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This giveaway is now closed. Thank you for reading!

Wow: This is our 800th post here on The Craft Blog. Can you believe it? I wish I could give each of you a cupcake to say thank you for coming along on our crafty adventures.

It didn't happen overnight. We've been gathering here to talk about all things crafty for three years now. In that time, we've shared project ideas, exclaimed over crafting triumphs (and frustrations), hosted guest bloggers, posted tutorials, and met all kinds of Canadian crafters.

Through the blog, we've been able to get to know the people who read our website and our magazine each month – finding out what crafts you're passionate about, where you buy your fabric and yarn, what you love (and hate!) about your hobby of choice. It's been wonderful.

To celebrate, we're having a giveaway! (Yay!) I've got 8 great craft books ready for 8 lucky winners.

Here's how to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post to say hello. Tell us what your favourite craft is, what you like to read about, what you wish there was more of....any or all of those things.
2. Make sure you leave your name and email address, so that I can contact you if you win. (Unfortunately, we can only ship prizes within Canada, but we'd still love to hear from you if you're an international reader!)
3. Do it before 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, May 6.

I'll randomly choose and announce the winners on Monday, May 7. Good luck – and thanks again for reading The Craft Blog!

OK, so I've cast on – almost – for my Gemini pullover three times. Twice, I ran out of yarn before I'd cast on the required number of stitches. The third time I ran out of yarn AND realized that I'd been using the wrong size needles all along. Rats.

This is what it looks like right now. It's been in time-out all week. (Because clearly the sweater is the issue here. Not me, nor my reading comprehension. The sweater. Ahem.)

My simple shawl is going well. I am a late convert to the wonders of Noro Silk, but wow, I love it. It's soft, and the colours! Yes.

It's a little bit of magic. Of course, it's not a sweater, but honestly, I'm starting to question the folly of trying to knit 12 sweaters in a year. First of all, that's a lot of sweaters. Secondly, what about all the other awesome things there are to knit?

Things like Kate's Bigger on the Inside, a Dr. Who–inspired knit that is just fantastic. Even if you're not a Dr. Who fan, click through and read the story behind the pattern. It's a neat little testimony to the way that the things we make can have secret, coded meanings – how the sweaters and scarves that come off our needles, the quilts that we sew, the pictures we paint, are often so much more than what they seem to be at first glance. They're not always garments or blankets or home decor. They're stories. Our stories.

So maybe instead of sweaters, I should focus on knitting 12 stories this year. What do you think?

PS. Be sure to check in on Monday for our 800th (what?! I can't believe it!) post.

Do you memorize recipes? I do. Most of the time it's not deliberate – it's just that after you've made the same cookie recipe five or six dozen times, you're bound to remember the details. And so Chocolate O'Chippers* are a permanent part of my repertoire.

Same for scones, pancakes, and baking powder biscuits. For me, they're all comfort foods, and there's nothing more comforting than being able to walk into the kitchen and start baking – no cookbook required.

Just this weekend I realized that I've started to do the same thing with my knitting. I've got a few standby patterns that now reside permanently in my head. Glenna's Nice Ribbed Socks have taken up residence, as have the Cutest Booties from the Yarn Harlot. Given a repeat knit or two, I think that the Classic Raglan might move in, too.

I've also got a simple shawl pattern stored away up there. It's based on Simple Things – a super basic triangle shawl built with symmetrical yarn overs, with rows of garter stitch and yarn overs as decorative edging toward the bottom of the shawl. It was just the ticket for Sunday afternoon, when I had a movie to go to and nothing simple to work on in the dark. This is Noro Silk Garden, knit on 5 mm needles. I'm loving it.

* You didn't think I'd let you go without providing that cookie recipe, did you? Of course not! This recipe was shared with me by my friend Ali. I don't know where she got it, but I do know it's my favourite.

Chocolate O’Chippers
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with sugar until light. Add vanilla and egg; mix well. Add flour, oatmeal, baking soda and salt; stir til incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto parchment paper–lined baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 min, or until edges are golden and tops are just beginning to set. Makes approx 36 cookies.

(You can play with the add-ins if you like: I'm also a fan of raisins, pecans and coconut, in any measure.)

I had a super crafty weekend – how about you?

Vintage buttons! Yay!

On Friday afternoon, Lisa and I headed to Hamilton to explore James St. North. This street seems to be experiencing a crafty renaissance – though there are still some seriously dilapidated storefronts, it's also home to some great stores that are chock-a-block with nifty wares.

We popped in to White Elephant, where I reconnected with Jane, a former classmate of mine. (Small world alert!) You can read more about Jane and Hollie, the store owners, and the eclectic wares they carry, at their blog Love it A Lot.

Down the street a bit, Mixed Media, an art supply store, tempted me with a wide array of art supplies, inspiring books, magazines and posters, and blank notebooks (my favourite). Needlework, a fabric store and creative workspace, made me wish for a free afternoon to do nothing but sew in the sun.

Saturday morning I ventured out to City of Craft – and I'm so glad I did! It was packed and I had my hands full, so I don't have any photos, but what a great show. I was pleased to see lots of great vendors – some familiar, some new to me – including:

• Krystal Speck, who makes ceramic art & tableware (and offers pottery classes! exciting!)
• Kid Icarus, from whom I bought some supersweet recipe cards
• Wolfe Island Woolworks, with a selection of lovely one-of-a-kind yarns (read more on the blog)
• Rare Specimen, by Jane of White Elephant. I'd like to buy a pair of these cool earrings for each of my friends
• The Workroom also had a table at the show, where they were selling packs of vintage buttons (shown above) and fabric scrap packs. It was a feeding frenzy!

