Miranda July Prize

Remember when I said I was going to be making the July prize for Evelyn's Miranda Hat Charity KAL?  Well, it's one of the things I made in my busy week of sewing last week.  And I must say, I think it's the best one I've ever made.  I'm really in love with this bag!

The exterior is turquoise twill, enhanced by a red zipper and a tab that matches the ditsy floral lining. 

If you'd like a chance to win this bag, all you have to do is join the Project Stash group on Ravelry and knit one Miranda Hat and post it to the "July FOs" discussion thread by July 31.  Evelyn will be selecting one winner at random, and then I'll ship off the bag!

There will be prize drawings in August and September as well, and a grand prize in October for the knitter who contributes the most hats.  So keep your eyes open for those!

The response to the group has been really fantastic - there were 132 members as of this writing!  Many of my friends from this blog have joined along - I thank you for that!

Miranda

Remember when I told you about working with Evelyn to edit her new knitting patterns?  Well, for the last week or so, we've been working on a new hat pattern, which went live as a free Ravelry download on Friday.  And in conjunction with its release, Evelyn started a charity knit-along, complete with its own Ravelry group! 

After I joined, I invited some of you who are my friends on Ravelry to knit along with us.  If I didn't invite you, it's because after I did several invites I got bored and lazy, and decided just to send out a general invite via the blog!  Yes, I'm a little ashamed of myself!

This morning I started my first Miranda hat for the KAL.  I've been really excited about this because believe it or not, this is my first charity knitting experience.  I have to admit I'm a very selfish knitter and sewer - most of the time, if it's not for me, I just get bored with a project!  But this group is full of people I know via their blogs and Ravelry, and it's fun for me to do a project like this along with a great community of knitters.

So here are the beginnings of my hat:

I'm using some Valley Yarns Northampton in the Claret Heather colorway, which I had left over from Hubby's Very Warm Hat.  This yarn is 100% wool, so it will be nice and toasty, but for future hats I'd like to use superwash or blends, so that the hats will be machine-washable.

If you'd like to join in with us, check us out at the links above, or read about the KAL on Evelyn's blog here.

Oh, and did I mention there are going to be prizes?!  There will be a drawing at the end of July, August and September for one prize each month.  July's prize is going to be a Box Bag which I will be making.  Prizes for August and September to be announced.  At the end of the KAL, a grand prize (also to be determined) will be awarded to the knitter who donates the most hats.  So get out those needles, folks!