Wednesday, April 01, 2009

A Contest - No Fooling


I just realized a big thing I missed yesterday: the contest.

I have an autographed copy of "Ethnic Knitting Exploration" by Donna Druchunas to give away. If you aren't familiar, Ms. Druchunas is the author of several books including "Artic Lace" as well as articles in Piecework and other publications.

I enjoyed the first book in the series, "Ethnic Knitting Discovery", which talked about Norwegian, Andean, Danish, and Dutch knitting so much that I pre-ordered her new book, "Ethnic Knitting Exploration". The approach is less about copying patterns, and more about learning and understanding the techniques so you can design your own sweater. Each category starts with a small project like a head band or gloves. It uses drawings rather than photos, to further stimulate creativity.

The new book explores Lithuanian, Icelandic, and Irish knitting traditions. I'm interested in all three. Although I know about Icelandic and Aran sweaters, Lithuanian knitting is totally new to me. Check out the author's blog, she is posting tips and there is a blog tour.

The author is of Lithuanian descent and has studied the language as well as knitting. You know how much I'm into my Norwegian heritage, so I decided on an ethnic theme for the contest. I want to hear something about your ethnic heritage. A story, song, saying. Maybe your favorite food, Lutefisk, perhaps? If you could link to a photo, that would be fun. You don't have to have a blog to enter, but if you do, why not comment with a link to it? I have found so many blogs reading comments on other people's blogs.

The Rules:
  • Anyone can enter. I will mail the book anywhere.
  • Contest ends Friday, April 10th at midnight Pacific Time.
  • To enter leave a comment on this post telling me something about your ethnic heritage (see more ideas above). You must leave a comment in a manner that provides me with an email address so I can contact you if you win.
  • Each commenter will be assigned a number, and the winner will be picked via a random number generator.

5 comments:

ikkinlala said...

My heritage is British on my Dad's side and Finnish on my mom's. I don't think we follow any specifically British traditions that aren't also Canadian, but one Finnish tradition we still follow is using a sauna - when I was growing up, we had a sauna (and shower) instead of a bathtub.

ikkinlala AT yahoo DOT ca

Anne said...

I'm primarily Welsh and Scottish, with a bit of Ulster Scot and Cornish thrown in for good measure.

Christmas dinner was/is always roast beef & Yorkshire pudding. (The worst Yorkshire pudding I ever had was in York!) I have the family recipe (from 19th century) for shortbread.

Yarnhunter at Yahoo dot Com

Jennifer said...

All of my grandparents are from China, but my parents were born in the US. One tradition we have for Chinese New Year is to put two red envelopes and two tangerines into our big container of uncooked rice - it's supposed to bring good luck and plenty of food for the coming year.

bluelacefiesta AT yahoo DOT com

thesecitystreets said...

Hmmm...I am three-quarters German and one-quarter English with a smattering of French-Canadian thrown into the mix. My family still makes stollen bread every year around Christmas, and I love that my grandparents sign their letters to me as "Love, Oma and Opa." Thanks for organizing the contest!

thesecitystreets AT gmail DOT com

Kristen said...

My dad's side is mainly Austrian and my mom's mostly Scotch-Irish. Being 4th generation off the boat, no ethnic traditions have really survived. Though we always have corned beef and cabbage on St Patrick's day, making sure to have plenty of left overs for hash the next day. But then again I've been told that in Ireland they don't do that.