But I’m getting ready to make myself a very nice mocha and settle in with some more How I Met Your Mother to try to knock out this deadline knitting. So it’s not all bad. And I decided that instead of 2 final winners, I’m going to do 4. Because I can. So these 4 lucky Vittorio knitters can choose either the Seven Songs e-book *or* the Sideways Shawlettes e-book.

All the winners have been e-mailed. And just so everyone gets a little something – even those who didn’t get started in times for the drawing I’m having a little sale – 25% off any PicnicKnits patterns or e-books – just use the code “mondays”. Because Mondays are very monday-ish and need a little bright spot.

But we have belated winners.

My dear friend Kimber wins the BeaGin stitch markers. Which is extra nice, because Kimber was awesome and immediately stepped up to offer a prize for this KAL!

And Kelly wins the yarn from Dyeabolical! Kelly was the lovely model for my Sixpence shawlette!

I’ll email y’all to get shipping addresses. And now I’m going to do the bare minimum of housework and settle back in to knit and find out if Ted ever meets his fricking solemate on How I Met Your Mother. It’s not looking good for ole Ted, and I really think maybe they are pulling our leg about him ever finding her. Yes, I’m 4 seasons behind. So don’t spoil it for me!

Today we have two winners:

Brandy wins a copy of the Gauge Master spreadsheet from fairieknits!

And Emmy wins a $20 gift certificate from Palm Valley Fibers.

I’ll be e-mailing y’all so you can claim your prizes. Have you seen all the gorgeous Vittorios? This is one of my favorites – of course I’m partial because it’s also one of my best friends – but have you ever seen a better use of clown barf yarn?

I will just say it straight up. I am awful at photographing red. But this red is true and perfect and has depth. Even the muggles were oohing and aahing over this red.

My 12 year old hand model is trying to show you the beauty of the lace stretched out here, but it doesn’t quite work.

Even with some pins in place you can’t really see just how lovely this is going to be. I cannot wait to block it. You can see if you look at the pic above that I’m transitioning into the edging. I’ve been doing some serious late night charting to make this edging unique and gorgeous.

But enough about Red. She’s beautiful but not quite ready yet. But what is ready are the first two prize winners. We’re just gonna go in order so…

Jennifer wins the handspun from DigitalNabi.

And Melodie wins the adorable sheepy stitch markers from Knittin’ Pretty.

I’ll be emailing my winners tonight! I hope your Vittorio projects are coming along. I swear I’m gonna spend some time this evening perusing all the projects so I can see all the pretties. Next drawing next Monday!

So we’re having a knitalong. And here’s the very loosely structured rules:

1. Start a Vittorio shawlette anytime before noon EST on April 23rd.

2. Set-up proof of project. This can be a Rav project page (preferred), a link to a blog entry, or a link to photo hosted elsewhere online (flickr, etc.) Said pictures just have to show that you’ve cast-on. We ain’t setting any lofty Speedy Gonzalez goals here!

3. Comment on this entry with the link to your proof of project.

That’s it! I will be offering pattern support and chit-chat in the PicnicKnits group on Ravelry. I will have weekly drawings on Mondays, starting April 23rd, and continuing for four weeks. Each Monday I will choose two winners from the following fabulous prizes:

This amazing handspun yarn by Heather Zoppetti of digitalnabi - she’s also an amazing designer! It’s 434 yards of polwarth in a heavy fingering weight.

Also by Heather, these stitch markers, guaranteed to make you squee and available in her Etsy shop.

The amazing excel program Gauge Master by fairieknits, who also designs purty things!

A $20 gift certificate to Palm Valley Fiber, handspun yarns from my very own Kimber. Yes, she mine. No, you can’t have her!

A set of large stitch markers from BeaGin Design. Love the no snags!

A skein of yarn from Dyeabolical Yarns. And just to let you know I will totally be designing with her stuff again. The colors, the squooshiness.. it’s amazing stuff. I actually have a lace shawl in progress that I will give you a sneak peek of tomorrow!

And lastly, a copy of each of my e-books, Sideways Shawlettes (which contains 8 other sideways patterns) and the Seven Songs.

So make sure you follow the rules – comment here to enter with the link to your proof of project. Good luck!

The answer was surprisingly simple. Chevrons to the rescue. Sideways chevrons to be exact.

They break up pooling and add cute little stripey bits and pieces.

And the simple lace edging isn’t obscured by the riot of color.

And you end up with some quite wearable and vaguely Missoni-ish. Long and narrow with a gentle crescent shape that makes it easy to wrap up in.

Needles: Size 6 needles (4.0 mm)

Yarn: 400 yards of fingering weight yarn, sample is shown in Dyeabolical Yarns Strong Arm Skinny in Flower Shop Inferno.

Gauge: 18 stitches and 20 rows = 4 inches in blocked chevron

Sizes: 72″ wide and 16″ deep

The Vittorio Shawlette is available to purchase for $6.00 USD

I need to do some work on the blog as well – get things in order. I think how I will spend the next few moments is really nailing down some sort of daily schedule that helps me to get everything done. I bought myself a new notebook today to do that. My iPhone is nifty, but I really don’t find it helpful when it comes to my monster to-do lists. Is there a to-do app or somesuch that you use that helps you stay in line? Or are you old-fashioned like me and prefer pen and paper?

But now suddenly Carnival weekend is upon us. Carnival weekend being the weekend where our church throws their annual spring Carnival and all good volunteers basically move in at the church for a weekend and let their children run rampant on the midway. Thankfully my children are old enough to run rampant on the midway! But it might be a bit quiet around here until Monday. But hopefully somewhere in the midst of all the crazy I can get this pattern together.

Oh and if you’re local come and see me at the carnival! The desserts in Sister Regina’s Irish Tea Room are to die for!

We didn’t get home last night til nearly 2am and even though the boys slept most of the way home they were literally falling asleep in their breakfast this morning. So I took pity on them and everyone went back to bed. So that is why just now at 10am, I am up choosing a winner for the Munchkinland Socks contest. I think this is the most comments I’ve ever gotten on a single post, so yay for that. And yay for Andria!

I think the lion is my favorite too. Andria, I’ll be getting in touch with you to get shipping information and thanks everyone for playing!