Now I Know What It Feels Like To Be A Game Show Contestant

After the excitement of Stitches West, I felt an irresistible urge to cast on for at least one new pattern out of the new stash, despite having a few projects on the needles.  I'd already decided to let myself go a little cast-on-crazy after Stitches, but like a kid in a candy store, I was having difficulty choosing which new yarn to use first.  But after writing Monday's post and reading the comments from my knitting friends, I knew these skeins would be on the ball winder that night:

I mentioned that at the Stitches market, the vendors give out a yellow ticket with every purchase, as an entry to a drawing for cash prizes.  I was lucky enough to win this year but I neglected to tell you the full story. . . .

 You have to be present to win, and the drawing is cleverly timed for midday on Sunday.  The drawing tempts knitters like us to stay through Sunday, but is held early enough so there is time to spend the winnings before the market closes.  Each year, we faithfully write our names down on each yellow ticket as we receive it, feeling hopeful if not expectant.  This year, as we packed our bags in our cars before returning to the market, I told my friends that I laid in bed that morning visualizing that one of us would win and share the prize with the others.

When it was time for the drawing, the remaining convention attendees gathered at the cafeteria style tables until a standing-room-only crowd had formed around the little stage.  We found seats at a table early on, as we were done shopping and we wanted to knit and chat until it was time to go.  As the first 2 winning names were called, a woman from California who happened to be sitting at our table went up to claim a prize.  We clapped and cheered for her, but we thought to ourselves "Oh well, that's it for this table."
But we perked up when Rick Mondragon announced that the 3rd winner was also from California.  Drawing out the suspense, he took his time announcing that the 3rd winner was from our town in Northern California.  That's when we really perked up.  We live in a fairly small town.  How many knitters from our town could there be at Stitches?  Then he said the name of the winner was Shannon.  We all shouted in excitement and I started walking toward the stage without waiting to listen for the surname.  Halfway there, I heard him say, "The winner is Shannon . . . . . . . Jones!"  I paused, pretty sure he was just teasing, but not completely certain.  He didn't leave me standing there too long before he let me know that he was in fact teasing, and that I really did win.  Staying true to the wishes I'd made that morning, I divvied up the winnings so that we could all go home with our yarn stashes a little richer.

When I saw in the comments on my last post that Mrs. Jones is my new nickname with my knitting group, I decided that I would knit the Mara shawl with the Pashmina that was purchased with my winnings first!

Mara is a simple garter stitch and ribbed shawl pattern which is free from Madelinetosh.  I think the simplicity of the knitting will provide a good balance to some more challenging projects I will work on simultaneously.  I'm not usually a big fan of garter stitch, but in this case I like how the purl bump ridges diplay the depth of color in the Pashmina yarn.

I tried to capture the subtle color changes by photographing the start of my Mara shawl out in the early morning light, and immediately had some curious onlookers join me on the deck:

Meet our hen "Merry".  She is one of the chicks who hatched when I wrote this post.

Do you think Rosie approves of my yarn and pattern choice?

Can you tell that I hadn't fed the chickens before I went out to take photos?  Ah well, back to life on the mini-farm.  The chickens are still waiting, along with the dishes, laundry, and other chores.  Only 357 days to go until the next Stitches West.  Until then, just call me Mrs. Jones!

To read about how knitting brings fun and excitement to other knitter's lives, check out the WIP Wednesday list at Tami's Amis.