I don't have room to enumerate everyone I saw, but it was great to see so many vendors – and buyers – out on a cool, rainy spring day. Hooray!

I'm on vacation today, so I'm just popping in to share a few crafty moments from my week, in the style of Soulemama's {this moment} series. If you have a crafty moment to share, I'd love it if you left a comment, a photo, or a link in the comment section!

Have a lovely, crafty weekend!

I dropped by the post office yesterday to pick up Sweater #4. Although in my head this baby's already finished and ready to wear, the reality's a bit different.

Yeah. So I have a bit of work to do yet.

The yarn is  CotLin in Surf, from KnitPicks. I loved the colour, the cotton/linen blend will be just right for summer, and at $2.99/ball, the price was right. (I'm saving up to buy a Palette from Tanis Fiber Arts for a colourful KAL she's planning. And if I win the Heart & Stroke Lottery, I'm buying one of each!)

Um, where was I?

Right. Sweater #4.

I'm going to make the Gemini t-shirt by Jane Richmond, featured in the spring issue of Knitty. So cute! Reversible! And – importantly – short sleeved!

I started swatching last night while I caught up on my various guilty-pleasure TV shows. You know: Bones, Castle. That sort of thing. Though I should have saved the plain-vanilla knitting for  Sherlock, which is far too absorbing (and scary!!) to watch while tackling raglan increases for a top-down cardigan in sock yarn on 2.75 mm needles, I learned this weekend.

Sorry, distracted again.

Anyhoodle. I'm joining the Tops, Tanks and Tees KAL over at luvinthemommyhood – I'm a week late to the party but hopefully I'll be able to catch up. Today there's a great post about understanding fit, so if you're like me and sometimes your brain starts to hurt when you're trying to discern the difference between body measurements and finished measurements (and what's this business about ease?!) be sure to check it out. Helpful to the max!

I'm almost finished my swatch – couple more rows and then a wash and dry and we'll see how I did. Right now it's coming in a bit tight – looks like about 24 sts and 30 rows to 4 inches on 4 mm needles, rather than the specified 22/28. But only time will tell!

So anyway, what are you making these days? And failing that, what are you watching? Sherlock's only got a few episodes per season, so I'm looking for recommendations!

Whoops! Today has been a whirlwind, but I'm here at last with the winners of last week's contest – the copies of Mend It Better, by Kristin M. Roach.

Photo, Storey Publishing

As usual, I made the random integer generator do the, um, random integer generating.

Congrats go to Jennifer, Laura and Marlo, the lucky winners.

As always, thanks to everyone who entered and shared stories about mending. I always love hearing from you. I think this comment was my favourite...there's a lot to be said for a having a sense of humour!

Tee hee! Have a great night, folks, and we'll see you here again tomorrow.

We had a rainy weekend in Toronto, but it seems as though the rain was exactly what the world needed. Suddenly everything seems to be in bloom. It's beautiful! When I got home from my walk last night I looked at these crewel wools and thought that they are just about the perfect colours for this time of year.

Of course, spring is arriving in the crafting world, too. Jane Brocket (of Yarnstorm) is sharing her annual tulip harvest. The spring issues of Knitty and Twist Collective are out and I'm seeing new spring sewing patterns pop up online, too.

Local crafting events are popping up just like tulips and daffodils, too. Here's a tiny sampling:

• The City of Craft Spring show is next Saturday.
• The DKC Knitter's Frolic is just a couple weeks away on the last weekend of April.
• The Creativ Festival is also running April 27 and 28.
• At the end of May, we have the Textile Museum of Canada's annual More than Just a Yardage Sale to look forward to.
• And then, of course, there's the TTC Knitalong...which is still in the planning stages, by the look of things.

What crafty events are you looking forward to in your neighbourhood? Quilt guild meetings, store events, museum exhibits – tell me all about it! I'd love to hear about what you're up to in your part of the country.

Hi there,

Happy Friday! Hope your day is coming up daisies.

(Groan. Sorry!)

Just popping in today to take care of some housekeeping:

• Did you see this video about the 9-year-old boy in East LA who made a cardboard arcade? It's awesome. (Warning: only watch this at work if you're CERTAIN you're wearing waterproof mascara.)
• There's still time to enter to win a copy of Mend It Better. I think that book would be a great addition to your home crafting library (and I've got three copies to give away!).
• And finally, one last big thank-you to the lovely knitters who participated in our Classic Raglan KAL. I randomly chose four winners, so congratulations go to: Kelly, Jen, Meagan, and Elizabeth. Ladies, check your inboxes shortly.

I think that's it for today. Have a lovely weekend!

I feel like it's been a while since the last inspiration roundup, so here's a quick list of things that your friendly neighbourhood craft bloggers have been intrigued by lately.

• The Winterwoods ABCs sampler kit from Alicia Paulson. Mine arrived yesterday (that's it up there) and I can't wait to get started.
• Threadbias – a new online sewing community. Will it be Ravelry for sewing enthusiasts? Check it out and let me know what you think. (Thanks to Holly for the tip!)
• Omiyage.ca has a few washi tape grab bags up for sale today. A great way to spend your allowance!
• I wish I could visit this exhibit of Newfoundland knits (via KnittyBlog).
• Speaking of knitting, considering casting on for Luv in the Mommyhood's Tops, Tanks and Tees KAL? Today's the day.
• Finally, this isn't a craft but I couldn't resist the photo, and I'm pretty sure your kids will love it. What to do with that ol' chocolate rabbit (hint: melt it!), bite marks and all, from Dinner A Love Story.