Race Day Spa Cloth

Posted on September 25, 2016 by Carol

The Race Day Spa Cloth is here! It’s one of the new patterns in the Folk Tales Spa Cloth Collection , a collection of fun-to-knit and lovely spa cloth patterns knit side-to-side. Quick to make, they’re the perfect go-to patterns when you need to whip up a nice gift – just add a lovely bar of soap. Of course, it’s always a good idea to make a few for yourself, too!

The stockinette and lace pattern in the Race Day Spa Cloth reminds me of pennants one might see on the day of a big race – like the one between the Tortoise and the Hare. This cloth is knit sideways, using pima cotton to create a soft, luxurious and pampering facial cloth, like all the cloths in the Folk Tales Spa Cloth series.

This is one of my favorite spa cloth patterns. I love the look of just a little bit of stockinette alongside the garter stitch and the lacework. Some lovely cloths have been knit so far.

I love this cloth, striking in red:

By Ratch — Knit by Ratch, photo used by permission

This cloth is knit beautifully and staged elegantly!

By WillowandTwist — Knit by WillowandTwist, photo used by permission

This cloth was knit by my friend Torunn. White cotton yarn shows off the stitch pattern so well! Torunn hails from Norway and staged her spa cloth with a traditional Norwegian bowl she painted (did I mention how creative she is???) and a troll doll!

by-torunn5-480x640 — Knit by torunnb, photo used by permission

Follow this link to buy now or find the pattern in my Ravelry Store. Also available as part of the Folk Tales Spa Cloth Collection – get all 6 spa cloth patterns for a great price!

I hope you will enjoy the Race Day Spa Cloth pattern!

knit equals joy

colorwork, knitting, knitting patterns

Colorwork Pumpkins: A New Pattern and a Collection

Posted on September 22, 2016July 29, 2025 by Carol

Just in time for your Fall/Halloween knitting, it’s the new Colorwork Pumpkins pattern!

Colorwork Pumpkins are perfect for fall, whether you want to decorate for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or all season long. Make several in different colors and yarn weights, and choose between three different chart designs. They also make GREAT gifts.

Pattern includes charts for spiders (two variations) and Art Nouveau calla lilies. These charts are some of my favorites so far. They were so much fun to design, and they’re fun to knit, too. I love how these beautifully knit pumpkins by PLC1, jenb69, and cascott (my friends and Ravelry users) turned out!

PLC1’s Colorwork Pumpkin, photo used by permission

jens-colorwork-pumpkin2-476x486 — jenb69’s Colorwork Pumpkin, photo used by permission

Mini Colorwork Pumpkins coordinate perfectly with the Colorwork Pumpkins. Both patterns are written with i-cord tendrils, but some knitters have modified their projects and have used another method for making tendrils. You can find the modifications by looking through the project pages on Ravelry (or message me and I can send you in the right direction).

Pumpkins (375x500) — cascott’s Mini Colorwork Pumpkin, used by permission

For a great deal, purchase both patterns together for $6.00. Follow this link: Colorwork Pumpkins Collection – no coupon code is necessary. Or, get each pattern separately for $4.00.

I hope you will check out these patterns ~ and have a great Fall!!!

knit equals joy

knitting, knitting patterns, pattern, Spa Cloth

The Folk Tales Spa Cloth Collection

Posted on September 13, 2016September 22, 2016 by Carol

The Folk Tales Spa Cloth Collection is here!

It all started with Fairy Godmother’s Spa Cloth in 2015, with the five remaining Fairy Tale and Folk Tale related spa cloths being released this year. Purchasing the collection offers substantial savings and gives you a wide variety of fun spa cloth patterns to make for your own home and for gift-giving.

castle-beach-spa-cloth-2-1024x975 — Castle Beach Spa Cloth

DSC_0214 (1024x858) — Cinderella’s Spa Cloth

Alex's - on Trunk (2) (1024x1024) — The Queen’s Spa Cloth, Photo by Alex (alexandknits), used by permission

melanies-framed-497x418 — Belle’s Spa Cloth, Photo by Melanie Arnold, used by permission

Purchase all 6 patterns together for $4.00, no coupon code needed. This is a 47% savings over purchasing them separately at $1.25 each. Follow this link to purchase: Folk Tales Spa Cloth Collection .

I am not sure whether the link will work if you have previously purchased any of these patterns or received them for free. Give it a try and let me know how it works!

