A HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway in my Ravelry group!! It was so much fun, and I appreciate everyone who dropped by, whether it was just for a quick “hello” or to stick around and chat and get to know us a little better!
Congrats to Ravelry user Kepanie, winner of the grand prize! Here’s her swag! I had sooooooo much fun choosing these wonderful yarns and knitting notions at the 2016 Rose City Yarn Crawl.
Gathersnomoss won a mini-giveaway for these Gobstoppers:
And heatherg7 snagged these Unicorn Tails:
Congrats Becky and Heather!!!
A great time was had by all and I hope you will join us for one of our next great events! Coming soon: a fantastic summery swap – sign-ups most likely will start in May – and the Ravellenic Games in August – a Ravelry-wide event, with knitting all during the Olympics, (virtual) medals, fun competition (mostly with yourself) and, of course, in my group, prizes!!!
Hi everyone! The giveaway in my Ravelry group is still going strong. There are mini-giveaways going on until we reach 5,000 posts in The Cafe thread. Current post count: 4,854.
When we reach 5,000 posts, I’ll choose the winner using a random number generator for this prize:
I wrote all about the lovely yarn and goodies here: Giveaway Details.
In the meantime, I am giving away smaller goodies that I purchased during the Rose City Yarn Crawl.
CURRENT MINI-GIVEAWAY:
Two terrific Gobstoppers, mini-skeins of worsted weight yarn by the Knitted Wit. Soon I’ll randomly choose a winner for this mini-giveaway and then will start the next mini-giveaway. Come on over to The Cafe and join in!
Just in time for Easter, this See’s Easter Treasure Egg was won by Ravelry user stamura.
Mini-giveaway 3
These awesome Knitted Wit Gumballs, mini skeins of yummy yarn, were won by Ravelry user QueenKally.
Mini-giveaway 4
A wonderful project bag from Happy Knits. Adorbs! Won by Ravelry user PLC1.
Mini-giveaway 5
Awesome and amazing buttons from One of a Kind Buttons. We discussed it in the group and we think the first one belongs on a mug cozy. Won by Rav user saminar.
I hope you will come check out the group, the thread and the giveaway if you are interested. We love to chat about knitting, yarn, and life in general, and we love to have new knitting friends join in the fun.
The last couple of posts have reminded me of some of my favorite projects that I’ve made that weren’t my own designs. I love this little frog pattern, Ribbit, by Susan B. Anderson. He was so much fun to make, and Susan’s patterns are always so well written.
Well, this little frog is my way of announcing that we are having a Leap Year giveaway in my Ravelry Group, Carol E Herman Designs. There will be smaller random giveaways starting this week, with a larger prize when The Cafe thread reaches 5,000 posts. Drop by, say hello, meet some new (or old) knitting friends, join us as we chat about this, that and everything! The first giveaways will be some cute notions bags made from fabric based on the iconic PDX Carpet (link to google images for PDX Carpet). I’ll post pictures of the actual bags and other prizes later.
I hope you will join us!
knit equals joy
Please note that the giveaway is in the Ravelry group, not here in the blog.
We wrapped up the Passport Mitts Knitalong (KAL) in my Ravelry group last month. We had a lovely time, with over 900 posts in the knitalong thread (meaning we’re chatty) and 13 finished pairs of mitts during the six weeks of the KAL. You can see all the lovely mitts as well as the prizes that were won here, in the FO (finished object) thread. I hope you’ll hop over there and take a look.
Here are some of the beautiful mitts, photos used by permission. Each of these knitters does beautiful work!
Joyce made two pairs, one for her daughter and another for herself, using Berroco Folio. She took a couple of pictures at the family farm:
I love this photo Heather took of mitts she was making with Lorna’s Laces Honor, in the colorway Gobsmacked (how perfect is that for a colorway name???):
Meg used Rowan Felted Tweed DK, in the colorway Scree. I also used Rowan Felted Tweed for my mitts, and loved the lightweight yet warm fabric it created:
Blue was a popular color for these mitts, and the other major contender was orange. Jen made beautiful mitts in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light in the colorway Candied Yam, perfect for these pictures she took around Thanksgiving:
Alex made mitts in both of the popular choices, being the top finisher with three completed pairs of mitts! She made two pairs in Ella Rae Lace Merino DK in Orange and a pair in Classic Elite Yarns Inca Alpaca in the Navy Heather colorway.
