This has been a difficult year for me, but I’m a glass half-full kind of gal and have lots to be thankful for. I have wonderful friends, I love being a knitwear designer, I love working from home and have a great family. While my health has not been the best and my body has been through lots of stress, I’m still very thankful that I’m relatively healthy. One thing I’ve been stressed about is that all the health and other personal setbacks have  negatively impacted my productivity and work quite significantly. However, my wonderful friends, knitters and fans out there have been fantastic cheerleaders, and I feel quite lucky to be in an industry made up of such warm and generous people and friends!

Wishing y’all a wonderful, fun, safe and delicious Thanksgiving,

Anne

P.S. Come back and check the blog again soon. Coming up: Book tour, review and giveaway of Woolly Wormhead‘s new book, Bambeanies!

For up to the minute updates and news, follow me @AnneKuoLukito on Twitter or “Like” my Crafty Diversions page on Facebook!

You don’t have to enter any codes. The discount is automatically taken when you shop from Crafty Diversions or from my Ravelry store. The sale will end on Halloween, Oct 31, 2011.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend!

xo,

Anne

HAIKU, aka the #LessThan2WeekSweater

Shortly after a fun and successful trip to TNNA, I decided to once again partner with my friends at Anzula to show at Sock Summit 2011. And why wouldn’t I? I love Anzula’s products and yarns — that’s why I have worked may of my Liberation hats in Anzula Squishy (superwash merino, cashmere, nylon) and in Anzula Sebastian (superwash merino, seacell).

For this second Sock Summit, I designed a very nicely fitted tank top out of a new yarn – Anzula Haiku. I named this pattern Haiku as well. With the timing, I really had to get this pattern written, designed, knitted, photographed and published within 2 weeks! (Yes, I know I’m not exactly sane in this respect — my friends remind me of this almost everyday.)  The result is a sexy fitted pattern written in 12 sizes with 8 separate bust fitting options for bust sizes C to GG (I used UK sizing references)!!  If you do the math, that’s 96 different fitting options!!  This is actually a top that will fit me and my 32G breasts! It’s a top that I’ve been wanting to design and write for some time. I have future plans to write additional garments in this style as well, because I really feel that having well-fitting garments is very important, and I want us to be able to knit garments that really fit our bodies.

I brought  Haiku, individual  Liberation  patterns and limited print editions of my Liberation e-book to Sock Summit and for sale at the Anzula booth.  Several patterns, including  Haiku, sold out by the second day.  All and all, it was a great show.

Gino’s Restaurant & Pico Accuardi

One of the many events I attended in Portland while at Sock Summit was one of Pico Accuardi Dyeworks‘ fabulous sock club luncheon held at my good friend and fellow Visionary’s restaurant, Gino’s. I was a guest and featured designer and shared my Septima Clark pattern with the club. The company and food were spectacular. I ate until I couldn’t eat anymore.

Being Deb’s friend and hanging out with her also meant that this city girl had other opportunities to eat at Gino’s and visit her farmhouse on Mt. Hood.

Left: Playing with baby bunnies at Deb’s farm; Right: Her naughty goats that like to steal chicken and rabbit feed.

Above: I also attended a cocktail party at the Pico Accuardi dye studio, where I was able to have a mini trunk show with the Liberation collection and my Weekend Shawl.

Sock Summit Flash Mob, Sock Hop & Fabulousness

There were many events at Sock Summit, including a flash mob dance. I recorded a rehearsal at the Opening Night reception, a spontaneous dance at the 1980s themed sock hop, and the “official” dance.

Above: Video of the official flash mob. For the other videos, go to my CraftyDiversions YouTube channel.

 
One of the events was the Foot to Fleece challenge, in which teams spun freshly shorn fleece (in the grease) and attempted to knit a sock. I didn’t participate in any teams, but I was the official cheerleader for the Pico Accuardi Dyeworks‘ Spin U team. Above (clockwise from top left): Sheep being shorn; sheep pen; the PAD Spin U team; Shannon Okey took a photo of me in my cheerleading outfit when I went to visit the Cooperative Press booth.

My favorite event was the 80′s-themed Sock hop! If y’all know me, you know that my favorite genre of music is 80s alternative and new wave. Bands like Depeche Mode, OMD, New Order, The Cure, The Smiths, Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction, Pet Shop Boys, Information Society and Erasure rock my world. So you can imagine my excitement for this sock hop. My friends and I decided to dress up in costume for it. The irony is that except for the big hair (c’mon, I’m from Texas!) and bright red lipstick (of course my parents didn’t know), I really didn’t dress too 80s during that time. Sure, I had my share of hideous outfits, but I refused to succumb to the trendy fashions of the time (aka I was not that cool) and never even owned a set of rubber bracelets, nor did I wear large crosses (I did wear an ankh though).

