The Adventures of Woolgirl and Abby

Happy Halloween! 5th Socktoberfest Contest

Happy Halloween!

This is the last official day of Socktoberfest and with that we have our last Socktoberfest contest. It's been a fun month of contests, hasn't it? I have really enjoyed reading all of your comments each week, and have had fun with the themes! I may decide that we need to have another contest filled month throughout the month of December - with Christmas themed contests. You will each have to let me know what you think about that and if that would strike your fancy.

This week's theme is all about the scary movie - the classic horror film. We all love a good scare, don't we? There are so many so called "horror" films that have been made - The Exorcist, The Haunting, Poltergeist, Rosemary's Baby, Psycho, The Shining, IT (do you remember the freaky clown in IT? - that gave me nightmares for years)...the list goes on and on. Of course, there have been quite a few newer horror movies introduced in recent years - like Scream, Scary Movie, Halloween...and unfortunately this list goes on and on also. Personally, I'm a huge fan of some of the classics, or at least some of the movies that were made several years ago. There's just an element of scary in those older films that today's film doesn't seem to carry with it.

So this brings us to the contest question this week! I have chosen a movie which I think encompasses the words "scary" and "horror" and "nightmare" all into one. It's a movie I grew up watching, and in fact was directed by one of the most famous movie directors of all time. This movie has some of the scariest sound effects of all time too! Can you guess what it is? Well, of course I'll give one tiny clue....

A famous line from the film:
"They're coming! They're Coming!"

Now can  you guess what is is?

If you guess correctly, you will win some fun items from our shop, including some wonderful yarn from a dyer we have not yet posted in the shop (that's the only clue you're getting!), stitch markers, and a couple of other little fun things that I've found to go along with the theme of this movie.

Best of luck! The winner will be announced this Friday!

Also this Friday we will be providing more details on the upcoming shop update we will be having this weekend, as well as a list of what's included in the November Sale!

Happy Halloween and Happy Wednesday!

Is it really the last week in October?

It's amazing to me that we are in the last week of October already! Where has this month gone? I talked with my sister last night (she lives in Boise, Idaho), and she said that the weatherman was predicting snow there this week. Is it already winter? Here in Portland we are still expecting sunshine all week and mid-60's, so it's difficult for me to imagine snow already, but I know it's not far off in some areas. I don't know why, but it seems that fall this year is flying in and outta here so fast we barely have time to blink! Please hold on for a few more weeks fall weather! 

I was rummaging through my box of UFO's yesterday, and came upon these socks that I started last winter and had not finished. It's the story of my life these days. However, I picked them up with a renewed sense of hope yesterday and actually turned the heel and am halfway finished with the leg already, so they're moving along quite quickly and I'm even excited to start the 2nd one. The yarn is Blue Moon STR in Jingle Bell Rock medium weight. The pattern: RPM - a very rewarding pattern, as it's easy to memorize and very quick to knit. I also chose this pattern originally because it reminds me of a candy cane - spiraling around the foot - and with this yarn - it just seemed perfect.

We are in sock club central this week and next, as we're getting ready to ship the "Christmas Story" sock kits - which will be mailed out early next week - and then the 2nd sock club shipment - which will also start being shipped out next week. I have to tell you - this next sock club yarn is one of my favorite yarns also (I wouldn't have chosen it if is wasn't!), so I'm really anxious to see what you all think!

Also, be sure to check back with us on Wednesday of this week, as it's our final Socktoberfest contest - and it'll be a ghoulish one! :)

Happy Monday!

Cookies anyone?

Don't cookies just sound EXCELLENT this time of year? I'm not sure what it is, but I've been craving cookies lately, and what better way to enjoy a Thursday afternoon than to fill the house with the wonderful aroma of cookies!

These cookies are a special treat, as they involve a little extra work, but they are totally worth it! They're called the "Chocolate Chip Brownie Wonder Cookies", and are (as you can probably tell by the photo) half brownie, half chocolate chip cookie. Two of my all time favorites combined into one luscious treat!

Chocolate Chip Brownie Wonder Cookies

Brownie - mix ingredients together bowl #1(you can also use boxed brownie mix for this as long as you refrigerate overnight):

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Chip Cookie: use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and mix ingredients together in bowl #2.

Chill both mixes in the refrigerator overnight.

