drawing early!

Since I have only gotten four entries to my book giveaway, I have decided to draw the winner early instead of leaving the drawing open when there are few people interested.  That way we can move on to the next giveaway.

Congratulations Laura from cute as a button!

I drew your name, so you win the book!  I really hope you love it as much as I do.

The next giveaway will  start soon, and it involves yarn, so you crocheters and knitters keep on the lookout!

it’s time

As you already know,

I’m actually having two giveaways!

That’s right.  About 10 minutes ago I decided to split my prizes up, because one of them is completely un-crochet related, and I don’t want to give it to somebody who doesn’t want it.  I’m going to do the giveaways one at a time.

Why I’m having it:

I have over 50 followers!  These giveaways are to say thank you!

The first giveaway is starting now!

Here’s what you get:

Yes, it’s a book, and yes, that is my thumb giving the thumbs-up, because this book is that awesome.  Let me tell you a little bit about it so you know what you’re getting into by entering this giveaway.

The Dragonriders of Pern is actually a trilogy of novels, written by Anne McCaffrey.  They’re fantasy/science-fiction books.  The first of the three was published in 1968 and the last in 1978, but I don’t want you to discount them because they’re a little bit older!  All three books are in this one big book I’m giving away.  The three books are DragonflightDragonquest, and The White Dragon.  You can read about the plots online but I’m not telling you here, because I don’t want to ruin anything.

If you’re a follower of this blog you probably already know that I’m in love with this series, which actually extends beyond this original trilogy.  Anne actually wrote over 20 books and short stories all related to the world of Pern, both by herself and with her son Todd.  This trilogy actually takes place towards the end of the whole series if you’re reading chronologically, but since it’s the first that she published it’s a good idea to read them in publishing order.  I’m  not finished with every single one, myself.

The reason I’m giving this trilogy-in-a-book away is because I want to share the awesomeness with other readers.  Nobody I know has read this book, besides my dad, who read it in college.  I think it’s awful that this book isn’t more well-known because it really is very well written and very engrossing and just plain good.  I don’t have anybody to talk to about it and make nerdy references with, which makes me sad.  I want this to be a popular series because it deserves to be!  In my mind it is as good as Harry Potter (which is saying a lot because I have a Harry Potter tattoo on my arm), only it’s a little advanced for young teen readers so I’d only enter if you’re at least in your late teens.

Anyway, I’m sure if you’ve read this far you want to know the stipulations for the giveaway.

How to enter:

  1. Leave a comment on this post promising you’ll read the book if you win.
  2. Mean it.
  3. Post about my giveaway on your own blog, if you have one.

That’s it!  Just 1-2-3!  And to say thank you to my followers, if you were a follower of “not your average crochet” before this post, you get two entries automatically.  You don’t have to post twice, I know who you are and will put your name into the drawing two times.  If you’re not a follower, feel free to follow now but know that you will be getting a single entry upon commenting.

The winner will be drawn on June 12, so you have a week to enter.  I reserve the right to cut the deadline short if the number of entrants becomes too overwhelming (which will be around 100 entrants), so comment quickly, just in case I actually do get that many.  The winner will be posted on the 12th and have until the 17th to claim their prize and send me their mailing address via e-mail, or the prize will go to someone else.

I think that’s about it.  If I forgot anything important I will make another post.

Thanks for entering, and good luck!

tutorial is up!

announcement #1:

Here’s the tutorial for my crocheted pincushion!

I hope you enjoy it!

announcement #2:

Aaaaaand, I’ve got a little tidbit of news.  Remember that secret thing I mentioned a couple of posts ago?  Well maybe not, but there’s something awesome coming.  It’s almost ready, too!  Ok ok, I’ll tell you — I’m just too excited to keep it in.

That’s right!  A giveaway!  But, not all of the components for this giveaway have arrived in the mail yet, so I’m not going to reveal what I’ll be giving away!  I’m just gonna tell you it’s a good bit of stuff.  It’s my first giveaway, after all, so it has to be good.  It’s to celebrate having over 50 followers on this site, and to say thank you!  There will have to be a couple of stipulations for you to enter, but nothing strenuous or annoying, I promise.  Also, the giveaway won’t be open for long, so you’ll probably want to check back every couple of days to make sure you don’t miss it.  Of course, I don’t know how long it will take for the last component to come in, but if it takes too long I’m probably going to get too impatient and I’ll throw in something different.

Anyway, I hope you’re looking forward to it as much as I am!  I’ll be posting again soon either way.  Thanks for visiting!

a little project

I saw a cool pincusion pattern on ravelry!  But it’s a knitted pincushion.  I didn’t want for it to take forever, so I quickly improvised my own pincushion that is almost exactly the same, but crocheted.  I used a US7 hook and some Caron Simply Soft, and I’m pretty happy with my results:

Mine kinda looks like a happy cupcake or something… It’s stable though, and definitely will be useful.  If anybody is interested in making this crocheted pincushion, please leave a comment letting me know and I’ll write something up real quick.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kitty Ripple #2

My newest project is Kitty Ripple #2, and when finished it will go with #1 to PetSmart to line the kennels of the adoptable kitties.  Here’s my first couple of rows (I’m using the same pattern as last time).  I just wanted to show you the crazy yarn.  It’s totally something old-fashioned but I think it’s fun for kitties.

I say it’s fun for kitties and there’s already dog hair on it.  I’ll have to wash both kitty ripples before I take them in…