Above Photos: 1. Party Banner; 2. Deb Accuardi, Me and Marisol Sanchez decked out a la Desperately Seeking Susan; 3. Me and Deb in our hideous but fabulous outfits. I even wore lots of blue eyeshadow; 4. Teri Sabah; 5. Crowd dancing; 6. & 7. Two ladies totally knew every single move to Thriller and led a group of people in the Thriller dance; 8. crowd dancing; 9. It got really hot, so I just had to get my hair into a side ponytail!; 10. Left to Right: Deb Accuardi, me, Teri Saba, Joely, Stevanie Pico, Misty, Marisol Sanchez.

Despite the fact that Portland and the Pacific Northwest apparently hate me and the allergy misery hell, I had a great time. (My allergies went into overdrive and went haywire by the end of Day 4 — Even though I take allergra on a daily basis and have been on immunotherapy for over a year, I’m still quite sensitive to allergens. I am very allergic to much of the flora in the region, like Alder, Birch and Cedar.)

Above: Left – I finally was able to meet Franklin Habit in real life! He’s a doll! Right – Met Sharon Fletcher of Stitch Jones.

I was able to visit with some friends and meet some in real life for the first time. A few folks I was able to visit with Marly Bird, Jaala Spiro, Shannon Okey , Stephanie Tallent, Caro Sheridan, Stitchy McYarnpants, Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark, Carl and Eileen Koop, Erica Owens…I’m sure there are many more folks I missed and I hope they’ll forgive me for having a brain fart right now. I was also quite flattered and humbled when fans of my work and designs wanted to meet me.  Two people absolutely fabulous and talented people that that I was ridiculously ecstatic to finally meet in real life were Sivia Harding and Franklin Habit.

Post-Summit in PDX

After helping Anzula break down their booth on Sunday, Deb (who also has a fabulous podcast, At the Kitchen Table) and I headed for another fabulous dinner at Gino’s with Cat Bordhi and some fellow Visionaries, many of whom I also had not met in real life. We were celebrating the birth of Judy Becker‘s upcoming book, Beyond Toes: Knitting Adventures with Judy’s Magic Cast-On. Dinner was great, but the company was more wonderful. It’s always nice to be able to share experiences, thoughts and ideas with a group of creative, intelligent, like-minded people.

I spent a few more days in the PDX area, albeit a bit miserable due to my horrid allergies. I could not breathe or sleep well. The allergies dashed my short-lived fantasy of buying a small farm or a cute house gorgeous Oregon.  I stayed with Deb and her husband at their farmhouse on Mt. Hood. The beauty of the surroundings and a great hostess made my stay much less miserable. I spent the rest of my stay helping Deb with her 2012 Knitter’s Datebook (coming soon!!) and teaching her the basics of InDesign and Illustrator.

Above: We went to the top of Mt. Hood, where there were still lots of snow. Deb’s dog obviously loved the snow, and we ended the day with drinks at the Timberline lodge: great view, great drinks, great company….ahh…

Unfortunately, it’s back to reality for me and I’m still playing catch-up. In the past month, I’ve had lots of pattern releases, but I haven’t really been able to post or blog about those. I just recovered from a major chest infection (in the end, I could not fend off the ill-effects of the allergies from Oregon) and am trying to get a project done for Vogue Knitting Live in LA.

I’ll be posting more details about some exciting news later, but here are some of them in a quick nutshell:

• Roseling was published in Twist Collective Fall.
• The Fall issue of Knitscene, for which I got the cover, finally hit the newsstands! My patterns Lepidoptera is the cover garment, and inside, I also have a sassy beret, Whittier Hat.
• On Sept 15, I will be appearing and speaking on a BlogHer panel on Craft + Money at the BlogHer Handmade/ Creative Connection conference. 
• I will be debuting 2 new designs for at Vogue Knitting Live in Los Angeles on Sept 23-25! The garments will be shown exclusively at the Knit Culture booth. Knit Culture will be posting about the designs on their blog and I will be discussing it and revealing sneak peaks on my Facebook page and on Twitter.

