~ Contest #2 Prize Update ~

Hello all,

Just wanted to let the winners know that your prizes will be in the mail at the end of the week. My apologies for the delay, a few of the prizes needed to be picked up ;D and Marisol is out of town, and she sends her regards. I have received mailing addresses for everyone except Pixie. If you'd be so kind as to contact me ~ we can get your prize sent out asap.

Now we return to our normal broadcast of lovely still life pics. ;D

~ Contest #2 ~

Using the handy dandy Randomizer, the winners have been selected.......and the winners are:

Coffee Review

1. Knittywitty

2. Kat

3. Briana

*Prizes ~ coffee from a local roaster and treats.

Yarn Review

1. Pixie

2. GottaKnit

3. CemeKnits

*Prizes ~ yarn goodness and accessories. Special thx to Marisol and Laurie for donating the prizes. You guys are awesome.

Congrats winners! Please email me at asimplifiedlife at hotmail dot com with your snail mail addresses so we can get your goodies out to you. Also, once you receive your package, please post a pic if possible of your goodies.Thx.

Thanks to everyone who participated you all are winners to me. I now have several newbies to try.

~ Contest #2 ~

Hello all,

the contest is now closed and I will post winners tomorrow. Thx all ~ the entries are awesome. I believe there are 46 of them. ;D

Off to pick the winners.

Contest #2

My favorite coffee is a hard question to answer. I have several. Usually I drink Columbian with my sugar free vanilla creamer. It's nothing special, but it's a favorite because I look forward to it when I wake up before heading off to school. When I have more time, and maybe a little more money, I make or go pick up Vanilla Lattes. When I pick them up I hit up starbucks. I've tried other coffee places, and I still think starbucks has the best. (I'm a big fan of having vanilla added to my coffee, obviously.)

My favorite yarn is hands down Malabrigo merino. There's no contest for me. When I first started knitting I was mostly using acrylic yarn that I could buy for cheap. I took a recommendation from a friend to do a project in Malabrigo, and I've never wanted to work with acrylic again. I try to fit Malabrigo into every project that I do. It's my favorite. My particular favorite colorway is "cactus flower," which is such a pretty pink.

Contest # 2

My favourite coffee is some Blue Sumatra from my local coffee shop, MacBeans, it's just as they describe, "heavy bodied, broody, syrupy and chocolatey". Nice with a dash or more of full fat milk or if I'm feeling like I deserve it, some cream, MMM!

My favourite yarn, difficult one! I love knitting with Debbie Bliss cashmerino, have just completed her Hooded Jacket for my friend's baby girl in a gorgeous dusky "pink".


It knits up so nicely, you can see all the detail, it's a treat to seam up and it's so gorgeously soft.


However I am knitting up some 'Monkey Socks' just now and am falling in love with Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (I got some in the last swap), I love knitting on my double points, especially if they're 2 - 2.5mm, and this yarn just knits up so beautifully and is a joy to put on your feet, the colourways are also beautiful!

Contest #2

Favorite Coffee
My favorite coffee is Peace Coffee's Espresso Blend, which I mix with Silk Plus Soymilk and Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and drink from my favorite coffee mug:


Favorite Yarn
Favorite yarn is much trickier! I like to dye sock yarn, and Wool2Dye4 SuperSock is my favorite base. For commercial sock yarn, I'm very fond of Meilenweit and Trekking.

Chris

Contest #2

One of my very favorite coffees is just Columbian, sometimes with 1/2 and 1/2, sometimes black. I like dark roast, strong strong coffee! I like to try all kinds, I love espresso, too. When I order at Dunn Bros. or Caribou or Starbucks, I like to get a Caramel Macciato with an extra shot... I like to grind the beans, but I also like ground coffee. This a pic of my coffee today in one of my favorite cups. I like Starbucks cups and mugs.
Yarn? Well, I love lots of yarn, I really like the softness of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, Malabrigo merino, there are lots of yarns I love... I also use a lot of fingering yarns (plain and flesh and hair colors to knit those little dolls from the book Knitted Babes by Claire Garland)

*Contest #2*

My favorite coffee by far is Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I don't know what they put in that stuff (crack, maybe?) but it just tastes sooo goood! Since I've moved from New England, its hard for me to get my drug of choice... I usually have to make the trip home, but I did find a Dunkin in the South Korea airport! I have tried their bagged coffee at home, but for some reason its just not the same :(

And favorite yarn?? Thats a tough one. I have lots of favorites, but I think I might have to go with Rowan Calmer... its sooo soft and yummy, and comes in great colors.

Contest #2

Favorite coffee and favorite yarn. That's like asking a chef "what's your favorite food" or a literary critic "what's your favorite book". In some ways, it's dependent on the season, on my current knitting interest and also just what I feel like on a given day. So, for this contest, I'll substitute "favorite" for "guaranteed to please"!

