Book Giveaway

I had fully planned to have done the drawing for the first of the book giveaways by now. But I had originally said that the Deadline is June 29th or when we reach 25 commenters, whichever is later.. we still haven't reached that.


I'm going to stick by that.


Sooo... if you have visited but not followed and you want a chance to win one of these books (and I have actually added two more nice ones to the stack because I wasn't thinking) check the link here for How to follow.


Plus, tell your crocheting friends about the books and invite them to follow as well. And be sure to leave a comment on THIS post including your email. If your name is picked I will email you for mailing info.

The only word associated with kidney should be beans. NOT stones!

I really, really meant to have this posted sooner. I hadn't counted on issues like nurses getting sick and an attack of kidney stones.

Yeah... Kidney stones! I got 'em. If it was something I could have crocheted away they would have been long gone. Unfortunately yarn isn't a wonder drug so the pain doesn't go away with each stitch. (Although it does sort of dull it!)

We had an interesting weekend with a night nurse having to leave town on a family emergency, a new nurse stepping in and getting sick at 3:30 - 4 am, the princess's van not starting after a doctor's appointment (when we had to be somewhere else in 20-30 minutes!) a day nurse getting sick because of the heat and sending her home a bit early, my trip to the emergency clinic, no day nurse the next day, and a C-T scan. We thought we were going to be without a day nurse today as well but one of our regular subs was available so that shortage was avoided. YEA!

So, the blanket is finished. It reminds me of a Babette. I've named it Sawtooth Babette because of the edging. 

Here it is!

And this is the edging.

I am very happy with the way it turned out.

Remember... if you want to be in the drawing for the chance to give the first of my duplicate books a new home go to THIS POST and comment, telling me what your favorite thing to crochet is and why. Deadline is June 29th or when we get at least 25 qualifying comments, whichever is later. Tell your friends.

Easy ways to follow the Yarn Princess

After several people asked me how to "follow" the blog I asked Dak to tell you all how...


The Yarn Princess asked me to put up some information about easy ways to follow this blog. News readers are some of the easiest modern Web technologies available, but they're really under utilized.


What's a news reader? Basically, it's software that checks Web sites for you and shows you the updates. If you have more than a half dozen blogs that you like to check, a news reader will greatly simplify the process.


There are dozens of news readers available, many (or maybe most) of them free. I use a Macintosh computer, and NetNewsWire is a free (as in ad-supported) reader that does the job. (There is a paid version that eliminates the ads.) You can subscribe to feeds via Outlook, although I don't find that as convenient (Microsoft has a "how to" for this).


If you don't already have a news reader, several are available as Web services, four of which are linked from any blog hosted on Blogger, which hosts the Yarn Princess. Look for the "Join the Realm" link in the right-hand navigation column. Google Reader (at the top of the list) is probably the easiest--if you already have a Google account, you already have a Google Reader account.

If you prefer to keep track of your blogs via a program on your own computer (my personal preference--as I said, I use NetNewsWire), then you can choose the fifth option on the drop down list ("Atom") to get the feed address, and then give that address to your reader software. Or you can just click the "RSS feed" button at the top of the blog.


Back to the Yarn Princess...  Remember to go to this post if you want to enter first of many book giveaways. Follow and leave a comment. Remember, I need to be able to reach you if you win so include your e-mail address!

Any photography buffs???

Kaelahbee, a Nashville area blogger that I read, is giving away an Instax 210 Wide camera this month! Cool... a wider format INSTANT camera!!!  Yea!!!


I love reading her posts and I love, love, LOVE the pink hair!!! It is definitely her and she rocks it. Wish I could do that.
Check out her blog by clicking here.

Latest WIP finished!

Here it is...

Here is the detail of the stripes...

I edged it with one row of sc and one of hdc. I almost feel like I need to do another solid afghan with buttons to go through the holes! :) It's an adaptation of an afghan I found in an old book. 

Speaking of books. Dak helped me enter in quite a few crochet books into a really cool database we have. It's called Collectorz Books. (We also have Collectorz Movies for our DVD/Video collection.) They even use barcode readers to enter the information. Check them out here  Collectorz if you want to keep track of your movies, books, music, comics, or games! They even have mobile apps that work in conjunction with the main programs. I now have all my movies and books on my android phone so won't have to guess if I have something or not. 

