Every year around the end of June, I am amazed at how the time flies. I’m sure next year I’ll be saying exactly the same, it’s just – July? is on Tuesday?

Which means the close of Q2 and the start of our 3rd quarter of Yarnathon events! We’ve got plenty of housekeeping to catch up on for Q2, but in the mean time, we know that you probably want to get started planning your Q3 projects and purchases, so a preview for you, and a coupon:

Q3 Knit-A-Long – Oldie But Goodie
We’ve all got at least one, probably dozens. That pattern that you favorited or added to your queue years ago, the one that always seems to be the project you’ll get to “right after I finish up these other two things,” falling ever farther down your list but never quite out of your mind. This knit-a-long is for you, beloved old pattern.

For Q3, we challenge you to pick a pattern that you added to your queue or your favorites during your first year as an active Raveler. Something you always come back to but still haven’t gotten around to yet. If you’re not sure, when you visit your Ravelry queue or your favorites, it will show you the date you added an item – for me, my first year is 2007/2008, but use the first year you started favoriting/queueing things on Ravelry!

Other requirements: As always, all yarn must be from Eat Sleep Knit to be eligible for prizes. Project must be started and completed within the third quarter (July 1-Sept 30). Projects should use a minimum of 200 yards.

Need yarn? We’ve got a special offer for you – place your knit-a-long order between now and July 13th and specify in the comments field which yarn is for your project, and we’ll take 10% off for that yarn. Adjustments will have to be made manually so this discount won’t show up at checkout, but we will e-mail you to confirm.

Only one question left for the quarter, can you believe it? How is the year already nearly half over?

Last week’s question was, “how many more Yarnathon participants do we have this year compared with 2008, the first year of the Yarnathon?”

In 2008, we had 543 Yarnathoners, a number which frankly blew me away as we’d only been open a short time. Now of course the number this year is always changing, but at the time of the question, we had 3380 (active) yarnathoners, and at the time of the scoring, 3465, a different of 2837-2922, depending on when you counted from.

Now we know a lot of used the November numbers you found as your 2008 numbers, and it’s easy to forget December, so we went ahead and gave credit to everyone who answered between 2750 and 3000, but those of you who answered between 2837-2950 got an extra 50 yards as a bonus and maybe a nice little boost if you missed an earlier trivia question!

So before I start, let me tell you about my husband’s grand appreciation for my hobbylifestyle choice. He thinks what we can do with sticks and string is amazingly cool and very impressive, and he is an enthusiastic admirer of every project that comes off my needles. He’s the reason I learned to knit. He bought me my first fancy yarn (Malabrigo Worsted in Water Green, a sweater’s worth!), which he followed up with a fancy jumbo ballwinder and swift for Christmas that year, and an interchangeable set the next. In short, he is my eternal cheerleader and benefactor, and so it’s no wonder that I would like so very much to gift him some handknits of his very own.

I have heard about this mythical guy who just wants a closet full of handknit sweaters and scarves, but I’ve not met him. He probably also owns more than two pairs of shoes. My guy? Proclaims to hate sweaters. They’re itchy and ugly and his plaid flannel suits him fine, thank you very much. Thinks even scarves are “girly.” Like, any scarf at all. He thinks he might have worn a hat once, back in 1993.

Knits for the men in your life – dads, husbands, uncles, sons, cousins, nephews, BFFs. Whatever the relation, if they are anything at all like the men in mine, as much as you might want to shower them with some handknit love, it is hard to find a pattern they’re going to actually like, and knitting takes way too much time to waste it on something that won’t be appreciated, am I right?

Well, never fear – it’s taken me 11 years, but I have finally nailed down some patterns, even sweaters, that suit his tastes, and I’m passing these ideas along to you for the surly, non-knit-wearing man in your life, whoever he may be.

Socks are kind of obvious, but Dan only wants plain socks. Plain, boring, preferably commercially knit socks, because if there’s no handknit flair then what is the point, he asks? His socks can not have lace, eyelets, or any sort of colorwork or all-over patterning. But he does like these, which all have a little interest for both knitter and giftee!

I’ve lost the battle completely on scarves, but hats can be okay. Stripes are alright but not cables or fair isle, and, according to Dan, there is a sweet spot for hat length where it is long enough but not TOO long for the perfect manly look.

If you’re willing to invest a bit more time in an accessory, you can only convince them that gloves can come in handy. Strictly utilitarian, of course, but I’ve made both of these a ton of times and they get lots of wear and compliments from my favorite guys!

Now, knitting a sweater for a man, especially a large man, is not for the faint of heart. But if the spirit moves you, these four sweaters are all Dan-approved. Potential sweaters, for the man who has never worn a sweater once since you met him, ever, though he maybe remembers owning a sweater in middle school:

Last but not least, I showed these PANZER TANK SLIPPERS to Dan and he burst out with “those are so cool!” I admit I probably won’t make them, but…maybe you will?

After a couple of weeks of softballs, we thought a true guessing game might be fun – we hope it wasn’t too painful, and many of you submitted close answers!!

The largest amount of yardage ever earned in a single order was 35,626 yards, and believe it or not, did not contain any sweater or power boosts!

If you guessed within 5000 yards, you’ve received credit and gotten an e-mail. (Okay, approximately, we credited everyone who answered between 30-40k!) If not, we still hope you had fun guessing, and this week’s question is far more internet-sleuthable, so enjoy!