The following is information on the contest that ADHD Knitting is running. You can read the original post here, though it’s the exact same content as this one.

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It’s time guys! Here is the official low down on the ADHD ‘My Ex is Full of Knit’ Contest Extravaganza.

We are asking you to knit up our ‘My Ex’ pattern in the likeness of whoever you don’t like. It can be your ex husband, your ex boss, your ex best friend, or your ex mother in law. (It can be your current mother in law for all we care actually…) When you have finished knitting the bag to look like whoever it is you’re not a fan of, then you send us in a picture of your finished bag and a little paragraph about the person you modeled it after and why you chose them. You can also send us a reference photo of the person you modeled it after if you’d like, but this is not required.

The ‘My Ex’ pattern is now available for free here. It will remain in the free section through the end of March, so get it now while it’s not only free but could win you some free yarn!

Here’s the trick; make this bag look as much like the person you are modeling it after as possible. If they have a particular hairstyle then try to mimic that in yarn, do they have facial piercing’s? Tattoos? Do they wear glasses? An eye patch? Figure out how to knit it. We give you the basic bag pattern but it’s up to you to embellish it to make it as creepy and/or realistic as possible.

Special points will given to anyone who goes above and beyond the basic pattern. We want to see bling! We want style! Panache! Do it up and do it up big. We want to see everything from gold fillings to freckles.

Once you have knit up your Ex email as many photos as you like (we may only post one or we may post them all if they’re interesting enough) along with your story about why you chose the person you did. Email entries to daniella@adhdknitting.com with the subject ‘My Ex is Full of Knit Contest’ in the subject line. In order to submit an entry you must be registered on our site, registration is free and gives you access to our forums as well. You can register here. Once you are registered be sure to include whatever name you choose as your username for the site.

We are currently working on developing a special gallery on the website for the photos so in a week or two we will begin adding the submissions to that gallery and they will be available for viewing and voting. You will be able to vote once a day for your favorite entry. Feel free to launch a campaign on your own blogs and Ravelry pages to get as many people as possible to vote for your entry, the more people who come and participate the more fun this will be.

Entries will be accepted starting immediately through midnight on March 31st 2008. As soon as we begin receiving entries we will post them on the gallery page through out the month so that you can watch the progression of the contest. Entries submitted after March 31st will be ineligible for voting and will not be considered for our prizes. Voting will continue through April 5th.  On April 5th the staff of ADHD Knitting will take the top 5 entries (determined by the number of peer votes they receive) and pick our 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners from those 5 entries. Winners will be notified no later than April 10th 2008 and prizes will be mailed by April 30th 2008.

First place winner will receive a selection of yarn valued at $500 and bragging rights. (Also they’ll be featured on our website’s main page.)

Second place will win a selection of yarn valued at $300 and third place will win a selection of yarn valued at $200.

We do not believe in yucky acrylic yarn, so the yarn the winners will receive will be a selection of yarns from brands such as Berroco, Rowan and Crystal Palace.

Now, go spread the word! Tell your friends! Tell your knitting group! Tell your LYS!

More details on how to view the entries and how to vote on your favorite will be posted here in the blog and on our forum in the coming weeks.

See below for the ‘Lawyer Version’ of our contest rules. I can’t wait to see everyone’s entries! We’ll be posting our own little versions in the coming days too, to keep you inspired.

“CONTEST RULES”

1. Download the “My Ex” pattern from the ADHD Knitting website and create your own “My Ex” from the pattern.
2. Email photos of your “My Ex” to ADHD Knitting.  All photos must be received at ADHD Knitting by March 31, 2008 at 11:59 PM.  All entries must include an email address so that winners can be notified.
3. All contest photos will be posted on the ADHD Knitting website between April 1 and April 5, 2008.  Cast your votes by sending an email to ADHD Knitting!  All votes must be received by April 5, 2008 at 11:59 PM.
4. ADHD Knitting will select First, Second and Third place winners based on votes and judging by Gail and staff.
5. Winners will be notified by email by April 10, 2008.  Winners must provide a shipping address for prizes.
6. First place winner will receive $500 in yarn products (retail value), Second place winner will receive $300 in yarn products (retail value), Third place winner will receive $200 in yarn products (retail value).  Prizes will be sent by ADHD Knitting not later than April 30, 2008.
7. All photographs submitted may be used by ADHD Knitting in future marketing materials.
8. Employees of ADHD Knitting and members of Sin City Knits are not eligible.

Seriously, they’re lunatics over there. (And yes I’m speaking in some kind of disembodied third person here, because really it’s me over there…whatever.)

We’re giving away over a $1000 of yarn in an upcoming contest. I can’t give details yet until our legal department gets back to me, but what I can tell you is that it’s going to require very little work and the first place prize is $500 worth of yarn, second and third are $300, and $200 respectively. I seriously thought about quitting yesterday just so I could enter. Now sadly, my close friends here (the Sin City Knits crew) are not eligible to win because we don’t want it to look like I’m playing favorites, but the rest of you folk out in blog land that I am not friends with are more than welcome to enter.

Keep checking out the ADHD Knitting Blog for details on how to enter.

