East Coast Book Tour

Big news! I am coming to the East Coast! 

Next month I have the privilege of doing a small East Coast book tour for Botanical Knits!

I will be visiting 3 awesome stores in 3 different states to do a book signing and teach a sweater finishing workshop. The workshop will guide you through some of my favorite sweater finishing techniques for a professional looking garment including invisible seaming, blocking, and weaving in yarn tails. 

Here is the schedule:

First stop

Argyle Yarn Shop

Brooklyn, NY

Book Signing 6-7 pm, Friday, September 6th 

Sweater Finishing Workshop 7-9 pm- Limited space available

 Please call 347.227.7799 to reserve class space

Second stop

Loop

Philadelphia, PA

Book Signing 4-6 pm, Saturday, September 7th 

Sweater Finishing Workshop 2-4pm- Limited space available

 Please call 215.893.9939 to reserve class space

Final stop

Looped Yarn Works

Washington, DC

Book Signing 12-1:30 pm, Sunday, September 8th 

Sweater Finishing Workshop is FULL

I am so excited about this trip! If you live nearby, I hope that you will stop by even just to say hello. 

I am so looking forward to meeting you!

The Lacy Beast

I just finished my very first lace shawl design and I am feeling over the moon.

Not just because I designed it. But because it is finally. off. my. needles. And because I didn't kill anyone in the process of creating this lacy beast.

This shawl was ripped out and re-knit so many times that I lost count. Or at least I have repressed the memory. Being the lazy and over confident knitter that I sometimes can be, I could not be bothered with putting in lifelines. Instead I fearlessly shoved hundreds of lacy stitches off of the needles, ripped back and tediously had to feed all of those tiny yarn overs and decreases back onto my circular needle... over and over and over again.

Several times I wanted to give up. Several times I wanted to disown this project.

But in the end, I kept with it. I conquered the beast. The battle has been fought and won.

Hopefully my pain will result in your knitting joy. 

Look for this pattern in my upcoming book, Botanical Knits 2!

Verdure

ver·dure

  [vur-jer]  

noun

1.

greenness, especially of fresh, flourishing vegetation.

2.

green vegetation, especially grass or herbage.

3.

freshness in general; flourishing condition; vigor.

I felt that the word "verdure" was a great title for this new little botanically inspired pattern.

These mitts feature a fun twisted stitch, sprouting plant motif on the back of the hand. 

It is so fun to watch it grow as you knit!

The pattern calls for only one skein of Madelinetosh Tosh DK. I used the Grove colorway which is such a perfect shade of green.

photography by Vivian Aubrey

I have designed these mitts to be included in my upcoming pattern book, Botanical Knits 2. But I am happy to announce that this pattern is available individually for a limited time as part of
Twisted yarn shop's Mad About Tosh Club 2013.

The pattern is available HERE.

Enjoy! :)

A Wildflower Wedding

I always feel so honored when knitters choose to knit my patterns. 

There are just so many patterns from so many amazingly talented knitwear designers out there. I am so grateful when one of my designs is chosen from the vast sea of available options.

But nothing is quite so special as when one of my designs is chosen to be knit and worn for one of the most important days in one's life.

A wedding.

I was beyond flattered when Allison Scoon (sticknspokes on Ravelry) contacted me last year to tell me that she would be knitting my Wildflower Cardigan for her upcoming wedding on the Isle of Mull on Scotland's west coast.

What a romantic location.

When she sent me these pictures, I was blown away. 

The cardigan turned out so great and she looks so beautiful in it!

As an avid knitter, it was very important to Allison to have handknits prominently featured in her wedding. 

She knit her husbands tie and kilt hose as well as her two lovely daughter's bridesmaids cardigans. 

Truly a handknit wedding! Every knitter's dream.

I am so grateful to Allison for choosing my cardigan design for her special day and for allowing me to share it her amazing pictures with all of you. 

Congratulations Allison and Malcolm!

Wildflower Cardigan pattern available HERE.

