Wednesday Woolgatherings + Pattern Giveaway Winners

Welcome to my new post category, Wednesday Woolgatherings, a collection of odds and ends, news and details that don't seem to fit into any other specific category.

It's amazing how quickly a week goes by, especially when I'm frantically digging out from under mountains of laundry and unpacking from my recent New Mexico trip, helping my husband transition to a new job, and catching up on work and communications among many other things! 

I've read that we should 'live in the moment' to help time go by more slowly, but honestly, I'm not sure I want some moments to linger. Perhaps I can perform my main full-time job, squeak in some knitting and knit designing, and still maintain a little time for those lingering moments of joy too, but it just seems some weeks are busier than others and I'm glad when they are over. I do, however, feel pretty good about that pile of clean laundry, and have celebrated by pouring myself a cup of tea.

While traveling, I was able to knit like crazy on projects for my next few pattern releases (including the one in the Wednesday Woolgatherings photo), more details on those soon...

But now, I want to announce the winners for the Amethiste shawlette free pattern giveaway. 

I am thrilled to give free patterns to these winners (who all answered my question about what knitters wished designers would change/ improve/ include in every pattern), chosen at random by the random number generator:

1. Slmiller8 who wished for schematics with clear and understandable details.
2. Russty who wished for large charts with an accompanying key.
3. Hanna who wished for clear charts & instructions for non-native English speakers.

The winners have until the end of the month to contact me here or via Ravelry with their information so I can send them the prize pattern.

Thanks to all my readers for the wonderful, insightful answers to my question; it's so interesting to read your input, especially where it contrasts with others' input (and thank you also for the kind comments on Amethiste, they really made my day). 

I've removed and saved all the comments to a special file and look forward to writing about them here in a future post.

I wish to send a big thank you to Kate of the Hello Knitty blog. 

Kate kindly asked if she could interview me for her readers; my answers to her questions can be found here.

I've been editing photos like crazy, including the yarn photo at the top of the post (taken at the Wool Festival at Taos). Many of the photos are from my trip and other recent events, and I'll have much to post about soon. Until then, thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!


 
Tea photo: http://pinterest.com/pin/198510296045553325/

Sarah's Beautiful Bosc Scarf

It's impossible to keep up with most of the projects knit from my patterns that get posted on Ravelry but every now and then I get a chance to peruse the latest project posts in my designs.  

This is how I recently happened across a lovely version of my Bosc Scarf pattern by Sarah Owens of the Yarnie Me blog aka Sarahsplace on Ravelry.

In her blog post and Ravelry project notes, Sarah mentions that she is a newer lace knitter - wow! I would never have guessed it if she didn't say so. 

One of my favorite things about the Bosc Scarf and Hat designs is that the cable and lace stitches are really very simple to knit but produce a result that looks impressive. Some of my test knitters even referred to it as 'potato chip' knitting because they just wanted to keep going! Yum, potato chips...

And speaking of yummy, Sarah knit her scarf in Malabrigo Merino Worsted in a delicious natural creamy color. Her scarf looks so pretty and cozy that I just want to curl up in it.  

Congratulations Sarah, on doing such a beautiful job, and thanks for the nice project post. 

I wish I knew about all the lovely projects in my designs that are posted on blogs or mentioned on podcasts, so if you do one of your own, or come across a mention on the internet, I'd be so appreciative if you dropped me a note so I can check it out. Whether you are new like Sarah, or more experienced, my readers are all super nice people and so very talented. I love to show off the gorgeous things you make, so please don't be shy!

Amethiste Pattern Giveaway

There's still time to enter the drawing to win one of 3 free Amethiste shawl PDF patterns in my giveaway contest! 

Details are outlined in this post. 

In another post soon, I plan to share a few of the beautiful Amethiste's already made by readers, including some by my talented test knitters.

That's it for today, peace blessings and much happy knitting to you!

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 - Amethiste

Today I am happy to introduce you to Amethiste, a simply pretty shawl with an unfussy character (or at least I think so!).

Amethiste is a fun project to knit as well as being a versatile shawl to wear, with the wide triangle shape easily draping over the shoulders or around the neck in a variety of stylish ways. This versatility is exactly why I love a wide triangle shawl shape. 

Knit from the top down in a choice of two sizes, this design is excellent for  knitters with a little lace experience but who are looking to move on to something more than a scarf. The shape, size and open edgings use very little yardage, showcasing just one or two skeins of special fingering weight yarn - perfect for that cashmere you've been hoarding.

I knit several prototypes in different yarns, but the main pattern projects were knit in Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering (small shawlette in purple), and Fiber Optic Footnotes (larger shawl in gray), both wonderful options.

The little bit of cashmere added to the Primo lends an incredible softness and extra drape that I love. This little shawlette used just under 385 yards, or almost the entire skein.

The Footnotes is wonderful to knit with and has such a beautifully subtle variety of color with hints of purple peeking out here and there from what looks at first glance like pewter gray. This larger shawl size used less than two skeins.

I've also knit several other versions (a couple of which are still being blocked and photographed), with the shawlette shown below knit in Madelinetosh Tosh Sock.

If you've read my most recent post, you know that this design was inspired by my appreciation for the beauty of natural gems and crystals, including the purple amethyst like this geode specimen.

Beyond the wide triangle shape already mentioned, the basic parameters for the pattern were a solid stitch base bordered by one or more lace edgings (I settled on two). Also, it had to be relatively easy and fast to knit but not boring.

The various shapes, planes and facets of the gems prompted my selection of many, many possibilities of stitch combinations, requiring weeks of swatching, and eventually leading me to these choices.

The pattern begins with a simple stockinette section followed by easy lace patterns that flow smoothly from one into the other. 

Both written & charted instructions and plentiful photos are included to make the knitting a breeze.

And... I can finally share my newest secret fun project! This was somewhat of a juggling act between art and technique as I wanted to have a little fun and bring in some artistic sensibility without losing too much in the way of information. You may be surprised by this little movie as it is quite a departure from any knitting video I've seen.

I enlisted the technical aid of my husband and I believe we managed to strike a balance in the middle of information and atmosphere. We certainly learned a lot and had fun creating this together which is an important thing too.

So without further ado, I wish to introduce the 'world premiere' (said completely tongue-in-cheek of course, lol) of...

 

A Robin Ulrich Studio 
Demonstration Film 

 featuring 

  

the
 Garter Tab Foundation Cast On Method 
for 

AMETHISTE

 

And by the way, Youtube doesn't allow you to choose just any cover shot for the video and the 3 options they selected were pretty boring. If anyone has any suggestions or experience with overriding to choose a good cover shot for a video, I'd love to have your input! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today everyone, I hope you enjoy our little film and wish you much peace, blessing and happy knitting!