Melanie made this stunning pair of mitts using Lion Brand LB Collection in White. It is amazing how white and natural yarns make cables pop. She bound off in pattern, which makes the top edge look like pearls. It’s not written that way in the pattern. but it is a wonderful modification.
Melanie wrote the following when she posted her finished mitts, and allowed me to share it here:
I completely love these mitts. Carol, this pattern is so classy and tasteful and beautifully written! I used Lion Brand 100% superwashmerino that I can only order from their online store. I ordered quite a bit of it several years ago, so this beautiful pair was knit from stash. The yarn shows awesome stitch definition, which is a perfect match for these mitts. The only problem I have is that I decided to make these for a friend… And now I want to keep them.
Thank you so much to everyone who participated. Your work is lovely and inspiring!
As a follow-up, my friends Leanne and Martha requested a hat pattern to go along with the Passport Mitts. We are currently testing the Wayfarer Hat, and the pattern will be available soon. The hat is written with the option to make it as a close-fitting beanie or to modify it for a slouchier fit. Stay tuned!
Something big is happening on Ravelry, the 3rd annual Indie Design Gift-a-Long! The Gift-a-Long (GAL), a collaboration of 335 independent knit and crochet designers, features a week-long sale and a knit-a-long/crochet-a-long (KAL/CAL) through the end of the year. There are tons of prizes, for ongoing games throughout the GAL and, at the end of the GAL, random winners drawn from among those who have posted pictures of their finished objects.
All 335 designers are here. There’s one post per designer – most posts include a photo indicative of the designer’s style, and each post has a link to the designer’s Ravelry page.
This bundle shows all the sale patterns. The sale ends November 27, 2015 at 11:59 P.M. EST.
I love this infographic! It’s amazing the amount of effort, talent and enthusiasm being poured into this event!
Picture copyright Cheryl Chow; used by permission.
I think these mitts are a lovely design, and I love the muted colors Cheryl used. The pattern is clearly written and the mitts look to be a fun project. I can’t wait to go hunt through the stash to find the right yarn. Also very cool, Cheryl is another Pacific North Westerner, hailing from North Bend, Washington!
Knitting friends, I hope you’ll come check out the Indie GAL. It’s lots of fun and is a wonderful way to meet some new designers.
These are my patterns which are on sale through 11/27/15 11:59 P.M. EST as part of the GAL (see details, here), and they’re also prize-eligible patterns:
Hi all! I hope you’ll take a moment to read this lovely post by Alex. She’s joined in the Passport Mitts knitalong on Ravelry and has already finished her first pair of mitts! The next pair is in an orange colorway, and I can’t wait to see how they turn out. Alex is a wonderful knitter and blogger; enjoy her post! 🙂 Thank you for the shout out, Alex!!!
The second FO I have to share today is my first pair of Passport Mitts! I’ve posted here before about this pattern and the designer, but I want to say a little more. Specifically, if you’re looking for an awesome and supportive group of people to “hang out” with on ravelry, please go check out the group at Carol E. Herman Designs. Carol (cehermanator) and many of the group members have been so welcoming to me that, even though I hadn’t yet knit any of her designs, I still felt comfortable just jumping in and chatting with people. There’s currently a KAL going on for the Passport Mitts. It’s the first time I’ve participated in one, and it’s been really fun so far! It just started a couple of days ago so there’s plenty of time to come join in if you’d like. There’s great chatting, camaraderie…
In 2010, I went through a difficult time personally. It was suggested to me that I plan something to look forward to as a way to get through and beyond what I was going through.
Even though I began knitting a few years before, in 2009 my knitting really took off and I also discovered the amazing fiber arts resource and website, Ravelry.
The following year, one of my new Ravelry friends filmed a video as she and a friend drove to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, affectionately referred to as Rhinebeck. Her video showed the beautiful landscape of Upstate New York in all its fall glory, but more than that, her excitement for Rhinebeck was contagious. I was hooked! I wanted to go to Rhinebeck! Rhinebeck would be my something to look forward to.
