KAL Mania, Continued...

It seems that this time of the year is a popular one for KAL's (Knit A-Longs) if the many newly-formed groups on Ravelry are any indication. In my last post I mentioned a couple of KAL groups featuring my scarf patterns, and this week Kathleen Cubley, editor of Interweave Knits' Knitting Daily announced a new cowl KAL, including my Orbs Cowl design as a nominee. 

The Orbs Cowl pattern originally appeared in the Knitscene Accessories 2012 magazine and has been knit in some very lovely and creative variations on Ravelry. 

This little pattern is super easy to knit, and makes a cute accessory in a very short time. Orbs can be worn inside out, downside up, or any way you wish as it is completely reversible! I love the rugged, 3-dimensional chevron texture of the stitches inspired by the rough surface of the moon. If you are interested, you can read more about it in the publication release post here. 

If you don't have the issue of the magazine that the pattern was published in, not to worry! You can download the individual pattern PDF from the Interweave website. 

Knit-A-Longs are a lot of fun; group members encourage each other, answer each others' questions and share project notes as they work together through the pattern. If you'd like to participate, be sure to go to the Knitting Daily post and vote for your favorite pattern to join in the fun. Even if you are not interested in participating, you can still vote and follow along vicariously as others knit.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post today. I wish everyone a terrific weekend and happy stitching!




Modeled photos via Knitscene Magazine

KAL Mania!

I love scarves - they're fun and relatively fast to knit, don't require a huge amount of yarn, and are stylish to boot. This week I was thrilled to learn that both of my scarf patterns have been selected as KAL (knit a- long) choices for two groups on Ravelry.

The Frostlight pattern, shown above, has been chosen by the Malabrigo Junkies Ravelry group as one of the projects for their annual Malabrigo March KAL festivities. 

I'm also happy to have had my Bosc Scarf design chosen as the official March KAL project in Anastasia Wraight's For The Knit of It blog group. Anastasia recently also set up a Ravelry group.

It is an honor to have my designs included in these wonderful groups and I offer my thanks for being selected. 

If you would like to knit along with others, make new friends, receive support and cheer others on in their stitching endeavors I highly encourage you to join in one (or both...) of these opportunities, they're a lot of fun!

Knitting Daily Blog KAL

I always enjoy reading Interweave's Knitting Daily blog, and was thrilled to see that they've opened voting for their next KAL and included my Orbs Cowl pattern, from Knitscene's Accessories 2012 issue, as one of the 4 candidates (the others are all garments) for the knit-along!

I'm so excited to be considered alongside such lovely patterns, and thank Kathleen Cubley, the Knitting Daily editor, and those who decided on the KAL options, for the honor of being considered. 

If you haven't yet checked out the Knitting Daily blog, I think you'll enjoy it. It's informative and free, and after signing in or signing up for a new account, you can read articles, download patterns, and vote for your choice of KAL patterns. Whether or not you decide to join the KAL, I know you'll have a great time.

Thanks for stopping by today, have a great weekend and happy knitting!

Photo, Knittingdaily.com

Getting Loopy - or Knot

Very often, instructions for a cast on begin by telling you to "make a slip knot and place it on the needle," providing the first stitch from which to cast additional stitches, as shown in the photo above.

But did you know you don't necessarily always have to start with a slip knot?  The next time you begin a new knitting project, try simply looping the end of the yarn over the needle.  I almost always use this technique when casting on in long-tail, by starting with the tail end of the yarn in front and the ball end yarn in the back.

Loop the yarn around your fingers as you normally do for long-tail method, hold it down snug over and around the needle, 

add a twist, then make the first cast on stitch and proceed as usual.  

This photo below shows how the loop stitch (on the right) and the first cast on stitch (on the left) look.

Looping the first stitch instead of using a knot is just one tiny way to finesse your knitting; however,  looping the first stitch does not work equally well for all methods so you will want to experiment to see where you like it.  