Right after the show, I went straight to hot & humid Houston, Tx to visit my family as a Father’s Day present to my dad. So, my update on TNNA is a bit delayed and overdue. So, here it is…

Booth & the Show Floor

I brought many of my samples for DSF to display at the booth and spent some time working the booth and chatting with various LYSOs and yarn shop representatives.  I was also able to spend some time with fellow DSF designers both at the booth and post show hours during dinner and some social bar/knitting time at one of the hotel lobbies.

Below are some photo highlights. The rest of my photos are in my Flickr album.

Above: My areas in the DSF booth. Top: I was right next to Designs by Romi, whose shawls hung to the right of my Issara coat and Weekend Shawl. Bottom: Table with my hats, some other accessories and my “posse” buttons.

Left: Ysolda Teague and Stefanie Japel at Ysolda’s photo booth.  Both of them are also fellow DSF designers. Ysolda generously gifted me a copy of her wonderful book, Little Red in the City. I haven’t really had a chance to look through it in detail, but it looks really wonderful. I’ll have to spend some time examining it and giving it a proper review later.  Right: The beautiful Kristi Porter signing “More Knitting in the Sun.” The hat on the table just happens to be my design contribution to the book, “Eloise.”

Left: With friend and writing mentor Cat Bordhi at the Visionaries booth. Right: Stefanie Japel (with whom I had great fun being roomies!) and I visiting my talented friend and fellow Visionary Debby Accuardi at the Pico Accuardi booth. (I’m wearing Elizabeth Zimmermann in the photo.)

Above: Why yes, that is the great Barbara Walker! She was there for 1 day and I introduced myself to her again (I first met and chatted with her at Sock Summit 2009) and showed her my “Barbara G. Walker” hat that she so graciously allowed me to honor her by naming it after her. She was so humble and said to me “I am so honored that you named it after me. I’ve never had a pattern named after me before.”  Seriously, Ms. Walker? Believe me, it is I who feels blessed and honored! The sample I’m holding up is the one worked in Tactile Fiber Arts Tencel-Merino.

Left: Super fun and lovely lady was a fan of my hats and tried on most of them! She’s from Amitie + Passion in Quebec, Canada (address: 4 rue Jacques-Cartier, Sallaberry-de-Valleyfield, QC J6P 4T4). She’s wearing “Septima Clark” and I’m wearing “Eleanor Roosevelt.” Right: Janet from The Salty Sheep in NC, trying on “ Issara.”

Left: Holy Cow! My first magazine cover! I can’t wait until Knitscene’s Fall 2011 issue hits the newsstands! The design on the cover is Lepidoptera. Right: Sarah Bible of Ravelry looking super fabulous with her very important WIP.

Left: I finally “officially” met Norah Gaughan at the Berroco Yarn Bar (fun, right!?) Pictured are Stefanie, me, Norah Gaughan and Amanda Keep. Right: Teva Durham, who I credit to really encouraging me to write a book last year, signing her new book, Loop d Loop Lace.

Designers’ Dinner & Social Time

Part of TNNA is networking and socializing with your friends in the industry, old and new. The networking included dinner, lunches, ice cream/coffee and knitting in one of the hotel bar/lobbies everyday. One of the events, a Designers’ dinner organized by Marly Bird, was the highlight. Marly went all out in finding us a lovely venue for over 60 designers and getting some wonderful sponsors who contributed some gift bags that made us feel like A-list rock start Hollywood celebs.  To thank my fans and blog readers (and really, I can’t keep all this stuff), I’m giving away most of the things in my goody bag, including a Namaste bag! I’ll post the details in my next blog post.

Having a great laugh at the Designer’s dinner: Woolly Wormhead, Andi Smith (KnitBrit),  Miriam Felton and Ann Kingstone.

At the Designers’ dinner with (left) Miriam Felton and (right) Kimberly Reynolds, aka somebunnyslove.

Left: I dined with some friends that I’m always delighted to see, Kate Oates, Stefanie Japel, Robyn Chachula and Simona Merchant-Dest. Right: I was absolutely delighted to have finally met Woolly Wormhead, who is an absolute delight and a fellow DSF designer. I was also very happy to meet Carol Feller and Ann Kingstone, who traveled from Ireland and the UK, respectively. We had some great laughs over drinks and dinner over some silly things, like the different UK and American terminologies.

