2 Winners!

Thanks to everyone who commented on my College Contest. It was a blast to read about everyone’s different experiences at school.

Having said that, the winners are…..

Carol and Panda!

Carol wrote: “I had just moved into my dorm room. It was an odd dorm. there were 6 bedrooms with 3 shared bathrooms and a kitchen/common area. Anyway...I was unpacking my boxes and reams of stuff when a frantic knocking was heard at my door. I opened it to find a strange girl , clearly in a a panic about something. "Hi", I said cautiously. "OHMIGOD there's a spider in my room and can you come kill it for me I'm so scared I hate spiders and there's one in my room ohmigod my brother usually does it but he's not here there's a spider pleasespleaseplease...." she gabbled at me. I picked up a shoe, went into her room and eliminated the bug. Twenty years later we are still friends.”

Panda wrote: “I grew up hearing stories about the years my dad spent in the Navy. His mom would send him all sorts of odd things that were a cause of deep embarrassment to him. Sometimes she would mail him home-made cookies in an empty cereal box, but by the time they reached him round the other side of the world, they had crumbled into cookie dust. His buddies would gather around for a handful, anyway.

His most embarrassing package of all was when his mother sent him a single sock. No note, just open the package and pull out one, single sock. She told him later that he had left it while home on leave, and she didn't want him to be out a pair. His buddies teased him mercilessly that his mother didn't even care enough to send a pair of socks, just a single one.

Flash forward to my own college days, and I received my first package from home. It was quite a bit later than everyone else's first packages. Tradition dictated that when you got a package, you would bring it smugly to the dinning hall, so everyone could be jealous of the goodies from home. (Panda, I must admit that from this description I am now certain that you went to Hogwarts. Which house were you in?)

I was so excited when I saw my package. It wasn't terribly large, or very heavy. I took it up to the dining hall, and with everyone watching, opened it up and pulled out . . . a hat. The absolute ugliest hat you ever saw in all your life. It was sort of off-white and looked a bit grungy, and it was about three sizes too big. I looked in the package, but there was no note, nothing. My friends laughed at me until they had tears in their eyes.

I called my dad later, and he was chuckling to himself. "I didn't want you to be cold." He finally had his revenge for his mom's weird packages. It absolutely made his day that I opened it in front of all my friends.”

Ladies, please e-mail me @ justaknitwitATgmailDOTcom with your favorite colors, fiber of choice and address so that I can get your lovely prizes ready for you.

As for me, I’ve been swinging back and forth from mild panic, which is a VAST improvement from 2 weeks ago when I would just start to cry sitting at my desk at work, and nearly being excited. Nearly.

There are 25 days left. Things look a lot closer this side of 30, I assure you of that. There’s so much to do, but none of it can be done until its closer to the actual move.

The good news is, my student loans went through, I got a letter in the mail from school with my bill for the 1st semester and everything has been paid off.

Wait, let me just type that again, cause it felt good.

EVERYTHING HAS BEEN PAID OFF!!!!!!!

This is really happening.
I’m really going.
There’s that panic again…

College Contest

The numbers on my google countdown til school are starting to get small. Really small. Small enough that my stomach clenches up each time I look at them and wonder “Dear gods of Mount Olympus what the HELL am I thinking, going back to school?”

A mixture of panic and good old fashioned PMS reduced me to tears for the better part of my morning while I was making hotel arrangements for that weekend. The tears were only increased by the realization that mommyknitwit and lilsis won’t be able to drive down to say a proper goodbye. We’ll have to do that Thursday night. (Here come those tears again!)

So is born the contest. Leave me a comment with a college story. Funny. Moving. So sweet it’ll make me gag. Didn’t go to college? Make up the silliest drunken-frat-boy-toga-party story you can imagine. Make me laugh. Distract me with silliness. Tell me how you fended off scurvy by eating your Skittle a day or ate so many Ramen Noodles that you had nightmares of being crushed by towering piles of wavy pasta bricks.

Prizes: The more comments the more prizes I’ll have. I’m going to go all out, as this is likely the last contest I’ll have for a good long time.

0-20 comments – 1 prize
21-40 comments – 2 prizes
41-?? Comments – 3 prizes.

Prizes will consist of:
Handmade bracelet in the color of winner’s choice
Beaded book thong
Handmade stitch markers
Mixed CD of songs that make me happy
Yarny goodness

The deadline is Friday July 20th, exactly one month before classes begin.

And The Winner Is…

Ann-Marie!

“I knit for sanity. I have 2 small young ones at home and knitting gives me a little bit of "me time" during the day.
I knit to create--I love to be able to wear a pair of socks that I made, that I love--admire them and say "I made that".
I knit to spread the joy of knitting--I love giving knitted gifts and teaching others to knit.
To know that love and time went into a gift--makes me happy.
It’s also about "me time"--at night when the kids are in bed and my housework is done for the day, I sit down and spend time immersed in my knitting. The rhythm of it, it's calming and soothing.
Hope you find your knitting mojo.”

Using a random number generator to pick the winner, number 5 was the lucky one. So, Ann-Marie, e-mail me at my blog title @gmail.com and let me know which color malabrigo you want (blue, green or gold) and what color bracelet you’d like. And, of course, your address.

But wait! I’ve decided to select a second bonus winner.

Kristi from Red Dog Knits –

“I knit as part of my parole requirements ;)”

Your entry made me laugh in the midst of a really nasty cold. E-mail me at my blog title @gmail.com with your address and I’ll send you something special!

Thank you all so much for your entries. There were so many great ones and I certainly have my knitting mojo back. I just can’t decide what to knit now!

Contest - In Search of Inspiration

I've been utterly lacking in the desire to knit or the ability to settle to a project. I haven't knit so much as a single stitch since the day before I went on vacation... that was on the 13th.

I'm looking for some inspiration and I'm turning to my fellow knitters to give it to me.

Why do you knit? What drives you, other than passion?

On the 13th I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner, who will win...


ONE of the skeins of Malabrigo, your choice of color, 2 mixed CDs titled Music to Knit To - Lace and Music to Knit To - Garter Stitch and a handmade bracelet in the color(s) of your choice.

Leave a comment by the 13th with why you knit. If more than 40 people comment I will select 2 winners. (Make sure that if you've updated to the New Blogger you go into your profile and select to show your e-mail otherwise I can't let you know if you've won.)

Help me get my knitting mojo back!