We have a winner in the 4th Blogiversary Contest. There were 194 comments on the post and the random number generator chose comment #56. The winner is:

Claudia!

Congratulations, my friend. Look for that kpixie gift certificate in your email. Perhaps it will ease your return from the beauty and warmth of Hawaii to the harsh and cold of New England.

And now, for something completely different, how about some finished socks.

These are the Ampersand Socks, designed by Kerstin. (I told you I want to knit everything she designs. Apparently I’m well on my way.) The yarn is Socks That Rock Mediumweight in the color Fairgrounds. I’ve had this yarn in the stash for a good long time and decided that the bright colors were just the thing to counteract the snow and ice around here.

I knit them for my stepdaughter, Jessica. Really, I should knit socks for her more often as her feet are tiny. Her socks are finished at the point that mine (and Hannah’s) are only ready for the toe decreases. That makes for a pretty fast finished pair of socks – these came off the needles in less than a week.

The eye of partridge heel is lovely and this is the perfect match of yarn and pattern. I love them and, not surprisingly, so does Jessica.

1. 4, 2. number 4, 3. four, 4. 4, 5. door number 4, 6. four, 7. Number 4, 8. “4″, 9. 4, 10. Four, 11. 4, 12. 4 sffd, 13. FOUR, 14. four. los angeles, ca. 2005., 15. Quatre

Four years ago today, on a quiet Saturday at home, I started the Carole Knits blog. I can’t even imagine my life without it now. Writing this blog has brought me loads of new friends, allowed me to travel to new and exciting places, inspired me to knit more and knit better, given me the opportunity to learn new skills like spinning and crocheting and photography, and just expanded my life in ways I never even thought possible.

So, on this anniversary of my blog, I’d like to give something back to all of you. I’d like to give you all a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to kpixie.

Kpixie, in case you didn’t know it, is situated right in my own little town and I really believe in supporting local businesses – especially given our current economic situation. All you have to do to be entered in the contest is leave me a comment by 12 Noon my time on Monday, February 2, 2009.

Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, thanks for being part of Carole Knits.

83 of you left a comment on my Finishing Contest Post and many of you guessed that I would finish both the socks and the mitts. As you know from yesterday’s post, that is indeed what happened. Now I know you want to know who the winner is, right?

So my random number generator chose 21 and the 21st commenter to guess that I would finish both projects was: Dinah! Dinah is a local knitter and spinner and she just happens to be a library director, too. I’m happy to be giving her this:

It’s a skein of Bambie, a brand new superwash merino and bamboo sock yarn from Blue Ridge Yarns.

And I’m afraid that’s all for today. I have a lousy sore throat and cough. I am home from work and my plan is to drink lots of tea and nap. I’m sorry but the Rhinebeck recap is just going to have to wait until tomorrow.

As you can see from the photo, I did indeed finish the socks and the mitts before I went to Rhinebeck. The socks were done on Thursday morning and the mitts were done on Friday morning.

Back tomorrow with a contest winner and a Rhinebeck recap.

As you know, I have a new sweater for Rhinebeck.  I’d also like to have new socks.  And new fingerless mitts.

This is where I am on my Fallen Leaves Socks.

One sock finished and the second sock has about another 1.5 inches before I start the toe decreases.

This is where I am on Genmaicha.

One mitt finished and the second one is halfway through the cuff.

Both photos were taken yesterday at 4pm.

Let’s have a little contest, shall we?  Leave me a comment guessing whether I’ll finish the socks, the mitts, both or neither.  I’ll do a random drawing from all the correct guesses.  The winner will get a little something from Rhinebeck.

Sound like fun?  Get those guesses in by Sunday night at 9 pm Eastern time.

Three years ago today I started this blog and I’m so glad I did. I’ve met people and traveled places and learned things that I never would have otherwise. I’ve expanded my horizons, jumped on bandwagons and spent my disposable income on yarn, spinning wheels and photography equipment. I’ve happily responded to thousands of comments. I’ve gained readers and lost readers and gained them again. Writing and maintaining this blog has been a blessing and a joy and I’m thankful every day for this community. Yes, I mean YOU.

So, in the spirit of my blog-versary, it’s time to give back. First, there’s a new look to Carole Knits. I loved my old look and you can see that I haven’t changed all that much but it was still time for a bit of a change. Do you like it?

Second, it wouldn’t be a decent blog-versary without a contest. So, you know the drill. Leave me a comment on this post and I’ll enter you into a drawing. Since you all have plenty of yarn, I thought it would be fun to mix things up a bit and offer a different sort of prize. Instead of yarn, I’m going to offer the next best thing: chocolate. In the form of brownies. From here. They’re really good, just ask Margene.

To summarize for all you skimmers:

1. It’s my blog-versary and the blog has a bit of a new look
2. Leave me a comment on this post by Friday at 8pm EST
3. I will send brownies to one random winner
4. That is all.

I posted about finding my mother’s recipe box back in 2006 for “R” of the ABC Along. But I’m not adverse to showing it again in the interest of entering a contest over at Mason Dixon Knitting.

It’s not the prettiest box in the world but it’s got a certain vintage appeal about it.

The recipes, of course, are the important part. When I originally posted about my mother’s recipe box I know I mentioned the Sour Cream Coffee Cake but I never actually shared the recipe. Until now, anyway.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and sour cream to butter and sugar then add sifted dry ingredients.

Prepare nut topping as follows:
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

Pour 1/2 batter into greased tube pan and sprinkle 1/2 nut mixture on top. Add remaining batter and top with remaining nut mixture. Bake at 350º for 45 minutes.

This truly is the most moist, most delicious, most wonderful coffee cake I’ve ever had. I hope you all enjoy it, too.

The Tour de Fleece started Saturday and like any good athlete, I did some training in preparation. Spinning training sure is more fun than other types of training. Just saying.

This is Nightshade, the Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club selection for the month of May.

And this is Tulips, the Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club selection for the month of June.

Finally, remember the vacation spinning I did? Well, I finished spinning the roving from Spinner’s Hill and plyed it up and got about 600+ yards. That’s enough for a Shetland Triangle, which is going to be my Spun Stitches knitting.

I started off Saturday morning with empty bobbins and a plan to spin every day until July 29th. I’m hoping to make a significant dent in my fiber stash. Anyone want to play a game and guess how many ounces I will spin by the time the Tour de Fleece is over? There will be a fibery prize for the one who comes closest without going over.

Here is some information to aid you in your guessing:
~I’m not a particularly fast spinner. It usually takes me 2-3 sessions to spin up 4 oz.
~Anything I spin will count towards the total. In other words, it doesn’t have to be plyed and finished yarn.
~I’m working the next two weeks and my weekends will be moderately busy

That’s about all I can think of to give you for hints. To enter the contest just leave a comment on this post anytime until July 29th. Hopefully you’ll have fun playing while I have fun spinning.

I have been a very lucky blogger lately, winning prizes just about everywhere. Okay, not everywhere. But enough that I need to tell you about my prezzies.

First up:

ALL of this yarn was a gift from my grrlfriends over at kpixie. Missa and Jessica take really good care of me. And you guys know that kpixie is right in my own town, right? Plus, Hannah is BFF with Jessica’s daughter. So, when Hannah was over there the other day she came home with a big bag of yarn just for ME. There’s yummy sock yarn in Easter-y colors and there’s cotton and stitch markers and cool scissors and notions, too. Thanks. you grrls rock!

Next we have:

This basket of lovelies came from Anne. She had a contest to celebrate her newly opened shop, Wooly Wonka Fibers (don’t you just love that name) and I won $25 worth of stuff. The coolest part – I got to choose the stuff myself! So there’s a bit of yarn and quite a bit of roving. Ahem. I may have sent her some of my own money as this added up to a wee bit more than my allowance. And those new chocolate covered Altoids and hand lotions and wool wash, too. Thanks so much, Anne!

Finally:

I won Scout’s preppy contest. Good thing, too, since I subjected myself to public humiliation by posting all those old college photos. Heh. Not only did Scout send me the oh-so-preppy yarn that she dyed but she also tossed in a yarn ball keychain – just because I mentioned that I liked it. Speaking of Scout, did you see her on Knitty Gritty this past Monday? She was absolutely fabulous!

I rarely win anything in “real” life so I feel very lucky indeed to be the winner of all these wonderful goodies. Just please don’t hate me because I’m beautiful lucky.

Update: I’m home and everything went fine. The screening was completely normal – YAY. And the whole thing wasn’t bad at all, even the IV, which was the scariest part for me. I think i helped that they let me keep knitting right up until I went into the examination room. Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement, it means the world to me!

I know what you’re here for. You want to know the winner of the Blogversary contest. But you’re going to have to hold on a minute while I tell you about what I have to look forward to today.

A colonoscopy. Blech.

You see, my mother died of colon cancer at the age of 66 so I need to start my screenings now. There’s nothing wrong with me, I have no symptoms to be concerned about. And yet this is scary for me. The prep yesterday was scary. It was a day of clear liquids and 32 pills to, errr, clean out my system. Did you know we only have one bathroom? Good times. The stuff that will happen today is scary: the IV, the procedure in general sounds scary, and the thought that they will actually find something of concern is very very scary. So, scary is the word of the day. Any good thoughts, vibes and prayers you’d like to send my way will ease the scariness for me and I’d sure appreciate it.

So, the contest. I loved reading all your comments and thoughts about the blog. The poems and haiku were wonderful – funny and sweet and very, very thoughtful. And I had no idea that y’all love the Eye Candy Friday posts so much. I’m feeling much more pressured to get good photos now.

The winner was chosen in an extremely scientific manner. All names were put in a basket and those who wrote poems and haiku were entered twice, as promised. I pulled the winning name this morning and it was:

Laura of Sugar Bunny Boulevard!

Congratulations, Laura!

I’ll be back tomorrow – hopefully with good news. And probably some knitting from while under the influence.