Archive for the 'Contests and giveaways!' Category

I dare you.

Author: Yarnista
January 24, 2010

I dare you to make these.

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Double dog dare you with whipped cream and cherries.

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Behold, Carassius, the Socks of the Kissing Fish.

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I will send a skein of yarn to the first person to make these and send me a picture of both completed socks. The colorway doesn’t matter, although I would recommend a light-medium solid or semi-solid. Beads or no, doesn’t matter. 

They’re kissing goldfish, who wouldn’t want a pair of these? They could represent you and your sweetheart, they could represent you and your little one, they could represent your real life Carassiuses. (Carassi?) 

Your time begins now: 8:37 pm on Sunday, January 24th. If you don’t already have a copy of this pattern (which is amazing, painstakingly edited, with charts and written instructions), you can get one here.

GO!

The winner.

Author: Yarnista
January 22, 2010

The winner is actually me. I am the winner for having such creative customers! Yay! I get the one of a kind skein of yarn!

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Good night.

I am such an endless tease. I can’t help it.  I was born teasing people. I can’t turn it off, I’ve tried. Well, I can turn it off when needed, but it makes me froth at the mouth slightly.

I’m going to start with the honorable mentions in the Name That Stocking contest. The honorable mentions will each get a $5 gift code to use on whatever they like in our store. :D

Honorable Mention #1:  Adopt a Skein. I love the ideas of all of these parentless yarn babies needing homes. Deb, I’m going to send you a gift code! Great idea!

Honorable Mention #2: Instock and Ready to Rock. Kristin, I love the way this trips off the tongue. It’s really fun to say: try it. I’m sending you a gift code too!

And now for the winners. I combined two ideas to come up with something I am tickled with. I really liked Jennifer and Victoria’s suggestions and decided on:

Carpe Yarnem: Seize the Dye

I’m excited! Great ideas, Jennifer and Victoria! Since I have two skeins from this batch, I will send one to each of you! I will also keep using exclamation marks! They convey emotion!

We will have our first Carpe Yarnem stocking soon. I will announce it ahead of time so you will be able to program the alarm on your cell phone.

Now, I’m going to get all motherly and lecture y’all for just a moment. I don’t want these stockings to turn into a competition and have everyone arrive with their claws out, hissing at each other.

Don’t make me turn these stockings around. I will then be left with no choice but to be creative all by my own self, and I’ll keep all the yarn for me. OK? OK?

OK.

Carpe Yarnem! Seize the Dye! Coming Soon! Exclamation Point!

Confirmed!

Author: Yarnista
January 22, 2010

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However shall I choose?

There are too many funny and wonderful options!

I went through every single one of your suggestions and compiled a list of the possibilities.

Then I slept on it.

If you want the real truth, what really happened was that I went upstairs to label vast quantities of yarn while watching Project Runway, and then I fell asleep ten minutes later.  (Don’t tell me who won. Seriously.)

But I do think it sounds better to say that I slept on this important decision.

When I woke up, I looked at my list again. Then I started Googling. I had to scratch off the names that I liked that were already taken by other people and books.

Then I bought a bunch of domain names.

Then I added a bunch of ridiculous stuff to this confirmation screen picture to amuse myself while I’m waiting for the coffee.

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You wouldn’t begrudge an old Yarnista some Photoshop frivolity in the five minutes it takes for the coffee to brew, would you? I promise I will work every waking minute for the rest of the year.

I have it narrowed down to three different concepts.  I will decide between them today! I will! I will!

Now I have to go finish labeling the vast quantity of yarn that is going to be shipped today.

Yarn is usually better when labeled, I’ve found. People prefer it that way.

I could just continue to sit here blathering on, or I could label yarn. You pick.

That’s what I thought, too.

See? Kindred spirits, you and me. 

Soon!

Author: Yarnista
January 21, 2010

The contest is now closed, and I will make a decision soon, I promise! I am having a great time reading all of these.

In the meantime, here are some yarn pictures to tide you over:

Alpine Spruce:

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Greener Pastures:

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And Mountain Cathedrals:

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February’s club picks!