Speaking of getting loopy, awesome St. Louis, Missouri yarn shop The Loopy Ewe is holding Camp Loopy, a fun KAL version of knitting 'summer camp' with various challenges and rewards.  Some of the Loopy Groopies on Ravelry have chosen to make Sothia for one of their Camp Loopy projects.  Camp runs until July 15th, so there's still time to sign up and join this fun adventure. 

Many thanks to everyone for the abundant well-wishes and congratulations on my first 'blogiversary' post last week, and thanks for all my new Ravelry 'friends' too!

That post outlines the free knitting pattern and yarn give-away contest I am holding all month to celebrate my first year of blogging including some of my patterns, like my newest shawlette pattern Sothia. It's easy to enter, just leave a comment to any post between now and then, and the contest will remain open through July 21st, 2011.  I look forward to hearing from you!

My sister and her family recently visited from far, far away, and since it's been a few months since we've seen each other, we had a lot of catching up to do.   

 

One day during that all-too-short week, we packed into cars and drove over to Beavercreek, Ohio to meet up with my cousin and tour some local tourist sites, mainly centering around the inventors of flight, Dayton brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright.   

The national sites and museums offer a fascinating look at the amazing accomplishment of these men, who were acquaintances of my grandmother!

The Wrights' first endeavors included printing and bicycle building.  

Inspiration for knitting and crochet is all around, if you look for it, even at a historic site...

Take a little time, wherever you are, to really 'see' your surroundings and you will likely find all sorts of shapes, textures, colors and lines to inspire you. 

Autumn Inspiration on the Needles & Hook

This time of year it seems the calendar starts to fly by.  Wasn't it just hot as blazes?  Now the air is cool and crisp with curls of woodsmoke rising from chimneys, mornings are frosty and I'm in the mood for warm, woolie things to wear.  I've winnowed down my works-in-progress (WIP's), but still have a lot going on.

This morning I went to one of my favorite nearby parks and took this photo.

The silvery-frosted leaves and berries against the backdrop of golds, greens and oranges made me want to get stitching!  I went home and dug through my stash to find several candidates but the winner was, hands down, a skein of Noro Kureyon Sock yarn in colorway S242.  

It seems Eisaku Noro must have a penchant for these same shades of Autumn as I have.

I've used the Kureyon Sock to start a crocheted shawlette called Elise Shawl  by designer Evan Plevinski.  This photo shows his shawl, mine is shown in the photos above and at the top of the post.

After the set-up rows, the pattern is a simple two-row repeat worked from the neck down, using only basic crochet stitches like double and triple crochet.  I'm working it with a US size I hook. Fast and fun so far!

Also on my needles are a gazillion prototypes for a hat to match my Lavande neckwarmer pattern, 

a cardigan, from another designer, left over from my vacation (more details when I have photos to share) and a couple of versions of this pattern project.

I'm also playing around with yarns for a variation on the Greyhaven cowl.  And I am excited to announce...

...that Greyhaven was voted as the November knitalong free pattern project for the Ravelry Cowls group!  Thanks to everyone who voted for this pattern.  By the way, I uploaded a new version of the pattern on November 1st, 2010, so if you downloaded one before that date, go ahead and grab a new one. 

This cowl KAL will be going on all month, so it's not too late to join if you still want to.  Some members have already completed multiple versions and are still casting on for more, many looking ahead to making holiday gifts. 

As for KAL's, the Ravelry Anthropologie group Brandywine Falls KAL will continue for quite awhile, so there's plenty of time to join in on that one too.  

This week when I stopped at the post office to pick up my mail, I had a surprise package waiting from my very talented, Chicago-based Ravelry buddy Loren (Twisted1 on Ravelry).  It contained some awesome birthday goodies including cute project gift tags, a Vogue stitch pattern calendar, and most especially this gorgeous scarf she knit for me!

Loren has been working a lot lately with Jane Thornley's amazing tutorials using color and texture in multiple yarns, and designed this scarf herself and titled it Ephemera.  Thank you so much Loren, I love it!  You're so thoughtful! 

Happy stitching everyone!

The Wool Festival at Taos

Yarnie heaven. That's what my visit to The Wool Festival at Taos (WFT), the coolest fiber fest in the west, felt like.  