In the coffee department, should I end up stranded on a desert island and can only have one bag of beans delivered, it'd contain these:


Peet's Aged Sumatra. This stuff is absolutely heavenly. Lots and LOTS of flavor but very low acid so it's totally drinkable. Because of the mildness of flavor, it's definitely *not* suited for the rigors of espresso-making. All the best qualities of this bean come out using a drip or filter process. Yeah, Sumatra. Always a winner.

Ok, let's move on to yarn. Generally, I'll choose some flavor of sock yarn since socks can be knitted anywhere, anytime, and offer nearly endless possibilities for patterns and shape and size. They're the Swiss Army Knife of knitting. That being said, there are plenty of amazing yarns out there - Curious Creek, Koigu, Natures Palette. However, after stalking one particular supplier for well nigh on a year, I finally had a package show up on my doorstep that contained this:




Yes, friends - this is Wollmeise. A wonderful husband and wife team (husband does custom ironwork!) in the south of Germany that make the most delicate, squishy, colorful and truly *touchable* yarns. Her range of colorways is amazing ... if my stash contained nothing but her yarn, I'd be a perpetually happy knitter.

Contest #2

My favourite coffee (at the moment, at least) is the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from Bridgehead Coffee here in Ottawa. It's a medium roast with a lovely floral, citrus-y flavour and is best when brewed strong. Unfortunately it's only a limited edition, and I don't know what I'm going to do when they don't offer it anymore. Bridgehead only stocks fair trade, shade grown, and organic coffees (their tea and chocolate meet these requirements too), and all of them are delicious.



As for yarn, I love working with anything from Mista Alpaca. I've been playing around with some swatches using their laceweight, and nothing drapes like baby alpaca for shawls and stoles.

Contest # 2

My favourite coffee has to be the first cup of the day. No matter how busy we are I try to make time to get up a little early and make a latte for my DH and I. I bring them up to bed and we have 15 minutes before the real day starts. At the moment, I'm making latte with Double Roast Santos from Pumphrey's in the Grainger Market in Newcastle upon Tyne. We like it with a bit of a milk froth on top and a sprinkle of cinnamon. My DH likes a large coffee in the morning so it usually comes in a 10oz T G Green's Cornishware mug.



Unfortunately, I have very little fidelity when it comes to favourite yarns. It's usually a case of 'love the one you're with...' :) At the moment I am besotted with this yarn. It's a Claudia's Handpainted Yarn. These colourways are Boot Camp and Desert Dusk. I'm planning to make the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Contest #2

My favorite coffee is Kaladi Brothers. (http://www.kaladi.com/index.cfm) Its roasted right here in Alaska. They have lots of different coffees from different regions all over the world. And even their decaf is wonderful! It is a rich tasting, full bodied type of coffee. It smells incredible and if you drive by when they're roasting you'll want to pull over and grab a cup! My favorite yarn is Noro Kureyon. It knits up beautifully and the colors are incredible!

Contest #2

For my favorite coffee, I just couldn't choose one, so I'm going to talk about two of my faves that I always turn to. The first one is Torrefazione Italia's Palermo blend. I love bold, rich roasts and I love the taste of this coffee. I probably drink 3-4 cups of coffee daily, most of it consumed in the morning, at home and at work. Here's a picture one of my favorite coffee cups with a picture of Edvard Munch's 'The Scream'. It pretty much describes how I feel when I wake up :)

My other fave coffee is a very sensual coffee because of the fragrance and flavor added to it. I'm usually not one that goes for flavored coffee, but this one is an exception. I LOVE lavender and when I found out about a lavender coffee, I had to try it out and I'm hooked. It's Purple Haze Lavender blend. It's a medium bodied coffee blended with organic lavender oil and makes for a very relaxing drink on the weekend. I also like that they use fair trade organic coffee for this too.




And now onto my favorite yarn. I'm still a new knitter and just wanting to try all kinds of yarn (and still have many more to try to knit with), but I love knitting socks out of Duet Sock Yarn from A Swell Yarn Shop. The superwash merino yarn is so squishy soft and they make great socks and I love the colour combinations she comes up with. My latest acquisition is this colourway called Pumpkin Caper perfect for the fall!

Contest #2

Hmmm....There are sooo many great coffees out there....how to limit it to just one. I would have to say that my favorite is a hot, strong, steaming cup of Gingerbread coffee. Whether a gingerbread latte as in the photo below (this one is from Dunn Bros. - I also get them at S***Bucks) or a brew of Gingerbread beans from Candlelight Coffee House here in San Antonio....I love it! Every fall I sink into a state of bliss as the fall flavors come out...because I know I have a few months of great coffee drinking. I love the cinna-gingery smell and the taste, with whipped cream on top if I have had a rough day...it is bliss!! I was thinking about why I like it so much tonight - I think it is because I loved gingerbread cookies as a kid - and since moving back to San Antonio, I cannot find a good jewish bakery that has them to rival the ones at my local bakery back home (Three Bros Bakery). Go figure....
Beside the coffee, you can see one of my favorite yarns - Manos Del Uruguay, color 113 (Wildflowers), being knit up for My So Called Scarf. I love how it gets thin, then thick and the colors are absolutely amazing - all my favorites...I am still learning to embrace the fact that the scarf will not be uniform in width because of the varying thickness of the yarn...I am almost there!

