I’m so excited. I sent my Wordpress plugin off to my beta testers yesterday, and I’m already getting feedback! I love how it turned out. There are still a few problems in the interface that I’d like to straighten out, but in general it’s a-okay.

I’ve implemented the plugin on my own blog, and you can see the dynamically updated progress bars now on my sidebar. Yes, there are quite a lot of 0%s, but (with the help of the little planning calendar I scripted yesterday) I’m only slated to work on four of them at a time and most of them are to be started at least a month from now. Maybe I should add a script that displays only progress bars presently being worked on, instead of displaying every unfinished project in the database. Something to think about.

I’m always willing to take on extra beta testers, so if you’d like to beta test, send me an email!

Rhonda has knit a magnificently fabulous hat with cute little flowers on it that puts my little baby hat to shame. It’s for the ‘Circle of Love’ hat project at Seed Stitch Fine Yarn, which I have added to my list of cancer charities. If you live in Massachusetts, you can donate there.

Liz put a personal touch into her Shedir Chemo Cap (I think I’m planning to knit this next); she donated the hat to her son’s nursery school teacher who is in treatment for breast cancer. She says, “It was a good feeling to donate it locally, and share my best wishes for her health and recovery.” So sweet.

So this means that with my additional (and pathetic in comparison) baby hat, that comes to three entries already out of a hopeful 50. Come on, knitters, get cracking!

A special thanks again to Connie of Pick Up Sticks who’s making all this possible with her delightful prize offering. Thank you thank you thank you!

Here’s the first of my promised three Pretty in Pink projects. It took just two hours to knit, and I’m a slow knitter!

Pink Baby Hat, modelled by my hand, started and finished Monday, September 25th, 2006
Pattern: Basic hat pattern knit in the round with ribbing at the bottom (which you can’t really see)
Yarn: A chenille baby yarn that’s oh so soft, I believe it’s by Bernat but I don’t have the ball band with me
Needles: 4.5 circs
Dimensions: 12 inches around, 6 inches tall. A bit big for a baby, but it will probably go to a small child of some kind, and that’s all I care about.
Would I knit it again? I may, but I’ll save the baby hat knitting until someone I know gets knocked up.

Pattern Notes: This particular hat will probably go to Kingston General Hospital. I was quite surprised how quick it went. I love quick knits! I’m glad that this didn’t take too long, because I was worried that I wouldn’t have time for my Christmas knitting if I was going to try for 3 extra Pretty in Pink projects. Looks like I may have time after all. See? Everyone can do it, no matter how busy they are! Y’all better sign up! PLUG PLUG PLUG

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The picture on the right is a piece by Peter Callesen, found via BB-Blog.

I’m a little late on the new Knitty, but I quite like it this time. I’d love to knit Intolerable Cruelty and Ayla, the naughtiest and most innocent of the patterns in the issue. I think Sugar on Snow is quite ingenious, too.

Side note: check out Piece of Beauty for a great yarn-dyeing tutorial.

I’m making this purse for one of my cousins for Christmas. I’m going to line it with light green and lilac fabric and I bought a cute purple button for the front.

I’ve never blocked anything before, so I’m really excited about this. Even if the blocking is slightly lopsided, it’ll turn out fine. I’m blocking the purse on my computer chair, but I bought some foam and adhesive yesterday and will be making an official, Needle-Exchange-sanctioned blocking board this weekend. I’ll post a little photo tutorial on Monday.

So I was walking along, minding my own business today when I ran into a housemate of a friend of mine and inadvertently convinced her to give me a pink cotton/angora sweater for me to tear apart for yarn. She was headed off to the Value Village later this afternoon and I asked her if she had any sweaters, and voilà! Jackpot!