Above: The 3 photos above show the tons of people (mostly designers at this location, but also yarnies and publishers) hanging out nightly at the hotel lobby & bar. It was a ginormous knitting circle! Some of the other wonderful people with whom I enjoyed chatting included Laura Nelkin, Kristen Tendyke, Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark (Pie Bird Designs/ Kitchen Sink Dyeworks), Bonne Marie Burns (Chic Knits), Shannon Okey (Knitgrrl), Rosemary Hill (Designs by Romi), Anne Hanson, Annie Modesitt, Benjamin Levisay (Knitting Universe/ XRX/ Stitches Events), Joanna Johnson, Mary-Heather Cogar, Alisha Goes Around, Sabrina Famellos (Anzula Luxury Yarns),  Mary Beth Temple, Sarah Stanfield, Michelle Miller (Fickleknits), Amy Polcyn, and Grace Akhrem. For the first time, in person, I also met Heather Dixon (Army of Knitters), Petite Purls‘ Allegra and Brandy,  Jaala Spiro of KnitCircus, Sarah Wilson, Anna Dalvi, Deb Robson (I got a copy of her fabulous new book “The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook” – I’ll need to make time to review that one as well!).

Whew! I’ve never made that many links before, and still, I know that there are many others that I forgot to list, and even more folks that I wished that I had more time to chat with. Please forgive me if you are one of those folks.

I participated in the Visionary Retreat, led by the truly visionary Cat Bordhi, intended for knitting designers who wish to write and publish quality and timeless books.  It was a great honor to be included as a Visionary and to have the support of fellow Visionaries in this process.  I cannot speak of the details of the retreat and reveal the projects, but I can tell you that the camaraderie from the group and Cat’s mentorship has been an invaluable experience.  It also did not hurt to be housed at the gorgeous Lakedale Resort and to be fed wonderfully by our caterer Deb.

Above: the lake and some ferns on the Lakedale grounds.

Above: Our lovely caterer Deb, who served and cooked us some super delicious food. Sarah Anderson spun on her pocket wheel at the retreat.

Above: I’m a lucky girl. I got to try on original socks hand-knitted by the legendary Barbara Walker! Then I also modeled Cat’s new Tomato Heel socks and I photographed some images for her too. (You’ll have to wait for Cat to release them herself!)

Above: I love gnarly trees, found in the yard of one of the houses in downtown San Juan Island. Two ladies I was very happy to call my new friends: Deb Accuardi of Pico Accuardi Dyeworks and Nancy Marchant, aka Queen of Brioche.

Above: We had some silly fun playing our own fiber version of Balderdash. Sarah brought a dictionary of fiber and textiles and we had great fun making up definitions for them. We were quite creative and sometimes rather convincing in our BS definitions. I have to say that the queen of silly and wacky definitions goes to Cat! Deb recorded our game and some of our chatter for her podcast.

Filed under: knitting, knitting design, travels Tagged: book, Visionary ]]> http://craftydiversions.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/visionary-retreat/feed/ 0 craftydiversions IMGP5976 IMGP5975 IMGP5986 DSC00103 DSC00096 IMGP5988 IMGP5993 DSC00126 DSC00128 DSC00124 Mudar2 DSC00115 DSC00121 DSC00112 http://craftydiversions.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/holey-moldy/ http://craftydiversions.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/holey-moldy/#comments Sat, 18 Jun 2011 02:56:47 +0000 craftydiversions http://craftydiversions.wordpress.com/?p=1992 ]]> Mold is Evil

I’ve missed feeling “normal” these last several months!  I’ve been wanting to tell y’all about the awesome Visionary retreat that I went to in March, but once I returned, I started feeling…not myself. I was experiencing weird sensations and fatigue like I never had before. I could not concentrate for more than 30-45 minutes. I was so fatigued that my vision would blur when I tried to stare at the computer or at my knitting. I was only able to really concentrate on short-term things, like taking my turn on Words with Friends or Scrabble. Even then, I feel asleep several times while brainstorming my word possibilities, which only takes about 5-10 minutes!  Anyway, I won’t bore you with too many woe-be-me details, but it really sucked physically, mentally and emotionally. The depressions that goes with a mystery illness is also not fun and you end up in a catch-22 cycle, where it also exacerbates any other preexisting conditions or issues, etc.

The good news is that I think I’ve found out why I was feeling like crap.  Long time readers and friends know that I suffer from really bad allergies. It should be no surprise that I’m sensitive to mold. The ceiling below our master bath toilet fell down. Apparently the old cast-iron pipe loosened as it was not properly supported…it leaked into the ceiling of the family room below, which then fell out over a TV and several electronic components. Some water damage, but I don’t think anything major to the electronics.  This is what our ceiling looked like after our handyman cut out all the mold-affected areas:

And of course, it went over the initial estimated repair costs. However, the good news is that the subfloor of the bathroom was not affected, nor the wood supports. If it had, y’all can imagine what a nightmare and how expen$ive the costs would be.

When it Rains, It Pours

A day after we found out about the ceiling collapse, we noticed that our cat Maggie was not doing well. I tried to treat her with my inhaler since she has asthma. When it didn’t improve and she still looked quite distressed, we took her to the vet. She had fluid in her lungs and body cavities. The vet suspected it was a heart or other very serious condition. In the end, we chose what we would’ve probably chosen for our own selves and thought it was most humane to put her down to end her suffering. So, rest in peace Maggie.

Thank you to everyone who have send me lovely messages via phone calls, email, Ravelry, Twitter and Facebook. They did mean a lot to me. I didn’t think that so many people would miss my temporary hiatus from the public when I was not feeling well. I even skipped out on 2 months of meeting up with my most beloved knitting group. So, your messages made me feel very warm and fuzzy.

Right now, I feel much better, though I am very tired from all the traveling I’ve been doing for the last 2 weeks, albeit it’s a totally different kind of tired from when I was feeling sick/fatigued. (I’m still not home! I’m currently in Houston, Texas visiting family). I promise that my next few posts will be more fun and cheery! I have lots to share about TNNA (a The National Needlearts Association) trade show and some exciting projects that I will be working on.

Much love to y’all,

Anne

I stayed up almost all night obsessed and disheartened by the terrible news coming out of Japan. The bittersweet part of it is that at least it was Japan and not some other less equipped, less prepared country. I am  very relieved that my godbrother and his girlfriend, who both live/work in Tokyo are both fine, as are other friends in Japan. I’m also relieved that with all the worldwide tsunami warnings and alerts, I’m glad that all my friends and family in Taiwan, Indonesia and Hawaii are all okay and missed any disasters. Still, I am quite heartbroken for the Japan. It was horrifying watching the video of the tsunami enveloping Sendai as cars and people on foot tried to run from it, only to be swept up by the powerful water. The reports of additional large quakes and aftershocks as often as every 5-15 minutes and the continuous bad news regarding the damage and losses of life are just beyond words.

The activity map as of the timestamp posted on the image is already astounding. More reports of continued quakes and aftershocks continue to come in. As of March 11 22:06:14 UTC 2011, and this posting, the map shows 150 quakes.

I’ve been switching back and forth from various news streams, but I do want to commend Yokosonews.com – this man, in his effort to help English speakers has been doing a nonstop live streaming broadcast and translating Japanese news as they occur and are broadcasted by Japanese outlets. He has posted several helpful links on his site for folks in Japan and looking for friends/family in Japan.

Grated Finger

My grated finger is quite insignificant by comparison, but before the 8.9 quake hit, I was so smare as to grating my left ring finger on my microplane grater. After all these years, it’s still so sharp that I think I did a couple of passes before I realized what I had done. It’s a pretty deep wound, considering it’s location on my knuckle.  It took at least 30 minutes for the bleeding to stop, but that was only if I kept my finger immobile.

I decided to help the wound a bit and went out to get a liquid bandage after hearing good things about it, and a recommendation from Mr. Fireman to use that or superglue for some wounds (especially if you’re hiking or something like that) after I had my thumb incident. Well, no one told me that the liquid bandage stuff hurts like a mofo!! There’s not even a warning on it! I have a decently high tolerance for pain, but seriously, it stung very badly and for a long time, and I’m afraid to put more on. I think I’ll try after I start scabbing a bit. The fumes from it also set of my asthma, so asthmatics and folks with chemical sensitivities, beware.

For those of you that are squeamish (it’s not really gross or anything, but some people just get really sensitive to seeing those kinds of photos), I’ve kept the photos tiny, but if you are interested in stuff like this (as I am), click on them to enlarge:

UnMöbius

This weekend, I am planning to go on a week-long knit designing/writing retreat in the Pacific Northwest. Since I don’t really have anything in terms of really suitable clothing, I borrowed a down waterproof snow-weather coat from a friend. I don’t care that I have a slight allergy to down. At least I’ll be warm and wet-proof and it’s better than my wool coat. I own a couple of light sweaters — nothing really suitable for colder weather. C’mon – I was born in Taiwan, grew up in SW Texas and am now living in SoCal.  I’m not used to cold wet weather.

