Tag Archives: Mardi Gras

Promotions at HSFA

Happy Mardi Gras! and announcement of contest winner

Leave a comment
Krewe of Cork
Krewe of Cork parading in the French Quarter, one of many fun events during Mardi Gras season in New Orleans

Happy Mardi Gras to everyone. Today (Fat Tuesday) is the finale to the giant annual party in New Orleans. Having lived in New Orleans for 40 years, I no longer try to make every event. But this year I did enjoy more days (and nights) than I had in many years. The good weather (other than last Saturday and somewhat today) probably contributed to my enthusiasm for parade-going, people-watching, and generally being in a festive spirit. I did take some photos and videos now and then, and will sort through those later for some possible gems to blog about in the future . But mostly I just partied and enjoyed the moment.

It’s going to be tough to get back to “real work” tomorrow. But today it is a real pleasure to announce the winner of the Mardi Gras Viewer’s Choice Contest over at the HeartStrings FiberArts Facebook fan page. Congratulations to contest winner Dena Rauch with her “Chinese New Year Bunnies go to Mardi Gras”. Dena wrote, “I have wanted to knit up Knitted Bunny for a very long time and this was the perfect excuse”. The fun creativity that Dena showed in matching the theme of the Chinese Year of the Rabbit together with the traditional purple, green and gold colors of Mardi Gras was obviously admired and had a wide lead in the number of “like” votes cast. Aren’t they just too cute?

Chinese New Year Bunnies go to Mardi Gras by Dena Rauch
Chinese New Year Bunnies go to Mardi Gras by Dena Rauch, winner of the Mardi Gras Viewer's Choice Contest

Thanks to everyone else, too, who participated, whether by entering and/or voting, and commenting. I hope everyone had fun. Let me know what else you’d like to do for future fun events.

p.s. The pattern for Knitted Bunny is available free at the HeartStrings FiberArts website (with donation optional).

p.p.s. If you are just now dropping in and had not yet found the HeartStrings FiberArts Facebook fan page, hop on over there now and “like” to stay in touch. We’d love to have you join us.

Related Images:

Promotions at HSFA

Mardi Gras Contest extended

Leave a comment

The Mardi Gras Contest deadline has been extended to March 8th. Please see details here.

I goofed in looking at the calendar and thought there was an additional week in there somewhere when setting the original deadline date? This short month of February always gets me confused (or at least that is my excuse, lol). I’m sorry this caused people to be pressed for time to enter. I hope the extension allows more people to have a chance to win the Mardi Gras Viewer’s Choice prize.

For this contest, it doesn’t matter if your HeartStrings project was from years ago, or even if it still is in the works. Just post a picture of it on the HeartStringsFiberArts Facebook fan page along with name of HeartStrings pattern. We’d love to see what you are doing/have done, so we can ‘like’ it and help you win.

Related Images:

Promotions at HSFA

Mardi Gras Viewer’s Choice Contest

Leave a comment

It’s Mardi Gras season here in New Orleans. That’s a great excuse to have another contest for free yarn, right?! Let’s celebrate with the purple, green and gold since those are the traditional colors of Mardi Gras.

Post a photo to the HeartStrings FiberArts fan page on Facebook of any HeartStrings design you’ve made that incorporates any one, two, or even all three of these colors. Please also let us know the HeartStrings pattern name and any other details you’d like to share about your project.

Any Facebook fan can vote by clicking ‘like” beneath their favorite project photo(s). Feel free to leave comments, too, to encourage others to vote for your favorite(s).

Contest entries and voting will close at noon, Central Standard time (GMT-6) on Tuesday March 8. Winner will be the entry with the most “likes”. So the sooner you post your project and get the buzz going, the better the chance you have of people seeing it and voting. In case of a tie, a random drawing will be done of the top-voted entries.

Prize is 150g of DK weight machine washable Australian merino wool yarn (1 – 50g ball in each of the 3 colors: purple, green and gold, of course) — PLUS — assorted official New Orleans Mardi Gras beads.

This contest is open to all Facebook fans of HeartStrings FiberArts (to be a Fan, just click “Like” at the top of the HeartStrings FiberArts Facebook page if you have not already done so). Any fan can vote on as many contest photos as they wish. So gather up your friends to come on over the HeartStrings FiberArts, be a fan, and like your contest photo.

Let the contest begin and have fun!

Enter the contest or vote here

Mix-matching colors in socks is just one idea of what you could do with the Mardi Gras yarn prize if you win the Mardi Gras Viewer’s Choice Contest. For example, here is a purple, green and gold adaptation of Vernal Equinox from The Sock Calendar.

Mardi Gras Socks
Mardi Gras Socks

Related Images:

Leisure & Travel

Mardi Gras Parade season gets rolling tonight

Leave a comment

Yay! the first Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans rolls tonight, Saturday Feb 19th at 6:30 pm. It’s the Krewe du Vieux parade. I love it for its quaintness, individualism and satiric creativity. Because it winds its way through the narrow streets of the French Quarter, it also is the most traditionally presented with floats pulled by mules, human power, or even 3-wheeled bicycles (rather than the tractors or trucks of the larger well-known parades). Oh yah, did I also mention Krewe du Vieux is quite risque, too? To keep things child-friendly, I had to very selectively go through my photos from last year to find this small fuzzy subset. But I hope it gives you a bit of flavor of this fun, nighttime parade.

The Krewe du Vieux parade is such a treat and I can’t wait to see what they they have in store for this year. I’ve heard the theme is “25 Years Wasted” and the Grand Marshall is Don Marshall, Executive Director of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. Beyond that bit of knowledge is the anticipation of the supporting themes that the participating sub-krewes will present https://www.kredite-vergleich.net/180-monate-laufzeit-kredit. You know that this all has to be about fun, with play-on-words names for the sub-krewes like C.R.U.D.E. (Committee to Revive Urban Decadent Entertainment), Drips and Discharges (the idea for the group began in the Emergency Room of Touro Infirmary), Mama Roux, Mystic Krewe of Spermes, T.O.K.I.N. (Totally Orgasmic Krewe of Intergalactic Ne’er-do-wells), Underwear, Rue de Bourbon, etc. In keeping with world and especially local events like the BP oil spill, the floats are touted to have themes like “TSA – The Good Hands People”, Crude Lubes NewOilands, DRIPILEAKS, Tokin Tea Party, David Semen’s Treme, and more that will probably make more sense when I see them, lol. In any case, I will be there to enjoy it all, and maybe even occasionally yell out “throw me something’ mista”. Oftentimes, outsiders think of Mardi Gras as just the single day festivity. But here in the New Orleans area, Mardi Gras is an entire holiday season. We like to have any excuse for a party. There will be lots of parades rolling between now and Fat Tuesday, March 8th. Com’on down (or up, or over, or whatever) and join the party!  

Related Images: