm going to go put my feet up and not do anything resembling work for the next 24 hours and just enjoy my day off.

New Hair

I got a couple of gift certificates to the local beauty school for Christmas, but I haven't had time to make use of them until recently. I knew that I wanted to do something a bit different with my hair, but I wasn't sure what. Then I got sick of my hair (which tends to get rather triangular looking when it's about shoulder length) looking like a Lady Gaga wig and decided that Now. Was. The. Time.

After having Normal Hair for about a year, I decided it was time to go back to something funky and picked out a layered style that will still grow out easily (since that is the ultimate goal) and decided I wanted it to be two-toned in some way. Red. Bright, firey red. So when I talked to the girl (a lovely senior from not to far from where I live) we settled on this:

I'm quite pleased with it, though it takes some getting used to. It also means I have to re-evaluate my wardrobe a little, since it clashes with most of the dark red, all of the pinks, and about half of the purples in my closet. So it looks like I'm going to be wearing mostly black and blue for the foreseeable future (gah, black and blue and red on top? I'm going to look like a scraped knee. But a very fashionable scraped knee).

I can't post any pictures of my knitting right now, because it's part of a Top Secret Mission for Nerd Wars, and the hem of the sweater I'm working on isn't all that fascinating (yay, 2 1/2 inches of 2x1 ribbing. Joy). I did manage to have a spinning mishap that resulted in the loss of about 1/4 ounce of tussah silk. I still weep for it.

I've been accomplishing very little in the world of writing this week, but I hope to rectify that tomorrow or possibly later tonight, depending on how long it takes me to finish up stuff online. I have been hampered slightly in my productivity by the rain, which has flooded both our internet and phone lines meaning that I don't have access half the time to the numbers I need to call and the other half I simply can't call them (because if I'm going to be on hold for an hour, there's no way I'm using my cell). So since I don't have any other concrete accomplishments to show you, I will distract you with another shiney picture of me and my new 'do:



Also, don't forget about the Japan Relief Drawing, which is still open to anyone who donates to any organization providing aide over there. I'm going to keep blogging as usual, but remember that you can still enter by leaving a comment on that post. There's also a helpful little link in the upper left hand corner of this page, right next to the post title.