TIME’S UP! Hidden talents contest

Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.

This is my favorite movie:



I've seen it at least fifty times. Even looking at these pictures warms the cockles of me 'eart.

Remember the part where Captain Von Trapp and the Baroness Schrader throw the party? It's where the Captain and Maria realize their feelings for each other, and where the Baroness manipulates Maria into leaving.


At the ball, one of the heads of the Nazi party speaks to Captain Von Trapp and remarks on his family's upcoming performance at the music festival. Captain Von Trapp says, "I, too, am a man of hidden talents." Of course, he says it with a smirk that's masking his anger, as he hates how the Nazis have claimed his beloved Austria.



We are all people of hidden talents, I believe. The focus of this contest is HIDDEN talents, something few people would know about. If you're an excellent knitter and make gifts for people far and wide, that's a wonderful thing, but it's not a hidden talent.

For example:

• I can eyeball liquid measurements quite accurately. I can tell the difference between 1/4 teaspoon and 12 cups with ease.

What can I say? It's a gift.

• I can imitate a dolphin's clicky sounds. I have no idea why I know how to do this, but my children find it really very remarkable.

• I have a freakishly bizarre ability to remember household hints. Not because I am such a fantastic stain remover, but because I remember all the tips I read. It's like the file for household tips storage is extra large in my brain.

Did you know that hairspray will remove ball point pen from clothing?

Or that if you place wadded up wet newspapers on the soil of your houseplants, it will keep them from dying while you're on vacation?

I did.

What are your hidden talents? Leave a comment to this post telling me at least one thing you can secretly do, and you could win a skein of yarn. Not just any skein, either. You choose the yarn base (anything we have instock), and you choose the colorway. We'll make it for you. YAY!

You have until Friday, August 1st at 8pm Eastern to tell me all about your hidden talents.

We have a winner!

Thank you all so much for your helpful feedback. I will listen to you and seek professional mental help add more yarns.

Not everyone could win (sniffle), but keep checking back -- we do have contests almost every week. :) Add us to your bookmarks or blogroll or feed reader or seed feeder or feel sealer or whatever you call those things.

First I told the generator how many comments there. Then I instructed it to randomly choose one number between 1 and 66.



The computer chose...



Number 12!

Let's see who #12 belongs to...



Samantha! You won! Congratulations! Now comes the tough part... do you want Curran, Rhiannon, or Tara? I know which I would choose. But hey, who am I to talk? ;)

TIME’S UP! It’s a sickness.

It really is. And I have been infected. You might want to stop reading this now lest it make you very, very ill as well.

We now have, what... ten? of the best yarn bases out there, and I can't stop working to develop more. Pretty soon y'all will suffer from choice overload and you'll be too overhwlemed to make any yarn-related decisions at all.

Right now, I have three yarns I am considering adding to the lineup. They are all so fantastic, I want to share them with other people. One of them is a plied version of our Galenas Merino in a chunky weight. Another is a heavier weight Blue Faced Leicester yarn... still working to perfect that one. And another is a mid-weight fingering merino washable sock yarn that I can't get enough of.

So, help me out. Do we have too many yarn options already? Should I see a mental health professional for my sickness and stop working on these things? What would you like to see added to the lineup (if anything)? (Either something I've already mentioned, or something else.) What would be your dream 3IG yarn?

If you can help me with these weighty questions, I will enter your response in a drawing for your choice of Curran,



Rhiannon,



or Tara



on Wexford Merino Silk. You have until 2:00pm EST Friday afternoon.

You scratch my back, I'll scratch one of yours.

TIME’S UP! Let’s draw a winner…

I will instruct my minions to draw a number shortly. Stay tuned.

The number has been selected!

We had thirty-three entrants, and many great questions.

See how I helpfully highlighted how I instructed the random number generator to choose a number between 1 and 33?



And the winner is...



NUMBER 7!!!

Just in case you were unclear, I drew some colored circles around the number seven to draw your attention to that area.

You know me, ever helpful!

Who does #7 belong to, you wonder?

Still checking...



Meridith! Congratulations!!

You asked many questions, Meri, and I shall endeavor to answer one of them now. The rest will be saved for another time.

You asked, "What is your best response when someone comments on the amount of yarn you have in your home/shop/knitting bag/under your pillow?"

To which I would proffer the following suggestions:

1. "There is no such thing as too much yarn. Only not enough time."

2. Stop letting people look under your pillow. Or in your oven. Sheesh, have some boundaries!

3. "When I calculate the number of hours of enjoyment I get from one skein of yarn (all the time I spend petting, fondling, caressing, and sniffing the yarn PLUS all the time I spend knitting it), and I divide that by how much I paid for it, it's a very inexpensive hobby. It's less expensive than seeing a movie. Less expensive than buying a book. Less expensive than a gym membership, and CERTAINLY less expensive than a new car. By the way, I love that new minivan you have -- have you done the enjoyment factor calculation I just mentioned?"

(Don't get me wrong, these can all be worthwhile pursuits. It's just a little perspective for the non-knitting muggles, as we like to call them.)

3. "At least when I'm done knitting something, I have something cool to show for it. A lovely, handmade, useful, soft, beautiful, lovely, thoughtful, lovely item. Unlike people who smoke weed as a hobby. They have nothing lovely, handmade, useful, soft, beautiful, lovely, thoughtful, or lovely to show for their hobby. So, compared to the hobby weed smoker, the amount of yarn I have is really quite normal."

4. "Oh, THIS? Seriously, this is nothing. My friend Sharon has 1400 square feet of space filled with yarn."

Hope that answers your question, Meri!

Thank you for playing, everyone! Look for the answers to your questions soon, and feel free to write us if you have anything else you are desperate to know.

A new column with a contest inside

We will beginning a new column. A new column called The Yarnista Answers all Your Questions and Then Some. Isn't that a snappy title? So short, so memorable. Perhaps I should've called it The Yarnista Answers all Your Questions and Then Some to Make Happy Smiling Mouth for You.

Better? Yes?

No?

In order to create this schmancy new column, I need your questions.

And therein lies the contest. Reply to this message with a question that you would like The Yarnista to answer. (Perhaps The Yarnista will start referring to herself in third person. It sounds so...officious. So... deranged.)

The Yarnista will use your questions in future columns. She will attempt to answer the questions. She may not know the correct answer, but she will come up with something.

Because The Yarnista is feeling generous, you can even include more than one question in your response. (But only one response total.)

Examples of good questions The Yarnista will answer:

1. What makes you so fantastic?


2. Why do I like you so much?


3. Why are you so helpful, so kind, so generous?


4. Why did a swallow foretell your birth and a double rainbow appear over the mountaintop where you were born?

Examples of bad questions The Yarnista will not be answering:

1. What is your Social Security number?


2. What is your mother's maiden name?


3. What is your home address and telephone number, including area code?


4. What is wrong with you?

Your questions can be about yarn, dyeing, my site, me, life, or engineering. Engineering is one of those topics where I will not know the answers to your questions, but I will make up an answer that will sound a tiny bit plausible if you don't know anything about engineering.

Have at it!

You have until 8:00pm EST tomorrow. That's Friday.

The Yarnista thanks you in advance and hopes to make happy smiling mouth for you.

WAIT, I almost forgot! The prize!

The prize is a good one!

The winner will be chosen at random, and will win a $20 gift code to our site, Three Irish Girls. You can use it on anything you like. :)