~ Contest #2 ~

This one has 2 parts and lots of prizes.

1. Coffee review ~ describe in detail your favorite coffee. Tell us why you like, how often you drink, describe the intensity and aroma, etc. If possible, include a picture with your favorite cup.

2. Yarn review ~ be as detailed as you are able; tell us why you like it, describe the texture, etc.. If possible, include a picture of the yarn and/or a finished item.

*if available, please include links to purchase your favs for those of us who may be interested in sampling for ourselves.

All entries must have "Contest #2" in the title and labels, see bottom of post window for this feature. From these entries, I will draw winners on Oct. 28th. Prizes include yarn, coffee, and goodies, and I'll post pics of them soon. ;D

Contest #2

My favorite coffee is from a local company: Mill Mountain Coffee named after our world-renowned Mill Mountain which has the world's largest lawn ornament perched on top - that's right - a NEON star. You may think it's tacky - but we love it!

My flavor of choice? Hazlenut, hi-test, with Equal and non-fat milk.

My favorite yarn? Well, that's Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. Why? It's the Louet Gems base: soft, spoingy, and oh, my, the colors? Exquisite...It knits up into wonderful warm socks, and the handpainted colors work up best in my favorite sock pattern - Wendy's Feather & Fan.

As a displaced Vermonter, CTH appeals to me because it's from the Green Mountain State...

Speaking of Green Mountains? The colorway in the CTH sock above? Green Mountain Madness...

Hmmm....Mill Mountain, Green Mountains of Vermont, the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia? Do we sense a theme? No doubt! Just call me loyal...

coffee contest #2

Kaladi Brothers'Sumatran
A certified organic coffee commanding the attention of all the senses with spicy, lively acidity and depth of body. Excellent in blends or on it's own; clean, hearty and filling.
I love this coffee! It certified fair trade. These people care about the enviroment and make great coffee! Order some here:





I love everything from Brown Sheep, Bulky for hats, worsted for felting and sweaters.

Contest #2

My favorite yarn at the moment? Blue Sky Alpaca — even the name sounds fabulous! More than thirty brilliant colors of pure alpaca in high-sheen sport weight, a growing line of luxurious alpaca silk and a superior blend of alpaca merino in a smooth worsted. They also have ultra-quick-knitting bulky alpaca wool and lovely organic cotton in six naturally occurring shades and over 30 amazing dyed colors. They royal alpaca is unlike anything I've experienced, it is a thrill just to touch it. They also have a lovely heathered sport weight line, called Melange. Love this stuff!


My favorite coffee is my Gevalia in my soon to be Sheepy Mug. A few months back I was on a cut expenses kick and told my husband we were canceling our shipments, we could live with good old Folger’s again, right? Wrong... Oh so wrong. I could have kissed the mail man when he delivered our coffee one week later. I only indulge in one cup of coffee during the week and two on weekends. That first sip can make or break a day! I deserve the good stuff! :)

I almost have my package ready for my buddy, I just have one more thing coming in the mail for her. I am so excited, I just squeked in getting them in time. Right after I ordered them they went on backorder until 11/14! Eek.

Contest #2

1. Coffee review - My favorite coffee is a Latte Macchiato from the café across the road of my house (sorry, I can't post pictures because my own laptop is broken, and my boyfriend's laptop doesn't have the camera software). I like my coffee quite weak with lots of milk, so this type of coffee is perfect for me; and as the café is so close to my place I've become a regular and the waiters there already know what I usually order and how I like my coffee.

2. Yarn review - I absolutely love the yarn I'm currently knitting with, Schachenmayr nomotta Alpaka which is 100% alpaca. I'm making a cardigan with cables from a German knitting magazine, and this yarn is just heaven to knit with. It is so soft that other, more simple yarns feel like steel wool, but that doesn't keep me from knitting with it! This yarn is so nice that even ripping parts of the cardigan is a pleasure because I can knit with the Alpaka even longer. Yay!

Contest #2

1. Coffee review ~ I've recently purchased the Breakfast blend from 'Pounds for Paws'. Not only is it a smooth and bright cup o' joe, but the company makes a 25% donation back to Ho-Bo Care Boxer Rescue, the rescue group where I adopted Allie from! I don't have a photo of me (or Allie) drinking a cup - I'll have to get that sorted!

2. Yarn review ~ One of my favorite yarns is alpaca, especially the alpaca from a friend's farm! Here I am holding Fleur, who was born at Almar Farms two months ago. I get my yarn either directly from the farm or at my local yarn shop, YarnArts. I love this yarn because of the drape, the softness but most of all because I am supporting a local alpaca farmer.