Being Thankful: Fiber Arts Giveaway!

Have I thanked you today? Here's my big 'thank you' to all of you. Why? Though I don't say it, I appreciate you all for being with me every day. Especially right now. It's tough being creative when there aren't many people to share your creativity with, and when I share things on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube, I really feel like I'm part of a community. I hope you do too. Now, I'm not one to be overly girly, emotional, or touchy-feely, but you all give me the warm fuzzies all the time. :) As I've said in the past, it's all of you that keep me inspired to keep doing what I'm doing. Sure, I've had difficult times with Expertly Dyed, but it's always you and your enthusiasm which motivate to be a better teacher, creator, communicator, and business owner.

One of the fabulous aspects of being a small business owner is that we can affect change. Ten years ago, commercial stores were just starting to pick up on handknits as 'the next hot item.' Five years later, fabulous styles and yarns were being incorporated into commercial handknits. Now, wool is coming back into style. And who got it there? Small businesses like us, who care about our product, the quality of our product, and the impact it might have on our environment. I'm especially enthusiastic about this trend since wool-based products removes more petroleum based products from our households, uses a great renewable resource for clothing and padding, and prevents sheep herders from having to burn wool since no one wants it. Baby steps, but we're making national, and perhaps global, changes.

Now, without further adieu, let's show off the giveaway:

This batt is 113g and light as a feather! Inside: merino, bamboo, silk noil, angelina, sari thrums, mohair locks, angora firestar. The finished batt is divided into two batts, but are extremely similar. This batt will go to one lucky winner (details are below!).

And to boost your skills at the same time, here is my extra copy of Spin-Off magazine to add to the batt giveaway:

So, you'll get one blended batt and one magazine for this giveaway.

But wait, there's more! To accommodate those who aren't spinners yet, I'm adding handspun to the giveaway. Here's the yarn:

The awesome stuff in this yarn includes: merino, pulled silk, bamboo, angelina, tussah silk, angora, yarn, cormo, and lots of other bits of this and that. It's very squishy. :) It's a 2-ply bulky yarn with about 80 yards in all. The whole skein is just about 4 ounces, and there is plenty of yarn to make a chunky hat, mitten cuffs, or a cowl.

To be clear, here is what you will get for the giveaway:

1. Blended batt and magazine
2. Handspun yarn

Here are the details of how to enter to win. There are numerous ways to get your name into the hat for the drawing.

1. Follow my blog! (Post in comments below)
2. Follow me on Twitter! (Tweet at me so I can give you an entry)
3. Like my Facebook page! (Post on my page so I can give you an entry)
4. Choose which item you want for the drawing (either batt/magazine or handspun)
5. Name them! What would you call the batts? or the handspun? (post below or on Facebook)

Those will give you one entry each, but you can get multiple entries. I'll post mini-challenges on my Facebook page from now until November 28, 2014, and if you participate, I'll give you another entry. I'll announce the winner via random number generator on November 29, 2014. Lots of entries means your chance of winning will be higher!

Also, here's how the batt looked before. I made two, very similar batts and blended them together to make one giant batt:

Extreme closeup!!: