Christmas Bonus!

Special Christmas Bonus Offer!

I will be giving away a $20 Gift Certificate to my website for Christmas! Anyone who has ordered the Mystery Shawl #11, by December 24, 2008, will be eligible for the drawing (all previous orders will be included).

You MUST place your order for MS11 and join the Yahoo group no later than Midnight CST on Wednesday, Deceember 24, 2008 in order to be included in the drawing.

Drawing for the Gift Certificate will be made on December 25, 2008 and will be sent to the winner via the email address on their order confirmation.

Pennies For Bella

For more info on this cause, visit http://penniesforbella.org/

Thanksgiving Holiday Special!

Receive a Free Goddess Knits Pattern!

Order 4 or more patterns and receive an additional pattern Free. Enter coupon code HOL2008 to receive your Free pattern.

Visit HERE for more info!

New Patterns Available

Five new shawl patterns now available on the Goddess Knits website. All previous Mystery Shawls:

Imbolc
Marrakesh
Ostara
Eala
Mandala

Halloween Mystery Shawl

I am now taking orders for the Halloween Mystery Shawl 2008 which will begin on Saturday, September 27, 2008. Orders will be taken until Saturday, October 4, 2008. For this shawl we will be using another indie dyer - Roxanne from Zen Yarn Garden. Roxanne has created three gorgeous colorways for HMS08 members at the price of $38 per skein. Each skein is 1300yds, 100gr and is an extravagant blend of baby alpaca, silk and cashmere. You will need one skein for the HMS08 shawl. Once I receive your order for HMS08 you will be given access to the “HMS08 Files” board where the ordering information will be located.

To order HMS08 visit http://www.goddessknits.com/ and order the Halloween Mystery Shawl 2008. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU REGISTER ON http://www.mysteryshawl.com/ BEFORE YOU ORDER. If you are already registered on MysteryShawl.com you will NOT need to register again.

Just a note: This shawl design will not be typically Halloween - there will be no witches, bats, jackolanterns, etc. The theme for this shawl will be related to Halloween or Samhain in a more “traditional” way, which is to remember and honor the dead. Elements of the pattern will not be “morbid” such as skulls, skeletons or the grim reaper but will be regular, everyday things that are associated with death.

More Progress

More progress on "Eye of the Storm" - this is with the 2nd chart complete. Trying to work on this in between finishing Mystery Shawls and beginning another. Hoping to have this ready by the end of the year.

Mystery Shawl - September

Orders now being taken for the next Mystery Shawl Along that begins September 13, 2008. To order visit the Goddess Knits website and purchase the Mystery Shawl #10.

You will need to make sure you have registered on MysteryShawl.com before you place your order as you will need to include your user ID from this site.

This time it will be a triangular shawl and we are using yarn from Susan's Spinning Bunny - more info on the yarn will be provided once you've placed your order.

New Beginnings

Finally got started on "Eye of the Storm". So far I've finished the first chart, it will be a little slow going since I have several other projects to complete but here's a peek:

"Storm" Progress...

...finally! I finally found some time to work on the pattern for the "Eye of the Storm" shawl. I spent like 2 full days working on it. The first day I get it all charted out, yay, okay I like this, this is good. Then, next day, getting ready to format it - okay, I really don't like how this part looks...and this part..don't really like it. Another full day, coming up with about six different versions, narrowed it down to four - which one, which one? Hmmm...draw numbers out of a hat (well, not really a hat, more like throwing the peices of paper on the desk, closing my eyes and picking one), then the random number generator. Is this really the one I want? Okay, picked the third version - now it's good! Had to go buy some needles, running out of needles (all of them with WIPs on them), ordered some beads. Now I shall begin...

New Mystery Shawl Along

Orders are now being accepted for the next regular Mystery Shawl Along to begin on July 12, 2008. This is separate from the Anniversary Shawl Along that begins on June 12, 2008.

For more info and to order, visit www.goddessknits.com. This new MS9 will be held on the new website I have setup instead of the Yahoo group. You will need to register on the new website in order to receive the pattern: www.mysteryshawl.com.

"Eye of The Storm"

The name for the tornado shawl - I think it's appropriate. I've decided to make it triangular because of the yardage for the yarn I plan to use. I originally thought about making it square and using a different yarn but then I remembered I had another yarn that would be better.

This:

From Yarn Chef called "Buttercream" in colorway "Calm" - also appropriate. I was planning on using this for a Winter Mystery Shawl but when I remembered I had this I thought this was perfect, mostly because of the color name but the colors themselves also, blues, purples and grays. Don't think this is a regular colorway but maybe you can request it. I did notice she has a "Thunderstorms" colorway up now, that would work as well.

More info to come...

Donations or Not?

I've received quite a lot of feedback on my raffle attempt dilemma. Many good suggestions and a lot of people confused about why I'm not allowed to do this. Basically the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals is the agency responsible for enforcing these rules, approving and issuing licenses, etc.

