It's a major award!

I do not expect to win giveaways. I especially do not expect to win giveaways with 485 other entries.

Only I DID! I DID win! The lovely Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting (and co-author of the new book Coastal Knits, which is amazing and I want it) along with the good people of Happy Knits (a yarn store in Portland that also does online orders) sponsored such a great giveaway last month and I WON. 

Want to see what I got? Yeah you do.

Alana Dakos gave me a free copy of her new Wee Wildflower pattern:

image from Coastal Kids

And the Happy Knits people? They sent me two skeins of Madelinetosh Pashmina to knit it with.

image from Happy Knits

I wasn't familiar with the yarn but I knew it had to be lovely and expensive. I could be getting, like, possibly $40 worth of yarn here. (Aw yeah, welcome to the big time!). But when I went to their website to choose the color I wanted, I learned that they were actually giving me 700+ yards of gorgeous, washable, hand-dyed blend of merino wool, cashmere, and silk that is normally priced at $30 per skein.

After much drooling and agonizing, I picked my color (Bloomsbury, as pictured above) and waited for the package to arrive. It came to my in-laws' house and my father-in-law was there when I got it. He now knows what $60 worth of fancy, beautiful yarn feels like and I'm sure he would agree that his life is the richer for it. Also my mother-in-law, and GH, and my sister-in-law, and my sister, and GH's grandmother. They know too. I have made them all feel it.

Mmmmmmmm . . . 

Plus! Those Happy Knits people are so nice! They sent me yarn samples! And a free little book with graph paper to keep track of my stitches! And also this really nice note! It was like having a birthday, I tell you.

my extra loot

I will probably make one of the small sizes of the Wee Wildflower cardigan. (Here's hoping one day I also manage to make a tiny girl (or, you know, a newborn linebacker if history is any indicator) to put in it, otherwise some niece is going to be super lucky.) But, maybe because my Mother Heart is lacking in the face of such yarn, the rest of it is for me. Here's the pattern I'm leaning towards:

It's the Autumn Vines Beret, also by Alana, and I think it and the yarn will look beautiful together. Plus I will need me some warm hats ere the Logan fall and winter kick in. For, lo, they do not mess around. 

Thanks again to Never Not Knitting and to Happy Knits for the fabulous giveaway!