I want to give you this.

Author: Yarnista
January 20, 2010

So today, I was just

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You know, like every other day. Sittin’ around. Doing nothing except rocking in the ol’ rocking chair and admiring the view.

And I thought to myself, “Self, you oughtta give away a skein of yarn.”

And then I answered myself.

I said, “Self, you are correct. I shall see to it at once.”

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I love it when I listen to myself.

This skein is not just any old skein.  It has magic in it, old magic. Creative magic. The magic of Creativity.

Sometimes the mood strikes me to make something new and different. I often have to ignore my friend Creativity, much to her chagrin.

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But sometimes I can’t ignore her. She begs and stamps her foot and sticks out her lower lip. She beckons, and I am helpless but to follow.

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This is a one of a kind colorway. It is part of a small dye lot, and can never, ever be recreated. I didn’t write down the recipe, I didn’t follow my usual methods, I just dumped and mixed and tasted until it was right.

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Here’s what I’m thinking. Sometimes, I will let Creativity have her way. I will make special colorways that have never been seen before and will never be seen again. Colorways like this:

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And once in a while, I’ll put this never-to-be-seen-again colorways up for sale, just for fun.

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This will let me be creative and will let you get something extra special.

I already have about 25 special creative skeins ready to rock. Instock and ready to rock, just the way they should be.

But I want to have a name for these special stockings, so I can say, “Super Duper Creative Yarn Stocking Tomorrow!” or, “Wednesday will be a Special Spectacular Skein Stocking!”

This is where you and the giveaway meet. If you can give me a name that I like for these stockings, I will give you this skein of yarn:

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It’s Adorn Sock. It will never be seen again after this Awesomely Amazing — or whatever I end up calling it — stocking that I’ll have in the near future.

Here are some ideas that I have so far:

Serendipity Skeins

Batch of the Day

Yarn du jour

Something along these lines.  You leave a comment with a suggestion. If I pick yours, I’ll send you the yarn.

To clarify, this isn’t a suggestion for the name of the colorway, you’re suggesting a name for the ongoing series of stockings I have planned with one of a kind colorways.

I will take suggestions until 7:30 pm Eastern tomorrow, and will choose something tomorrow evening. Feel free to enter as many times as you like, I need all the help I can get.

Help! Creativity will wait for no woman!

Giveaway winners!

Author: Yarnista
December 13, 2009

It’s time to announce our Most Wonderful Time of the Year Giveaway winners!

I asked Random.org to select a number for our first prize, two skeins of Glacier on Springvale DK.

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It just #159, a comment from Tola.

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(Happy soon-to-be anniversary!)

Our next giveaway item included two skeins of Wild Strawberries on Wexford Merino Silk.

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Random chose #34 this time.

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The winner is Ingrid!

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The next prize was for a skein of Alchemy on Glenhaven CashMerino Fingering.

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Let’s see who Random chose…

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Ashley! You won!

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The next prize is for two skeins of Skye on Kells Sport.

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And the winner is…

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Ivy!

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And finally, one skein of I Need More Coffee Marigold, dyed on Glenhaven Cashmerino Fingering.

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#184! You won!

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Kelly, congratulations! And congrats on your impending arrival.

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If you didn’t win, I’m sorry. It’s part of my nature to feel a ping of sadness for the people who didn’t win a contest. I hope you’ll keep entering our contests, and hope that someday Random will choose you too.

Have a wonderful Hanukkah, Christmas, Solstice, and New Year, everyone!

I love this time of year. I love everything about December: cold weather, the possibility of snow, the short days that necessitate family time in the evenings, the glowing lights, the hope of the approaching new year.

We had snow in Washington, DC over the weekend. Snow only happens a few times a year and only lasts for a few days, but children love it. They will try to go sledding and build snowmen with the paltriest of dustings.

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Christmas. Hanukkah. The Winter Solstice. They’re all coming soon. In that spirit, I think it’s time for a good old-fashioned giveaway!

Our first prize is one of our Alaska-inspired colorways.

