First, I just want to take a second to thank everyone who participated In Your First Skein is Free. I gotta tell you, I haven’t had this much fun since Debbie’s Little Yarn Shop had that half-price sale! If it were up to me, I would send every last one of you yarn and I’m Not Kidding. That’s why I knew from the get-go that I could not be in any way responsible for picking the winners! Thanks to M and Great Gran for being such good sports (even though I didn’t bother to ask you if you were willing to participate).

I’m sure that many of you have been watching the results of the Voting eagerly, and I have to tell you that it was insanely close. Insanely Close. In the end, Liesl managed to triumph by a single vote! Congratulations! Vera was her color of choice and will be ordered today.

For the second part of the contest, the names of all of the folks who professed to have never known the joy of Lorna’s Laces were placed in to a Priority Mail box (many on-line yarn stores choose to ship via Priority Mail). At dinner last night (taco salad), Great Gran was gracious enough to select a name for us. I documented the event for posterity:

Who is it? Who’d you pick?!

It’s Ella! Congratulations! Ella indicated that Black Pearl would be her color of choice.

I’ll get this yarn ordered as soon as I obtain mailing addresses – you shouldn’t have to wait a minute longer to fill the void in your lives.

To those of you who by a Cruel Twist of Fate did not acquire your first skeins through this contest, don’t be sad. Remember, the joy of sock yarn dwells in each of us. And in each of us lies the ability to shop on-line in the Pursuit of Socky Happiness. Your LL will come. It will come in time.

Update
The LL is on its way from Knit2Purl2! Ella has decided that she is going to make the Lava Flow Socks from Sock Bug and Liesl (although besotted with Elphine’s Socks) has requested Pattern Suggestions for something Challenging but not Impossible. You can leave suggestions in comments or visit her blog disdressed and tell her directly. She says that perhaps she would like something toe-up?

The votes are in! Great Gran has drawn a winner! Tune in tomorrow to see who won the coveted Lorna’s Laces.

By way of a Complex Point System that took into account creativity, humor and desperation, M has narrowed the field in the essay portion of this contest.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Three Finalists!

Liesl:
Vera is calling.
I can’t say no; already
she has ruined me.

Lorraine:
I’ve never even touched the fabled Shepherd Sock, and grow green with envy watching the world knit its wooly goodness.

Rachel:
Lorna’s Laces should be free because: Air, water, and all the OTHER things absolutely necessary for survival are free.

The contest is officially closed! M will be picking the Top Three Essays today, voting will begin at 1pm tomorrow and continue until 9pm on Wednesday (times are Central). Great Gran will draw a name from the hat on Wednesday night and winners will be announced on Thursday. Now: To the Knitting!

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single square.

I think I may start calling it the Epic CounterPain. Just for fun.

Know what the best part is? I still haven’t got the pattern right! Nothing serious, just whether or not to start with a knit or a purl on some of the rows and I had added an entire extra line of pattern for no reason. Laura has been helping me sort out my Pattern Issues and making squares of her own! She is going for a more Sensible Option and making a baby afghan with her squares. She’s also opening an etsy shop with some of her hand-dyed sock yarn (and other goodies)! I am very happy that she managed to get it all together before the Sock Yarn Addict Club begins. Tonni has also been working on squares (March 16). She has made some adaptations of her own and they look great! Tonni lives in Alabama too, which provides me with segway:

With the appearance of Darlene’s blog (she is working on her very first article of clothing!), the total of Alabama knitbloggers that I know of has hit 5. I think this means we need a button.

Please copy this to your own server! Stealing bandwidth is mean.

This is not a ring! In fact, at the moment, it is not even a group. It’s just a button. But if you take it, please email me and I will see about putting together a list of Alabama Knitters for link purposes.

Here is the best part! Are you ready? Look what I’m learning to do:

I made yarn! Twisty, chunky yarn, but I made it!

That is a Turkish Drop Spindle that I got from Teyani at Crown Mountain Farms. Teyani fixed up the spindle and wristaff with some practice roving and got it started before she mailed it to me. Then, she managed to teach me how to use it through email and over the phone (she rocks)! This is one of the most fun things I have ever tried! The next time I have it apart, I will show you all the parts and pieces – the design is really clever and the spindle itself is beautiful (cocobolo rosewood). My starter fiber is Corriedale Pencil Roving in Tibetan Dreams (Teyani does the dyeing, oh, the Talent!). It comes as a fluffy yarn pillow:

I didn’t want to open it because it was so pretty.

I can totally understand why there are folks out there with giant stashes of unspun fiber. Darling Sister, visit soon so I can show you how to do this! You will love it.

Don’t forget about Your Chance to Win! Your First Skein is Free entries will be accepted until midnight (central time) on Sunday, March 26.

I’ve made it to the heels on the 2-Up Socks.

Shhhh, M’s working.

I am ready to start the heels. I just need a minute to read through Queen Kahuna’s instructions and figure the whole thing out. Since I haven’t had that kind of time (yeah, that’s the ticket: I haven’t had that Kind of Time), I’ve been working on the LL socks instead!

Don’t you love how the colors “stairstep” down the leg?

I have a confession to make. That is not the leg that the instructions for the Staggered Rib Sox wants me to have. I didn’t feel like there was enough stockinette in that leg. You couldn’t really see colors of the yarn. I’m using #15 from The New Knitting Stitch Library instead. Why I can’t make a pattern like it’s written I surely don’t know. Must be a phase.

Lately I’ve had the feeling that something was missing. I’ve been a little aimless (knitwise, that is).

That’s it! A sweater! This Dyed Cotton in Honeydew from Blue Sky Alpacas is to make Bardot. Incidentally, that is the only pattern in Rowan’s Beach Cool that I want to make, so the book is for sale/trade as soon as I am finished with this little sweater if anyone is interested. At a gauge of 5st to an inch, Bardot shouldn’t take too long.

And now for the Grand Finale:

Mom wins the Knit-a-Long!

Again, I didn’t think one could “win” a Knit-a-Long…Congratulations. I am very proud of you, Mom! Great Gran will be second, she took her scarf along with her on the Colorado Trip (my cousins are skiing, M and I stayed behind to tend the animals: we are feeding a total of 12 cats and 3 dogs a day). She told me this afternoon that she had finished all the baby things and was starting on the scarf tomorrow. Mine looks about like it did the weekend we started.