Since I’ve been really busy getting ready for the retreat and working on a host of other projects, I didn’t have time to knit a sweater, though I did, for a crazy fleeting moment, think that I’d design and knit one in 1.5 weeks.  Instead, I decided that perhaps I would knit myself a brioche cowl in möbius using various single skeins of Road to China Worsted by The Fibre Company.  I didn’t want to mess with doing a 2-color möbius cast-on, so I did a regular 2-color cast on and was going to use the twist and join method, or so I thought.

After working about 1.5″, I realized that I had somehow untwisted the twist when I joined for working in the round. I was too lazy to rip back, so thus, I have an unmöbius cowl.  At least I love the way how all my single skeins are working together and I am really happy with the way I decided to combine the color.

The KAL will be free for group members and participants will have opportunities to win prizes donated by our KAL sponsors. After the KAL is over, the pattern will be available for sale in my pattern shop.

Since I always get asked by aspiring designers, friends and people who like my work how my design process works, how I come up with ideas, etc., I thought it’d be interesting to share the process with you from beginning to end…

The adventure begins!

Once the votes started leaning more heavily towards a non-mystery shawl knitalong, I started thinking about possibilities for designs. I think about shapes, size, color, theme, etc.

My kitchen table is quite cluttered with various design tools and inspiration. Click on photo to see notes on the various items on the table in Flickr.

My brainstorming process consists of looking various sources of inspiration — home & architecture magazines, fashion magazines, old books, knitting stitch dictionaries, a scenic horizon, a tree, a  door handle, etc.  Sometimes everything swims around in my head for a little bit. Then I start doing some rough sketching my mini sketch pad (but when a sketch pad is not handy when a moment of brillance strikes,  a napkin or a scratch piece of paper will do!) to work out certain things like construction and fit details.

Even a buffet table of delectable fruit tarts can be a source of inspiration. (I ate several of these during afternoon tea at Huntington Gardens.)

Rough sketch turns into a plan

If I have a particular idea that won’t let go of me, the only way to keep it from plaguing me all day and night is to work out the details, such as drawing up the bits and pieces on the computer, or creating and manipulating several charts. Below is an example of one of the designs I am considering for the KAL:

I'm figuring out how I can alter and fit various stitch patterns (and variations thereof) together and how to create smooth transitions.

Some preplanning and working things out as I did above is a great way of identifying potential problems, especially when I’m trying to match up a stitch pattern into the stitch count or transitioning from one pattern to another.  This type of preplanning and charting is also important for me to visualize and see how the patterning will work in different sizes of a garment. For example, will I be able to use the same stitch pattern for all the sleeves in all the sizes of a garment or will I have to modify the stitch pattern for some of the sizes?

Yarn Selection: Fun and Important

One of the really fun parts of designing a project is thinking about all the yummy yarns! I go through a mental checklists of yarns that I like, fondle my stash, review my color cards, search manufacturer websites, and check Ravelry. (One of my tasks when I went to Stitches West was to look for yarn options for this project. The plethora of lovely options and my limited spare time at Stitches did not make the process easy.)

Part of my yarn stash.

Other than looking at pretty yarn, I have to think about the resulting garment, fabric, shape and wearability. In knitting, I consider yarn weight (how thick the yarn is), fiber content (how the fibers in the yarn work for the project), drape and texture (how the stitch pattern, design and the yarn’s fiber content properties affect the garment), color (how a color might affect the design), feasibility (for example, considering whether knitters would be willing to work a coat in fingering weight yarn) and cost (while many yarn companies can provide me yarn support, it’s not really realistic to design a sweater requiring 8 balls of a $40/ball yarn. Instead, it’s probably better to design an accessory requiring only 2 balls of that luxury yarn. Thinking about the cost helps knitters with a special and relatively affordable splurge and helps the yarn company sell yarn.).

A light fingering yarn (40% cashmere, 60% merino) yarn that I dyed a couple of years ago.

