It’s Bloggy giveaway carnival time again!

Here is the list of links to all my contests this week.

Feel free to enter as often as you like!  Please check back through the week, as I intend to add more prizes to the list.

1. One of a kind handmade Hedgehog Tatting Shuttle by Noreen Crone-Findlay 
2. Red 3/8″ embellishment cord with wire by Kreinik
3. Gold color 3/8″ embellishment cord with wire by Kreinik
4. Silver color 3/8 ” embellishment cord with wire by Kreinik
5. Silver color heart shape earrings
6. Gold color heart shape earrings
7. DP Tubes for storing double pointed knitting needles and crochet hooks
8. DP WIP Tubes to protect your sock or other dpn knitting while it’s ‘parked’, or to store knitting needles and crochet hooks

If you’d like to win these prizes, please click on the link, and  leave a comment ON THAT PAGE

But, NOT in the box below

and make sure you leave a valid email address. 

You can enter the contests as often as you would like.

The Contests runs from October 27 to October 31, and are open to readers in Canada and the States.

Good luck!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
More giveaways at the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival!

THE WINNER WAS SIERRA! Congratulations, Sierra!

This was a  fun prize from Nancy’s Knit Knacks:

They designed them to hold knitting needles, but they are also great for storing crochet hooks (the link shows how I use mine)

DP Needle Tube™ - A solution for holding and protecting your valuable and delicate Double Pointed Needles.

The Contest  is now closed.

Image Source: Nancy’s Knit Knacks
Thanks everyone!

I am no longer writing hankering for yarn, so you’ll have to catch me at www.tottietalkscrafts.com

AND>>>>>>>

The WINNER IS:  # 61, Jennifer! Congratulations, Jennifer!  I’ll be sending your email on to the lovely folks at Nancy’s Knit Knacks. Hope that you’ll enjoy them!

Nancy’s Knit Knacks sponsored this splendido prize:

DP Wip Tube™ - A solution for holding and protecting your valuable and delicate Double Pointed Needles while they are still connected to your project!

I have a set (here’s where I wrote about them)  and just love them,

so I asked the kind folks at Nancy’s Knit Knacks

if they would be willing to donate a set for you to win.

And, bless their hearts, they did!

Check out their website… there are all manner of wonderful gadgets for your knitting, crochet and stitchery.
The Contest is now closed.

Image Source: Nancy’s Knit Knacks, copyright.

Thanks everyone!

I am no longer writing hankering for yarn, so you’ll have to catch me at www.tottietalkscrafts.com

My last posting was about some spool knitters that I am very fond of.

I’ve just become acquainted with some wonderful new spool knitters:Crystalite French Knitters from Susan Bates. They’re 4 and 6 peg spool knitters and are very sturdy.

I really like them! They’re solidly made and are very nice to work with.

One of the things that is really neat is being able to see the cord while it’s still inside the spool knitter. They come with a wonderful little tool (Sylvalume Handi tool) that has a hook on one end and a point on the other.

Definitely thumbs up on these ones!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

About 10 years ago, I was thrilled to bits to see a very special spool knitter on eBay. I have always loved spool knitting, but until then, hadn’t seen a spool knitter that looked like a doll.

I was so excited to see a spool knitter that was painted to look like Little Orphan Annie. I bid on her and won the auction.

Boy, was I ticked off when the seller decided that the price hadn’t gone high enough and refused to honor the auction. Humph!

I was really annoyed. But, I always figure:

Why get mad? Why not get creative?

So I asked my husband to turn me a spool knitter on the lathe, so I could burn it and embellish it the way I wanted.

Little did I know that one thing would lead to another.

And, so…. over the last decade, we have made countless spool knitters - each one totally unique and one of a kind.

The spool knitter on the right in the pic above, is the very first spool knitter that we made.

The one on the left is a vintage Spears spool knitter that a friend sent me. I would have LOVED to have had one like that when I was a child!

I am still completely in love with spool knitting and am still designing for the spool knitter. It’s such a delight!

Here are links for lots of spool knitted projects that I have designed. Have fun with them!

AND

Happy news for people who would like charming little spool knitter people at a very reasonable price:

Lion Brand makes darling little 4 peg spool knitter dollies.

They are really sturdy and very pleasant to work with.

My next posting is about some more new spool knitters that I really like.

(PS: I don’t profit by telling you about them- I just really like them.)

Happy Spool knitting!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

I bought a Crazy Daisy winder when I was a teenager, and actually used it quite a lot…. Not for making the projects that they recommend, but for making motifs for freeform crochet:

Crazy Daizy winders are really beautifully made. They are a solidly built tool that lasts for decades.

I was quite upset when I took my cherished old Crazy Daisy maker to a workshop that I was teaching, and somebody pinched it!

Luckily, my darlin’ sister in law was on the lookout and found me another one, complete with it’s vintage box:

The flowers in these pics were all made with the Crazy Daisy winder. You can also use spool knitted cord with the winder, to make more substantial flowers.

The thing that strikes me as being odd is that line that says: ‘For Finer Handweaving‘.

Eh? This is a kewl little flower maker, but it sure as beans is beans has NOTHING to do with weaving. Let alone ‘finer’ handweaving at that!

Although of course, you can embellish handweaving with the flower motifs…..

Anyhow, I vote ‘keepers’ for this nifty little vintage tool.

If you find one for sale, I’d say ‘goferit’.  But, don’t take it to any workshops! 

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

On one on my email lists, people have been chatting about how they sort, store and organize their crochet hooks.

Here are a few pics of how I store mine, as well as a nifty new gadget that I really like for carting my hooks around with projects:

For quite a few years now, I have been using this plastic pencil box to carry crochet hooks and needlework tools in my purse.  It’s not lovely, but it’s efficient!

Recently, my best friend gave me a set of dpn tubes for my sock knitting, and they are great.

The folks (nancys knit knacks) who make the dpn tubes also make another kind of dpn tube that is great for carrying crochet hooks:

It’s one of those incredibly simple ideas that make you go, oh yes! Clever, very clever!

At home, my hooks mostly live in clusters in various cups:

I found this painted wooden goblet at the second hand store and fell in love with it. It’s perfect for the hooks that I carve:

My steel hooks  live in a small vintage pewter cup:

Crochet hooks are so beautiful they deserve to be on display!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay 

My best friend just gave me the neatest little gadget.

‘DP Wip Tubes’.

‘whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?’

They’re a simple and oh so  clever gadget for adding happiness to sock knitter’s lives.

They are interlocking notched tubes that you slip over your dp needles. They  keep your sock from accidentally womitting it’s stitches.  Bliss.

Here’s a link for them: Here it is:

nancys knit knacks

I am delighted with mine, as I take my sock knitting with me wherever I go.  Someone is very clever!

Thumgbs and dp’s up on this one!