After Dark (a fine giveaway)

It's August! When did that happen? July managed to pass in a haze of family and excessive heat. I almost wrote excessive heat and family, but that would imply that there was excessive family, and while that may sometimes be true it wasn't in this case! But I'm still not clear on exactly where all the time went....

Still now it's August 1 and that means I have a giveaway for you! I think this one is particularly fine, both literally and figuratively fine because I'm giving away some laceweight.

The 2ply laceweight I decided to carry is a very precious yarn so it's been difficult to justify samples. However, I had one skein that weighed exactly 100g. You know what that means, right? Samples or giveaway! I decided "go big or go home".


I asked a friend what colorway I should dye to give away and she said "After Dark". So here it is, a skein of After Dark. At 18-19wpi, it's perfect for most lace knitting.

Now, I only have the one skein and each skein is over 900yds long, so I decided that splitting it in half would be a good taste for two lucky winners. And then I decided that no matter how pretty a skein of laceweight is when it's all twisted up with the colors flashing through it, it's even more delicious to be able to start knitting right away. This is especially true if one doesn't have a ball winder! So I've wound each half into a cake.



I'm giving away one of these here and one of these in my Ravelry group, and as usual double dipping is absolutely fine.

Why is this yarn so precious? It's hard to explain to people why a superfine merino and mohair yarn would be worth this kind of effort, especially when they hear "mohair". Most people don't associate "mohair" with "soft". "Strong", yes; "lustrous", yes; "halo", yes. But soft? Not so much. So when I show people this yarn that is strong, lustrous, has a moderate halo that develops upon working up and through wear, and they feel how deliciously soft it is I can practically see their paradigm shifting. When they feel how incredibly light but warm the fabric is, I can see them light up. Unfortunately I can't pull your hand through the internet to feel the yarn!

So here I am giving some away. To enter this giveaway, post here your favorite time of day for crafting things. Mine is After Dark, usually late at night when it's quiet and everyone around me is asleep. I have a very bad habit of knitting long into the night and then realizing the sun has come up when I wasn't looking. In the summer it can also be the only time when it's cool enough to work with wool!

I'm letting this one run through Friday August 5, and the random number generator will pick someone on August 6th. Don't forget to leave a way for me to reach you if you win; Ravelry username is sufficient.

So, when you you like to work on things?