I considered several favorites yarnies and several that were new to me. While there were many that were at the top of my list, they were whittled down as I considered the following criteria: (1) I want to support a indie dyer; (2) Yarnie has to have quality yarn bases; (3) Yarnie has to have great colors; (4) KAL participants will need to be able to buy from Yarnie at least online since participants are likely quite internet savvy and are international; (5) Yarnie has to have the ability to have a variety of inventory from which to choose; (6) I was very open to working with a Yarnie that was previously unfamiliar to me

Yarn Chef Creme Brulee Fingering in Rosy Outlook (50% merino wool/ 50% silk, 650yd/5.3oz, 594m/150g)

After several emails with a few candidates, one candidate stood out and met all the criteria: Yarn Chef.  She advertised in my group last month and I could not get her yarns out of my head. Head chef Katy and I discussed her yarns, my needs and some other things. I am excited to be working with her on this project and that she will be the primary sponsor of our KAL. For the project, I will be using her Creme Brulee Fingering yarn, which is a light fingering/heavy lace at  122.87 yards per oz/ 4.33 yards per gram. Katy has already ordered extra yarn in anticipation of this KAL and will be dyeing them up as soon as she receives the yarn shipment in a couple of days.

Yarn Chef Bouillabaisse in Fern Valley (100% superwash merino, 540yd/4oz, 494m/113g)

Yarn Chef Creme Brulee Lace in Gothic Rose (50% merino wool 50% tussah silk , 620yd/2oz, 567m/60g)

I’m in as much anticipation about all this as y’all are and can’t wait to see what Katy cooks up. She will be restocking her shop soon and will also be donating a couple of prizes for KAL participants.

Add this blog to RSS feed if you haven’t already son you don’t miss my chronicles of this KAL, the design process and any other updates.

Well, I decided to reworked and redesign it. Only this time, I was not crazy enough to knit it up in less than 48 hours. I didn’t want to name it “Two-Day Shawl” because well, it’s a bit intimidating and not a very good name, IMO.  I asked my friends for suggestions and my friend Lydia came up with “Weekend Shawl,” which I thought was perfect.

I released it on Ravelry on Monday and after some technical difficulties, also managed to list it on my website. Look for its Ravelry pattern page here and its page on my website here.  To celebrate its release, I’m offering it at a highly discounted price of $3.50 for just 1 week, until March 7. The regular price for the shawl will be $6.25.

Shawl Specs:

• Pattern sizes: 6 sizes, 2 yarn weights (lace and fingering)
• Pattern format: Written, tech edited, laid out nicely; Has lace chart but chart is also written out for those that don’t like charts.
• Yarn used in sample: Sanguine Gryphon Gaia Fingering in Sundogs (red); Yummy Yarn Studio Alpaca Silk Lace in Indian Ocean (bluish-turquoise)
• Samples: Fingering (red): I knitted it in approximately 3.5 weeks; Lace (blue): My sample knitter Denise Wilkinson knitted it in about 5 weeks.
• Changes/differences from the original Operation: Two-Day Shawl:
  • The #1 difference: I didn’t try to do it within 48 hours at all!
  • I changed the increases to lifted increases instead of yarn overs because it flows much more nicely into the patterning
  • The second lace pattern (Sunday lace) was entirely reworked and changed.
  • I changed the background to Stockinette stitch instead of garter
  • The ratio/porportion of the Stockinette body and the lace sections were altered so that the lace, especially the Saturday lace was wider.
  • And of course, I knew not to use stash yarn and yarn that was too highly variegated for this. With Operation: 2-day shawl, I didn’t really have many options given the wackadoodle time line I gave myself.
  • There were also a couple of minor things that don’t affect the design.

Sample of all the pages of the pattern.

I actually finished the fingering version very early because I had planned to wear and release it in January for TNNA (Needlearts trade show). However, I later decided that I’d offer additional sizing and options with a laceweight yarn. Thus, I had my sample knitter and friend make up a sample since I was busy working on 3 secret projects at the time. When I did wear the red one to both TNNA and Stitches West, I received lots of positive comments form people, including people who waved me down from afar to ask about it. Those sort of things always warm my heart and make me so proud for both my work and the yarnies that make the gorgeous yarns.

Both yarns were a delight to work with (while I didn’t knit the lace weight sample, I handled the yarn quite a but and knitted up a swatch). I love the volume, sheen and softness of Gaia Fingering and loved every stitch of my knitting. I am so glad that Sanguine Gryphon was kind enough to offer me yarn support for this project, as I had been drooling over it and their colors for several seasons now (I’ve done some tech editing for them on their pattern collections and just couldn’t stop thinking about their yarns!) When I get the chance, I think I’d like to knit another one using Gaia Lace in a green-gray or a rich medium/navy blue.

As for Yummy Yarn Studios, Sam is a newer dyer based out of Canada and she obviously has nice colors as well, but in her own style. Another great example of her yarn is in the pair of socks she knitted for me!! I was saying how I don’t own any hand-knitted socks on Twitter and was about to hire someone to do it for me. I’m such a lucky girl!