When ready to make the cookies, take a spoon full of brownie dough and a spoon full of chocolate chip cookie dough and gently roll into a ball, with the chocolate chip cookie dough on one side and the brownie dough on the other.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet and back at 375 deg for 10 minutes or until cookies look "almost" done. Be sure to take the cookies out of the oven before they are completely done, as this will ensure that the cookies remain soft and scrumptious for days to come!

Lastly, enjoy! These are quite a treat!

We also have a winner for the Candy Corn Socktoberfest Contest, and the winner is Jessie! Congrats Jessie! I will be in touch sometime soon to discuss your winnings. Check back with us next week for the final Socktoberfest contest - we have some ghoolish things in store for this one!

Did you enjoy the candy corn theme this week? I think this was my favorite. I wanted to share with you some fun candy corn photos to make your Friday even more perfect than it already is....

1) In searching for candy corn online this past week, I ran into this cute pattern for a Knitted Candy Corn Illusion Cloth. How cool is this?!!!! What a fun project for the holidays!

 

2) Did you know that there is such thing as a candy corn plant?

3) There is actually a candy corn flavored drink! This limited edition drink was developed by Jones Soda Company. (I think I'll stick to the original candy corn!)

4) You too can be a candy corn for Halloween!

5) Candy corn pop anyone? I have to admit, these are cute!

6) And finally, if you just feel that candy corn is not quite sweet enough for you, you can make the fudge version...

Shop News:
We will not be having a shop update this weekend...instead, we will be posting the following weekend - this will include Madelinetosh, Liisu, Vancalcar, TomJoe calendars and cards, and several other fun items! We will also be having a sale on a variety of yarns during the month of November (which will begin November 4th and will run through November 30th) - so stay tuned for details on that as well!

Happy Friday!

Candy Corn - The 4th Socktoberfest Contest

It's Wednesday in October, and you know what that means? That's right, today is our 4th Socktoberfest Contest!

As you can tell by the title of this post, I have candy corn on my mind! Candy corn has always been one of my favorite Halloween candies, and it really does remind me of fall weather being here, of changing seasons, and especially trick-or-treating! It just brings back lots of good memories for me. I remember having only the candy corn shapes available as a child, but now they have those luscious pumpkins and mellow-creme candies available too, so it's triple the delight!











Did you know that candy corn has been around for over 100 years? It's quite amazing! In fact, the candy has grown so popular that more than 35 million pounds of candy corn will be produced this year alone. What does that equate to in pieces? Nearly 9 billion individual candy corn pieces? Crazy, isn't it?

So, this week's question is all about the candy corn and this week's winner will win some candy corn along with some yarn from us, of course! :)

What's the question? Here it is:

What day in this glorious month of October is "National Candy Corn Day?"

Didn't know there was such a thing? Well, think again! :)

Happy Wednesday!

A Bright New Monday with some fun news

It's a beautiful Monday!  As I lugged myself out of bed this morning prepared for another rainy day, I could see just glimpses of the sunlight coming through the window, but now I can tell it's definitely going to be a bright and beautiful day here in Portland - yipee! This is a view outside my office window. It's been raining now for days, weeks it seems, so to have this sunshine pop up out of nowhere is just, well, nothing less than fantastic! Somehow sunshine always brightens a day in so many ways, you know it?

A HUGE Thank You to everyone who suffered through our extremely slow website last night in hopes of snagging a skein of Yarntini. We apologize! We are hoping to work with our web hosting company to speed this up for future updates; however, it may be that we are no longer able to list what time we will be doing shop updates. To have 300 people on the site at one time, each trying to add the same skein of yarn to their cart, well...let's just say that there are bound to be a few issues. I apologize for this in advance if this does happen! We will hopefully have this issue resolved for the next large update!

I have a couple of BIG announcements today, and I am extremely excited about both!

Woolgirl, along with Liisu Yarns, presents....

 

A bi-monthly (every other month) yarn club based on (are you ready for this?) the Seven Deadly Sins!

Every other month a fun kit will arrive - 7 colors of a variety of Liisu yarns, 7 designs by 7 amazing designers and gloriously different knits each time.

Fun accessories will also be included to compliment the yarn, patterns and themes!

Let's hear it for Greed, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Pride, Wrath and Lust! (Notice that nary a one of the sins is Hoarding so it's safe to sign up! :))

Club Details:

Types of Projects: Projects, colors and yarn will be a complete surprise each month; however, here's a little hint as to the type of projects that will be included....

Looking for a glorious stole to grace your shoulders in those chilly winter months OR a pair of gorgeous lace socks to compliment your spring attire? These are just some of the projects that long to grace your needles!

