drew-o-rama

MAY I HAVE THE ENVELOPE, PLEASE?

Before we open the envelope and find out who won the MAN-ALONG, here is my finished Skull Sweater...

Click image to enlarge | There's also a smiling shot

Ok, so it's not a skull sweater, and it fits me much better than it fits Dan. But, it's still a finished sweater. Here's the low down... When I got to the intarsia skull I was having some trouble, so I kept putting if off, telling myself I would do it over the Holidays when my mom had a chance to help me. She did help me, but I just had no interest. I wanted to fulfill my goal of introducing myself to intarsia, so I included the small, floating strip of white on the chest.

As for the sweater not fitting Dan- I have no idea why it doesn't. I used the yarn the pattern specified and I checked my gauge. I did like knitting this raglan sweater. I would make it again, and I think I will. I loved how easy it was to sew the pieces together- all straight lines!

Back to the MAN-ALONG... It was very difficult choosing a winner. The two I narrowed it down to both designed their sweaters. It came down to technical achievement. The winner of the MAN-ALONG is... April.

click image to enlarge | Here's another view of the sweater

I Just love this sweater. April is related to Elvis Presley; her inspiration for this pattern was a sweater Elvis wore in Jailhouse Rock. Maybe if we all ask really nicely, she will write down the pattern for all of us. 

click image to enlarge

April receives a copy of the book Men in Knits, #10 ebony needles and silk needle bag both from Lantern Moon.

And, the winner of the hottest model portion of the MAN-ALONG is... Debbie's husband.

click image to enlarge

Dan was very adamant about this one. I had a few favorites, but in the end, Dan's argument won (he claims he would try to buy this guy a drink if he saw him in a bar). The winner receives a manly gift certificate to Home Depot or Lowe's (his choice).

Thanks everybody for a great knit-along. I thought that it went very well. I think we should do this again next autumn. Of course, with some sort of twist. MUUUHHHHHAAAAAWWWWWWW.

And now back to our regularly scheduled knitting...

HOT MEN IN DA HOOOOUUUUSSE!

And here are the 15 contestants for the first ever knit-o-rama MAN-ALONG. I'll let you feast your eyes on all the eye candy first, and then talk your ears off after wards. (click on the thumbnails to enlarge photos)

 

	Adrian April Ariane       Cara Caroline Cece       Cindy Debbie Jenn       Judy Kate Lauren       Maggie Nancy Natalie

Everybody did a great job. I am really impressed with the quality of work. Also, some of you cranked out your sweaters like there was no tomorrow. I like all the cables that I see (my next project has cables). I love Ariane's striped goodness as well as Nancy's thick and thin variation. Y'all putting in a lot of zippers, too. Cece's felted vest is totally amazing- I would be a nervous wreck felting anything I was going to wear.

I will be debuting my skull sweater this weekend. Well, it's not actually a skull sweater anymore, and it's not actually big enough to fit Dan. Um, more on that later...

As far as the winners- they will be announced this weekend. I have a pretty good idea who is going to win each award, but I am going to let it simmer for a few more days.

There is a slight possibility that y'all could sway my decision if you leave enough comments about your faves...

MAN-ALONG IS OFFICIALLY OVER!

Ok kids, put down your needles, put that sweater on your favorite man, shoot some sexy photos and then email them to me... The MAN-ALONG is officially OVER. I have the following participants listed as finished:

Adrian
April
Becky
Cara
Cece
Cindy
Debbie
Jenn
Judy
Kate
Lauren
Maggie
Mélanie
Nancy
Natalie
Wendy

The names in red indicate those who have emailed me photos. If you are not listed as finished and/or you haven't sent in your photo you need to ASAP. Those of you who haven't finished and plan to, still send me your photo as I will post them in the future.

We will annouce the winner of the MAN-ALONG this week as well as the winner of the hottest guy/model contest. The winners will receive nifty prizes.

SEND IN THOSE PHOTOS!

MAN-ALONG UPDATE THREE

Ok, kids... You now have 12 days to finish your MAN-ALONG items. The deadline for you to email me photos is January 1, 2005. Just as a reminder, here are the rules:

1) You can choose any pattern you wish, as long as it is a sweater, cardigan, vest, etc. for a man. You can enter more than one garment, as long as you follow the rules.

2) It must be knit and finished between September 6, 2004 and January 1, 2005.

3) You must be listed on this site as a participant in the MAN-ALONG.

4) At the end of the MAN-ALONG you must email me one scanned/digital photo of your entry. Please make sure the photo is in JPG format and under 100k. The man for whom the garment was intended must be wearing it in the photo. The garment needs to be in clear view. I expect creativity people!

The person who has the best knitted garment at the end of the MAN-ALONG will receive as-yet-to-be-determined fancy yarn, a men's pattern book and some of my blank cards that I use as greeting cards. Dan and I will choose the winner based on how well the sweater fits and how well the sweater was knit and assembled (from what we can tell in your photos).

