And the winners are...

Boy, it's been a long, tiring and fun weekend! I went up to Newcastle to stay with my brother Neil and his girlfriend, along with Ben, my sister and her boyfriend and we headed into Durham for the Lumiere festival which was fun -SO busy. According to Katy's Fitbit though, we did almost 24,000 steps on Saturday, so I think I need a holiday from my weekend! 
But on to the important announcement - congratulations to Dani Graves, Angie Woods, Helen Legrys, Elizabeth Geldart and Carole Cliffe - you luck ladies are heading to The Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate later this week! I have sent you all an email to let you know the happy news, so grab a friend, let me know what day you are heading down, and I will get you on the guest list :)
Big thanks to the show for letting me host this giveaway online, and I wish I was making it there myself this weekend, but it's not to be - have lots of fun knitting, sewing, crocheting and more on me! :)
Now, to sleep...

today Matthew, I'm bringing you - a giveaway!

Good Sunday evening to you dear readers - I do hope your week and weekend have been lovely, and like me you are relaxing at home with homemade cookies, watching QI, and looking forward to the notion of a week at work without a short publishing deadline looming over your head. Last week was mentally busy for me at work, coming up to the final sprint of a run of 4 very short deadlines which resulted in me and my colleagues doing 5 month's of work in 4 effectively (phew) - so in  order to celebrate this wonderful news, I'm spreading the news with a fabulous free giveaway for you guys, for tickets to The Knitting & Stitch Show in Harrogate! The show organisers approached me and asked if I would like to offer my readers the chance to win one of a pair of 5 tickets to the show, which takes place 23rd-26th November at Harrogate Convention centre - yes yes I know you all appreciate the opportunity to win :) I was also offered an absolutely marvellous ticket to head to the show myself, but it breaks my heart to say I am busy that very same weekend and can't go - but if you want to get a feel for how splendid I think this show is, check out my blog post all about my visit to the show a couple of years ago. I also was at the London show last month and it too was spot on. 

Shopping, workshops, knitting, dressmaking, crochet, and hundreds and hundreds of lovely like-minded crafters make for such a wonderful day, and I am so pleased that I can offer you guys the chance to win tickets today!

Scroll down to enter the giveaway, which I am running via Rafflecopter - click for one entry, comment for 2 more, and follow me on Facebook for 2 more entries - you could have your name in the pot 5 times, how brilliant! I will pick winners on Sunday evening when the competition closes - winner's will be contacted via email immediately so make sure to leave your contact details with me, and I will pop their names up online following the competition close :)  Show opening times:  Thursday 23rd Nov - 10:00am-7.00pm Friday 24th Nov - 10:00am-5.30pm Saturday 25th Nov - 10:00am-5.30pm ** Sunday 26th Nov - 10:00am-5:00pm

Enter below before Sunday 19 November - ** please note that winning tickets (10 in total for 5 winners) cannot be used on Saturday - the winner's details will be added to the show guest list and will be allowed to enter the show, with a friend, on their chosen day. If you can't wait, tickets are available now from the show website

Use the discount code GEEKYKNITTER at the show website here to get £2.50  off adult advance tickets (£12 instead of £14.50) and a £1 off advance concessions (£12 instead of £13)

a Rafflecopter giveaway Thanks for entering, and watch this space for lots of exciting things happening in the world of the geeky knitter, AKA me, which include a published article, a knitting pattern (with 2 more) in the pipeline available to buy in shops (!!!) and of course a round-up of my fab trip to London Comic Con a few weekends ago. Happy knitting chaps!

#EnchantedCottageKAL Part 6

Last weekend, I traveled down to London to head to The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace with Mary and Sacha, and because I'm trying to save money / I've outgrown my discount railcard (finally, so sad - but have you heard of the 'millennial' railcard? Score!) I traveled there and back on the coach. Although surprisingly comfortable, a journey that would normally take 2-3 hours, took in fact 6-7 hours so I would like to avoid doing that again. On the plus side, it meant a LOT of knitting (and watching The Legend of Korra) time. 
And so, it may have taken a coach ride to London to make me do it, but I am finally knitting the Knit Now #EnchantedCottagKAL again! Part 6, halfway there - wow! I mean I am very very behind with what has been available at this point, but still getting there. 

The squares for part 6 focus on slip stitch colourwork, creating this beautiful mosaic effect. My first square was a little bunched up and tight, because I wasn't used to slipping so many stitches along with colourwork, but by the second square my tension had levelled out considerably. Unfortunately you can see above that my colour changes up the sides aren't as neat as the could be, but fortunately once the blanket is all sewn together it should hide it pretty well - well, that's my story and I am sticking to it. I haven't blocked these all too well which is a shame, but again this shouuuuuld be hidden in the  larger blanket itself (oh gosh I hope so!)

I love piling my squares up all together, and it's nice to see some pops of colour in there. I think it will overall end up being quite a dark blanket, but with the lilacs and pinks popping out which should lift the whole thing. 
After I finish this, I have a lot of Christmas knitting to really try and get a head start on (argh!) and I also have some sewing that needs to be done, so I imagine this might take a back seat again, buuut I am going to Comic Con in London next weekend (on the train, thank goodness!) so perhaps some train knitting will finish up with part 7 all completed. 
Are you taking part in the #EnchantedCottageKAL? I hope you aren't as behind as I am! :)