Rules

Seasons of Lace – Autumn  2009 Rules

Note: These rules are still a work in progress and some changes will probably be made between now and the start of the Season.

What is Seasons of Lace?

It’s a repeating seasonal Knit Along (KAL ) for Lace Knitting. There are no pattern requirements, and no yarn requirements. Just knit some lace — knit what you want, how you want to, where you want to, as much as you want to! Enjoy the foliage, the first snowfalls, and your knitting, and stop in from time to time to tell us what you are up to and show us some yummy pictures. If you played along last time things will be a little different, but hopefully the differences will make things easier and more fun. We want it to be simple for you and simple for us.

And, oh yeah, there are some prizes and you have to do some stuff to be eligible. But its pretty easy – so don’t worry.

When can I start?

Registration for Autumn Lace 2009 opens September 10, 2009. You can register right here on the blog by submitting a registration form between September 10 and October 7, 2009. Even if you only want to participate on Ravelry, please register on the blog, we are trying to figure out how to incorporate our “Ravelry only” members. For this Autumn Season (Autumn Lace 2009), official knitting starts starts on September 21, 2009. (Projects that are both started and finished during the knit-along get you extra chances at prizes).

Wait You Said Prizes – more than once!

Yep we are planning on prizes. There are a few different ways to get prizes:

• You can compete in our Most Yardage Competition and win!
• One of your projects could win the most votes from our viewers or judges in a Judged Contest..
• Your posts to the blog in one of our categories (and pretty much everything fits in a category), qualify you for raffle prizes.
• Your posts to the blog demonstrating that you are using our Sponsors’ Wares qualify you for the Support Our Sponsors Raffle.
• You could be a regular poster or commenter and win a prize for community spirit.
• Or you could just get lucky – anyone who posts is eligible for whatever random giveaways the mods feel like doing.

So you say you’ve got a cool thing that would make a great prize?

Yes we LOVE our sponsors! We love them so much we even are giving participants bonus chances to win prizes if they shop with you. We’ll also give you a link or a blog button on the side of the main blog page, and a big banner on the Prize page. We are trying to think up new ways to send folks over to our sponsors so there might be more coming for donors in the future. If you are interested in donating something, or offering a discount to our members, please go fill in a form, and we’ll send you an email or give you a call ASAP.

Okay those are the basics.  I’m guessing you realize that if we say “basics” three are likely to be gritty details; we’ve posted them below.

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More Details – gritty details below

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Participation Dates: September 21, 2009 – December 21, 2009

• All participants need to register by October 18th.
• All qualifying yardage for the Most Yardage Competition must be knit between Sept. 21 and Dec. 21. Projects can be started before then, but only the yardage knit during the knit-along dates counts for the competition.
• Knitting for the Judged Contests and the Raffle Entries can be started (but not finished)  before Sept. 21. But you only get credit for the knitting that you do during the event’s dates.
• To be eligible for competitions and/or prizes, projects need to be posted to the blog by December 21st.

More on how to win those prizes:

Most Yardage Competition

This Competition is all about speed and dedication. Do you have a lot of free time? Does lace flow off your needles like water over a waterfall? Is sleep for the weak? Then this competition is for you. See how you stack up against other speed demons! Knit the most yards of yarn between September 21 and December 21. This is as simple as it sounds, start counting yards on September 21 and just keep going. Give us some updates along the way. And on December 21st add it all up and submit your yardage total. The person who has knit up the most yarn, by yardage, between September 21 and December 21 walks away with the prize.

How to qualify your project(s) for this competition:

1. Enter the Competition. (You must complete this step before October 1, 2009.)
   1. When you register for the knit-along, check the box that indicates you are going to compete.
   2. When you start your project (or start counting yards) create a new post on the Seasons of Lace Blog.
   3. Include in your post a description your project and show or link to a picture (maybe your yarn and/or cast-on edge).
   4. Put some categories on the post to help the mods record it in the right places – Casting on if you are just starting, Yardage Competition, etc. (plus this will get you setup for raffle prizes as well)
2. Report your progress.
   1. Each time you complete a project (or knit up a bunch of yards), post an entry to the Seasons of Lace blog, describing your project and/or reporting how many yards you’ve knit.
   2. Show us a picture or two, maybe add a link to the Ravelry project page. (okay this is mostly because we are voyeurs and want to see your knitting)
   3. Assign the right categories, and, if you’ve finished a project,don’t forget to assign it a Bind-off category. (If you don’t assign the post, your project won’t qualify for more chances to win Raffle Prizes).
   4. Complete a Competition Update form (this allows you to report a finished project or to add 500 yards to the tally we’re keeping for you). You’ll need the url of your post to complete the form.
3. Every time you start a new project
   1. When you start your project (or start counting yards) create a new post on the Seasons of Lace Blog.
   2. Include in your post a description your project and show or link to a picture (maybe your yarn and/or cast-on edge).
   3. Put some categories on the post to help the mods record it in the right places – Casting on if you are just starting, Yardage Competition, etc. (plus this will get you setup for raffle prizes as well)
4. At the end of the competition
   1. Create a post on the blog, in it list all of the projects that you knit as part of the competition, and report the total number of yards you knit (The readers want to know). Also include or link to a picture of your season’s achievements. (Keep track of the URL of this post; you’ll need it in a minute).
   2. Fill out a Competition Final Tally form in which you’ll report a final total of all your yardage. – Note – this should match the amount of yardage that you’ve reported in posts throughout the season.

