Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Want Some Candy, Little Girl?

My thoughts are turning, as they are wont to do this time of year, to the delightfully scary. And what is scarier than those macabre Grimm's fairy tales? Man, it sucked to be a little match girl back in the day. In celebration of the better times we live in - let's hear it for central heating and Snickers - I'm having a mini-Halloween contest. Tell me your favorite SCARY fairy tale in the comments by the witching hour tomorrow night (Samhain, midnight PST), and you could win a skein of spooky sock yarn. I'll draw a winning name from my trusty cauldron on Thursday for one of the following skeins of yarn, and the winner will be announced then. Oh, and if you have a preference for a particular yarn, let me know that, too.

Lovesticks Superwash Sport in Count Sockula

Lovesticks BFL Fingering in Day of the Dead

Razzy Tazzy Knits Superwash Sock in Witch in a Blender

Two other recent acquisitions aren't included in the drawing (sorry), but are too good to omit in my Halloween yarn roundup. Both are sock club colorways, and both get my motor goin'. The first is Yarn Pirate's Killer Bees. I was hoping for a groovy Halloween colorway from her, and she definitely delivered a clever spin on this holiday's colors.

The second is Socks That Rock's Lenore. Up until now I've been ambivalent about the STR Rockin' Sock Club colorways. Oh, they've been nice, yeah, okay, but not particularly me. Well. Then they sent me Lenore.

Isn't she gorgeous? The goth fangirl in me almost fainted when I ripped open the box and Lenore - along with a gothic sock pattern written by the Yarn Harlot herself (!) and these cute spiders - popped out. As I've told several friends, I think my hand trembled as I opened up the plastic bag and held her for the first time. And yeah, Lenore makes me that much more anxious for next week's unveiling of the rest of the Raven series...how about you? (I just checked the Blue Moon Fiber Arts website, and unfortunately it doesn't have anything about the Raven series listed right now. I think the other colors go live on 11/5.)

That's it for now, as I must dust off the broom and practice my cackle for tomorrow night. Happy haunting, my ghoulies.

16 comments:

Debi said...

Unless you're willing to part with that gorgeous Lenore, count me out of the contest (I have sock yarn for 3 lifetimes as you well know!)

It's not really a fairy tale but the only literary effort that ever scared the living CRAP out of me was reading 'Salems Lot by Stephen King...every little noise had me convinced a vampire was scratching on my window!!

LotusKnits said...

The scariest fairy tale for me was Hansel and Gretel. I saw it in play form as a child and have been freaked out ever since.

LOVE the Lenore. My inner goth girl is kicking my ass for not doing the sock club!

mary said...

The scariest fairy tale for me, as a child, was the robber bridegroom where he chopped off his bride's pinky. The scariest modern day tale is the scariest of all. It's the real live tale of a cyber stalker/knitter who won't leave you alone and follows you everywhere and won't get a clue! *shivers*

Smarties said...

When i was younger i had an very old book of hans christian anderson tales. i was scared and intrigued by The Steadfast Tin Soldier. There were very few pictures in the book, but i remember specifically being freaked out by an image of the imp hiding in the darkness.

i love, love, love the lovesticks yarn.

Mel said...

I love them all, no real preference. Here's my story:

For a skeptic (when it comes to ghosts, monsters, etc.), I have gotten myself pretty worked up in the big scares dept. I think it was post-college, and I still did some occasional baby-sitting. On an overnight job (parents at hospital having new baby, IIRC), I woke up to the sound of heavy footsteps in the hall. I got up to check on the kids, and found them all fast asleep in bed. I was totally freaked out, but I searched the rest of the house. There was no one there.

Anonymous said...

i have the same halloween container thingies! i got mine at hallmark like 6 or 7 years ago. woo! we have SUPERB taste.

mehitabel said...

Not a fairy tale, but I was soooo creeped out by the story of Noah's Ark! To this day I don't understand why it's so popular as a kids' story. I mean, only two of each kind of animal? And all the people and the rest of the animals drowned? Nightmares!!
I hope Lenore has some lovely siblings because if she does, there is going to be a serious hit on my credit card! Love Lenore!

Kristine said...

I am also completely in love with Lenore...it's so...dark and deep and ooooo.

Macoco said...

It's not a fairy tale as much of a nursery rhyme - but I was pretty upset over Jack&Jill. Jack breaking his crown - and then Jill falling down too, and then the wrapping of the head in brown paper in vinegar. The vinegar must have hurt like the dickens!

Also I found The Emperor's New Clothes to be quite disturbing. I don't know if I was just uncomfortable with the thought of public nudity or if it was because the illustrations always depicted the king as pasty and fat. Blech!

Ellen Bloom said...

Remember the story about the Little Match Girl that could only afford to buy acrylic yarn? Well, one day, the creepy and scary Santa Ana winds roared through her little town, bringing fires and flying embers with it. One of the embers found it's way into the Little Match Girl's acrylic stash and melted it! People in the cottages surrounding the Little Match Girl's hidden acrylic stash were gagging from the poly-vinyl chloride fumes. The end.

Moral of Story: Stay away from scary acrylic. Save your pennies and buy wool. It burns, but won't annilhilate you and your neighbors!

Anonymous said...

Hansel & Gretel is the first thing that came to mind. So creepy when you think about it!

Happy Halloween!

Dawn said...

I say the story of little red riding hood. The big bad wolf dressing up like grandma and trying to eat her eeeh.

Anonymous said...

Hummm, how about the story of the couple that stumbled upon an old abandoned haunted house in the woods and heard a faint cry coming from the house... "if this log rolls over will drown" As they went inside the cries became louder and louder....."if this log rolls over will DROWN!! As they went upstairs....even louder...."IF THIS LOG ROLLS OVER WILL DROWN!!!" Finally they go into the upstairs bathroom, looked in the toilet to see 2 ants on top a large turd, one of the ants looks at the other ant and said "if this log rolls over will drown"....now that's scary!!

I agree with you, this STR installation is the bestest so far...I can't wait to cast those babies on.

Anonymous said...

Lovely yarns1

I'll be honest, I don't remember any scary fairy tails, but I do remember one thing the scariests all had in common, they usually ended with someone yelling gotcha or boo at the most opportune moment to get everyone to jump.

Liz K. said...

Ok, so when I was a little girl, my mom was not exactly what you would call culturally tuned in. She was not a hip, with-it Mom of the seventies.

So when I decided to be a witch in the fourth grade, she went to the best toystore in town and bought a make up kit so to ugly up my cute face. I did not think to be concerned when it happened to be a KISS makeup kit. I figured it was on sale and that my mother just bought some grease paint and would make my face green and draw a wart, right? While I knew my Mom was not exactly hip to music (I was, thanks to older brothers), I could not conceive that my Mom did not know the difference between KISS and a witch. Surely she had seen the scary episode of the Hardy Boys when KISS was possessed, right? She knew "Detroit Rock City?" Who didn't?

Well, you can see where this is going. She did my witch makeup and I looked like freakin' Ace Frehley with the big ole star around my eye. And not in a cool way, since my mom was not artistic either. It was humiliating, but I didn't even have the heart to tell her she did it wrong, since she thought it looked awesome.

Well, and when my brothers laughed their asses off when they saw me, they told her. She still didn't get it, and I still don't think she knows how KISS is.

But she does now own Exile on Main Street by the Stones, so that is progress.

mary said...

I'm too lazy to take my own d*mn pictures of my stash and yours are so cute. Do you mind if I nab your pic of killer bees? okaythanksbye