Snuggling up with Sothia

I love winter (OK, I like it for a limited period of time, say... 6 weeks). I love snow and winter sports and most especially, I love knitting cozy projects I can bundle up in during cold weather. 

In the northern hemisphere we're now just about halfway through meteorological winter and I've mostly been knitting fingerless mitts that will eventually become a pattern. I've also been contemplating a yarn choice for knitting a new Sothia shawl - it's such a cozy, snuggly project I like to have on my lap on a cold evening. 


Whatever you are knitting right now, I hope you are staying warm and cozy. Thanks for stopping by today, have a great weekend!

Inspired By - Sand & Surf

A sunny beach with warm sand and sparkling surf seem so quintessentially summer that when I saw this knitter's beautiful Sand & Surf Sothia on Ravelry, I thought it was great inspiration for a post as we hold on to these last warm days near summer's end.  

Although our climate is temperate we do get a few weeks of summer heat, mostly during July and August. Even during hot weather though, I often reach for a knitted item to warm exposed skin in air conditioned settings, and I especially love a light shawl to cozy up with on cooler evenings.

I love this summer-y version of Sothia, knit in sand and aqua colors by Ravelry member tannastanley. 

 

The daughter of Tanna's friend was recently married in a gorgeous country wedding and Tanna's post on her blog The Brick Street Bungalow showcases many photos of the event, including several of her wearing her beautiful shawl.
 

I wish everyone a wonderful week and I offer many thanks for the inspiration Tanna!












Beach photos are linked from my Breeze Pinterest board.

Monday's Muse

Inspiration for creating can strike me at any time or place, but I admit to being very influenced by certain things, especially nature, architecture and art. One place where I find connection to these elements, when I catch a few minutes for a short break from work here and there throughout my day, is on the Pinterest.com website. Great diligence is required in keeping to the idea of short since gorgeous photos and inspiration abound on that site and it's easy to get lost in the beauty!

I've been on a bit of a white kick lately, but that seems to be waning as this week's 'muse' has been inspired by dusky twilight tones like that of the lovely blue-gray Plucky Bulky yarn shown above.

Here are a few other favorite photos from my Pinterest pins.

 

  

Last weekend I also happened upon Taylor's (Nightmorning on Ravelry) latest Sothia shawl, knit in Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light, colorways Nebula & Graphite.

This knitter has made five gorgeous Sothia shawls, equalling my total! Another of her lovely versions is this one in colorways Georgia & Cove. 

Taylor certainly has a wonderful talent for combining colors.

What have you been inspired by lately? 





Photo links via Pinterest.

Loopy Love

The US is full of wonderful yarn shops, some right here in central Ohio and many others I've been lucky enough to visit during my travels. But it's pretty impressive when any one shop can stand out from the crowd and develop a following of fans from throughout the US and beyond, as is the case with The Loopy Ewe in Fort Collins, CO. 

Although I've not yet had the chance to visit, I've become familiar with the shop online through an excellent internet presence via their website www.theloopyewe.com, Facebook, Twitter and of course, Ravelry. 

Owner Sheri and her "Loopy Elves" (store staff) run a bustling destination yarn shop bursting with a huge selection of goodies for fiber fans. The shop website offers much of their merchandise online, and even has a live web cam so you can see the action every day - I love this idea. 

The shop's Ravelry group, The Loopy Groupies, has grown to be one of the largest groups on the site, offering everyone a chance to feel as if they are part of the friendly culture of the LYS. The group's annual "Camp Loopy" KAL is a big draw for Ravelry knitters.

Of course I was thrilled when I heard from my pal designer Tina Sanders (thanks for the notice Tina & Cheryl!) that The Loopy Ewe blog had a post featuring many lovely shawls their customers had knit from my Sothia pattern for Camp Loopy! 

I was happy to have such a terrific shop feature my design and blown away by the many gorgeous color and yarn combinations Sothia had been knit in, including this beautiful version by Sheri.

You can read the full Inspiration: Focus on Sothia post if you get a chance. And thank you to Sheri and everyone at The Loopy Ewe, you have also inspired me in many ways.

Have a great weekend everyone, I'm preparing for a trip so I'll be away from the blog for a bit but will have much to share when I return. I'll also be announcing the winners of the Amethiste shawl pattern giveaway contest then too!

FO - Shawlette Part Two

Some readers may remember when, earlier this summer, I mentioned I had four FO's but ended up posting only two shawl projects (a solid and a striped version of the Sothia shawlette) and wondered where the heck the other two were.

I originally had two ideas for this shawlette in garter stitch stripes.  The question at the time was, which design should I use?  Answer - both! I decided I would publish Sothia first, and save the second version for later, to publish after wrapping up some other things this summer.  

The yarn used for the pattern design is the same as for Sothia - Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light fingering weight yarn.  

The wide, shallow triangle shape remains, but the light, delicate knitted-on picot edging gives a substantially different look and feel to the piece from the deeply draping ruffle of Sothia. 

I love these little shawlettes and have worn them a lot since I made them.  They are easy to throw on with any top, and add a nice splash of color near the face.  Sorry for the crummy photos, but it was getting late when I shot them, I'll have better ones in the pattern release post soon.  Pattern is currently being test knit!

Beach Glass

Designing new projects is always a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work and I enjoy knitting other people's designs from time to time, especially in the summer when it's nice to slow down a bit and enjoy the season.  So I was thrilled to have the opportunity to test knit a new pattern for my blogging friend Diana.  

You may remember the fabulous job Diana did on my Sothia shawl test knit recently, 

and I love being able to knit her new design, shown on her Ravelry project page as Green Tulips.

I started later than most of the other testers so my shawl is not very large yet but I'm trying to make up some ground and hope to finish a lot of it this weekend.

Further delay was caused because I originally began this project with a vastly different lace yarn in pure alpaca.  The original yarn, which (because I intend to only publish positive reviews on this blog) shall remain nameless, caused me so much aggravation that I spent hours on just a few inches before I ripped it from the needles and started over again this week with something pulled from my stash. 

The new yarn is an unknown wool/ angora/ nylon  purchased at a wool festival last autumn from a vendor who imports closeouts from Russia.  

This yarn is terrific with great texture that is not overly soft or fuzzy, and it has wonderful stitch definition .  

The vendor only had one color available, a shade of aqua that reminds me of the sea glass I collect from trips to the beach.

I am really enjoying knitting this beautiful shawl, thank you Diana!  The pattern is easy to follow and clear, and the charts are excellent.  The stitch pattern is very large and slightly asymmetric so it took a few rows to get the rhythm, but now I am zooming right along and loving every minute.  

A 'favorite thing' I have been using for this project and that I must share with you is one of my favorite tools for chart knitting - highlighter tape.  

Found at some LYS, office supply stores, or in the school supply section of large stores, this semi-transparent tape comes in many colors, and can be adhered, lifted and moved over and over again as you progress through the chart, allowing you to easily see which row you are knitting and at the same time, where you have been and what is coming next.  

I usually put my paper pattern into a plastic sleeve then position the tape so that it covers the rows yet to be knitted and my current row is uncovered, just below the tape.  Then I move the tape up as I progress.  

I hope this tape tip makes your knitting just a little simpler and more fun.  And don't forget about my blogiversary free knitting pattern and yarn giveaway contest going on until July 21st, 2011, detailed in this post.

Look for Diana's new pattern to be released within a few weeks, I know you will love it!  

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. 

Blogiversary Yarn & Pattern Giveaway Contest!

Today marks the first 'blogiversary' for Robin Ulrich Studio the blog.  One goal I had when I began blogging was to post at least 4 times per month and I've mostly exceeded that.  Another goal was to hopefully have at least 1,000 page views within one year, and I've been amazed that this page has been viewed over 26,000 times by visitors from 100 different nations! 

As I've occasionally mentioned, I put off the idea of starting a blog for a very long time for several reasons, the main one being that I am a very quiet, simple person. But I wanted to find a way to journal our family's day-to-day activities and adventures, share works-in-progress, finished objects and patterns, look at new yarns, ideas and techniques and provide a way for my curious, non-knitting family and friends to get a picture of my favorite interests.

I also liked the idea of another outlet for my passion for fibery things - I can talk about knitting, spinning, crocheting, designing and other related arts all day long, and I even dream about those things as well.

And lastly, since I know only a few knitters in person, I thought this might be a fun way to connect with fellow enthusiasts. Through the past year I've had the opportunity to 'meet' many lovely knitters and readers, discover wonderful bloggers and designers, dabble in my interest in photography, brush up on writing skills, and explore so much more in the world of knitting.  

To celebrate this milestone, I'm holding a give-away contest!  The prize will include (of course) yarn including Cascade's Kid Seta super kid mohair/ silk blend,

Crystal Palace's Kid Merino,

and Claudia Hand Painted Yarns' Short Sport.

In addition to the yarn I am adding free copies of a few of my patterns including the Brandywine Falls capelet, Lingonberry Loop scarf, and my new shawlette pattern, Sothia. 

It's easy to enter the contest, here's how:

• Be a member of Ravelry (it's free, educational and fun!).
• Add me to your Ravelry 'Friends' list (if we aren't already friends).
• Leave a comment to any post on or before July 21st, 2011.

Only one entry is necessary to participate, and each individual's name shall be entered into the drawing only once, regardless of number of comments received.

That's it!  Using a random selector, I will draw one name from all those entered to win the whole kit and caboodle of prizes.  I will announce your name in a post on this blog, after which the winner can contact me via a Ravelry message with their mailing address within 7 days, and I will add the patterns to your Ravelry pattern library and ship your prize to you!  International entries are welcome. 

Thanks everyone for a fantastic year, I appreciate your taking time to read my blog and leave comments.  I've got lots of fun posts planned including yarn and needle reviews, WIP updates, pattern sneak peeks, wool festivals, techniques, and much more.  I look forward to many more posts of knitting together!