You’re going to have the chance to play a game and win some eye-popping prizes from a group of independent businesses! Next weekend, December 5-6th, the Treasure Hunt Giveaway will be on.
This is the third year of Treasure Hunts organized by Knitcircus Yarns, inviting some of our favorite businesses to participate; we give the prizes and you hunt for clues on each website to enter. We have a humdinger of a group this year; joining us are: Hunter Hammersen, Erin Lane Bags, the Buffalo Wool Company and KnitBaahPurl.
Here are the prizes and the stories from all of the businesses!
Paula Survilla is the artist and owner behind knitbaahpurl, llc. She grew up in a family of artists, studied art and music at university, and has a history of exhibiting her work in art shows since her early twenties. Surrounded by many different kinds of media, especially when she married into a family where weaving was central, Paula began to combine her sketches and her sense of humor into sheep and wool-related themes in 2011. Her affinity for drawing sheep came as a complete surprise to her when she drew a picture for her good friend and knitter extraordinaire, Wendy (Wendy’s Knitting Circle). Encouraged by the response of family and friends, Paula started to draw more and soon founded knitbaahpurl. She began to take her young company to fiber and sheep shows throughout Iowa and eventually throughout the Midwest. Once she heard people chuckle at her work, she was hooked.
All of the images in the knitbaahpurl collection start out as a hand drawing. Colored by hand and enhanced on computer, these images are first shared as greeting cards. Since knitbaahpurl began in 2011, Paula has produced over 26 distinct images for everyday cards in addition to Christmas and Alphabet collections (with more in the works). These sheep and wool illustrations are the basis for all of her products –useful and humorous objects that are a pleasure to share and use.
Housed in Waverly, Iowa, knitbaahpurl products are available on-line and in stores throughout the United States. Paula is also very excited to have customers in Canada, the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, and Australia.
Prizes: A paper+digital copy of the new book, Fine Things for Plain Occasions for one person
And a paper+digital copy of Curls for a second person.
Hunter didn’t really like knitting the first time she tried it. She didn’t much care for it the second time either. It wasn’t till the third time, and the discovery of knitted socks, that she was properly smitten. Once she realized she could make her own patterns, her fate was sealed. She’s been busy designing ever since. Hunter has designed 180 patterns and authored five popular knitting books.
Follow her adventures online at violentlydomestic.com and check out her books at pantsvillepress.com. There’s always something new on the needles or some new plan underway!
Prizes from Erin Lane include: Four prizes: Bucket bag: 8 inch square bottom bag that stands on it’s own. It might look small but it packs a punch, and by punch, I mean a lot of yarn.
One Prize: Set of 3 Mini project bags: 4 inch square bottom bag with self locking drawstring. Perfect for small projects like baby hats or to tame your chargers when you travel.
Erin.Lane began out of a simple principle: necessity is the mother of invention. After my Aunt Jan showed me how to knit, I realized I would need bags to keep my beloved (and expensive) knitting gear safe.
So, I went to my mom, a master seamstress of 40+ years to ask her if she could help fix this problem. We tinkered and toyed around and finally came up with a great design. We debuted the design at our knitting group, one woman asked if we could make her one and the next week my mom brought her the new KnitPack. Then everyone wanted bags. Like lightning, Erin.Lane was born.
In 2006 my father entered a tough medical battle. He won, but lost his job. That was when my mom and I decided to try to make Erin.Lane into a real business. In 2009, my mom lost her job and we opened an Etsy shop and began doing trade shows.
In July of 2012 my mom passed away, and left me an amazing legacy. People who got to know her while we traveled always tell me how special she was. So I kept going. Happily, in August of 2014 I was able to quit my teaching job and run Erin.Lane full time. I am thrilled to sew for a living, and I love helping knitters get and stay organized.
Buffalo Wool Company Prize
Buffalo Wool Company is offering one delightful prize; Buffalo Wool Sexy Yarn, made of luxury wool and bison fiber, dyed exclusively by Knitcircus Yarns in the Opposites Attract colorway.
Buffalo Wool Company: We are Theresa & Ron Miskin, our family has been raising bison for almost 30 years, and we are passionate about bringing you the best quality bison products. The last ten years we have been developing a supply chain incorporating small mills, local designers, and large ranches, and along the way, it is our belief that together we can preserve one of America’s great symbols, and help bolster the U.S. economy by focusing on American Made products
Knitcircus Prizes
Three lucky Knitcircus winners will take home different prizes: One Lothlorien Cowl kit, with a sparkly Pixie Dust gradient yarn and a printed pattern by Amy Detjen; one Matching Socks Set dyed to match down to the stitch,, in our popular Extreme Gradient Stripes Circus colorway, one of the Limited Edition Delicious gradients benefiting Second Harvest, and all three will receive a digital download copy of the Fall 2015 Knitcircus pattern collection.
Knitcircus Yarns
Indy dyer Jaala Spiro was the co-founder and publisher of Knitcircus Magazine, which grew to 150,000 readers in 2012. After taking a handpainting class and falling in love with dyeing yarn, she was determined to figure out how to make long-striping gradient yarns. Much trial-and-error later, she made a business pivot and began dyeing yarn out of her home.
An Etsy shop soon supported Jaala and two part-time employees; when she created the unique Gradient Stripes dyeing technique for short-striping continuous gradient socks, customer response was overwhelming! Last January, Jaala made a big gamble and brought on several more employees and business partner/nationally-known knitting teacher Amy Detjen.
With a new website and fabulous staff members in place, Knitcircus was poised for a big leap, and the basement was getting pretty crowded! With amazing support from the knitting community, they launched and funded a Kickstarter campaign to move the operation into a space of its own. Since June 2015, the Knitcircus Studio and Store has been going strong and we’re thrilled to welcome knitters for shopping, classes and knitting events!
How to Hunt
So here’s how you will play: visit each person’s site and search for graphics like this:
There are four destinations on your treasure map! On the big day(s), shoot us an email and tell us where you found them, and you could win some major yarn booty. 
We can’t wait to have you play! So mark your yarn calendar for next Saturday and Sunday, December 5-6th to troll for prizes.