This is their definition of "Raffle":

26. "Raffle" means a lottery in which each participant buys a ticket for a chance at a prize with the winner determined by a random method and the winner is not required to be present to win. "Raffle" does not include a slot machine.

Basically if someone gives you money for a chance to receive something in return, it is a raffle, even if you call the money receipt a "donation". According to their rules you must have a gaming license to have a raffle AND you must be a non-profit organization to obtain a license. Some of the wording in their "rulebook" is confusing and I would probably need an attorney to figure it all out.

So, this is what I have decided so far: I am going to design a commemorative shawl pattern which I will sell to anyone who wishes to purchase it. I will then be donating the proceeds, less expenses, to an organization offering assistance to those affected by the NE Iowa tornadoes - tentatively this will be the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa.

I will be posting updates here regarding the pattern progress, when it will be available, etc. So bookmark this page!

No Go

Okay, it's a no go on the Tornado Raffle. I've discovered that I can't have a raffle because I am not a non-profit organization and don't have a gaming license. I guess I'll have to come up with something else. Any ideas?

What to do..

On May 25, 2008 an EF 5 tornado went through Parkersburg, Iowa causing devastating destruction and 8 deaths. Debris from Parkersburg has been found as far as 100 miles away. This tornado headed east and caused more damage along the way until it dissipated. Originally it was thought that it continued further but another tornado actually formed near the town of Fairbank, which is about 10 miles east of where I live in Oelwein. This tornado changed direction shortly after leaving Fairbank - had it not, it would have hit Oelwein. It did come close though - Hazleton is about 5 miles away. We had some debris falling around our home and then the tornado sirens went off. We headed to the basement then it became very dark outside, we knew the tornado was passing by then. The electricity went out because some power lines went down in Hazleton. After it passed we all came upstairs but were concerned about the possibility of another tornado and with the power out in the entire town how would the sirens go off again? Fortunately the worst had passed and the lights finally came back on. The next day we drove through Hazleton to see the damage. We were lucky!

Here is a map of the tornado path, see how close we came?
http://www.wcfcourier.com/special/2008tornado/map/

You can also see many photos and stories of the damage here:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIH_enUS218US222&q=tornado+parkersburg

And here:
http://www.wcfcourier.com/features/2008tornados/

I've realized how lucky we were and how close we came to having a tornado come through our town - there hasn't been one here since 1968. Of course, it could still happen, tornado season lasts until October! After seeing all of this take place I wanted to do something to help and I came up with this idea: to raffle off some of my finished shawls.

All of the proceeds of the raffle - less PayPal fees and shipping costs - will go towards helping these communities. I will be selling "tickets" until July 3, 2008 and I will choose the winners by random drawing on July 4, 2008. All winners will be notified by email and their names will be posted here as well as the blog I have set up specifically for the raffle: Tornado Raffle

New Mystery Shawl KAL

To celebrate the third Anniversary of Goddess Knits, I am offering a FREE Mystery Shawl KAL on Yahoo.

If you wish to join, simply go the the Yahoo group and apply.

Membership will be open until May 30, the group will close to new members beginning May 31.

New Patterns Available

Three new patterns available from Goddess Knits:

• Midwinter's Eve
• Blodeuwedd
• Elizabeta

Two New Mystery Shawls to Begin

Yes, that does say SHAWLS, that is not a typo. There will be 2 Mystery Shawls beginning in April - the regular Mystery Shawl that will be held in the Mystery Shawl 2008 group and one in a new group Spring Mystery Shawl.

These will be managed simultaneously - clues will be posted every other Saturday instead of every Saturday. So one Saturday will be for one group, the next Saturday for the other group, etc.

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU ARE ALREADY IN THE MYSTERY SHAWL 2008 GROUP YOU DO NOT NEED TO ORDER THE REGULAR MYSTERY SHAWL, YOU JUST NEED TO STAY IN THE GROUP TO RECEIVE THE PATTERN.

If you are NOT in the Mystery Shawl 2008 group and wish to participate in the next regular Mystery Shawl you DO need to order it. If you wish to participate in the Spring Mystery Shawl you DO need to order regardless of whether or not you are currently in the Mystery Shawl 2008 group.

I will be setting up a Spring Mystery Shawl on Ravelry shortly.

Elizabeta Available on Ravelry

A new sock pattern, Elizabeta, is now available on Ravelry. This pattern will be available on the Goddess Knits website soon.

February(?) Mystery Shawl

I am now accepting orders for the next Mystery Shawl. I don’t have all the details ready but will put that info up on that group when I do.

PLEASE NOTE: I SET UP A NEW GROUP FOR THE NEXT MYSTERY SHAWL SO YOU WILL NEED TO JOIN THAT GROUP. THE FILES FOR THE NEXT MYSTERY WILL NOT BE IN THE OLD GROUP. NEW GROUP SITE: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/mysteryshawl2008

PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR ORDER NUMBER WHEN YOU JOIN SO IT WILL BE EASIER FOR ME TO SORT THROUGH.

Also, anyone joining for this next Mystery will be able to get the following Mystery at no charge, so you will receive 2 for the price of 1!