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Theresa has given me an incentive to improve my scheduling abilities by posting her chore schedule, based on a traditional saying:

Wash on Monday / Iron on Tuesday / Mend on Wednesday / Churn on Thursday / Clean on Friday / Bake on Saturday / Rest on Sunday

Here’s how I’ve previously interpreted this saying:

Wash on Monday – Blog on Monday
Iron on Tuesday – Blog on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday – Blog on Wednesday
Churn on Thursday – Blog on Thursday
Clean on Friday – Blog on Friday
Bake on Saturday – Blog on Saturday
Rest on Sunday – Blog on Sunday

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In cooperation with the delightful Connie of Pick Up Sticks, I am excited to finally announce the launch of the Pick Up Sticks Pretty in Pink Contest!

As you probably already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and this fact is what inspired the following contest. You might not know, though, that September is the month for Ovarian & Prostate Cancer. November is for Lung Cancer. January: Cervical Cancer. Obviously, there’s not just one type we have to be worried about, and not just any particular month when we should give.

But this month is as good as any, and giving is what this contest is about. As an incentive to support hospitals and cancer organizations across the continent and throughout the world, I’m offering a prize for donating scarves, hats, toys, blankets, financial gifts, etc., to the cancer charity of your choice.

But before I get to how to enter, of course you’ll want to hear about:

Prizes!

Thanks to the wonderful Connie from Pick Up Sticks, you can win:

• 2 skeins of delicious hand painted Apple Pie Yarn by Apple Laine in the “Pretty in Pink” colourway.
• A Sock Pattern by Northern Sunshine Designs
• A Pick Up Sticks project bag!

And if you’re sick and tired of pink, there’s plenty of other colours in there to keep you interested.

How Do I Enter?

1. Leave a comment here or let me know via email that you’d like to participate.
2. Knit up a hat, scarf, or any other donatable item and take a picture of the finished piece.
3. Send your finished item to the charity of your choice and feel the pride of a good deed done.
4. Send me a link to your picture by emailing me or leaving a comment on this page.
   • If you have a blog, post your picture and send me the link to your post. Feel free to include a Pretty in Pink button (to help spread the word, and so I can tell which is your entry, if there’s any ambiguity). You can find the button and code at the end of this post.
   • If you don’t have a blog, upload an image of your finished item to the internet and send me a link to your image.
5. Every finished piece you donate counts as a separate entry into the contest, so if you donate four scarves, you’re entered four times. If your post contains more than one entry, make sure you mention that in your message to me.
6. This contest is retroactive; if you donated in the last few months and have a picture of the item you donated, you can enter that as well.
7. If you don’t have time to knit, you can still enter by donating some moolah to any cancer charity (such as the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, the American Cancer Society or the Canadian Cancer Society). Every $25 you donate counts as one entry into the contest.

Where to Send your Donations

I’ve included a list of cancer charities in this post.

Patterns

I’ve included a list of patterns in this post.

When does the contest end?

This contest will end on October 31st, to coincide with the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (Some charity drives are ending at the end of September, so make sure you check the deadlines!) I have no idea how many entries to expect, but I’m hoping for at least 30 or 40. If I don’t reach this goal by the end of October, I’ll extend the deadline by two weeks. But don’t bet on it! I have faith in the knitting community that we can hit 50 by the end of Halloween!

Winning

I’ll be writing every entry in beautiful calligraphy on a piece of card and at the end of teh contest, I will choose one card at random. The winner will be contacted by email with instructions on how to collect his/her prize.

And that’s all there is to it!

Knit a gift, send it off, post the picture and win some yarn! I’ll be knitting as many pink scarves and hats as I can; I’m hoping for three finished items by the end of October, and I’m hoping every last one of you beats me!

If you know of any other cancer or breast cancer charities (or nice scarf/hat patterns), let me know in the comments. And please, pass this around! Grab a button! Knit knit knit!

<a title="Pick Up Sticks Pretty in Pink Contest" href="http://needles.guzzlingcakes.com/categories/pretty-in-pink/"> <img src="http://www.your_site.com/prettyinpink.gif" alt="Pretty in Pink Button" /></a>

Possible knitting patterns can be found here. Before you start knitting, make sure to check the specific charity you wish to support for any guidelines (type of yarn, whether it should be knit in the round, how it should be sent, etc). Charities are listed by region.

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