giveaway #81

The three winners of the last giveaway from Hearthside Fibers are:

JoAnna, hawknitr13, & Melody

Congratulations! Please contact me at yarnonthehouse@gmail.com to collect your prizes.


The weekend before last I attended Madrona Fiber Arts for the first time. That's honestly sad, because I've been knitting for about five years now and I've lived in the Pacific Northwest this whole time. Somehow I had just never made it out for one reason or another, but this year I'd registered for a short afternoon class and I was meeting a blog friend and sponsor. That meant that I couldn't miss it!

I ended up having just the most wonderful day. There's something refreshing about walking into a swanky hotel and seeing knitters EVERYwhere. It's kind of surreal, if you know what I mean. So, back to the stuff you're really here for, our lovely sponsor this time...

I got to meet Brenda Castiel of Brenda Castiel Designs in person. It was a real treat. I wish I could meet all my sponsors like that! Brenda sent over a short bio, so you could meet her as well...

"I’ve been a knitter, on and off, since my teens. I’m self taught and so have gotten used to figuring things out on my own. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes not!

I first got the idea to start designing when KnitPicks started their Independent Design Program in spring of 2010. I thought to myself, “They’re just starting out, so maybe they won’t be too fussy about what they accept.” I’m not saying that’s true, but that’s what I thought. So I submitted a design, and it was accepted! I was off and running. I then started submitting to magazines like Interweave KNITS, Knit Simple, Creative Knitting, and YARN magazine in Australia – everywhere I could think of, really. I wasn’t ready to self-publish because I didn’t want to have to pay for professional photography and editing before I even knew if anyone would want to buy my patterns. Increasingly, more of my patterns got accepted, including one crazy period when I had 6 sweaters to knit in 8 weeks. That was bad!

Now that I have more of a portfolio built up, I would like to offer a giveaway of my patterns. Most of them are available, but a few are owned by a magazine and I don’t have the rights to them."

Brenda is offering up a fabulous giveaway of THREE patterns of winner's choice for a Grand Prize (unfortunately, there are some that are NOT available due to contractual agreements: Quixote Scarf, Sugarloaf Hat and Mittens, Vintage Paris Jacket, Picasso Cardigan, and Elise Dress), a gorgeous skein of Socks That Rock yarn in the Spring Fling colorway, along with a fabulous Deluxe Reversible Project Bag from MicheleStitches and some darling little stitch markers.

Plus, one runner up winner will receive one pattern of choice and a smaller drawstring project bag and stitch markers as well. It's all just a lot of knitting fun! See...




(I was actually recently looking for more knitting project bags and Michele's giveaway ones just happened to show up in my mailbox that same week. I couldn't resist and had to purchase one for myself. I got this really cute gnome bag!)

That's not all! Brenda is also offering a great discount to the YOTH followers for her pattern collection available on Ravelry: enter the discount code YOTH25 during checkout from now until March 25th, 2012, to receive 25% off.


I would like you to do the following if you would like to be entered into this week's giveaway:


1. Read over the rules if you have not done so already.

2. Leave a comment on this blog post by the end of Sunday, 3/11/12. Check out Brenda's patterns and let us know what your favorite is.

In case you couldn't guess, my favorite is the Lydia Crescent Lace Shawl. It's got all the components I love: it's lace, has a beautiful and unique construction and it's a shawl. Soooooo, so pretty!


I'll randomly pick the winners in 2 weeks and post the results along with the new giveaway, so be sure to check back. Good luck everyone.

Sincerely,

Ve