thanks everyone!

we ended up with 30 donations! wow! i have already been in contact the winners and will be shipping out their prizes shortly!

so first up, the winner of the 2nd prize shown above was megan s. in virginia (who i believe is blogless). congrats megan!


and the grand prize shown above went to purlingpirate over at purling p's! congrats and thank you!

i actually had ellen draw the winners yesterday afternoon!

you might have popped over to her blog in the last day or so and seen that she lost her father in law this week. it was a tough day for her, but she said that coming home and seeing all the donations you made brought her to tears. so not only did you help her out with her walk, but you were a bright spot in a very tough day for her. she wanted me to make sure you knew how thankful she was.

and i thank you too, for being readers and being a part of this amazing community of knit bloggers. big or small you helped make a difference.

contest for ellen - see the prizes!

*Contest closed - I'll be back in a bit with the contest winners!*

only 24 hours left to donate to ellen! (see post below). so far we only have 6 donaters entered in the contest. i am hoping i can entice more of you to donate with pictures of the prizes.


1st prize - a fun pink tote bag from village yarn & tea (where ellen works!), a skein of trekking, a skein of pink and yellow natural dyed yarn bought at a local farmers market, a skein of duets sock yarn (LOVE this stuff!!), my stitch markers, a copy of the needlecrafters travel companion (great for finding local yarn shops while on the road!), a lush bath product and a good to be girl mascot pom-pom snowman (i rarely make these!).


2nd prize - this was a bonus added by ellen herself. she is donating a skein of fleece artist suri blue along with a copy of her stole'n bases pattern (she designed this for the seattle stitch n' pitch).

your odds at winning are very good here and all it takes is a minimum $5 contribution! please go donate! instructions are in the post below!

and for those who have already donated i can't tell you how much it is appreciated. THANK YOU!

it's a boy and a contest

*UPDATE* to encourage more of you to help ellen out, ellen herself is donating a skein of fleece artist suri blue and two of her beautiful lace patterns! this will be in addition to the prize that i am going to do myself (i picked out the sock yarn this weekend for the prize and it will be duets sock yarn and trekking along with all the other goodies, including a large set of my markers!) go donate! and for those who already have - thank you SO much!

my friend had her baby in the wee hours of friday morning. i am so proud of her, she went natural for her long labor and delivered a healthy baby boy!

now in other news, i had mentioned a contest awhile back. my knitting friend ellen is trying to raise money for the breast cancer 3 day walk. she has been training for months and it is coming up very soon! but ellen needs help and that is where you come in!

i am going to have a contest based on those of you who click on over to the site for the breast cancer 3 day and donate (you can donate as little as $5 - every bit helps!). instructions are at the bottom of this post for specifically donating to her.

the contest will basically be a random drawing from those who donate. right now i just have one prize planned (sock yarn, my stitch markers, yummy candy and all sorts of other goodies!). however if we see some major contributers, i might switch it up. i promise the prize will a great one - i know it takes time out of your day to click over and do this!

so how do you participate?
*click on the link above and select the donate tab
*on the left you will need to click the "seattle" option
*then fill in the name fields with "ellen" "gowey"
you can enter any amount as long as it is not less than $5

then send me an email letting me know you helped out (amyATgoodtobegirlDOTcom). the drawing for the prize will take place thursday, august 30th so you have until then to donate.

your help is truly appreciated. we all at some point in our lives have known or will know someone with cancer. ellen lost her mother-in-law to breast cancer and ovarian cancer less than a year ago. i myself have a dear friend who's father was diagnosed with breast cancer just a few months ago (i had only learned shortly before this that men can have it too). let's help make a difference in finding a cure!

still waiting

just a quick update as i know some of you who know denise are checking my blog today. no news yet, although her water broke yesterday, she didn't progress overnight. i got an update earlier that things were just starting to move along but contractions were still far apart. that is all i know right now. hopefully there will be news by days end!

2 hours and counting

i mentioned i had knit otto the owl (can't recall the exact book, but i believe it is lucinda guy's goodnight book - too lazy to link!). here he is (please ignore the terrible intarsia, i don't think it deters much from his cuteness).

appropriate timing considering the recipient's water broke 2 hours ago! i am sitting here waiting for any info (although i know it may be a long while) because i am sooo excited. technically she wasn't due until september 6th, but obviously this baby had other plans! and soon - very soon i will finally know if it is a boy or girl (pure torture making us wait my friend). so send good labor vibes to my dear friend denise, this is her first and she and her husband are going to be the best parents.

cupcakes!

root beer float cupcake - recipe from team sugar. i couldn't resist making these. although it called for some special ingredients i didn't have on hand it was SO worth it. i give the recipe 4 out of 5 stars. my buttercream scoop on the top flattened a bit (should have used more powdered sugar) but they were still fantastic (there is root beer icing AND buttercream!).

i came across the link to these on a blog (assuming it was a knitting blog since that is mainly all i read), but i don't recall which one! i wish i could give credit to the person who inspired my delicious dessert yesterday. if you know who it was let me know, it is driving me a bit crazy that i can't remember! thanks brynne - you were right, i did see it at ljc.


yesterday i also setup my kitties 1st birthday gift. a water bowl that circulates the water like a fountain. they love it. here you see lily waiting her turn.

i have a couple cupcake necklaces over at the shop blog.sold out, thanks.

next up will be another baby fo and a contest for a good cause.

peas in a pod

the theme for the shower i attended last weekend was peapods. inspired by these that i created back in 2005 for another friend's shower, my friend denise and i put together these peapods using chocolates (lindt truffles wrapped in green foil purchased at the cake decorating store). we then just wrapped them up in tissue and tied them off. so cute! we actually put each one in a cello bag but the camera kept catching a glare.

happy weekend!

baby gifts

wow how time flies. things are a bit hectic over here at gtbg. i am back working in an office temporarily and getting back into the whole office groove is not easy. i imagine by the time i settle into a routine i'll be back working at home (the office stint could end up being a very short one). anyways, i probably won't be around too much over the next 3 or 4 weeks (not that this will be any different than my current sporadic posting!). even if i am back working at home, i am training a newbie (a friend of mine actually) and balancing that with my workload will be eating up my time.

i am knitting a bit though. i had a double baby shower this weekend for 2 of my close friends who are due just 3 days apart in the beginning of september. i can't believe the babies are almost here! for one friend, i finished up the debbie bliss cardigan. she is having a little boy.

i used the sour apple color from peaches and creme. turned out cute huh? i paired it with jeans and a green polo.

i also made a super cute owl (otto the owl from one of those kid books, i'll have to look up which one) for my other friend who doesn't know if she is having a boy or girl. i forgot to take a picture so i'll have to see if she can snap one for me. it is just too cute.

ok, off to check on my kitties. next post i'll show you what i made for them last week :)