Pictures copyrighted by Allison and Malcolm Ward and ewanbaxterphotography.com

The Never Not Knitting Podcast : Episode 72 : Sweater Surgery

Episode 72

Click HERE to download the mp3 file for episode 72

Shownotes:

Botanical Knits

Argyle Yarn Shop

Loop

Looped Yarn Works

My Swallowtail Shawl

My Gail Shawl

Owl

Sylvan Spirit

Sunshine Yarns Merino Sport

Loft

The Wool Tree

Black Pearl 

The "Sweater Surgery" Sweater Pattern, Vivian

Ysolda on Ravelry

Ysolda's Blog

Strokkur

Orchid Thief Shawlette

Join the Never Not Knitting group on Ravelry

Enter to win these 2 skeins of Black Pearl laceweight yarn from The Yarn Sisters Co. along with Ysolda's Strokkur and Orchid Thief Shawlette patterns by leaving a comment under this post by August 15th. Dont forget to leave your contact information! Only one comment per person please.

The winner will be announced on Episode 73.

Thank you for listening!

Owl

I am still working away over here on my designs for the upcoming sequel... Botanical Knits 2! 

Right now I have the pleasure of working with Quince and Co's new yarn, Owl. Wow. I love it!

It's a 50/50 wool and alpaca blend that is lofty, soft and full of texture all at the same time.
It is amazing to knit with, and the fabric it creates is just lovely.

I am working up a new sweater design that I am really excited about. It has a design feature that I have never seen executed on a sweater before and is one that I feel is very fun to knit.

Thank you for your patience with me as I work hard behind the scenes to get these patterns ready for you. I am super excited about the work I have accomplished thus far.

You will have some more vague progress shots coming your way for awhile.. until I get ready for this collection's big reveal! :)

The Never Not Knitting Podcast : Episode 71 : The Sweater Curse

Episode 71

Click HERE to download the mp3 file for Episode 71

Shownotes:

TNNA

Annie and the Swiss Cheese Scarf

Stitches West

Becoming Art

Cephalopod Yarns

A Verb for Keeping Warm

Spincycle Yarns

Eurosteam Irons

Botanical Knits

Spincycle Yarns design swatch

Uncommon Goods

Birdie Yarn Bowl

Sweater Curse; A Yarn About Love

This is my yarn bowl posing with my skeins of Spincycle Dyed in the Wool yarn.

Enter to win a "birdie yarn bowl" from uncommongoods.com just like mine (yarn not included.. this yarn is all Miiiiinnnee) by leaving a comment under this post by July 15th. Please only one comment per person and do not forget to include your contact information. The winner will be announced in Episode 72.

Thank you for listening! :)

Today's Swatching

You may remember me mentioning this gorgeous yarn I found at Stitches West this past February. This is Spincycle Yarns Dyed in the Wool and its AMAZING.

It has the look of a handspun, but is actually a lovely commercially spun yarn with gradient color changes. 

It is extremely addicting to work with.

Today I have been playing around with this gorgeous yarn for a new leafy design for Botanical Knits 2.

I just want to keep knitting and knitting to see what color is coming next.

Sometimes I Go Places...

With my baby boy getting older, I am now starting to think more seriously about traveling for book signings.

I was honored when one of my stockists, A Yarn Less Raveled, invited me for a Botanical Knits book signing and event in Danville, California. A town right outside of San Francisco.

When I walked into the store, I was overwhelmed by the kindness and support from the store owner, staff and customers. The entire shop was decorated for the event with signage, beautiful displays, and even themed refreshments. I just loved the little details like the autumn leaf cookies and the little knitted leaves scattered about the tables. The shop staff and customers even knitted several items from the book for display in anticipation for the event.

The event itself was a huge success. I met so many wonderful knitters who were so genuinely excited about the collection and my patterns.

I especially enjoyed seeing these ladies again. They refer to themselves as my "#1 fans" and are amazingly enthusiastic.

I really received a VIP experience from this wonderful shop. I couldn't have had a better time. They made me feel so welcome and so special

 I hope to visit this friendly shop again next time I am in the area and I hope you will too.

Secret Sweater In Progress

I'm still working on that sweater-coat design I mentioned previously. Only now it is far less cabled. I had to make a tough decision to edit my design and rip out an entire huge section which was painful for me to say the least. Even though I hated to do it, I feel like the sweater is much more refined and elegant now and I like it so much more than I did previously. It was worth it in the end.

All I have left to figure out is the hood, which I am excited and nervous about. I have never put a hood on one of my sweaters before! 

Although this sweater-coat is a bit plain looking from the front, it has a little "secret something" about it that I think you will love. Stay tuned to find out what it is. This sweater pattern will be appearing in 

Botanical Knits Volume 2!