Prize #1: Two skeins of Glacier on Springvale DK. I love this yarn. So soft, so squishy, so versatile.

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Prize #2: Another Alaska-inspired colorway, Wild Strawberries.  Read more about this colorway, along with some useful organizational tips here.

We’re giving away two skeins of Wild Strawberries on Wexford Merino Silk. Worsted weight goodness, that’s what this is.

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Prize #3: As skein of Alchemy on Glenhaven Fingering.  Yes, it’s in the vault. Yes, Glenhaven has cashmere. Yes, you’ll want to wrap the skein around your neck immediately. Yes, it’s more difficult to knit it that way.

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Prize #4: Two skeins of Skye on Kells Sport. Love it. Lovelovelove.

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Prize #5. New colorway. No official name yet. I’m calling it Need More Coffee Marigold for now.  Dyed on the aforementioned Glenhaven Fingering that you’ll want to wrap around your neck. Looks gorgeous paired with blues, purples, greens, magentas, and browns. Trust me.

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Contest Rules

To enter, leave a comment that answers the following question: What is the best thing about December?

Only one entry per person.

You must use a valid email address so we can contact you if you’re the winner.

Comments are moderated, so don’t worry if you don’t see yours immediately.

Winners will be chosen at random on Saturday, December 12th, at noon Eastern time. We will have a random number generator choose a comment number, one person for each prize. 

This contest is free. We will pay for shipping, even to international locations.

Good luck!

Glory, glory hallelujah!

Author: Yarnista
July 22, 2009

So, as most of you know by now, I’m attending this nifty, small little soiree called Sock Summit, which is actually quite nifty, but far from small.  I’ll be in booth #315, and I will have on a raspberry colored T-shirt.  You can’t miss me, I’m the one with the yarn.

Dublin Bay Knitting Company, booth 827, will also have a large selection of our things.

I’m entering a competition specifically for people whose yarn is being sold at the Summit, called Dye for Glory. It’s a bit like a State Fair competition, you enter your item in a category, and then it’s judged against others in that category. Except instead of Mabel winning a blue ribbon for her boysenberry pie, Yarnista is attempting to win for her Sea Anemone yarn. If you win, you win exactly what the contest title suggests: Glory.

Never one to shy away from a little friendly competition, except for all sports, mathlete events, invention conventions and anything related to physics, I decided to enter.

There is one thing you can rest assured of when you see something I’ve made: I never just throw some sugar and milk in a bowl and call it creme brulee. I don’t know how to type accent marks, but I’m sure creme brulee needs some.  I never just buy some brandy, splash it on some cookies, and call it tiramisu. Does tiramisu need accent marks? No matter, I can’t type them anyway.

Perhaps this is my overly perfectionistic nature in things that are not related to inventions, math, physics, or athletics, but colorways take me a long time to perfect. Have I mentioned this before? I feel like I have. A colorway has to strike the right note for me in order to be offered for sale in any way, whether it be a club colorway, something for a spring fall collection, or for a competition.

Many people have asked about what happens to all of my rejected yarn, or if they can buy or have my rejects.  Let me just be clear: THE REJECTS ARE REJECTS FOR A REASON. You don’t want them, just trust me.

Veering abruptly back on course: here are my long-labored over submissions to the Dye for Glory contest. These are all in different categories, so they’re not competing against each other, they’re competing against other entries in the same categories. Mabel’s boysenberry pie doesn’t compete against Edith’s pickles, it competes against Millie’s strawberry-rhubarb pie.

Starry Starry Night. Inspired by the synonymous painting. This is dyed in a new technique that will result in a highly varied finished product. The skeins are all one of a kind and very labor intensive to make — they probably take ten times as long to make as a regular skein of yarn.

I stumbled upon this technique and finished product after making yet another blue and purple colorway that was completely uninspired and just picking up my tools and adding things to the yarn in a random way. That led to further ideas and prototypes, which led to the yarn you see now.

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Several of you have already asked where you can get this colorway. I’ve decided to offer it here in an extremely limited edition of 20 skeins. This yarn will also only be available on superwash yarns, because that’s going to give you the best result with the most dynamic color variation.