Contests:
Oh, and did we mention the contests? The club will include a slew of contests with lots of fun prizes throughout the year!

Cost:

Retail value of the club will be over $300!
Pre-register for all 7 shipments by December 15th and get a 10% discount. You will be billed $39.25 the month prior to each shipment (every other month) for a total cost of $275.

Interested?
To reserve a space in the club with the 10% discount, please email spinclub@woolgirl.com no later than December 10th.

Announcement #2

We will soon be offering the new Moonshadow Stole kit designed by Sivia Harding, which can be seen on Sivia's blog at http://siviaharding.blogspot.com/. Sivia used Leili yarn from Liisu Yarns in the Moonshadow colorway, and we will have the kits available not only in this colorway, but a couple of additional colorways also. To pre-register for a Moonshadow kit, please email jennifer@woolgirl.com.

Our October/November newsletter will also go out today, so watch your email for that this evening sometime!

Happy Sunny Monday!

 

Did anyone say Green?

Introducing "Woolgirl Happy" from Yarntini!

Jessie from Yarntini has done it again with another gorgeous Woolgirl colorway, called "Woolgirl Happy". It has a little green added to the mix this time, and I just LOVE it!

As you might remember from last time, the original Woolgirl colorway Jessie created for us had a touch of purple in it...

And we will have this colorway, along with "Woolgirl Happy" available in the shop this evening at 6pm PST. If you don't see the colorway that you wanted in the shop this evening, please note that our next order of Yarntini will be arriving in early November, so not too far off and then we have another order arriving late November/early December, so there's plenty of opportunity to get the colors you've been waiting for! 

The winner of the "Woolgirl Happy" Yarntini contest from Friday is Gaby Brown! Congratulations Gaby! You will receive a complimentary skein of "Woolgirl Happy" in your mailbox this week! Thank you again for entering!

In addition to the Yarntini this evening, we will have some of the popular Miss Babs colorways in the shop, including some of the following...

Hot Mama

Wine Barrel

and Forest Afternoon

PLEASE NOTE: We will NOT be posting Liisu Yarn in the shop this evening, as it did not arrive in time for this week's post. It will instead be posted next Sunday, along with Madelinetosh and some other fun goodies!

We have several announcements that will be posted on the blog this week, along with our October/November Newsletter going out tomorrow, so watch your email for that! And don't forget, our 4th Socktoberfest contest is on Wednesday of this week, and it's a fun one!

Happy Sunday!

The Winner Is....and a Yarntini Contest!

A big giant Thank You to everyone who entered the Socktoberfest Pumpkin contest this week! Illinois is most definitely the correct answer, as most of you guessed, and there are even more facts you may not know about pumpkins that I found out while researching a little bit about pumpkins this week. For instance, did you know....

• Early settlers made pumpkin pie by filling a hollowed out shell with milk, honey and spices, then baking it. (Doesn't that sound excellent?)
• Pumpkin flowers are edible. (I wonder how they taste?)
• Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites. (What????)
• Pumpkins are considered the world's largest fruit! In fact, the largest ones can be weighed over 1,000 lbs! WOW!

The winner of this week's contest is Marisol! Congratulations Marisol! I will be in contact with you sometime today regarding your pumpkin prize! :)
Stay tuned for another fun Socktoberfest question next week...this one's going to be really fun! We will also have a 5th Socktoberfest contest during the week of Halloween, so stay tuned for that one as well - it will be sure to scare your socks off!









So...by now you all must know that Yarntini is scheduled to arrive today and will be posted in the shop this Sunday! I am extremely excited about this, especially because there's a new Woolgirl colorway in town, which will be a little different from our other Yarntini Woolgirl colorway. Jessie from Yarntini has added something "new" to this one to make it a bit different. What color do you suppose it might be?

This is your chance to win a free skein of the new Yarntini Woolgirl colorway! You have until noon on Sunday of this weekend to make your entries - one entry per person. If you get the color correct, you will be entered to win a free skein of the new Woolgirl colorway from Yarntini, along with a couple of fun Woolgirl extras. The winner will be posted here on the blog this Sunday afternoon.

I can't wait to see what your guesses are!

Remember that we are also posting some other fun items in the shop this Sunday evening, including Liisu yarns, Miss Babs, patterns from Dream in Color, more Designs by Romi, patterns by KellyK, and more!

Happy Friday!
 

