Saturday, July 19, 2008

contest: purple sock yarn

Blog contest in celebration of finishing my thesis - guess the number of references in my bibliography. Deadline for answers is 5pm, Thursday 24th July 2008 Friday 25th July (London time). The closest guess wins this skein of sock yarn.

bamboo grape

Its a wool and bamboo mix, dyed by me. 100g, it comes in at about 420 meters - plenty for a pair of socks. From a smoke and pet free home, though it does still smell a bit of grape-flavoured koolaid (my dye of choice). I might throw in some other purple-themed goodies too if I find anything worthy. In event of a tie, I'll pick one winner at random. No one who has read the thesis can enter.

Some clues to get you going:
  • It includes both primary and secondary sources.
  • The actual thesis content these sources support comes in at just under 100,000 words.
  • My case study is this series, though I mentioned many other primary examples, and my secondary source list was much longer.
  • My media studies inclined colleagues felt it was a bit citation-heavy, the litcrit types thought it was sparse.
  • The photo below shows the thesis open at the page the bibliography starts. There are no appendixes after that. It is 1.5x spaced, in 11pt font on A4 paper.
  • Its more than fifty, less than three thousand.
  • You might as well guess something random. When I tried to guess, I was a good hundred off, and I wrote the bleeding thing.
bibliography

EDIT: I mean 'closest' as in nearest guess either way (you can go over). So, if the answer was 7586 and no one gets that but someone gets 7588 and another 7584, I'll pick one of the two out of a hat.

108 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! Purple is my favourite colour. I'll go with 259, just because I can't imagine anyone reading more than that many books on a single subject.

Anonymous said...

150, I think.

Anonymous said...

456

Anonymous said...

1,248. What a pretty skein of yarn!

MrsFife said...

2,383.

587.

Really decisive, aren't I?

Ambermoggie, a fragrant soul said...

321:)

sheep#100 said...

Congratulations!

434

Unknown said...

I will guess...

628. :)

Anonymous said...

500...?

Congratulations on being done, either way!

Anonymous said...

735?

Congrats on finishing. The number that floored me with mine was the number of footnotes. o.o

Anonymous said...

879. what beautiful yarn!

Sophia said...

Congrats, thats fantastic! I'd say, probably 1,645, give or take a few.

Anonymous said...

2653

Good yarn!

jess said...

539

congrats on finishing!

Clare said...

Ummm...1800? Although I hope lots of those are secondary! Yay on finishing - I love your pic of the bound item(s). There's nothing better than having that thing bound and off your desk!

Knit - R - Done said...

1000. Is it like the Price is Right? The closest without going over? Then I should guess 1.

Rachel said...

Congratulations...wow, that must feel great. I've got a couple more years before I get to experience that joy! :)

I'll guess 777. And that yarn is beautiful!

Sarah A. said...

Congratulations! What a great thing to have all finished!

1,262 is my guesstimate.

merel said...

1078

btw, congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on completing your thesis - I can't resist the chance to win such a beautiful skein so I'll hazard a guess at 777 references

ikkinlala said...

I'll guess 1977.

LegalBecca said...

2,081.

As someone who does legal writing and did literary writing for her undergrad, I know those cites can add up quickly!

reluctantMANGO said...

What better way to celebrate than with yarn!?!?

I guess 1234.

Anonymous said...

2173. I think. Yeah. Go with that. :)

alcatmom said...

Congrats on finishing! The yarn looks lovely and I guess 1836.

pigbook1 said...

congrats !
1576

Anonymous said...

I'm going to guess 985. And congratulations! I just finished my masters thesis, so I understand the bliss of finally having it completed!

Norah said...

1362. Beautiful yarn!

Anonymous said...

congratulations on completing the thesis :-)

defending the thing is nothing compared to this (was my experience), but good luck with it.

my guess is 317

Jeanette

Lisa D. said...

That's some yummy looking yarn and a HUGE thesis! I'll guess 793.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! I am going to guess 1156 and have now put the fear into myself- I am about to go into my third year of mine.

Maria Pettler said...

Congrats on finishing....my guess is 1981.

Anonymous said...

congrats!!mmmmmm 343?

the frog princess said...

I guess 1420. :)

Unknown said...

Such pretty yarn.

I'll say 1581.

spajonas said...

685 :) it's a completely random number. i love that color purple! you did that with just the grape koolaid? must have something to do with the bamboo.

Anonymous said...

i'll guess 385

Leeann said...

733? totally random here but that yarn is gorgeous!

Montreal Mama said...

I'm going to go with 616 (my birthday June 16th). (My son was born almost 5 weeks ago the day after so that's my lucky number!)

Gorgeous purple yarn!

Congrats on finishing your thesis!

Jen said...

1600! Seriously, I have no idea, but congratulations on finishing it!

Deb said...

893 is my guess.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on finishing! my guess is 1567!

Anonymous said...

I guess 2533.

felinity said...