I’ve added a button for purchasing below. Please get this colorway while you can, it’s very special, I promise. You may notice that the price is higher than our usual prices — this is due to the extremely labor-intensive method of dyeing these skeins.

This is a pre-order. The skeins will be available to ship in September.

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SOLD OUT — thank you, everyone! I hope you’ll enjoy your Starry Starry Night!
 

 
My other baby is Sea Anemone. This was inspired by a book I was reading to my young daughters, and I fell in love with the illustrations — they were so vibrant and whimsical but retained some of the characteristics of the real under-sea creatures they depicted.

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Take note of the marbling in the pink and orange sections. This is also a very labor intensive process, as the marbling has to be created by hand to ensure two distinct colors, and not just the by-product of bright pink and bright orange mixing together (red). We’re taking limited edition pre-orders of Sea Anemone, for shipment in September.

SOLD OUT — Thank you, everyone! I hope you’ll love your Sea Anemone!

 
Zephyr. I love the sound of the word, and I love the colorway.
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It has some touches of grey. Does this look turquoise to you? Because it shouldn’t. It’s a medium blue. Adjust your monitors.
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Want some Zephyr for yourself? It will be available for a limited time, and then it will go back into the vault.
 
Click here for Zephyr.
 
Next is Alchemy. Alchemy definitely has a magical feel with its deep purples, touches of green, and mosaics of black.
 
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Alchemy should pool very little when you’re knitting. If you’re familiar with our dyeing techniques, this is similar to Madigan.
 
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If you want some Alchemy for yourself, please visit this link.
 
Masquerade uses another technique to mitigate pooling, a phenomenon that I love but some people loathe.
 
Deep cobalt blue, purple, pink, and amber gold.
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I used blue instead of black to accent these colors.
 
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Here’s where you go to get some Masquerade.
 
This is one of my favorites. Georgia Peach. I love foodie colorways.
 
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Mmmmm.
 
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Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Georgia!
 
Father Time reminds me of something very retro-mod masculine. I heart it.
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It looks quite different twisted this way, doesn’t it?
 
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Here’s where you can find Father Time.
 
And finally, Estuary. Because I think it’s Estuary-ish, don’t you? I love the melding of these shades.
 
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Anything with aqua makes me happy. Perhaps you feel differently. You’re entitled to your wrong opinion, that’s OK with me. Whoops, did I say what I was thinking again?
 
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To see more about Estuary, visit this page. 
 
If you’ve gotten to the end of this tome, thank you for reading. And thank you for voting in Dye for Glory, a competition which involves neither physics nor athletics, but a good competition all the same.
(Voting has started and lasts until August 1st! Click here to vote for your favorites.)

Another contest!

Author: Yarnista
April 1, 2009

Another contest! This one is from the Clover Hill Yarn Shop! Clover Hill has a booth at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival  (also known as the Happiest Place on Earth). And at their booth, they will have my yarn. And maybe my roving. (Click Clover Hill link for contest.)

You should enter this contest. It’s for a gift certificate.

To Three Irish Girls dot com.

You should enter.

Because I said so.

And I’m your Yarnista, and you have to listen to me.

It’s a contest, OK? Geez, what does it take to get you people enter?

We can either do this the hard way or the easy way.

You can either enter or not enter, it’s up to you. You decide.

What have you decided?

Are you going to enter?

Hello?

March 26, 2009

Let’s take a closer look at who won our giant yarn giveaway yesterday!

Our first winner was #104, Dawn! She won a skein of Fionn on Galenas Merino!

Our second winner was #131, Lemur! She won a skein of Connor on our new Galenas Chunky!

Next was #420, Chrissy K! She won a skein of Cian on Adorn Sock!

Our fourth winner was #384, Lisa H! She won a skein of Grady on Lindon Merino!

And the fifth winner from the first group was #354, Kari! She won a skein of Kieran on McClellan Fingering!

I believe I am using sufficient exclamation points! There needs to be another way to convey excitement, but I haven’t figured it out yet!

On to the next group.