Pumpkins - The 3rd Socktoberfest Contest

Ahhhh....Pumpkins. Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and life in general just would not be the same without pumpkins, now would they? Pumpkin pie is one of  my favorites too, with the whipped cream on top. Yum! 

And did you know that these small mini pumpkins pictured here are the ones pumpkin pie is made with? Yes, it's true! In fact, most pumpkins are grown for processing to use in pumpkin pies (and pumpkin pie mix), with only a small percentage being grown for ornamental sales (to show off during Halloween!) Which brings me to this week's Socktoberfest question....

Which state in the U.S. grows 90-95% of processed pumpkins?

Get this question correct and you've won yourself a few fun things from Woolgirl, INCLUDING a skein of yarn and some other fun items we've chosen in this week's theme!

The winner will be announced this Friday!

And speaking of happenings later this week, we will be having a few fun updates in the shop this Sunday evening between 6:00 and 7:00pm Pacific Time. Updates will include some of the following:

• Liisu Yarn, including some fun new colorways (like the one shown above) and the popular Woolgirl with a Twist (shown below)!

•  
•  

• Yarntini (this is the first of 3 shipments we will be receiving in the next month and a half).
• Miss Babs and Madelinetosh (depending on when they arrive this week).
• Dream in Color patterns

Also, stay tuned for a fun Yarntini contest we are hosting this Friday, where you will have a chance to win a free skein of Yarntini!

Happy Wednesday! 

Secret Pal Gifts Galore!

I opened my front door one day last week to go outside with Abby, and there was quite a large box on the front porch. I wasn't expecting anything in particular, and when I looked at the return address it said "Secret Pal"...that was it!

I can't tell you how much happiness I received from opening this  fantastically wonderful box from my Secret Pal! It's like she read my mind and knew exactly what I loved, and then included those things in this box! Check this out...











First of all we have this glorious yarn. This yarn is not just any yarn. It's yarn dyed specially for me by my Secret Pal! It's a DK weight, cashmere/silk combination in a yellow colorway that just speaks to me. It's perfect! And did I mention that there's 3 skeins of it? Oh goodness! I could have fondled that yarn all day! And it was wrapped so beautifully and displayed so perfectly...thank you Secret Pal!











Secondly, we have the sock blockers. Yes, sock blockers! And not just any sock blockers...we have schnauzer sock blockers. OMG! I have never seen these anywhere! I about started crying when I saw these - you know that I have to collect everything with schnauzers on it, and these are just too perfect! Thank you again Secret Pal!











Next we have the fantastically wonderful "More Sensational Knitted Socks" by Charlene Schurch, that I have wanted to purchase ever since it came out! Thank you Secret Pal!











And yes, there's more! Check out this phenomenal tea that she included in the box. It's one of the best teas I have ever tried...it's a a coconut tea and when you open the tin, it smells just like a macaroon! And the flavor is outstanding! And what would tea be without some tea filters? She literally thought of everything!













And I can't forget the wonderful biscotti she included in the package for eating when I drink my tea.











She also included some fantastic soap, but I had that opened and was using it before I thought to photograph it! It's fantastic also!

Thank you again Secret Pal for being so thoughtful! I so appreciate everything, down to the gorgeous packaging and shipment of the package. It was all perfect!

TGIF

It's finally Friday and I am way behind in posting today. I am way behind in doing anything today, actually. I had a little bit of a family emergency so spent my entire day basically driving to one location, spending an hour there, and driving back. Needless to say, I'm exhausted and this post will be short.

I did want to shout out a huge "Thank You" to each and every one of you who entered our 2nd Socktoberfest Contest this week - and yes, the correct answer is: Reese's is 79 years old this year! To celebrate this, I am including a giant Reese's Pumpkin (shown in our previous post) in the next 10 orders that come in. Also, our winner for this week is Suzanne! Congrats Suzanne!

Be sure to check in with us next week for our 3rd Socktoberfest contest...it'll be lots of fun and we have cooked up some fun for our winner! (That's the only clue I'm giving!)

Sock knitting this week....my Apple socks are moving along and I will post more about those next week. I am also working on completing my 2nd pair of Waterfall socks, but in a different color than the original Waterfall color that went out in our sock club. This was a new colorway that Miss Babs sent me over the summer, and I am "in love" with it! I am normally not a huge pastel fan, but this colorway just screams my name each and every time I knit with it. I think the Waterfall pattern looks gorgeous in this colorway, what do you think?

Have a Happy Weekend!