The planning started. I purchased airline tickets. I found my roommate (the friend above). Someone (not me) found a great place to stay in the Catskills. I made my Rhinebeck sweater.
I signed up for classes; if I were going to spend the money to fly across the country, it should be not only a social and shopping time, but also a time to increase my skills. I took a class on sweater design and one on Tvåändsstickning (!)- a Swedish knitting technique in which two strands of yarn, usually of the same color, are twined together. The classes were terrific!
Rhinebeck highlights:
My Rhinebeck SweaterCarol, Nicole, SuzanneFall Color at RhinebeckYarn from Rhinebeck, most from family-owned farms such as Weston Hill Farm
Best of all was the realization that a meaningful trip could be built around fiber activities. Thus began the quest for yarn festivals, retreats, yarn crawls, and any other event that could be classified as fiber-related.
Since then I have attended the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival , the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Barn Sale, the Rose City Yarn Crawl, and Vogue Knitting Live Seattle 2014, and my sisters and I toured Ranch of the Oaks during our 2014 Sisters’ Weekend. Each is worthy of its own blog post, but…well, my hope is to write up reviews after I attend events in the future.
This fun video introduces the next fiber event I’ll be attending:
I wholeheartedly recommend fiber events as the kernel for travel planning. They provide terrific opportunities to meet wonderful people, to become more educated in the craft, to have something exciting to look forward to and to plan for, and, of course, to increase the stash!
Meet-up for bagels before the 2015 Blue Moon Fiber Arts Barn Sale:
Left to Right: Carol, Melissa, Debby, Richelle. Photo, Melissa Keating, used by permission.
I love fall. It is my favorite season of the year. I love fall colors. I love the way the slanting rays of the dwindling sun cast a golden glow over everything. I love pumpkins, gourds, many-colored ornamental corn, fall apples, fresh apple cider. I love the crisp evening air that signals fall’s arrival. I love trips to the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, pumpkin bars. Truly, I love everything about fall. And even though we’re not quite there yet, something about today’s weather made me think about fall. Which made me think about fall decorating.
Last year, I wrote this little pattern for fall. Of course, I didn’t see my inspiration for it until fall was already in full swing, so the pattern was released late, right around Halloween. This year, I want to share it now so knitters will have time to make the pumpkin, or several, in time for Halloween and/or fall decorating.
Inspiration for the Mini Colorwork Pumpkins. When I saw this in the store, I realized that knitting patterns featuring the motifs right on the pumpkin itself were few to none.
Colorwork pumpkin in black and gold. I love this color combination:
Jen made this fun colorwork pumpkin with spider. I love how she integrated it into her fall decorating! Several spider charts are included in the pattern.
Meg made this lovely pumpkin with tonal yarns:
Pattern details:
Quick and easy, Mini Colorwork Pumpkins are perfect for Fall, whether you want to decorate for Halloween or Thanksgiving. Make several in different colors and yarn weights, and choose from 6 different charted designs. At about 3 1/2 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter, they knit up very quickly.
Charts include Mini Spiders, Mini Spiders Alternating, Booooooo, Art Nouveau Leaves, Tall Spiders and More Tall Spiders.
My Ravelry group just finished up our Summer Spa Swap. We each made a spa cloth and purchased a specialty soap for our swap partner, also known as our SP, and sent it along with a card. Our swaps are pretty stress-free…just a small little something made with the SP in mind. Along the way, we chat in the swap thread and post a picture along with our thanks when we’ve received our surprise in the mail.
I love the variety of colors that were used for the spa cloths, as well as the wonderful soaps that people were able to find for their SPs:
A few of the pretties, up close:
Joanna made two lovely cloths for her SP. The one on top is Vintage Hankie Washcloth by Julie Tarsha. The other is my pattern, Fairy Godmother’s Spa Cloth.Patricia found the perfect embellishment to send with her spa cloth…and I was the lucky recipient!Lovely swap package sent by Melissa to Meg. Beautiful work by Melissa, and I love how Meg staged it! Aren’t those hydrangeas gorgeous?!
Many thanks to everyone who participated in our Summer Spa Swap. Be on the lookout for our next swap!
The next big activity in the group will be the Passport Mitt knit-a-long, starting October 1. More on that next month!
knit equals joy 