Winner number six was #817, Angela. She won a skein of Kate on Lindon Merino!

Winner number seven was #549, Lauren. She won a skein of Clare on Beckon Merino!

Winner number eight was #716, Gillian! She won a skein of Brady on Carys BFL!

Winner number nine was #594, Thao. She won a skein of Maguire on Lindon Merino!

Winner number ten was #718, Brenda. She won a skein of Alana on Carys BFL!

And for group number three…

The next winner was #1043, Heather. She won Devin on Kells Sport!

Next was #1173, Stacey. She won a skein of Maura on Wexford Merino Silk!

Next was #1015, Chris. She won a skein of Cameron on Kells Sport!

Next was #969, another Stacey! She won a skein of Cara on Lindon Merino!

And the last winner in group number three was #1181, Lacy. She won a skein of Ian on Lindon Merino!

And the fourth group…

The next winner was #1461, Susan. She won a skein of Madigan on Galenas Chunky!

The next was #1344, Tammy. She won Erin on Beckon Merino!

Next was #1600, Michelle. She won Maeve on McClellan Fingering!

Next was #1349, Nikki. She won Niall on McClellan Fingering!

And the last yarn winner was Kim, and she won Jack on Kells Sport!

The winner of the $150 gift certificate was #126, Lisa! What will you buy, Lisa? :)

CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN, LUCKY WINNERS! You’ll be receiving an email from moi later in the day asking where to send your yarn.

WINNERS!

Author: Yarnista
March 25, 2009

I’ll be updating this post with the winners as they’re drawn.We had 1712 entrants before 4:30am Eastern, and I’ll be dividing them up into 20 groups. I will draw a winner from each group, and then have a separate drawing to determine which skein they won. Then I’ll have one final drawing from all entrants for the $150 gift certificate. Good luck! I wish I could give everyone a prize. I loved reading your comments. :) The entrants will be divided into 20 groups, and one winner from each group will be drawn. ******BEAR WITH ME, I’M JUST TRYING TO MAKE SURE THE POST NUMBERS CORRECTLY CORRESPOND TO THE GROUPS!*********STILL WORKING. THERE’S A REASON I’M A YARNISTA AND NOT A MATHEMETICIAN. I WANT TO BE FAIR TO EVERYONE!*****

OK, this is taking me forever. Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to divide the groups into four and draw five winners from each group, and then one winner from overall. Thank you for bearing with my change in plans!

Group 1: Numbers 1-427

Group 2: Numbers 428 - 856

Group 3: Numbers 857 - 1283

Group 4: Numbers 1284-1712

LET’S DRAW SOME WINNERS!!!!

The site keeps not responding, and it’s taking me forever to do this, I’m sorry. Are you people crashing my site? Are you? ;)

Group #1, here are the winners, chosen by Random.org: 104, 131, 420, 384, 354 CONGRATULATIONS!!

Group #2, here are the winners, chosen by Random.org: 817, 549, 716, 594, 718 WOO HOO!

Group #3, here are the winners, chosen by Random.org: 1043, 1173, 1015, 969, 1181 YAAAAAY!

Group #4, here are the winners, chosen by Random.org: 1461, 1344, 1600, 1349, 1663 SCOOOORE!

Hold on for one more winner…

And the winner of the $150 gift certificate is #126!!!!

Now let’s draw to see which of the winners from the four groups will win which skein of yarn!

The winner of the skein of Erin is #1344!

The winner of the skein of Maguire is #594!

The winner of the skein of Fionn is # 104!

The winner of the skein of Cara is # 969!

The winner of the skein of Kieran is # 354!

The winner of the skein of Kate is # 817!

The winner of the skein of Devin is # 1043!

The winner of the skein of Niall is # 1349!

The winner of the skein of Brady is # 716!

The winner of the skein of Connor is # 131!

The winner of the skein of Jack is # 1663!

The winner of the skein of Maura is #1173!

The winner of the skein of Ian is # 1181!

The winner of the skein of Grady is # 384!

The winner of the skein of Clare is #549!

The winner of the skein of Maeve is #1600!