Raffles

Everyone who starts or finishes a project during the knit-along is has the ability to be registered for the raffle prizes. Each project can earn up to 2 raffle entries (in every category it fits in) for you. One when you start it, and one when you finish it.

1. When you start your project
   1. Log in to the Seasons of Lace Blog and create a new post.
   2. Describe your project and show or link to a picture.
   3. Assign the post to the Casting On category in which your item fits. (ex Cast on – Beaded lace, Cast on – Wee Lace, etc.)
2. When you complete the project
   1. Log in to the Seasons of Lace Blog and create a new post.
   2. Describe your project and show or link to a picture.
   3. Assign the post to the Bound Off category in which your item fits. (ex Bound off – Beaded lace, Bound off – Wee Lace, etc.)

Each one of these steps earns you one chance at the raffle. If you have a project that you start before the knit-along, you can still earn one raffle “ticket” for it, by finishing it during the knit-along. Like wise with a project you start during the knit-along but don’t finish until after the knit-along.

So what are these categories that you keep talking about?

• Newbie Lace Knitters - If you are knitting one of your first three lace projects you qualify!
• Handspun Lace - Knit from your own handspun
• I Designed it Myself! – For projects designed by the knitter (Professional Lace Designers are not eligible.)
• Lace Knitting by Size -
  • Wee – using up to 400 yards
  • Small – 401-800 yards of yarn
  • Medium -801-1800 yards of yarn
  • Large – 1801-and up
• Beaded Lace
• Support Our Sponsors – Knit your project with yarn, needles, patterns, or stitch markers purchased from one of our sponsors

Judged Contests

Throughout the fall you’ll have an opportunity to nominate your projects/posts and other people’s projects/posts the Judged Competitions. You can nominate any post or project for as many of these categories as you’d like.

1. Lace on Display – Best photograph of a finished lace object – we look at the presentation, the lighting, etc. not so much the knitting itself.
2. Lace Disasters – Best lace disaster photo
3. Gift Lace – Lace you’re knitting to give away as a gift
4. Viewers Choice Award

We will be inviting several lace-wise and camera-wise folks to help with the judging. Your friendly neighborhood Moderators will review all the nominations for each contest and send them along to the Guest Judges. The Mods and Judges will vote on their favorite for each contest. The winners will be announced on the blog. All projects ARE eligible for more than one contest.

How do I qualify a project or post for the Judged Contests?

All projects that are posted to the Seasons of Lace Blog are eligible to be nominated.

How can I nominate a project or post for a Judged Contest?

If you see a post or project that you want to nominate just click the title of the post and scroll to the bottom of the page. After the comments there will be a nomination form. Fill it in YOUR name and email address, add any comments you’d like, and check the boxes next to the contests you are nominating the post for, hit nominate and you are all done.

Random Drawings

How do I qualify for the random drawings?

• Register for the blog.
• Make at least 1 post.

That’s all. You’re entered.

See we told you it was simple.

Prizes:

We will be issuing prizes in the following ways:

• For the Knitting Competitions, one prize will be issued to the winner of the competition. There may be runner-up prizes based on prize availability and contest participation.
• For each Judged Contest, we will collate the nominations and get winners and prizes as soon as we can..
• For the Raffle categories, the prizes will be awarded by a random draw for each category. They will be announced on the blog as they are awarded.
• Random Joy prizes will be awarded as the quantity of prizes allows and will be announced on the blog.
• The prizes are currently in the works. Many are already listed (with pics!) on the Prize Page (see, over there…). We’ll be updating them as more information comes in.

More Ways to Win

Want more ways to add to the number of chances you get to win in the Random Joy draws? Try donating a prize! For every prize you donate, we’ll give you one more chance to win in the Random Joy draws. Similarly, if you can persuade your LYS to donate a prize, we’ll give you an extra chance to win (be sure your LYSO lets us know who inspired them to donate.) If you’re donating a prize, contact us so that we can both give you proper credit and get your prize listed in the prizes page.