While dealing with the books, leaflets and magazines, I found, not surprisingly, that I had some duplicates. 20+ duplicates!!!  Books like Visual Quick Tips Crochet by Cecily Keim and Kim Werker, Stitch Collection Textured Crochet by Helen Jordan, Super Finishing Techniques for Crocheters by Betty Barnden, The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet  by Margaret Hubert, and Lily Chin's Mosaic Magic by, who else, Lily Chin! I even have a duplicate of Kim Werker's Crocheted Gifts. 

So... what to do with the extras. After some thinking I have come up with a plan. And I need some help with it.

 I am going to give them away! 

Not all at once, one at a time. :)  So tell your crocheting friends to follow this blog. To be eligible you need to be a follower and need to post a comment to this post. To offer a new home to the first book - tell me what your favorite thing to crochet is and why.

I'd like a minimum of 25 commenters for each book drawing. I will put all names in a hat and all book titles in another hat and draw both together to see what book is going to what new home. Deadline is June 29th or when we reach 25 commenters, whichever is later..

Terri's got a brand new BAG!!!

Ok... My friend (and I'm using that term loosely at the moment) Terri, at Clay Hill Farm, can sew. And even though she always says there are wonky stitches, etc. she's pretty darn good at it. After all... If it's handmade it's bound to have a bit of wonky somewhere. If it doesn't I'm a bit suspicious! Heck, I'm a whole lot suspicious!

Anyway, Terri has been on a sewing binge (I hate/love her for it!) and has created a new tote bag. She is calling it The Farmer's Market Tote. And it's awesome! Take a look at the pictures I stole from her blog.


And guess what!?! She is giving it away! Check out the Clay Hill Farm blog and enter to win this beautifully hand crafted Farmer's Market tote. She is being very generous with entries and will be taking them until April first.

Now... off to do some were-skunk research...

Great Days in History... coming up March 17th

YEA!!!! There's a Blog-iversary coming up!!! No... not this blog by a long shot. :)

Mikki, at Firelein Tomfoolery, is celebrating her "blog-iversary" which is actually on March 17th but that isn't really want she is celebrating. She is celebrating the many friends she has made as a result of that blog.

And she is putting together a special box of goodies for one special person and a couple things for some "runners-up" too! Deadline for entries is 6 am, March 17th.

Blogs are a really neat way to "meet" people. As I commented on her blog, it really points out how small this world really is because you find you have things in common with many, many people!

So go over and say hi. Help Mikki celebrate by celebrating Mikki, another AWESOME person!

AWESOME... and how to win it.

What is your idea of awesome? Well... to me, almost anything that is a really great surprise is AWESOME!

If you want some Awesome of your own you can go check out what Heidi n' Jeff are doing over at The Decoursey Project. They are hosting their first giveaway and, what can I say, it's just AWESOME!

We need more people that are this AWESOME!!!!!!

Pay it forward...

I like doing things for people. Unexpected things sometimes. So this one is pretty easy for me. Examples: I have been known to pay for the food order of the person behind me in line at a fast food place. I always put the RedBox Monday free movie code (and am doing the March Wednesday codes) on a super sticky post-it and leave it on the machine for the next person to use. (And the note reminds them to share it as well.)

Yesterday the fuzziest, softest neck warmer arrived in my mailbox. Now I know the picture below doesn't look like anything but fuzzy yarn, trust me. It IS a neck warmer and it's the perfect size to wrap around my neck and feels really nice there. I just wanted you to see the yarn and the colors!


Thank you, Anna! The colors are wonderful and I absolutely love it! And I think I have the perfect pin to use as a closure. :)

Anna, from Small Farm Living, had chosen to do something nice for three people "just because". I was fortunate enough to be one of those people. All she expects in return is that we "pay it forward".

So, as I promised Anna, I am putting together a Pay It Forward "project" of my own. If you want to be a part of this you can send me your mailing address, and tell me a little about you to help me decide what would be good for you. If you have a blog, mention this there and tell me about it so I can go visit and get ideas of the kind of thing that would make you happy. All I ask in return is that you do the same... pay it forward! Do the unexpected!