The winner of the skein of Cameron is # 1015!

The winner of the skein of Cian is # 420!

The winner of the skein of Madigan is # 1461!

And the winner of the skein of Alana is # 718!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!!! THANK YOU, EVERYONE, FOR ENTERING!

We do have periodic, unannounced contests, so be sure and come back.

P.S. In case it wasn’t obvious, your number was determined by your comment number in the previous post when you entered the comment. :)

March 23, 2009

Time is up! We’ll be liveblogging the winners today (Wednesday) around 12:00 noon EST.

Have you seen our Spring Lookbook yet? (Even if you do nothing but flip through and think, “Cool,” that will make me happy.)

We are giving away every skein of yarn pictured in the Spring Lookbook. Every single skein. All twenty of them.

This one:

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And this one:

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And this one:

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And all seventeen more. We’re not giving away the other stuff in the pictures, just the yarn.

There is no catch. You don’t have to buy anything, you don’t even have to pay for shipping. All you have to do is enter.

Contest rules: One entry per person. Our blog logs IP addresses, so we can check. Please enter only one time. You cannot be an employee of Three Irish Girls or be related to an employee of Three Irish Girls. (Got that, honey?) Your entry must be received by 4:30 am Eastern time on Wednesday, March 25th. Entries sent after that time will not be included in the contest.

Here’s how it works: Reply to this post, answering the question below. You must actually reply to this post, do not email in your answer. (Click on the Read User’s Comments link, and scroll down. It will take you to a box where you can reply.) After all the entries have been received, the number of entrants will be divided into 20 groups. One winner will be selected from each of the 20 groups. This is to improve your chances of winning. For example, if there are 100 responses, I will divide everyone into 20 groups. Each group will have five people.

Are you with me? 100 divided by 20= 5. I will then choose one winner from each of the 20 groups. In the scenario I’ve given, your odds of winning will change from one in 100 to one in five. Or something like that. I’m not a statistician. Just try to trust me, I’m looking out for you here. There will also be one grand prize given away, a winner randomly chosen from among everyone. The grand prize is a $150 gift certificate to be used on anything you like in our store.

TIME IS UP! WINNER’S WILL BE ANNOUNCED AROUND 12:00 EST TODAY (WEDNESDAY). BE SURE AND CHECK BACK, and thank you, everyone. :) GOOD LUCK, AND MAY THE (KNITTING) FORCE BE WITH YOU!

Mostly because I am a nice person, and I feel like it.  Stay tuned!

Holiday giveaway winners!

Author: Yarnista
December 23, 2008

I loved reading about all of your holiday traditions, and they’ve definitely given me ideas to incorporate into my own celebrations.

It was so hard to pick a winner. I agonized. I lost sleep. I couldn’t do it.

I decided to get my friend Random to help me.

Random doesn’t know you like I do. Random doesn’t say to himself, “Oh, that person is an EMT,” or, “Wow, she has nine children,” or, “I met her at Stitches East, and she’s a brand new knitter.”

Random is just the person for the job.

Our first prize was a sock kit, including one of our patterns and a skein of yarn. Random chose:

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And number 279 belongs to…

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Carol! Congratulations, Carol! What a fun tradition. :) I am looking forward to Christmas as my children get older and sleep past 4:36 am. What will be like to awaken at say, 8:00 am? A girl can dream.

Our next prize was a custom colorway. How exciting — I look forward to working with people on these!

Random chose:

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339. A fine odd number.

339 belongs to…

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Karen! You are hilarious! I am going to have to try this. Perhaps I will swat at the people in my house who arise at 4:36 am. Congratulations. :)

And our final winner, the person who won three months of membership to either one of our nifty clubs, is…

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And 49 belongs to:

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Congratulations! I’m interested to know how your Christmas Eve tradition got started — have you always celebrated on Christmas Eve?

I’m sorry if you didn’t win. I wish I could give fabulous prizes to all of you! Please check back, maybe Random will choose you next time!

Have a peaceful rest of the season.

