Yarn Giveaway: August - Polka in "Calico Cat"

Calico Cat on Polka 

It's time for another yarn giveaway!

The Yarn:
This month's yarn is a skein of Calico Cat on my Polka yarn base. Calico Cat has become one of my most popular colors. By some mystery of dyeing magic, this particular skein is a little bit different from the normal color. The browns and oranges are more subdued and have, what looks to me, kind of like a "smudged" on effect. A little more impressionistic than usual.

Polka just might be my favorite yarn line. It's a soft and springy 2-ply that I love, love, love to use for shawls. [100% superwash merino; 400 yards; 100 grams; fingering weight]

How To Enter:
I'm going to make you work a little for this one.

Step 1: Create a link to my website homepage (FiddleKnits.com) either in a blog post, blog sidebar, or website. Anywhere that's publicly accessible. The link must be a clickable link that will take someone to my site.
The link may simply read "Fiddle Knits" as long as it is linked to http://www.FiddleKnits.com
You don't need to see the whole ".com" business.
Make sure the link goes to my website NOT this blog.

Step 2: Leave a comment on this blog post with the URL of where you linked to my website so I can see it.
For example, if you added Fiddle Knits to the sidebar of your blog then leave a comment with the link to your blog so I can pop on over and see it.


Deadline to enter is August 14, 2012. I will be selecting a winner via random number generator the morning of Wednesday, August 15. Only comments with a valid entry (see above) will be counted. Any entries/comments with a date stamp after August 14 will be excluded from the count. The winner will be announced on August 15 via Facebook, Twitter, newsletter, and my blog. Please be aware that if your profile on Blogger is set to anonymous I will have no way of contacting you! Leave your Ravelry name, email address, or Twitter ID in your comment to be sure I'll find you.

Any comment that does not meet the contests specifications will be deleted. This means if your comment does not include a URL to where you posted a link to Fiddle Knits, or if your link isn't active then your comment will be removed.

Giveaway is open to US and international participants.

Browse other colors of Polka yarn

Much Needed Rest

After a very crazy, full of adventures weekend it feels AMAZING to be sitting in my butt knitting and listening to an audiobook. Of course, the knitting I'm doing is still "work" knitting, but regardless of that fact it's still wonderful.

Cucumber Salad

Recently my favorite snack hasn't been cookies, cakes, or candies. (If you knew me then you'd know how odd that statement is.) What I have been eating like crazy is cucumber salad. Chris doesn't like cucumbers (I can't understand why), but this works out fine for me. I can make a big batch of the salad and know it'll be there when I want it. It's good on the first day the salad's made, but day 2, 3, & 4 are really where it's at.

Cucumber Salad

• 2 medium to large cucumbers, sliced thin
• 1/2 red onion, minced
• 2 Tbl spns olive oil
• 4 Tbl spns vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together.
Enjoy immediately or save it for the next day and the next.
This amount generally doesn't last me more than 3 days.

Grandma's Peach Cake

Grandma's peach cake was always one of my favorite desserts to see at Summertime family gatherings. Recently I went on a little bit of a peach kick. I may have bought more than I could eat before they started to get too soft. That's when I remembered this delicious cake. It's supposed to be made with a stick of butter, but I haven't had butter in my house for probably 2 months. And I was too lazy to go out and get some, so I substituted 4 tablespoons of olive oil for the 1/2 cup butter called for in the recipe. It still tasted great.

Peach Cake

• 1/2 cup butter (or 4 Tbl spns olive oil)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 2 peaches, sliced
• Optional: other fruit like raspberries or blueberries
• Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling
• Baking dish (I used a small cast iron skillet)

Heat oven to 350
Mix together the butter, sugar, eggs, and flour.
Pour into baking dish
Top with fruit
Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Peach cake fresh outta the oven

Yarn of the Month: July – "Rocket Pop"

The colorway for July is here! I thought a little red, white, & blue might be appropriate. 


"Rocket Pop" is dyed on Fiddle Knits Polka yarn. Polka is a 100% superwash merino fingering weight yarn. Each skein is 100 grams and 400 yards.


Please note that you may order as many skeins of this color as you'd like, but after July 31 "Rocket Pop" will no longer be available. Your yarn will be dyed for you, so please allow 5-7 days for it to be dyed before it's shipped.

Yarn of the month skeins have reduced shipping rates (just $1 for US shipping!)

Purchase Summer Solstice Yarn

The colorway for August 2012 will be announced on Sunday, July 29

It's What I Do

Knitting. It's what I do. Right now it pretty much feels like all I do. *Wake up, breakfast, knit, exercise, knit, eat, knit, cook dinner, knit, sleep; rep from * until..... an undetermined point. I love knitting. Really. I love that it's my "job." However, just like any other gig it can get a little overwhelming. See that photo below? It's 8 skeins  of yarn. 2 are worsted weight, 1 is 257 yards of sport weight, 1 is 150 yards aran weight, 3 are 400 yards of fingering, and the last one is 875 yards of lace. All 8 of those skeins must be knit and the accompanying patterns written, proofed, and printed in the next 2 weeks. So when people say how relaxing it must be to either 1) work for yourself, 2) knit for a living, or 3) be creative I just want to laugh. Yeah, overall it's great. I wouldn't want it any other way, but it's certainly no cake walk.