I hope you’ll take advantage of this special offer, and I hope you will enjoy the spa cloth collection!

P.S. Writing a Folk Tales Spa Cloth Collection e-book is in the works – but I wanted to go ahead and offer the special now.

knitting, Ravellenic Games, Ravelry, Team Knit Equals Joy

The Ravellenic Games!

Posted on August 9, 2016May 8, 2020 by Carol

The Ravellenic Games are going strong on Ravelry. Team Knit Equals Joy is going strong at the Ravellenic Games.

Our team is small but mighty with 23 members currently showing up on the team rosters. Members can join our team at any time throughout the games.

The mass cast-on occurred last Friday in tandem with the Opening Ceremonies of the Rio Olympics. Since then, 12 projects have been completed by our team. Many more are in the works.

I’m working on this pair of socks for the Ravellenic Games:

These are my Smooth Operator Socks, pattern by Susan B. Anderson. The yarn is awesome; it’s Knitted Wit Victory Sock in the PDX Carpet colorway. I cannot wait to finish these!!! I don’t currently have any handknit socks to wear. I’m also taking part in the Smooth Operator Sock KAL in Susan’s Ravelry Group, Itty Bitty Knits. So much fun!

We’re all knitting away through the end of the Games. We’ve got a great collection of prizes; winners will be chosen randomly at the end from all the finished projects by our teammates. I’ve put together a lovely prize package and will choose a winner randomly from among those team members who make one of my patterns. All the details are in this thread in my Ravelry group (I haven’t posted a picture of the prize package yet, though).

I’ll leave you with some of the fun graphics that were made for our team:

Colorwork, an example of the laurels that are awarded for working certain techniques. These are our virtual awards!

Feel like challenging yourself and having fun while doing it? Come check out

Team Knit Equals Joy

knitting, knitting patterns, purple, Spa Cloth

The Queen’s Spa Cloth!

Posted on July 25, 2016August 4, 2016 by Carol

I’m excited to introduce a new pattern, The Queen’s Spa Cloth. This is another spa cloth that’s knit side-to-side using lovely pima cotton to make a cloth that is soft enough to use on your face. I use the spa cloths from this collection every day.

I will admit that this stitch might not be the most practical for a spa cloth, but it is made by using triple yarnovers to make elongated stitches which are then knitted together, and it’s just fun to do! Admittedly, if lace and yarnovers aren’t your thing, it might not be your idea of fun. But I found it oddly satisfying to unwind the triple yarnovers to make the elongated stitches. Yes, I am a knitting nerd; there’s no denying it.

This pattern is available on Ravelry for $1.25, here.

If you use social media, use the tags #morespacloths and #thequeensspacloth to join in on the spa cloth mania!

A huge thank you to my wonderful test knitters and tech editor. Their help is invaluable as I endeavor to provide quality patterns to you. I am fortunate to be surrounded by such a talented and kind group of knitters.

The photos on this page and in the pattern are by Alex of alexand knits. Many thanks to Alex for allowing me to use her lovely photos.

Finally, I am working on a collection of six or seven spa cloth patterns, currently under the working title of Folk Tales Spa Cloth Collection. This is the fourth and two more are in testing and tech editing. My hope is to write them as an e-book, although they may be grouped as a Ravelry collection instead. I will keep you posted on the collection!

I hope you will check out the Queen’s Spa Cloth, and that you will enjoy this wild stitch as much as I did!

knit equals joy

knitting, Ravellenic Games, Ravelry, Team Knit Equals Joy

The Ravellenic Games: FAQ

Posted on July 23, 2016May 8, 2020 by Carol

The Ravellenic Games = awesomeness! But what do you do? How do you participate? This list of FAQs will help you navigate the waters and have a fabulous time.

Frequently Asked Questions – General

The Ravellenic Games?? In a nutshell, Ravelry members have organized a site-wide knit-a-long that takes place during the Olympics. This thread is home to the 2016 Ravellenic Games. Cast-on occurs during the Opening Ceremonies (or any time thereafter), and projects must be completed by the Closing Ceremonies. There are events (categories of projects) and laurels (types of techniques). When you complete and post your project as directed, you will receive virtual awards and laurels, which you can proudly display on your project page and/or your profile.
When is the event? Friday, August 5 starting at 19:15 in Rio’s time zone (BRT) through Sunday, August 21 at 23:59 (BRT). If I’m looking at the time zone converter correctly, that means I can cast on at 15:15 here in the Pacific Time Zone.
What are the rules? The rules are to pick a project that will challenge you, and to have fun!
Do I have to watch the Olympics to participate? No, not at all.
Do I have to be on a team? No, you can be a participant without a team.
Can I be on more than one team? Yes. The rule is that each project must be associated with no more than one team.
Why would I want to be on a team? A team is like a virtual knit night. We will exclaim over your projects, cheer you on if you falter, and dance a happy dance when you cross the finish line.
Why would I want to be on Team Knit Equals Joy? We are really good at the above! And we have prizes! Read more below.