XOXOX

Sharon

Welcome to our first-ever Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza Spectacular Spectacle! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah, if you prefer)! Make the Yuletide gay!

Whatever you’re celebrating, we want to help make your holiday a little brighter.

That’s why we’re giving away — in our Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza Spectacular Spectacle — three fabulous prize packages full of wonderfulness and awesomeness.

Tell them what they can win, Bob!

Bob?

BOB?

Fine, I’ll just fill you in myself.

By entering our contest, you’ll be eligible to win one of three great prizes.

Prize #1: A Three Irish Girls Sock Kit. This includes your choice of any of our awesome patterns and a skein of yarn in your choice of colorways to complete the pattern! If you are already a sock club member and you have all of our patterns, we’ll have a special alternative for you. (Approx. $28 value!)

You know you want a pair of socks like these:

Prize #2:  A custom colorway consultation and two skeins of a custom colorway! We can make your colorways dreams come true! On your favorite yarn base! (Approx $50 value!) Exclamation point!

Prize #3: Three months of your choice of club memberships! Sock Yarnista features your choice of two colorways, a custom designed pattern, and a fun extra each month.

If you prefer heavier weight yarns, Stash Menagerie has a broad variety of fibers, your choice of two colorways, and fun extras every few months!

Being a club member also gives you access to exclusive members-only colorways like these:

If you’re already a club member, you can extend your membership, add extra skeins to your existing membership, become a member of a club you’re not in, or give the membership as a gift to a very lucky person. (Approx $90 value.)

Why are we giving all of this away? For a few reasons. One is the spirit of the holidays. We like brightening people’s days a little with a yummy yarn package. It’s good to put a little good out there in the world.

Another is to say thank you for all of your support this past year — you’ve been with us as we’ve moved into a new studio, expanded our yarn offerings, and started new clubs. We would be nowhere without our fantastic customers, and we want to say thank you.

Here’s how you enter: leave a reply to this post answering the following question: What is your favorite holiday tradition?  Do you have a latke party? (And does your house smell like latkes for three weeks afterward?) Do you have a family outing to cut down a Christmas tree? Do you bake something special? Watch something special? Go somewhere special?

If so, I want to hear about it!

Winners will be randomly selected from the responses. You have until Monday, December 22nd at 9pm EST to reply. Winners will be announced Tuesday, December 23rd.

If you’d like to give any of these prizes as a gift, that can certainly be arranged!

Thank you again, dear readers and loyal customers.

Not everyone’s a winner…

Author: Yarnista
October 9, 2008

… but the rest of you are definitely NOT losers! I appreciate you entering our contest, and hope you’ll try again next time, if you didn’t win this go-round.

I instructed my trusty random number generator to select a number between 1 and 114. winner.jpg

It complied.

It’s a good random number generator.

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It chose #58 as the person who won the golden ticket!

And the winner is…

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Wendy! Congrats! :) What will you choose?

And hey, while I have you on the line… here are a couple of new colorways:

Riordan:

Here it is on Beckon:

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And here it is on Carys BFL:

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And also, Cernunnos, the ancient Celtic god of nature.

I think this is pretty nature-y. It looks like the Celtic version of nature to me. But hey, I’m kind of weird. I think that’s been firmly established.

On Beckon:

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And on Carys:

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These are for sale right now here. Instock and everything!

Thanks for playing. I have more pics to show you tomorrow. And if you’re a club member, you don’t want to miss tomorrow’s update… it’s going to be good!

The Great Internet Outage of 2008 is officially over. Thanks to those of you who sent concerned letters via wagon train, owls bearing news of the outside world, and nourishing soups to bolster our strength.

We have much to share — Albert is all grown up, and has taken himself a lovely bride. Laura is headed west to homestead on the prairie, and Mrs. Oleson and I have been busily preparing for the coming winter by darning socks and canning the last of the summer berries. Hopefully, Pa will enjoy his jam as the snow flies in January.

prepare for segue

It’s time for a contest, don’t you think?

I do think.

As a prize, how about a skein of our awesome new sock yarn, Beckon? I can’t wait to share its awesomeness with you. Never a prettier sock yarn has been found. Never a stretchier, funner-to-knit-with yarn has been seen. Never has a grammar teacher been so horrified.