Presented by the Mountain and Valley Wool Association since 1984, and always held the first full weekend in October, this festival delights in many ways.  

WFT is large enough to offer a dazzling array of fiber and related goodies, and small enough to allow you to enjoy thoroughly checking out each and every booth before exhaustion sets in.  This is truly a knitting and spinning paradise.

The set up in festival venue Kit Carson Park, in the heart of historic Taos, New Mexico, is ideal with vendors' tents ringing the tree-shaded park, and information, meet-up and refreshment tents grouped in the center.  

 

Although crowds were thick later in the day, shopping was a breeze when we arrived at opening time of 9 AM.  The full-fever pitch of a true fiber frenzy had not yet been reached, but you could feel it brewing in the atmosphere as shoppers dashed from booth to booth to get the best choice of merchandise. 

Vendors, many of whom are from New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and California, were relaxed and friendly, even the staff working the crowded tents at Brooks Farm, Elsawool and other popular sellers.  

 

Sixty-eight vendors exhibited wool and exotic spinning fibers, handspun, millspun and hand-dyed yarn, woven, knitted and felted finished garments, rugs, hats, sheepskin shoes and accessories, hand-made wood fiber tools, buttons, jewelry, body products, and so many other wonderful things I can't begin to list them all here. 

 

 

An entertainment and competition stage, fiber animal pens, workshops, silent auction, fashion show and technique demonstrations rounded out the offerings.  

You know I can't resist the animals, including this mama alpaca and her cria.

These sheep, in a large pen, swirled and flocked together in a tight clump.

I loved the hand-dyed yarn at Royal Fibers Spinnery.

I would've bought cartloads of wool if I could have!  But in the end my pocketbook dictated that I be choosy, so I selected some things I haven't tried before including: Brooks Farm Mas Acero in a grey-brown mix;

 

cushy Elsawool worsted weight, woolen spun Cormo in soft grey;

and some cool natural stone buttons.

A favorite part of this year's festival was getting to meet many fellow Ravelry members, including founder Mary-Heather Cogar (seen taking a photo in the Ravelry meet-up tent below).

Mary-Heather (Rainydaygoods on Ravelry) is such a nice person, and she did a super job of conversing with complete strangers for hours, always with a friendly smile.

The festival's site in the heart of Taos is surrounded by streets lined with intriguing galleries, shops and restaurants, making it easy to walk to a small cafe for lunch and check out a few of the local shops.  

Across the street from the cafe was La Lana Wools, renowned for their gorgeous, naturally-dyed fibers.  

I loved Common Thread (big Indian dude notwithstanding, LOL), a specialty shop offering silks and exotic fabrics by the yard.

Displays were pure eye candy.

In the same block as the fabric store is Weaving Southwest, a large, airy space in this area of tiny boutiques.  

Filled with floor-to-ceiling shelves bursting with yarn, hand-woven rugs, giant looms, knitting tools, and racks of finished knitted and crocheted items, this well-laid-out store delights fiber artists of all sorts.  

 

 

The front of the shop held large boxes of wool, silk, mohair and alpaca yarns at amazing clearance prices of $5 and $8 per 100 gr. skein.

 

The Taos area is, of course, famous for many other things not limited to spectacular scenery, charming southwest atmosphere, outdoor pursuits like cycling, hiking, river rafting and rock climbing, and the Taos Pueblo.  

In fact, because there were so many wonderful sights, smells, sounds and other treats for the senses that I cannot possibly relate them all here, I highly  recommend any knitter, spinner or weaver consider the Wool Festival at Taos for a fiber holiday some year soon, and discover the wonders of Taos for themselves.  

And just one teensy, non-Taos-related note before I close this long post, I am absolutely thrilled to bits that my new free pattern, Greyhaven, has been nominated in the Ravelry Cowls Group for their November knitalong!

Voting closes this weekend, so if you are interested in participating in the KAL, please pop into the group and vote for your favorite pattern in the November KAL thread.  

That's it for now, new knitting projects and recipes coming up soon.  Until then, peace, blessings and happy stitching!