Happy Fall!

Autumn has finally arrived, and very welcome it is too, after the heatwave endured by most of the country this summer. So it is with much enthusiasm that I post this greeting card to you for this lovely season! 

I took the above photo at the Country Living Fair and I'll share many more photos from this and another fun event soon.

If you haven't yet entered the drawing for a free copy of my latest pattern release, Amethiste, please do.

Even if you don't wish to enter the drawing, I'd still love to hear your thoughts. 

I wish everyone a wonderful week and a very happy fall season!

New Knitting Pattern - Frostlight Scarf

Our winter has been unusually warm and free of snow, not that I'm complaining! Even without snow though, there is a delightful chill in the air that makes me want to relax with a cup of hot tea and knit by a warm fire. I love how winter's cold makes me want to snuggle up in cozy knits, including scarves.

Recently one morning I took photos of a spectacular sunrise, the rays of the breaking dawn sparkling through exquisite frost crystals along a wooden railing. 

Crystallization on the railing created strong lines

and ribs along the natural grooves in the wood.

Nature's stunning display inspired my latest design, the Frostlight scarf.

Definition in the lines of frost, highlighted along the railing, influenced my selection of a strongly-vertical, rib and eyelet stitch to reflect the motif of grooves and ridges. I also wanted the stitch to be super-simple and easy to knit on the go, but not terribly boring.

Malabrigo Merino Worsted was chosen for the main pattern yarn although I knit several of these scarves in other yarns that I liked as well.

The Frostlight scarf shown below was knit in a luscious orange-red yarn from Fiber Optic. I'll have better pics and more details on this and other versions in an upcoming post.

Knit in an appropriate color, this design might make a nice project for a man or woman. Stylish, optional fringes at each end provide graceful movement and are an easy way to add variety to the simple design.

As usual, this pattern has been test knit extensively by some wonderful knitters including Laurie, Tam and Gail - thank you!!

My tech editor for this design was none other than Greentrianglegirl on Ravelry, aka A Playful Day podcaster. This talented podcaster and blogger writes feature pieces for both online and print publications and has considerable experience in copy editing and social media development, as well as being a terrific knitter, foodie and multi-crafter. She made valuable contributions to the pattern, including proofreading for style and errors and suggesting wording and placement of text, helping make the instructions easy to follow and hopefully, one of my best patterns yet.

Another exciting new venture for me is the release of tutorial videos featuring techniques that I hope will be helpful in knitting this and other patterns.

The first video demonstrates a method for working a reverse yarn over, a trick which helps equalize the size of your yarn overs when they follow a purl and precede a knit stitch, or as in the case of Frostlight, a slip, slip, knit. 

The second video offers instructions for making and adding fringe to your knitted projects.

I'm a very quiet person, so the decision to 'appear' (even though only my hands show, lol) on video and speak on camera was a big one and kind of nerve-wracking for me! However, I am a teacher at heart and I wanted to utilize video potential as a teaching tool.

We have only a still camera with short video capability, and the camera was sitting as close to my shoulder as possible, so I'd still like to find a way to angle the camera directly overhead.

My wonderful husband was a patient director and camera operator, helping me edit take after take for brevity and clarity, and I believe I only 'umm'ed once, so perhaps it's not too bad of a start. 

Frostlight is available for download here on the blog or through Ravelry.com, and is currently being offered for free.

If you choose to knit a Frostlight scarf, I'd love to see your photos! I hope you enjoy the pattern, and thanks for visiting my online studio today, I appreciate every reader. Peace, blessings and happy knitting to you!
 

No Tricks, Just Treats - Pattern Sale, Free Knitting Pattern & Yarn Giveaway

No tricks here today, just treats! Today is the last day of my birthday knitting pattern sale and free pattern & yarn giveaway.

Until midnight tonight, EST, all Robin Ulrich Studio download patterns (except Katriel) will be 20% off, and my newest pattern, Katriel, is 50% off. One note - in order to receive the special 50% discount on Katriel, the shopping cart requires that pattern to be purchased separately from the other patterns.

And finally, since it's my birthday, 

 

 

I'm giving away a FREE PATTERN & YARN in a contest for all my followers!

The prizes for this contest include a PDF copy of Katriel (or other pattern of your choice if you've already purchased Katriel) and some yarny awesomeness to include four skeins of Misti Alpaca Lace in a lovely, silvery-lavender color (this is a total of 1748 yards!),

and a skein of hand-dyed Neighborhood Fiber Co. worsted weight, luminous silk yarn.

Like the pattern download sale, the yarn and pattern giveaway contest will run through midnight EST, tonight, October 31st. A winner will be chosen tomorrow, November 1st, by random number generator from amongst all the entries. See the rules for entering in this post: Birthday Contest.

Even if you don't wish to enter the contest, I always love to hear from readers, so feel free to leave me a comment anyway. 

I'll choose the winner tomorrow and announce their name in the next post (this week), and also notify them of their win. The winner will have 7 days from the time of the announcement post to let me know where to send the prizes. 

Good luck and happy knitting!

 

Rhinebeck Review - aka New York State Sheep & Wool Festival

At long last, I had the opportunity to visit the famed New York State Sheep & Wool Festival (commonly referred to as "Rhinebeck" because of it's location), as the first part of our vacation this year.  

Having read endless raves and reviews of past years' shows, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect - barns full of magnificent yarn, fiber and knitting and spinning supplies, fleece and fiber-animal competitions, workshops, people, food, food and more food, and lots of fun. On every item, Rhinebeck fulfilled those expectations, but I had some reservations as well. 

