It’s The Arne And Carlos Giveaway!

Righty-ho, peoples, it’s giveaway time. Lemme hear ya say, “Oh really? How delightfully intriguing.”

So. (At this point TheTwistedYarn sneezes, sits down, clears her throat, and attempts to adopt her best, most official voice. Unfortunately the voice comes out sounding more than a little squeaky. Ah well, no matter.)

Those of you who’ve been following the ‘Yarn for a while *waves and thanks you enthusiastically* will know that this blog won the Deramores Award recently, which entailed quite a few goodies landing on my doorstep. These included a small stack of signed Arne and Carlos books, and I’ve decided to run a giveaway of two of these, just to share the joy around a little, because the world would be a better place if everyone had some Arne and Carlos in their lives. If this goes well, other giveaways will follow from time to time. Maybe some stork scissors will come next, given that they’re a regular feature of this blog.

For now, I’m giving away two lovelies: one signed copy of Knitted Dolls With A Designer Wardrobe, and one signed copy of Easter Knits, both beautiful books by Arne and Carlos.

Both are wonderful treats of clever, colourful patterns, but they’re also visual feasts in themselves. I love Arne and Carlos books as much as lifestyle guides as for the patterns they contain. Arne and Carlos are geniuses. Yes, you’ve seen patterns for knitted dolls and knitted decorations before, but you’ve never seen ones as original and elegant as these. Here are some treasures awaiting you in the dolls book:-

And here’s a sample of loveliness from the Easter book. There are decorations, rabbits, chicks, and lots and lots of gorgeousness (much of which would be useful for plenty of other occasions, not just Easter).

Both books are signed by the authors. HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Anyway, there are two ways to enter, and each one earns one entry, so I recommend doing both, in order to double your chances of winning some loveliness.

(i) Leave a comment below (including some way in which I can contact you if you win, such as Ravelry username, email address, or somesuch).

(ii) Potter over to Facebook, ‘like’ the Thetwistedyarn page if you haven’t already, and leave a comment under the giveaway announcement there. If you really, really are a Facebook conscientious objector, then as an alternative you can send me an email at thetwistedyarn [at] outlook [dot] com (address disguised to confuse spammers), telling me that you heartily resent the incursion of Facebook into our lives but would like to enter the competition nonetheless. Okey-dokey?

(iii) Actually, there’s a third way of earning an entry. Here’s how: make a large sign saying “www.thetwistedyarn.com – the world’s most fabulous craft blog“, stand somewhere really crowded with it displayed prominently for at least an hour (New York’s Times Square, say, or possibly Shanghai Railway Station), and post a photograph of yourself doing so in the comments thread below. I will then (a) be gobsmacked and love your forever, and (b) give you a bonus entry in the competition. Can you detect the machinations of an evil marketing genius mind at work here? Or is it painfully obvious why I was encouraged to leave my only ever marketing job, years before I became a psychologist?

The deadline for entries is midday GMT on Sunday 14th September 2014. On this date, I will use an internet random number generator to select one winner, who I’ll then contact asap. I’m happy to post the books anywhere in the world, because I realize that most of the ‘Yarn’s readers are from outside the UK.

Terms and conditions apply:-

• Mum, I’m sorry, but you are not eligible to take part. If you won, it would just look like a fix. Ditto the stoic spouse.
• You must be over the age of four to enter. *Frowns and shakes head at the toddler twinnage.*
• Entries from anyone named Algernon will automatically be disqualified. Sorry, but I just don’t like the name Algernon. My giveaway, my rulez, innit.
• More seriously, I’ll make every reasonable effort to contact the winner immediately. If after a week of trying, they haven’t responded or it’s proved impossible to track them down, I’ll select an alternative winner by the same fair and random method.

So there it is! The Arne and Carlos giveaway! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! Tell your enemies’ enemies (who are, presumably, your friends).