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Join Me for a Giveaway of Olympic Proportions!

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olympic giveaway craft gossipI’ve been hinting at something special happening in conjunction with the Olympics, and now that the opening ceremonies are just a day away I can share with you what I’m planning. I really wanted to do something special to celebrate joining the Craft Gossip team as well as celebrating the Olympics.

The Games are such a fun event, bringing people from around the world to their television sets to watch great feats of sport (and, let’s hope, sportsmanship) and enjoy a moment of togetherness and commonality it’s rare to feel these days.

Odds are good, despite the recent unpleasantness, that a lot of knitters around the world will be watching the Games, and many of us will be knitting while we do. I know I’m going to be working on a bunch of projects for my book, and I hope the dedicated TV time will keep me on track (grin) to finish a few things.

So, on to the fun stuff: the giveaways! Starting tomorrow, and continuing each day through the Olympics (that’s through August 12) I’ll be giving something away — a book, magazine, yarn, I don’t know what all yet.

What I do know is they’ll be one giveaway a day and it will last a day. You’ll enter by posing a comment on that day’s post; the winner will be chosen at random. You’ll have to comment on each giveaway to be entered, so come back every day to see what’s on offer. And winning one giveaway won’t make you ineligible to win future giveaways, so keep coming back and enter as many as you like.

Because of that I’ll wait until the Olympics are over and all the winners have been notified to mail the goodies.

I’m really excited both to clean out some of my stash and to share some knitting goodies with you. Who’s ready to win some free stuff? I’ll see you tomorrow with the first giveaway!

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Comments

  1. Hooray for the US and all the families, friends and fans that encourage the players. Woot woot. I’m in!

Have you read?

Book Review: Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit & Crochet Blankets

Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four. 

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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