I would like to start out by saying first that I know it's been awhile since my last post... 8 months to be exact. I want to thank all of you for standing by me during one of the hardest years of my life. During this time I have found out what true friendship really is. The sudden loss of my Mother and two close friends really took a toll on me and my desire to create. Thank you for standing by me and the wonderful words of encouragement. I am so very lucky to be able to call so many of you FRIENDS. ~CJ
OK...
Now for the first long awaited blog. :O)
The end of February I decided to host a Spin a Long on Ravelry entitled "Put Your Own Twist On It". When this brain child first surfaced I thought to myself "Maybe 10 or 15 will sign up." Ha, was I off. The tally for the March Sign Ups reached 37 participants! I was floored and humbled. The participants had to pick between two different colorways then post their finished handspun yarn in the Ravelry group. Then they and the other members of the group got to vote for their favorite entry.
I'll have links and info at the end of the blog post so you can find out more about this Spin a Long.
Colorway choices were Inquiry and Montana Moon.
Montana Moon was the clear favorite for the March fiber but there were quite a few participants who chose Inquiry also.
Here are the results for the March Spin a Long voting.
The Winner in the Montana Moon group was AkamaiKnitter who posted this AWESOME handspun creation. She won a $10 gift certificate to my Etsy Shop.
There was a THREE WAY TIE for the winner of the Inquiry group! I don't find it hard to believe...all the entries were so GEORGEOUS! Here are the winners...They all received a $5 gift certificate to my Etsy Shop since it was a tie.
shellebelle216's BEAUTIFUL blendiness
yenforyarns BOLD bulky spun
and boutrosbabe's WONDERFUL navajo ply
There were so many wonderful entries! I was thanking my lucky stars that I didn't have to personally chose the winners. There was no way that I could have done that. I was so delighted to see how many different techniques and creative ideas came from everyone. The possibilities seemed be be endless. I have decided to post a few of my "Honorable Mentions".
((drum roll))
In the category of Prettiest Photo I have chosen our Montana Moon winner AkamaiKnitter who also posted this photo (top) and cadabra who posted this wonderful photo of a knitted swatch of BOTH COLORWAYS! (bottom)
In the Motivation category I have chosen missviolet's sweater in progress photo with her Montana Moon entry (top) and RedHandedJill's handspun hand knit sock. (bottom)
In the Creativeness category I have chosen thenoviceknitter's 4 ply yarn (top) she separated the batt into individual colors, spun them and then plied them together and Peacecat's wild and artsy supercoil yarn. (bottom)
And the winner of the next two categories happens to be one of the Inquiry winners...boutrosbabe. She is the winner of the shameless use of Self Promotion without putting her cat in any danger (LOL) and the Mysterious Happenings with the laundry category. ;O)
There are many more entries for the month. I wish I could post them all.
To find out more about the Spin a Long you can go to
my Ravelry Group and check out the
Spin a Long Rules thread. The rules have been edited some due to the response to the SAL. Including a winner for each colorway every month and that voters get to choose an entry from each colorway when placing their vote. Oh, did I mention that all participants are entered to win a SIX MONTH FIBER CLUB MENBERSHIP?!?!?! The winner will be drawn in November. You must be a member of Ravelry and of my group there to participate and/or vote.
Ravelry is a great online forum for knitters and spinners. Check it out if you haven't already.
The April Sign Ups have already closed (with 40 participants) but May Sign Ups will start on the 17th.
Thank you everyone for your participation and support! I appreciate it greatly.
Take care and happy spinning!
~CJ