Now if you are my friend and you want to help out than you can spread the word by posting about this craziness in your own blog and getting as many people involved as possible. You can also join the ADHD Knitters Board over on Ravelry.

We had a great strategy meeting yesterday and I’m stoked about the direction ADHD Knitting is going to be taking. It’s going to mean big things for the business.

And now I’m back to work! Adios!

So, I finally carved out a bit of space to work. I cleared all the yarn and pattern books off of my drafting table from art school and viola! I have a desk! We added a little metal cubby thingy to hold all the yarn and to create a little bit of wall so there is separation between my work space and the sewing area that Carolyn occupies. I also went through all of my yarn. All of it. I have owned up to my own stash. I dug out all the random balls that were stuffed in baskets, I fished the hanks out from under the bed and behind the book case. I unloaded the various buckets and containers that I’ve been hiding stash in for the last year and I put it all in the cubby thingy next to my desk. Well, almost all of it, there is one other small cupboard on the other side of my desk that is holding sock yarn, and a basket under the desk that is holding odd balls. Mainly because not everything would fit in the cubby thing. I have discovered a few things:

• I have a lot of yarn
• I have a lot of cotton yarn
• I have a lot of yarn that is an ugly color
• I have a lot of yarn I don’t remember buying
• I have a lot of yarn that I shouldn’t have bought
• I will probably still buy more ugly, inappropriate yarn that I won’t ever knit.

So here’s my little work space.

You can see my little sock yarn book case to the left there. The official Protector Cat of the Stash is perched in her place on top of the shelving unit, just as she has been pretty much since we set up the shelving unit.

And there is my stash. Or most of my stash. I love it. The upper left corner is all cotton. The next three cubbies are other various natural fibers. Then I have one of acrylic (but decent acrylic.) and one of random other synthetic fibers like nylon and such. The bottom left is half finished projects that probably need to be frogged to salvage the yarn and the bottom right is the basket I keep my craft receipts in so I can claim them on next years taxes. It’s already pretty full and it’s only February.

Now, I have also finished knitting things in the last few weeks. I know it’s hard to believe I find time to knit in between all my bashing of poor defenseless punk rock writers from Philadelphia, but I do make the time for a few things.

I finished up this hat:

Which is the Pithy Hat pattern. It’s knit in Artyarns Super Merino in a color way that’s name is forever lost to me because I ripped the tag off immediately after it came in the mail. I ordered the yarn from Eat.Sleep.Knit which is an awesome little shop on the web that has great sales every once in awhile.

However, I found out today that Knit Las Vegas is now carrying Artyarns, so I have a local spot for that awesome yarn now!

I also knit these little cuties for baby Madison who is due in April. 

These were a test knit for the Oh My Baby! Booties which is a free pattern for, you guessed it, ADHD Knitting. These will be shipping out to Mom-to-Be, my good friend Alyssa here shortly as soon as I finish the other little things I’ve been knitting for baby Maddie. I’m also knitting the Eskimo Pie Hoodie (also an ADHD pattern) in some really pretty Rowan Romance yarn. I just need to finish the button band and the i-cord draw string and that one is ready to go.

I finished up the mitts I was knitting in the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino that I got the last time I visited Knit Las Vegas, and I even got to wear them once before I ended up giving them away. Christa was complaining of having a cold office, so I gave her the gloves off my  hands in order to show how much I love her.

There she is, enjoying her mittens and a cup of chai last Friday night at reJAVAnate, the new coffee house that Sin City Knits is meeting at on Wednesday nights. (And sometimes Fridays and occasionally Mondays….) For those of you who don’t know Christa, yes, I know she looks like she could be my sister. We were secretly separated at birth.

I made yet another tea cup wrap. This one in some green variegated wool and using a sort of textured pattern. It’s not adjustable, it just fits around most of my mugs and it’s way cooler than the first one. I love this one way more.

Also, some fun little things:

Dixie and I are hamming it up with my camera phone. (Because the camera in the new Blackberry Curve is AWESOME.) I  love how irritated she looks with me in this picture. It’s adorable.

And I FINALLY got a picture of the ‘Cortez’ in the El Cortez Hotel sign downtown. I’ve only lived in Vegas for four and a half years, but I finally went to the hotel AND took a picture. I tried to get a picture of me standing under it but it kind of sucked and you couldn’t see me at all. We’ll try again later. I’d really like to get a good one of me standing under it to send to my Dad, who is very proud of our Cortez name and sometimes even wears a hat with ‘Cortez’ on it just to show how Cortez-y he is. It’s even spelled right! No weird ’s’ version here!

Okay, it’s late and I should be getting rest so I can get up early tomorrow and continue expanding the ADHD Knitting Empire.

Yet I can’t seem to find a functioning yarn swap anywhere on the whole world wide web. So here is my question to you fine folk: if I started an ongoing yarn swap (kind of like goodyarnkarma.com) would you be interested in participating? I’d like to open it up to include anything knitting related not just yarn. So yarn, roving, fiber, books, pattern books (not individual patterns though, I’m not cool with swapping designers patterns without paying for them.) needles, hooks, tatting shuttles, yarn ballers, whatever you have that you don’t need cluttering up your craft room or house any more.

