Diamond Collection

I have a new collection out, just in time for holiday knitting! I am thrilled to introduce you to the Diamond Collection. This collection contains 3 patterns available separately, or at a discount as an e-book.

The first and easiest pattern in this collection is Centenary, named for one of the largest diamonds ever unearthed. This fully reversible scarf is surprisingly beginner friendly, consisting entirely of knits and purls with no shaping at all.

The second pattern in the collection is Orlov, named for a diamond in the Russian crown jewels. Appropriate for intermediate knitters, this is actually quite a fast little pattern if you’ve knit gloves before. Ideal for a last minute gift!

The final and most adventurous pattern in this collection is Koh-i-Noor, named for a diamond in the UK crown jewels. This giant, super-slouchy beret will keep your head and ears toasty warm all winter long.

If you’re looking for a luxurious matching gift set to give this season, or just something beautiful to keep yourself warm, I hope you’ll indulge in the Diamond Collection!

GAL Starts Tomorrow Night!!!

At 8pm EST tomorrow, the 3rd annual Gift-a-Long officially starts! I’m so excited!!!

There are 335 designers participating this year, including me. That’s absolutely amazing. There are also more prizes than I’ve ever seen before. The GAL hasn’t even officially started yet, and the -along threads are already getting longer by the minute!

I have 15 of my own patterns discounted for the sale period this year, and ALL of my paid patterns are eligible for prizes if you post about them in one of the -along threads.

Of course, I’m already starting to prowl the list of eligible designs for my own holiday knitting purposes. I’m excited about the number of big-time designers participating, but I do think I’ll find some unknown newbie to buy from, just because I like “discovering” new talent.

Are you participating in the GAL? What are you most excited about?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy “Do I get to pinch you?” Day, as my students seem to think of it. As you’ve probably seen in my previous posts, I have plenty of Irish heritage. However, St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S. is arguably not much about Ireland anymore, if it ever was. The kids and I did celebrate today though, with plenty of green and shamrocks. Hubby and I will also celebrate tonight with some Netflix and a pint of Irish red he brewed up for the occasion.

Because I teach elementary school, the above sweater won out over my traditional Aran today. Sadly that may be the closest thing to knitting I get today, judging by the number of papers I have left to grade tonight. I am busily working away at two upcoming designs though, neither of which are quite ready for sharing yet. So in lieu of sneak peeks, here is some green from my garden!

“One More Row” and Other Lies

You know those little things we tell ourselves about crafting? Or perhaps you tell them to your loved ones. Those things we swear we mean in the moment, but we all know in reality aren’t ever going to actually happen. Here are my top 10. What are yours?

1. One more row.

I should really get to bed. Just one more row. Man, if I don’t work out soon it’s going to be too late to get any exercise in today. Just let me do one more row. Sure honey, I’ll go take out the trash. After I knit one more row.

2. I’m only going to knit from stash.

I have so much yarn it is overflowing my stash cubicles. There has to be enough in there to last through the yarnpocalypse. So how is it I don’t have any yarn for this project I’ve chosen?

Seriously.

3. This isn’t nearly enough knitting for this trip.

Yes, I’m only going to be gone a weekend. Yes, I will be driving for most of it, and unable to knit. Yes, I am only 25% done with this sweater. But what if I finish it?

4. I don’t need to swatch for this.

I’ve knit patterns like this a million times. I’ve knit with this yarn before. I’m sure it’ll fit fine.

5. I’m just going to hold onto this amazing skein until the perfect pattern comes along.

There is no perfect pattern. Perfect patterns do not exist. Besides, I like sweaters but somehow decided it would be brilliant to buy ONE skein. I have bought yarn art. I should just give up and put it on display as is.

6. I’m not a good enough knitter to do ____________.

Cables? Lace? Colorwork? I can’t do that. Sure, I’m perfectly smart in a dozen other arenas, I know 47 knitters who would be happy to give me tips, and the internet is a big, big place with lots of tutorials and videos. Yeah sure, the LYS offers lessons on this very topic. But I can’t buy this beautiful pattern I’m lusting over. I can’t do cables.

Nope.

7. Everyone will notice that mistake.

Did I notice the mistake in my knitting bestie’s new sweater? Or the mistake in that lady’s hat at knit night? Has anyone ever commented on the dozens of mistakes in the photos I’ve no doubt posted on this blog? But this tiny, insignificant mistake on the sole of my sock? Everyone is going to notice. And they will all point and laugh.

8. No one will notice that mistake.

Ah, the other half of the lie. Okay, no one else will notice that little mistake I just found 98 rounds back in this sweater. But I will. I will notice every. single. time I wear the blasted thing. And I will cry. A lot.

9. I can totally knit and wear this whole sweater before it gets warm.

It is March 5, and I’ve never knit an entire sweater in less than a month. This one is also heavily cabled, tunic-length, and extremely warm. But I can totally get some use out of it before the weather turns. This sweater is special.

10. I will knit ALL of my presents!

Because I totally have time for that. And besides, everybody loves unsolicited hand-knits!

Maybe I should stick to cookies.

2014 Reflections

It is now after dark and almost time to start thinking about champagne and kisses!

Oh who am I kidding, I’ve been ready for this all day! New Year’s Eve is also for reflecting on the year that’s passed though, and I think this has been a pretty good one. Not a whole lot has happened in my personal life, although the trip to Norway will certainly make the lifetime highlight reel.

What about my fiber life? I knit and crocheted an even 8200 yards of yarn this year, including some new designs that are not yet published or on Ravelry. Add in the WIPs currently on the needles (I only put completed projects in the calculator), and that puts me about on par with last year.

