the Akamai Knitter

All in all it’s been a dissapointing weekend for me. Both of my teams lost. So I consoled myself by watching video clips of one of my favourite shows and now I look forward to January 22nd as if it were the Christmas.

I was sufficiently cheered to also give new thoughts to the contest I’m running. I’ve had such a great response I thought I’d add more yarn to the pot and I thought that I’d change the first prize to something different. So the new first prize will be 3 balls of Shadow in Redwood Forest, giving the winner enough yardage to complete a shawl, and 2 balls of Regia, enough for one pair of socks.

Second prize will be the original first prize booty, which is Wool of the Andes, Bulky weight in Wine, Elann’s Highland Wool in a dark red, and a one of a kind Opal colourway.

And third prize will be 3 skeins of Brown Sheep’s Naturespun in Charcoal, which should be enough for a hat.

Remember that you still have until Tuesday to enter the contest and I will allow multiple entries. I’ll just count the entry that’s the most accurate! I have been knitting away on the Mystery Project with all the watching of sports that’s been going on and I’m happy with my progress. I’m also happy with the process and product, which is a first for me. I look forward to Tuesday when I can share more of my thoughts with you on this projects.

I’ve had sweaters on the brain again and while I dreamt of two sweaters in November, I now have a third that’s just bubbling in my thoughts. It’s the Klaralund from the Noro Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton Collection, Book Number 2. Kim was kind enough to lend the pattern book to me and I have just been drooling over some of the designs. The only problem is that I’m cringing over the price of the yarn, but I think it would just be so worth the experience of knitting and having a luxury item in Noro Silk Garden.

Of course the other problem is when do I fit this sweater into my schedule? I have two shawls to finish and I want to start a third. Then there’s the myriad of small colourwork items I want to do as well. I’m really not sure how to prioritize the items on my list. I’m not sure how I feel about having too many projects on the needle either. I’m already getting a bit panicky at the thought of how many I have going on right now. Any suggestions would truly be welcome.

Post-Holiday Contest
Some of you may be puzzled over what exactly the Mystery Project is, so I’ve decided to post a few hints as to what it might be.

• I dreamt about making this back in November and even wrote about it here on the blog.
• I’ll be using about 1500 yards.
• This project will help me accomplish one of my New Year’s Resolutions.

Here are the rules to contest again:

1. Guess what the Mystery Project is to the best of your ability and be as specific as you can.
2. Email your answer to opal AT akamaiknitter DOT com or leave your answer in the comments
3. You have until Tuesday, January 9th to enter.

Just so you know, one person already guessed the correct garment type, so whoever can guess which pattern can beat that person to the prize! Also, if there is enough interest I may hold a raffle for 2nd and 3rd prize winners. For right now, this is the prize. I’m thinking of jazzing the prizes up a bit too though. So stay tuned!