FAQs – Team Knit Equals Joy

How do I join Team Knit Equals Joy? Our team thread is here. You can post and say you are joining, or just join the conversation at any time. Tagging your project with ravellenics2016 and teamknitequalsjoy2016 will automatically list you as one of our ravthletes.
Do I have to knit a Carol E. Herman pattern to be on Team Knit Equals Joy? No! You can knit any pattern you like. But knitting my patterns will give you extra chances for prizes! 😀
What about prizes? We already have a queue of physical prizes like yarn, project bags and the like for our team. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the Games via random number generator and will be chosen from our team’s finished projects. We have a thread here with more detail and where we will post our finished objects.
What if I have questions? Post them in the team thread, send me a private message on Ravelry, or ask below.

If you are reading this, you are invited to join Team Knits Equals Joy. I hope that you will consider it. We have so much fun, and an event like this really does provide a lot of inspiration, incentive and encouragement to learn a new technique, finish a languishing WIP (work in progress), or even to frog something you never are going to make and free up that yarn for something else.

Hope to see you there!

~knit equals joy

knitters, knitting, knitting patterns, pattern, Spa Cloth

Cinderella’s Spa Cloth Pattern is Live!

Posted on July 20, 2016August 4, 2016 by Carol

Cinderella’s Spa Cloth is now available on Ravelry!

This is the newest pattern in my Folk Tales Spa Cloth Collection. I am compiling an e-book of these patterns, and after having written several patterns of varying degrees of difficulty, I decided to write a pattern that would be simple yet elegant.

This pattern has just two rows, repeated until the cloth is the desired width. It uses only knit stitches and slipped stitches, yet it creates a cloth that is both lovely and useful. Made with Cascade Ultra Pima Fine, it’s a wonderful, gently exfoliating facial cloth. I use my spa cloths daily!

My friend Alex of alexand knits is one of the amazing testers who test-knit this cloth for me, and she wrote about it here. She is an excellent writer and knitter and blogs about all kinds of lovely knits.

The pattern is available on Ravelry for $1.25, here. I hope you will enjoy this pattern!

The Perfect Paint Color

Image• Posted on July 17, 2016 by Carol

Carol E. Herman Designs, knitting, Ravellenic Games, Ravelry

Team Knit equals Joy – The Ravellenic Games 2016

Posted on July 12, 2016May 8, 2020 by Carol

Team Knit equals Joy is joining the Ravellenic Games! The Ravellenic Games – a fun way to connect with other knitters and to challenge your own skills. They take place during the Olympic Games but, of course, are not affiliated with those games. The goal is to challenge yourself to begin and complete at least one project between Friday, August 5 and Sunday, August 21 – and to have fun doing it.

15 events cover just about any type of project you want to make:

Afghan Marathon, Bag Backstroke, Cowl Jump, Frogging Trampoline, Garment Polo, Hat Dash, Household Heptathalon, Mitten Medley, Scarf Hockey, Shawl Sailing, Sock-Put, Sweater Triathalon, Synchronized Spinning, Toy Toss, and WIPs Wrestling.

The Ravelry-wide event awards virtual prizes. Generally these are a graphic you can post on your Ravelry profile page and on your project page. Pretty fun to post those prizes proudly!

We will have prizes in our Knit equals Joy team, too…real prizes like yarn, bags, patterns… come check out the thread in my Ravelry group for more details!

We would love to have you join our team! It’s like a giant KAL, and so much fun. Hope to see you there!

knit equals joy

Photos by unsplash.com.

art, Carol E. Herman Designs, knitting, knitting swaps, Sketch

Creative People, Beautiful Creations

Posted on July 7, 2016July 7, 2016 by Carol

So, we are having a summer swap in my Ravelry group, and Paula drew this on the envelope for her swap partner. Maybe it was a simple act for her, but it brought joy to her swap partner and, later, to the rest of us. I hope it brings a bit of light and beauty to your day as well.