We arrived about 30 minutes prior to the show opening on Saturday, and had plenty of good parking choices near a secondary gate. After sitting in the car knitting for a while, we purchased wristbands for entry - $17 for a two-day pass - and joined the growing queue.

 

The fairgrounds where the show is held are clean, beautifully landscaped and easy to navigate.

The autumn trees are lovely and there are food opportunities everywhere from the giant building full of food and wine vendors

to local 4-H kids raising funds, to fair-type food like cotton candy.

A fun part of the show for me was meeting up with my knitting friends Lynn, shown here in the Brooks Farm booth,

and Andrea, a workshop teacher at this year's event.

I kept a sharp eye on Ravelry badges, hoping to see names from my friends list, but was disappointed to not find any Rav friends. However, in the photo below are a few Ravelry designer faces (and backsides), including Ysolda Teague, Stephen West and others.

Muddy fields and parking lots, hard pavement and changing weather conditions mean comfortable shoes and layered clothing are a must.

Of course, knits were everywhere to be seen and a favorite part of the experience for me was admiring all the hard work displayed by thousands of knitters.

The only unpleasant part of the show for me was from about 12-2 PM on Saturday, when the buildings became so crowded that you were literally pushed along with a solid mass of people. Stopping to look or enter a booth was difficult, and I was concerned for mobility-challenged folks with walkers, and for  those pushing baby strollers.

Lines to have knitting books signed by the author were long, with one of the longest being to meet Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot.

This photo was taken on Sunday when things were much calmer.

Of course for knitters, the fiber and yarn were the stars of the show and there was something there to tempt every taste. I especially loved selections from Briar Rose (always a favorite),

 
Spirit Trail Fiberworks, and The Sanguine Gryphon

It seems I'm also smitten with this skein of gray Miss Babs Yummy Sock yarn - what a surprise...

There are other interesting things to peruse in addition to fiber, like jewelry, baskets and farmer's market apples.

  
A pumpkin-carving expert displayed some creative items.

I saved the animals for Sunday so I could really take my time to enjoy interacting with them. A large part of the show is centered around fiber animal competitions and there were plentiful opportunities to touch the animals,

learn about them,

 
watch them being prepared for showing,

and competing with their handlers.

 
This little goat was so friendly and sweet.

My husband and I had a wonderful time and I look forward to visiting again sometime. Although it was a terrific show, for me it is not a yearly 'must-do' event, as there are so many other great fiber events held around the US that I'd like to visit. But Rhinebeck is certainly one I will keep on my list.

Celebrating My Birthday with Free Knitting Giveaway Treats!

My how time flies! I've been busy with other things, including knitting, writing patterns, submitting designs and babying my ancient computer, and it's suddenly the end of the first week of October? Criminy.  I realize I've not posted in about the longest stretch ever for me although I have, in fact, worked on several posts and will share those soon. (photo Marthastewart.com)

The changing season reminded me that later this month is my birthday. And lest you think I'm still young enough to believe the passage of time a wonderful thing, think again my friend. 

No, I'm not young (or old depending on your perspective) but I've come to love a birthday as a personal anniversary, or new year celebration of sorts, that marks our individual arrival on earth, when we began filling a place in the world that only you or I can fill.

It allows us to look back on life in the last year, remembering joys, challenges, love, failures and growth, reflect on goals from the calendar New Year and think about how we want the next 12 months to play out - perhaps differently than the last dozen.

A birthday is not another day nearer to death, after all, we're dying every second of every day, with no guarantees of even another minute in this life. Rather, I see a birthday as an opportunity to make the most of this moment, to get another 'do-over' and have a fresh start. To hopefully be a better person than I was last year.

In the US, it's customary for a birthday child to bring treats to school to share with classmates, often consisting of cookies, cupcakes or other edibles. Because my birthday is at the end of October, I usually brought fresh apple cider and doughnuts.

Always cake doughnuts, because those were my parents' favorites and because they were easy to tie to a string and hang for a children's speed-eating game. 

To this day, the fragrance of cinnamon, apples and doughnuts make me think of my birthday treats. And in honor of my birthday month, I'm again giving away goodies, and you all are invited to my party.

No tricks here, it's time for pattern discounts and yarn and knitting pattern giveaway treats!

First of all, for the rest of the month of October, all Robin Ulrich Studio download patterns (except Katriel) will be 20% off. The special birthday price will post automatically when you make your selection in the shopping cart.

Next, my brand-new pattern, Katriel, will be 50% off!

 

And lastly, I'm giving away a FREE PATTERN & YARN in a contest for all my followers!

The prizes for this contest include a PDF copy of Katriel (or other pattern of your choice if you've already purchased Katriel) and some yarny awesomeness to include four skeins of Misti Alpaca Lace in a lovely, silvery-lavender color (this is a total of 1748 yards!),

and a skein of hand-dyed Neighborhood Fiber Co. worsted weight, luminous silk yarn.

Like the pattern download sale, the yarn and pattern giveaway contest will run all month through midnight, EST on October 31st. A winner will be chosen November 1st by random number generator from amongst all the entries, and anyone can enter by doing three things:

1.  Be or become a follower on my blog (the button to link is on the sidebar). 
2.  Leave a comment to any post this month answering the question - what yarn weight do you prefer (it can be different for each) for accessories like hats, fingerless gloves and scarves? - before the end date of the contest.
3. Make sure I can contact you via your blog or other site to let you know the news of your win, or message me on Ravelry (I'm Truknit) or on Twitter (I'm Robinulrich) with your contact information.

That's it! I'll announce the winner here in the next post after the contest ends, and also contact you, to let you know if you've won. The winner will have 7 days from the time of the announcement post to let me know where to send the prizes!

Have a terrific weekend and happy knitting everyone!