The socks that Sam made me is a pattern she designed called “Kisses” and can be found here. You can see the photo I took of me wearing them here. I love the lovely purple colors. I think the pattern will also work really well a nice honey color. I’ve already worn them several times around the house. I’m not wearing them now because I need to wash them.

And seriously, the Weekend Shawl… it’s only going to be $3.50 for a few more days so get it quick before it goes to its regular price. I’ve already received lots of sales on it since its release, so don’t be left out! And from the bottom of my heart, thanks to those of you who have already purchased it.

Some of my friends at the Stitches Pajama Party. From L to R: Cindi, Denise, Holly, Barbara (front), Kristie, Rhonda, Elisabeth and me

One of the really fun things about Stitches is getting to meet new people and celebrating that and our mutual obsessions. One of the events to which I was looking forward was the Pajama Party hosted by Kimberly Reynolds, aka somebunnyslove. When she did her first PJ party at Stitches South last year, I participated by donating coupons for patterns in her gift bags. This year, Kimberly was giving away door prizes and I was more than happy to participate in both providing donations and also attending the party.

Were you wondering what was on my pajama tops? I decided to "brand" myself with a herd of Crafty Diversions sheep! They were a pain to put on and make, but fun to wear and show off.

From the beginning, I had planned on giving away a limited edition printed copy of Liberation and some yarns from my stash: 2 skeins of Canopy Fingering from The Fibre Company (distributed by my friends at Kelbourne Woolens who also just wrote the fabulous book Vintage Modern Knitting) and a skein of some yummy 60% merino/ 40% cashmere yarn that I hand-painted in rich earthy shades of orange (one of my favorite colors).  Then I thought, since I was collaborating with and working at the Anzula and Unwind booths, it’d nice if we all collectively donated a prize.  Of course, I was so busy with my deadlines before Stitches, that I didn’t have a lot of time to organize better until nearly the very end. Thankfully, Sabrina of Anzula and Stephanie of Unwind were great working with me and my last minute deadlines!  Once I had their commitment, I then thought that maybe we needed a bag to put all that stuff in and should just make it all an all California donation contingency, so I asked Laura of Slipped Stitch Studios if she wanted to participate. (I met Laura a while back when I went to teach her knitting group how to dye and paint yarn.) What did we all donate? A prize that totaled $350 in value!!!!

See for yourself!

The loot all laid out on the table before we packaged them up. Impressive, eh?

The flyer that explains and details all the items.

Sabrina of Anzula and I got there early to set up the prizes. Can you see us drooling? We kind of wished we could win our prize package!

Aside from all the lovely prizes (in addition to ours), there were lots of cute PJs and slippers. One of the funniest PJs was worn by Benjamin Levisay, CEO and head honcho of XRX/ Stitches.  There were also some really fun slippers.

He has X-ray vision! ::gasp::

Left: Sheep slippers my friend Elisabeth made to match her sheep PJs; Right: Monster slippers by the winner of our $350 door prize.

She's a WINNER!

Above: Here’s Lisa Haas (lisaha on Ravelry), the very lucky winner of the great $350 bag of yarns, patterns and accessories from me, Anzula, Unwind and Slipped Stitch Studios. Below are additional photos of the Pajama Party at Stitches West:

It’s not like I haven’t been to Stitches and am not new to the long line before the market door open, but I am always a bit taken aback by it. On Saturday morning, I took these photos as I was coming down an escalator. TONS of people! If you’ve never been the beginning of the line wraps around and starts to the far left of the escalator. Right photo below shows me walking about 20 feet past the escalator. The end of the line goes all the way into the back hallway, almost to where the convention center connects with the Hyatt Regency.

The market on Sunday is always the slowest, but look at all these people waiting to see if they won a prize. It’s simply incredible:

Then it was time to go home…I had planned to leave at around noon, but since I was so busy the other days, I spent extra time talking to and checking out vendors that I didn’t get a chance to see. We ended up leaving about 2.5 later than I originally planned. I took a different route home (went up on 101 from LA, took the 5 on the way home) and though all that dairy farm cow manure smell was intoxicating (to say the least!!! I almost barfed in the car!), the drive was mostly gorgeous.

Stitches West 2011 posts:

1. The Road to Stitches

2. Yarnaholics Everywhere at Stitches West

3. Stitches West PJ Party – The End