Right now I have six hanks of Crystal Palace Cotton Flamme yarn in a nice rich green color, several crochet hooks that I have two or three of in the same size, some knitting needles in the same situation and really if I am honest with myself I probably have way more yarn that I could part with that will probably never make it out of my stash and into completed knitting projects. I also have a few pattern books that I don’t need either.

What I would do, if there was interest; is start either a different blog to run this thing out of or set up a swap on swap-bot.com

I also have completed projects that could use a home, that I wouldn’t mind swapping out. Some bags that I’ve knit, literally dozens of scarves and hats that I just wanted to knit for the sake of knitting them but I live in the desert and don’t need that many scarves or hats and one lonely shrug that was knit in an unfortunate color. (A lovely mint green, beautiful on some skin tones, just not mine.)

I hate getting rid of things that are still useful, and while I suppose I could put some of this stuff up for sale, I would rather just swap it for something else useful instead of money.

What do you guys think? (All 12 of you that read this blog.)

Leave a message and let me know.

I’m pulling out the friend card here: if you read this blog than chances are you like me as a person. (unless you’re a writer for the Philadelphia Weekly, in which case, oh well.) So, since you like me and we’re friends and all it would be great if you’d do me a favor.

Visit ADHD Knitting and post on the forums, or add a comment to the blog. Something to show that the site has people who are interested. I’m hoping that this will help out those who are a little more shy than you guys and let them know they can participate too!

Also, keep in mind that you can use code ‘danido’ for 10% off any of the patterns on the site. If you buy a pattern, or decide to knit up one of our free patterns be sure to let us know by sending in a picture to daniella@adhdknitting.com and I’ll post it in our Gallery.

Also, if you’re on Raverly add us as a friend: ‘adhdknitting’  is our name over there.

Thanks guys!

Despite being at the receiving end of a group of people who obviously have a lot of time on their hands (as evidenced by the fact that we all read blogs, play with sticks and string and have time to send him interesting threats.) Mr. Wells has held his head high, hefted himself back onto his high horse and written another article about the crafting community. He was even nice enough to leave a link to it on my blog (and I assume many other peoples blogs as well) just to make sure I didn’t miss the opportunity to fart in his general direction again.

Without further ado, here it is: go read!

You will notice that yours truly is quoted. My ultimate plan of being a master of knitting theme threats is complete! I win! I really have nothing snarky to say this time. I’m kind of over it. I do still want to knit him mittens just to prove a point, but I probably won’t.

Heh. Whatever, I have bigger fish to fry. I have a business to run, I have a knitting group to organize and I have a yarn stash that is threatening to eat my dogs if I don’t organize it soon.

Oh, and I’m working on this adorable hat right now that I’d really like to finish by tonight so I don’t have to do my hair to go to Knit Night. I don’t think that will happen since I have far too much work to do before I can, in good conscious, knit anything for myself.

So yesterday we loaded up and made the pilgrimage out to the new yarn store in town, Knit Las Vegas. It’s a great shop and for sure it will be my new yarn shop of choice. The only thing that is less than desirable is that they don’t have Cascade in there, yet. I’m sure they will, the owner said that their entire stock wasn’t in yet and I’m sure she’ll carry Cascade, it’s such a standard yarn. I was very good and spent less than $100 in there yesterday. I got a hank of Arcaucania sock yarn in a really rich brown and earthy colorway.

This yarn makes me well up a little bit. It’s so beautiful and soft. I’m not even sure what the hell I’m going to do with it, I’m kind of afraid to knit it, it’s just that beautiful. I was very excited to see that Knit Las Vegas was carrying this because I don’t see it very often.

I also got a ball of Tofutsies in a green and gray colorway to make a pair of socks for Mike that will hopefully be pretty durable.

Then I got four balls of Debbie Bliss CashMerino in green and cream to make myself a pair of fingerless mitts.

I was going to make Endpaper Mitts but I punked out at the last minute last night and cast on for just regular fingerless mitts instead of the uber colorwork ones.

So instead I am working up the regular mitts with just a little bit of fancy stuff on them, even though it’s not very fancy at all.

I’m also doing these magic loop instead of on DPN’s, which is a first for me as well. Kaitlen walked me through how to do it via GoogleTalk last night. I’m doing pretty well so far and it is far less awkward than double points. I’m not sure I’ll ever do socks this way, but I will definitely use this technique for gloves and hats and things.

I also got two adorable little buttons to put on  Maddies Kimono so I can finish it up.

The buttons are adorable little metal stamped circles with hearts in them. They’ve very rustic but still pretty.  I’ll send a note with the sweater to Mommy Alyssa that when Maddie outgrows this cardigan she should harvest the buttons and send them back to me and I will put them on the next sweater I knit for Madison. I love these buttons so much I want her to be wearing them on every sweater I knit for her from now until she goes to college. If she’ll let me sew them onto her wedding dress I’ll do that too.

Okay, I’m off to start working the thumb gusset on those mitts.  I’d like to have them done this weekend since it’s yucky outside and I could really use them right now. I really should finish up the “Knit Picky Socks” but…meh.