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You pick your poison: a semi solid? Describe the color, and we can make it for you. Or maybe one of our yummy handpainted colorways? To sweeten the deal, we’ll also add a free copy of one of our sock patterns.

To enter, respond to this post and answer the following question: What’s on your needles right now? Or perhaps, what do you wish were on your needles right now? This will allow those of you who tidily finish one project before beginning another to enter.

Or allow those of you who are currently stuck in the horrid, “When the BLEEP is this project going to be finished?!?!” stage to fantasize about greener pastures. (Which I’ve heard are out west on the prairie.)

You have until Thursday evening, October 9th, to respond, and then we’ll randomly select a winner. I will share one of my projects tomorrow!

Secondly.

Author: Yarnista
August 31, 2008

Thank you all for your kind words and orders during our sale week. I’m glad you like the new colorways! We’re going to be adding a new sock yarn to our lineup in the coming weeks as well. Our Sock Yarnista club members were the first to try it, and we just can’t keep our hands off of it. It’s called Beckon Sock, and it’s insanely stretchy and soft.

Just to stave off the inevitable questions, the colorway below is called Arctic Circle, and it’s available to club members only. When you join one of our clubs, you also get to order any of our previous club colorways on any yarn base you like, even if you weren’t a member of the club when it was released. The club colorways are exclusive to club members.

Here’s a little picture:


In fact, I’m certain that the criminals responsible for the massive quantities of spam messages received here are just trying to keep Beckon out of the hands of gentle knitters like you. They want more for themselves. And whatnot.

It could happen. It’s unlikely that there’s some kind of vast worldwide conspiracy, but it’s possible. It’s possible men landed on the moon, and it’s possible there’s a yarn conspiracy. That’s all I’m saying. Work with me here.

Back to the sale. I promised someone would win a $25 gift code just for placing an order, and someone did! I won’t give identifying details because perhaps — just perhaps — this person doesn’t want her shopping and ordering habits dissected on a blog, but I will say that her first name is Maria, and that she’s been notified of her prize.

If your name is not Maria and you have not received a congratulatory email from us, you are NOT the winner.

Just to clarify: three things had to happen for you to be the winner. You had to place an order during our sale week. (Maria.) You had to have your name randomly drawn from all the order placers. (Maria.) And then you had to be contacted by us to be informed of your win. (Maria.) If these things did not happen, you are not the winner. If your name is Maria, but you did not place an order during sale week, chances are good you also did not receive a winning email from us, and chances are good you are also not the winner.

I am sorry, there is nothing I can do.

Don’t feel too bad, I didn’t win, either. You know things are bad when you can’t even win your own darn contest.

But, hey, Congratulations, Maria!!!

August 15, 2008

The short version: we’re having a sale. The end.

The longer version: we’re having a sale. It starts August 17th. The end.

The details version: we’re having a sale. It starts August 17th at 10:00 am EST and ends August 24th at 10:00 pm EST. Get free domestic shipping (discounted international shipping) plus an additional 10% off any order over $50. Every person who places an order during the sale will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 gift code. Get yummy stuff like this:

But there’s more… we’ll also be debuting our fall colorway collection. WOOT! WOOT!

The sale doesn’t apply to club memberships, orders placed before the sale date, dyeing tutorials, dyeing kits, or patterns. The sale does not apply to me or my children. The sale does not apply to anything related to giraffes or elephants. Not that we have products related to giraffes or elephants, but if we did, this sale would not be applicable.

Let’s choose a winner…

Author: Yarnista
August 2, 2008

I really enjoyed reading about all of your hidden talents. Who knew that so many of you could do weird things with your tongue?

Without further ado…

I instructed my truster random number generator to choose a number between 1 and 71:

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And it decided that today’s luck number was 53. What a lovely odd number 53 is. Don’t you think?

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Who does #53 belong to you, ask?

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Melissa! Congratulations! You get to choose a skein of any yarn you like on any one of our colorways. :)