Yarn and Yarn Bowl Giveaway!

Hey everyone! My potter friend Becky did a blog giveaway last month, and this month she and I are doing one together!! She wrote a blog post - and since she did all the work I'll just cut and paste here :)

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WE - Maggie and Becky - are giving away a yarn bowl, 6 buttons, a set of knitting needles, and a skein of yarn (handspun by Maggie!). How awesome is that, right? Check out the photos below, the info on the pieces, and the rules for entry into the drawing. It could be YOU! Oh, and if you're not a knitter, and you think you could never have a need for something like this.. remember: mother's day, birthdays, and maybe even stash it away for next Christmas. ;)

First Up: The Yarn Bowl. This is a large yarn bowl that easily holds a ton of yarn. It's made from stoneware clay on the wheel, trimmed, carved, and had a little needle holder added. It's glazed with 'Sage' and is very solid. It won't fall over if you give the yarn a good pull.

Next: The yarn... omg.. the yarn. This yarn is handspun from locally produced and processed Rambouillet wool from Whispering Acres farm in Van Meter Iowa (plus yarn scraps). It's 112 yards, 3.5 oz.
You can't knit without: Needles! These needles are Size 9 Surina needles. Surina Knitting Needles Website




Last up: Accessories. If you're knitting something that needs that little extra oomph, how about some handmade buttons? These little oblong buttons have my 'lizard' texture on them and are glazed a calming sea green. You could use them on a pair of wrist warmers, or to add accents to the end of a scarf. They're also made from stoneware clay.


So how's that for a giveaway? It's valued at:
Yarn bowl: $30
Handspun yarn: $30
Surina needles: $10
Handmade buttons: $15
Total value: $85!
Your cost: Free, if you sign up and win! ;)

The Rules:

1. Sign up for Willow Avenue Pottery email list. Click HERE.
2. 'Like' GirlWithASword Productions on Facebook. Click HERE.
3. 'Like' Willow Avenue Pottery on Facebook. Click HERE.
4. 'Share' this blog post on Facebook with all of your friends and encourage them to enter the drawing too!
5. Leave ONE comment for this post that says you completed steps 1-4, and you're entered in the drawing! (If you're commenting anonymously, please be sure to add your name so we know who you are!).

Last, but absolutely not least, I want to give a special thanks to our photographer. John Gibney took the wonderful photos of our goodies for the giveaway. If you'd like to see more of his work, visit his photo blog by clicking HERE.

The giveaway will go until NOON on Wednesday, February 23rd. At that time, all the names will be given a number and a random generator will choose a number. Good luck!

Want to check out more work from both me and Maggie? Visit our Etsy Shops!
GirlWithASword Etsy Shop (Maggie)
Willow Avenue Pottery Etsy Shop (Becky)

Recycling and dyeing yarn, part 2 - thanks to Cassie (and to my faster internet connection today...I'd wanted to post more dyeing links but the interwebz were too slow).
THIS is the original picture that inspired me to start yanking apart cheapo sweaters - isn't that wrap pretty? Here's the free pattern! And THIS is the original tutorial I read about how to do it.

Knitty has another fantastic tutorial about how to create gorgeous handpainted yarns using plain old food coloring. I love the idea of saving yourself literally hundreds of dollars (if you think I'm joking, check out the prices of, say, a hank of handpainted 100% cahsmere or merino yarn) by spending maybe $10, MAX, on a sweater and several bottles of food coloring. I have found MANY cashmere sweaters at Goodwill - if they aren't my size or style, I simply tear them apart, dye the yarn, and then have loads of gorgeous cashmere yarn to knit with.

You can also dye yarn with easter egg dyes. This is extremely economical if you stalk the local grocery stores the day after Easter. You'll find all their excess dye on sale for as low as 10 cents per package ( no joke). Stock up and have fun dyeing!

This post is for 2 of my awesome friends, who are brand new knitters. I love knitting, and I love recycling/upcycling/repurposing. Which is why I think taking a $1.99 Goodwill sweater and turning it into hanks and hanks and hanks of yarn is TOO fun.


When I started knitting, this was a GREAT way to build stash without spending money. (Wait...it still is!). IT's especially freeing if you're playing with DYEING. I have had some fairly disastrous natural dyeing attempts, and it is very comforting to know I didn't ruin/felt/uglify some expensive nice yarn. Just an old sweater that needed a new purpose.

So, here is an excellent blog post about how to take apart a sweater and turn it into an intergalactic megaton of yarn. I personally find Gap sweaters to be great to tear apart. They tend to have awesome fun yarns, and are easy to take apart.


and here is a great Knitty article about how to use koolaid to dye yarn! I never drink Kool Aid, but I DO enjoy Kool-Aid dyeing. So you can turn a solid colored sweater into MANY colored skeins of yarn!

This is the SECOND huge and wonderful box full of yarn I've gotten this week. I love barter. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I use all these crazy odds and ends to make the sideways scarves (see post below).


Also, I am sewing again! This is a wraparound skirt - or, well, the beginnings of one. I am using some funky chinese-inspired cotton, and the "Sew What! Skirts" book for a pattern.

All of a sudden, there are fiber CSAs EVERYWHERE!!!

First, was Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm (of which I am a proud member).

The our very own Cherie, a cool Iowan and member of our Prairiespinners group, started HER CSA, at Willow Ridge Farm, which I have heard complete rave reviews about.

Now I hear about another one! Serentity Sheep Farm has started her Sick and Twisted fiber CSA. (Love, love, love the name!)

I just think all this local farm fiber goodness is entirely too cool. go small fiber farms! yeah!

Speaking of fiber. Imentioned my spinning mojo had returned?

This lovely red/orange fiber was a gift from the amazing Lorraine, at Hedgeapple Farm. She as my "Secret Santa"! This is some of her wool, mixed with alpaca (I think) and handdyed by Lorraine. I then plied it with some orange 100% cashmere yarn I had recycled from a thrift-store sweater. It's so soft and quite beautiful! What shall I make with it?

And THIS - well, yum. Actually, John made it look nicer than it does in real life - good photographer that he is. It's 1 ply of gorgeous naturally colored Jacob X roving from High Prairie Fibers, and 1ply of lush chocolate colored Shetland from a small family farm that doesn't have a blog or website. I have over a lb of this wonderful stuff. What to make with it???