We did pick our winners for both the BIG.BIG.Yarn.Crawl.Basket AND for the Imperial Stock Ranch Sumptuous Cowl Kit.

And the drumroll, please…

Claire B. won the Sumptuous Cowl Kit! Unfortunately, we didn’t get any photos of Claire, but she was suitably excited. And I am suitably jealous, because I was fortunate enough to wear the cowl around the shop on Saturday, and fell deeply in love with its softness and chunky simplicity.

Kathy T. won the GREAT BIG YARN CRAWL BASKET. Luck be that lady today, let me tell you. We did have our wits about us enough to get a photo or two of her, and she was knocked on her patookis to have won!

We’ve got the old standby’s, the hilarious and crazy Funky Sock Monkey kits and pattern from Blue Moon:

We also just got Woolpets, these amazing little felted cute-thing kits, and one just so happens to be a traditional sock monkey:

And, harkening back to our post from last week, we’ve got Sock Monkey project bags from Flower Pie:

So come on in to Twisted and getcher Sock Monkey on!

We here at Twisted are getting uber-excited, and are going to give a little something to the first 30 folks who come by every day. What are we giving out, you ask? A Portland Yarn Crawl shopping bag, complete with a sample of Unicorn Wool Wash (kindly provided by Unicorn to the Crawl) and an assortment of Twisted and Presents knits patterns. Yay! We can also easily provide you with other, for-sale items to fill said shopping bag. Heehee.

We are also stoked to announce that Jeanne from Imperial Stock Ranch will be here on Saturday (times TBD) to talk turkey…errr…sheep with folks. She will share information about what they do over there in Shaniko, and why, exactly, their yarn is so darned fabulous. We also have a gorgeous kit for a Sumptuous Cowl that one lucky crafter will be taking home on Saturday!

We’ve got some amazingly cute and wonderful new project bags from local sewer extraordinaire Terese from Flower Pie, and, although we’d really like to keep them all for ourselves, we thought we’d share with you all.

Terese has such a great eye for color, and puts the most amazing prints together. Her sewing is so beautiful and perfect, and her products are both useful and lovely. Get rid of those ziplock bags and put your special projects into special project bags. We also have needle cases, both circular and straight, and have a few different bags coming our way in the next few weeks. The best thing about these pieces is that every single one is one-of-a-kind, how special!

Jocelyn: The craziest place was this: I had a very intimate (and uncomfortable) procedure performed by my OB/GYN, and I knit through the whole thing to distract me. He was very surprised!

Joshin: My fiancée and I felt it was incumbent upon us to open the eyes of a friend of ours, an innocent, young man. She suggested that the two of us take him to a strip club, and I insisted that, as a man, it be one that would have good, cheap steak.
We took a housemate of ours along with us on this cheerful romp, and I sat back as my friends took in the view. I was grateful that the smoking ban had come in to effect as I pulled out my knitting and worked on my sock yarn scarf— the second project I had ever started.

Jocelyn and Joshin, contact me at contest@twistedpdx.com to claim your prize (I just need your full name so we can set your books aside- they’ll be waiting under the counter for you to pick them up!) They’ll each be taking home a copy of Chrissy Gardiner’s wonderful “Toe-Up!” sock book. I encourage everyone to read the rest of the entries here, we had a good chuckle.

March’s contest is a fun one- our first ever knitting limerick contest! (Try to keep ‘em family friendly, folks.)
In case you need a refresher, a limerick is a short little poem with a AABBA rhyme scheme, often comical (or attempting to be comical, anyway.) An example:

There once was a man from Great Britain
Who interrupted two girls at their knittin’
Said he with a sigh,
“That park bench, well I
Just painted it right where you’re sittin’.”

Puns and “creative” rhymings welcome!

To enter, just go to our contest page and fill in the form!

This month’s prize is a super crazy-luscious skein of Malabrigo handspun, kettle-dyed angora in Apple Cinnamon. Um, yum.

Good luck!!

Contest Page

This yarn knits up at 2.5 stitches per inch on a US13-15, and is so lovely and lofty…130 yards for the lowlow price of $17, you can’t beat this superchunky with a stick. Or a big-*ss needle.

You all have heard about the BIG.PORTLAND.YARN.CRAWL, right?

Starting on Friday, March 5, and continuing through the weekend (the 6th and 7th), Portland knitters and crocheters will have the opportunity to crawl, hop, and stagger from shop to shop, scavenging where they can and collecting opportunities for BIGBIG prizes.

To whet your knitterly whistles, here are a few photos of the insanely fabulous basket-o-goodies you can win just by coming to Twisted this weekend. We Twistedistas are uber-jealous that you all have the opportunity to win this basket, because it is CHOCK-full of beauty and wonders.

Mark your calendars, crafty folk!

Knitter: “Where did I last see stitch markers? I swear I had some here somewhere…”

Stitch markers are essential tools of the trade, but gosh darn it if they aren’t slippery little devils. It doesn’t matter how many you start with, you’re guaranteed to end the project with less. Where do they go? The same place as pen caps, single athletic socks, and your favorite swimsuit bottoms. Carried off by little gnomes in the night.

In any event, all this is to say that everyone always needs more stitch markers! And what could be more fun that making your own gorgeous beaded ones? It’s not that hard and a ton of fun too! Give a knitter a stitch marker and she marks for a day… teach her to make her own and she marks for a lifetime! Silverpurl has new beaded stitch marker kits with everything you need – supplies, tools and instructions. Yay!

Karie Galvin’s Beaded Stitch Marker Class is on Sunday, February 28th from 10:30 to 12:30 PM and costs only $20. Call us or stop by to sign up!

Give us a call at 503-922-1150 to enroll. Check out our complete class list.

Its a bit novelty-ish, but in a good way. Furin would make a great summery scarf or hat. Or a funky sweater or jacket. Furin is a heavy-worsted blend of 52% cotton, 17% wool, 17% silk, 9% rayon, and 5% nylon (I think that adds up to 100%! Heehee.)

Grab a ball or two the next time you are in the shop, and create something lovely.