Ooh that's gorgeous yarn. And congrats for finishing!

I guess... 2001 reference. I have no idea. But thanks for the competition!

Sasha said...

Hurrah! Congratulations and many fizzy sparkley fireworks of glee!! I hereby guess 1300!

Anonymous said...

I'm going to guess 2738.

(which is how many I have so far!!)

Knittripps said...

Random number it is. 2024.

nina said...

Beuatiful color - my guess is 342 references ;)

scribblearts said...

Hmmm...I'll say 2,555.

Kerry said...

My guess is 1284. Love the yarn. I'd love to see your dye process, if you feel like sharing in a post.

Anonymous said...

my guess is 550. fun contest!

Lizzardie said...

I'll guess 2134. Congrats on finishing!

Annastasia said...

214 or 2148

No clue. I used 214 on my Chemistry of stained glass thesis.

sparklerawk said...

I'm going to guess 987.

katrynka said...

Congratulations!! I can almost smell the grape by looking at it!! I have NO clue, having never seen a thesis! SO I will guess 659.

monkeybusiness said...

Congratulations! My own dissertation is still a couple of years off. I am guessing 287. :)

Lola and Ava said...

Congrats . . . quite an accomplishment! If you did use Horrible Science, I have had students steal my copies that I brought home from the UK as they found them so interesting. My guess? 1013.

Anonymous said...

congratulations!!

i'm going to guess 999.

Alexis said...

Just because I kept requesting Foucault doesn't mean I thought it was *sparse*! :)

Anonymous said...

congrats!

1022

Leamonteach said...

Hooray for finishing! I will say 2300, just to say so.

Liz said...

I guess 1792!

Congrats on finishing.

Liz

Felicity Ford said...

I guess:

1,397

Congratulations on finishing the thesis!

That would be a lot of books, but then a thesis requires a LOT of reading...

carrie said...

Congratulations on finishing your thesis!! My guess is 506.

ingrid said...

Congratulations on finishing. Must be a huge relief.

My guess is 1051.

Anonymous said...

I'll guess 2442!

Anna said...

1812 is a good number.

Shannon said...

ooooooh... i made the random number generator do all the work!

2267

itslikearuin said...

I'll guess 952. Well done!

Allison L. said...

My goodness! Congratulations!

I'll guess 1703

Leanne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Glad that's over with, eh?!

My guess is 832... substantial and thoroughly researched I'm sure.

Anonymous said...

633?

Mandy said...

Oooh, pretty yarn! I'm going to guess 986! Congratulations!

Unknown said...

713
Congrats on finishing!

smelly melly said...

480?

congrats!

Anonymous said...

232?

Anonymous said...

1327

MTB said...

2002!

lindsay said...

i'm going to guess 1749.
that yarn is beautiful by the way.

carolyn says said...

666, i bet you wrote the devil's thesis!

Anonymous said...

congratulations! I had less than 200, but then I'm a dirty scientist.

It looks pretty thick, so I'm going with 1679

Risa said...

Congratulations!! I guess 1573.

Claudy said...

Congratulations!

1031 is my guess...

Pig wot flies said...

572, cos it's the first number that came into my head. well done!

Restlessmoon said...

Congrats!! Been there,done that!! It really is a "cool you got it done,now what?" time of your life. My guess, 1577.

Anonymous said...

1220!

Maria

Anonymous said...

Totally random guess - 1468

Congratulations that's some achievement!

Andrea said...

Still, seeing your thesis finished must be nice!

My first guess is 512.
My second guess is 648.

Annie said...

Congratulations! What a relief it must be!

I'll guess 1175. What a great contest.

Pig wot flies said...

Guessing again: 2736

Anonymous said...

At first I did not dare to take a guess, but then you asked again so here goes. 2357?

Anonymous said...

OK. Second try. 1897. Sure. Go with that. :)

Anonymous said...

we get a second guess? then my second guess is 1001. either way it's still impressive!

Unknown said...

Whew! Congrats again!
My guess is a random 633

Anonymous said...

My second guess shall be 1362

Love the tea dyeing too!

stebo79 said...

Ohhh purple is for me ;-)

450...... or 789....

LG Steffi

LegalBecca said...

I am guessing a second time because I did cites before, but references would be a lot less-say 696.

Unknown said...

What a great color!

My first guess is 1015.

My second guess is 1448.

Congrats on Interweave Knits!

Anonymous said...

Um, on the above post - I don't know why it says "Prayer Warriors" - I think its something from my brother messing with my computer. Same guesses, name is Danielle.

alicia said...

778. I really hope it is much less than this though...

Noemi said...

That purple is really nice.
I would say 2008. just like that.

Anonymous said...

Second guess: 812.

Congrats again! :)

Knittripps said...

Second guess = 1024

Kathy said...

Because I really want that purple sock yarn I guess 1950.

Katie said...

Congratulations.
I guess 2467, and I also tagged you for a 6 quirky things meme if you want to do it. details are on my blog.

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