In spite of all those projects, this year I only released 3 new designs! I spent a large portion of the year working on designs that are not self-published, which is a first for me. Unfortunately, that means slower release times for you guys. It does also mean you’ve got more new patterns to look forward to in 2015 though!

I also made time for spinning this year, although not enough to warrant the spinning widget I talked about last year. Kind of makes me wonder where all my time went. Too many hours spent on that darn bill-paying day job, I’ll bet! I also added a lucky 13 finished projects to my Ravelry notebook, 4 of which are sweaters. While they’re still pretty heavy on the usual blue/green/purple, there are some distinctively different colors represented this year too. Yay me! All in all, a pretty good year I think!

P.S. Today is my birthday, did you get a gift from me? If you have one of my patterns in your Ravelry wishlist, you might have! Log in to find out.

I Survived!

It felt like a close call from time to time, but I managed to survive to Winter Break! Time to put up some decorations,

bake some cookies,

and finish some knitting.

Return to sanity: begin.

P.S. Because I know you’ll ask, the hat pattern is Kris Carlson’s Nubby.

Last Chance for the GAL Sale!

We are in the final hours to purchase GAL patterns at a steep discount! Have you bought yours yet? I have! What’d I get? I knew going in that I wanted a pair of fingerless gloves. My hands are constantly cold this time of year, but every time I put on gloves I take them right back off again because I can’t feel or manipulate anything properly with them on. After losing most of a morning to the Pinterest boards, I narrowed it down to either Colophon, by Hunter Hammersen, or Twisted Diamond Mitts by Kaitlyn Yeager. Both sat in my queue for a couple days while I debated how much I will actually have time to knit for pleasure in the next month, and then I finally went with just the Colophon. I may still go back for the Twisted Diamond at a later (post-sale, but more free time) date.

Then, while I was trolling the Pinterest boards, Kris Carlson’s Nubby also snuck into my cart. I didn’t mean to buy a hat, and probably won’t have time to make it soon, but it’s so rare to find a hat I don’t think looks dumb with my hair. The model in the photos has hair a lot like mine, and looks fabulous, so I pretty much couldn’t not buy it. You understand, right?

So, if you haven’t bought those patterns sitting in your cart yet, get on it! The GAL discount expires at midnight EST! And if there aren’t any patterns sitting in your cart…you have way more willpower than me. But by all means, let me try and fix that.

GAL 2014 Infographic created by Kimberly Golynskiy

P.S. – I was interviewed here, and Claire is giving away one of my patterns. Go read it, and enter!

Happy GAL Ya’ll!

It’s officially GAL time! Are you as excited as I am? I plan on going on a serious shopping spree this weekend! I’ve been carefully avoiding looking at the Pinterest boards (well, mostly) because they are so, so dangerous. I may have lost a good half-hour on the sweater board already, and I SO don’t have time for another sweater with all the upcoming designs going on. The rest of the boards are totally getting devoured once I have an hour or two to devote to it (and buying) this weekend though.

Which types of patterns do you plan to knit for the holidays? Or for that matter, just because but before the end of the year? I don’t tend to lean towards any particular type of pattern myself, but for the sake of my upcoming design deadlines I’m going to try to limit my GAL knitting to accessories like hats and mittens. Don’t forget that patterns you don’t buy during the sale may also be eligible for some of prizes in the GAL! As long as they’re indie patterns by a participating designer and not free patterns, they totally count.

As a designer I’m also really psyched for the start of the GAL, and not only because the extra exposure for my independently published patterns is nice. It’s actually really fun putting my favorite other designers out there, and I have a pair of really interesting interviews coming up to share on this blog. Keep an eye on my G+ and Twitter for other exciting info on participating designers.

Just as a reminder, you can find all of my discounted patterns here. The discount lasts until next Friday, November 21. I hope you’ll take advantage!

Trudging Along

We had a nice little 3-day weekend here, what with Independence Day falling on a Friday. There was fire and beer and darkness and all sorts of other things that do not go well with knitting, so not much got done.

Not much knitting, anyway.

However, in spite of that I’ve managed to complete (finally) the body and sleeves of the Sweater That Will Not End.

Now all that’s left is the edging. Miles and miles and miles of edging. Since Thursday I have accomplished exactly this much of it:

Originally I had wanted to finish it in time for our summer vacation (we are going somewhere I will most likely want layers) but yarn support should be arriving next week for a pattern that’s on a very tight deadline, so that may not happen. At this point I don’t even care. The thought of something new to work on – even something I’ll never wear – is so ridiculously much more interesting than this slog.

Willow Lake

Happy Memorial Day, America! Whether you are in the U.S. or not, if you’re in the Northern hemisphere I hope you are taking advantage of our rapidly warming weather. I know I’ve been quiet on the blog front lately, but I’ve returned with a peace offering. I have a new pattern for you to wear in this beautiful warm weather!

I am thrilled to finally introduce you to Willow Lake. This top is a bit of a departure from my usual in that it has some positive ease, but it seemed appropriate for a summery silk-blend like this. The flattering cowl neck and waist shaping really make this tank a knockout, even with some extra space.

Overall Willow Lake is pretty simple, as the best things in summer often are. The neckline and i-cord edging are the only departures from stockinette, which I think really enhances the sheen from the yarn. The combination of shiny and simple makes it ideal for those outdoor events where you want a little extra glam, like concerts, backyard weddings, or even the romantic picnic featured in the pattern photos.

If you’re doing any shopping this Memorial Day (and yes, this new pattern is included in my one-day sale), I hope you’ll consider Willow Lake. I know you’ll love it as much as I do!