There will also be another prize for the photo that makes Dan and I say, "the guy wearing that sweater is hot." You didn't think we would let that part go by would you?

Ok, 12 days....

MAN-ALONG UPDATE TWO: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

Wow! Thanks to everybody who has joined the MAN-ALONG. We currently have 49 people on the ever-growing list. There are several countries represented, inluding the US, Canada, France, Singapore and Australia. Some participants have already finished and others have yet to begin.

- Kelly just joined today. Stop by her blog to wish her luck.
- Check out the hot stuff at HelloYarn. The sweater is pretty cool, too...
- Becky is flying along on a cool Manly Jacket for her husband.
- Stop by Twisted Increase and see Brigid's progress on the Basketweave Pullover.
- October birthdays everywhere in the MAN-ALONG! Brynne's was yesterday. Sarah's was a week ago. Stacey's is next week.
- Clementine has some concerns about knitting a sweater in a rib pattern. Surf on over to her blog and help her decide what to do.
- Stitchy McYarnpants is almost finished with her Manly Sweater, possibly making her the third participant to finish.
- Brush up on your French by jeté-ing over to the blogs of our French-speaking participants: Deborah and Kajin in Québec, and Mélanie, Sylvie and Riane in France.
- Judy started on the "Kirk" sleeves first.
- Wendy has finished her Big Sack Sweater.

Keep me updated of your progress so that I can included you in my next MAN-ALONG update. Please note if you send me photos I will not post them until the end of the MAN-ALONG. Good luck!

MAN-ALONG UPDATE ONE

Well, well, well. It looks like little 'ol me has a bit of a knit-along underway. I'm a big boy now!

Thanks to everybody who has signed up so far. And to anybody out there wanting to join, you can do so at anytime, you just have to follow the rules.

It is great to see knitters from all over the world join. So far we have the US, Canada and France all represented. If you know of any male knitters out there, send them my way. It would be nice to have some men knitting-along, too.

Also, it has been interesting to see what everybody is choosing to knit. We have some participants using the same pattern, such as Debbie, Kate and Niki knitting the Manly Sweater from "Stitch n' Bitch." Jena and Lisa are both knitting the Stevie Sweater from the Rowan Cork Collection. Sarah is going to knit the Skully sweater... I was going to knit that for Dan, but like I told Sarah, he's 6'4" and knitting a sweater for him would take FOREVAH. So I was excited to see DomiKNITrix's skull vest.

Anyway, good luck to everyone. I plan on posting updates, to be honest, when I feel like it, so you will have to keep checking back to the super cool, ultra wunderbar, eurotrash-esque Knit-o-Rama.

LET'S MAN-ALONG, BABY

Let's break that stupid Sweater Curse and all jump into the first* knit-along for men's patterns.... the MAN-ALONG.

What are you going to knit for that special guy in your life? To join the MAN-ALONG send me an email with your name (duh), your blog address (if you have one) and what you are planning on knitting.

I am going to be using Rowanspun DK in colors navy and cream to knit a sweater vest with a skull on the front for Dan the Man. I found the sweater at the über kool DomiKNITrix. Jen was nice enough to allow me to link directly to her site to show you what I am going to knit.

The person who has the best knitted garment at the end of the MAN-ALONG will receive as-yet-to-be-determined fancy yarn, a men's pattern book and some of my blank cards that I use as greeting cards. Dan and I will choose the winner.

There will also be another prize for the photo that makes Dan and I say, "the guy wearing that sweater is hot." You didn't think we would let that part go by would you?

Here are the rules...
1) You can choose any pattern you wish, as long as it is a sweater, cardigan, vest, etc. for a man. You can enter more than one garment, as long as you follow the rules.

2) It must be knit and finished between September 6, 2004 and January 1, 2005. (I know that is a long time, but these are sweaters we are talking about here people...) You can join at any time during the above period, but to be eligible for the prizes, you need to be finished by 1/1/05.

3) You must be listed on this site as a participant in the MAN-ALONG. Email me with the info listed above to let me know you are joining. I will list your first name on the column on the left and will indicate when you are finished. I will also expect you to leave some comments on future MAN-ALONG entries with updates, and possibly links, on your progress.

4) At the end of the MAN-ALONG you must email me one scanned/digital photo of your entry. Please make sure the photo is in JPG format and under 100k. The man for whom the garment was intended must be wearing it in the photo. The garment needs to be in clear view. I expect creativity people!

Here is the official button for the MAN-ALONG if you wish to put it on your blog. You can link it to the following URL: colorguardblog.blogs.com/knitblog/manalong/index.html

Good luck and let the knitting commence!

* I can't verify that this is indeed the first knit-along using men's patterns. So, if somebody out there has already hosted a MAN-ALONG let me know and I will give you credit.