I can't guarantee anything except that I will be doing something special for at least 5 people, maybe more. And who knows... even if I don't get to you right now... someday a few months down the road you could find something really special waiting just for you!

Send your e-mails to me at princessj.king at gmail dot com

Ok... I lied...

I only THOUGHT we had full nursing coverage. Turns out our day nurse was scheduled to leave at 4:30 pm so now it's just me, Princess Junior, and Dak until our night nurse gets here at 10 pm. I sure hope Princess Junior doesn't pick up what we have.

I've ordered a pizza so Dak and I don't have to cook. He will still have to go out sometime tonight to pick up Chatty from her mother's house since tomorrow is a school day. Why couldn't tomorrow be a holiday!!!

But I did get a really nice surprise. I am getting a hand knitted neckwarmer from Anna at Small Farm Living. I envy her ability to knit so that makes it special right there. But there is another reason why this is special. Anna is doing this as a "Pay it forward" type of deal. So, my job (since I chose to accept it!) is to do just that... Pay it forward...

I'm going to take a day or so to think on this one. I have some ideas rolling around in my head. But you'll hear what my plan is soon.

Thank you, Anna, for the great surprise! It has been a very bright spot in the day. Your horse info is really interesting because Gamer Boy is working with horses. And just between you and me, I've spent some time slinging snot too. Somehow it seems the appropriate thing to do today.:) I actually broke my all time record too! I'm up to 1042.8m now!!!



(For those of you who haven't been to the bottom of the blog... Snot Put is an addictive little widget that is down there. Hint... sling it in a clockwise direction and loft it UP. :)

Do you like surprises?????????

I found about this one in a round about, web surfing friend of a friend of a friend's second cousin twice removed, sort of way. But sometimes that's the best way!

The Farm Chicks are having a giveaway. What are they giving away??? I have absolutely NO idea! And they aren't saying! So if you like surprises go on over there (Click Here!) and pay them a visit. Who knows what you might win! SURPRISE!!!!!!!!

Hungry??? Let's all go to QUIZNOS! Free Subs!!!!!

Quizno's is giving away one MILLION subs! Just go to their web site (click here) and sign up. They will e-mail you a coupon for a free small or every day value size sub.

Hurry over and get your coupon soon! I have a feeling 1,000,000 subs will go fast!

COVER UP!!!

with an apron!

The Apron Goddess is giving away a great gift. It's a book entitled "Early 20th Century Vintage Apron Collection" by June Bartos. There are some REALLY great designs in it. So wander on over to The Apron Goddess blog and enter! Maybe you can make yourself a great vintage pattern apron!

And remember me next Christmas!!! ;)

Wow! Check this out!

Teresa, from Slowing Down A Bit, is paying it forward with a shoebox giveaway! No, there aren't shoes in it. But that is all I'm going to tell you... You need to go to her site yourself (click here) to see what she's put in it!

And yes, Terri, if I win, will share the wealth and I'll let you have the key finder. :)

What a cool Valentine's gift it could be. (I'm so easy to please!)

So???? She sews... So what?????

I'm always envious of someone who sews. I have a machine. I even have an embroidery machine. And I have sewn before. But I haven't been able to access either machine (the one has never been used!) in ages so I can't really say I sew.

But my friend Terri can. And she is on an apron kick. Very practical. And she is offering to use her skills (practice makes perfect) to make an apron for some lucky person. Go here and check out her giveaway.

Wrangle those keys, woman!!!!!!

I ran across the cutest idea that could help me whittle down my key chain to a more manageable number of keys. Right now there are about 7 gazillion keys on my key chain. Heck, it's not even one single key chain! Sweet Irie is hosting a giveaway and the prize (actually NINE prizes!) is your choice of one of her handmade wristlet key chains! I LOVE the Cuppy Cake one! But if I win I might have to choose the Fishy one... A very HARD, HARD decision!

Check out her blog HERE and enter the contest! And thanks, Sweet Irie, for being so generous!