Brown Sheep giveaway

Olof is having a Brown Sheep giveaway over on her blog. 

You have until Sunday, Oct 3rd to enter ... you pick your favorite Brown Sheep yarn and color and you could win 4 skeins of the luscious stuff. 

Cool, huh? 

Oh, and she's giving you up to four chances to win ... so what are you waiting for?

Happy knittin'

Mary C. Gildersleeve

By Hand, With Heart -- hand-knit designs
bhwh.mary@gmail.com

Check this out ....

... and watch this to the end ... well worth the time!

Gotta love Aardman Studios (from when we get Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep!)
HT: Boomtisca on Ravelry

Happy knittin'

Mary C. Gildersleeve

By Hand, With Heart -- hand-knit designs
bhwh.mary@gmail.com

Knitting Tools can come from the playroom, too ....

I posted a six weeks back about some knitting tools that are worth spending the bit of extra for to ensure long-lasting quality.  I have since upgraded my yarn-swift to a lovely wooden one from KnitPicks ... it was on sale and does a spectacular job while also looking lovely (a win-win, yes?)

But there are times when there are less expensive alternatives than buying the official, knitting-company made tools.  Case in point:  blocking mats.  For $20, I can get nine 12-inch square "blocking mats" that are 3/8" thick and white.  This would give me a 3x3 square of block-ability.  Sounds great and not a bad plan.  For another $3, I can get 60 t-pins to use with the blocking mats. Not too bad a deal and KnitPicks is always a good resource for these tools.

That said, I did an Amazon search (my go-to spot for online shopping) and found that I could get a set of four 24-inch square playmats that are 3/4" thick and blue.  This gives me a 4x4 square of blockability (with an individual size of 2x2) for $23.  I can also get 100 t-pins for $3.  So, economically and usefulness dictated that I go with the Amazon one.  And the mats/pins work like a charm:

Happy knittin'

Mary C. Gildersleeve

By Hand, With Heart -- hand-knit designs
bhwh.mary@gmail.com