knit equals joy

Knit Equals Joy Designs, knitters, knitting, knitting swaps, Ravelry

New happenings in the Ravelry group: a swap and a month-long giveaway!

Posted on August 31, 2017May 8, 2020 by Carol

Hello, dear knitters! As we wrap up summer and move toward fall, I hope this finds you well and happily knitting. We are expecting another heat wave through Tuesday, but for now I am pretending that the cooler, crisp evenings of fall are here for well and good.

Autumn mini swap

I am excited to announce that sign-ups are open for the Knit Equals Joy Autumn Mini Swap! To quote the lovely Jen, who organizes our terrific swaps: “This mini swap celebrates friendship and the beauty of the Fall season. In this swap you will send your secret swap partner a lovely knitted, crocheted or sewn gift reminiscent of Autumn.”

Here are the rules for this mini swap:

You must be a member of the Knit Equals Joy group on Ravelry. If you’re not yet, it’s perfectly OK to join the group so that you can join in the swap. It is a community of like-minded, crafty individuals, so please introduce yourself and join in our community.

Sign-ups end September 5th.

You will send one hand knitted, crocheted or sewn Autumn-inspired gift and one treat valued up to $5.00. The treat does not have to be edible.

Our mailing deadline is October 3rd.

You must participate in the swap discussion at least once a week. This will help your swap partner get to know more about you. As I said, this is a community-building activity, so the discussion is a very important part of the swap.

If you are a new swapper, you must fill out the swapper’s questionnaire. You can find this in the discussion forum. If you need help, just ask.

When you receive your package, you must post your thanks as soon as possible and post a photo as quickly as you can.

Here is my wrap-up post about last year’s Fall Mini Swap.

Month-long giveaway

Okay, here’s the deal, and it’s pretty exciting. The Knit Equals Joy group on Ravelry is just a few members – fewer than 5 – shy of 200 members . Sooooo, once we reach 200 members, we are going to have a giveaway (there, not here) that lasts a full month!!!

So, if you aren’t a member, go over there and join right now!!! If you are a member, invite some friends you think would enjoy the group. I’ll be giving away yarn (of course!) at least once a week, adding in other fun and lovely notions in between. Winners will be chosen randomly from posts – so this means get on over there and start chatting – in our chat thread, The Cafe. Again, the Knit Equals Joy group is a community, so if you are new, jump right in and introduce yourself.

If you have any questions about how to join Ravelry or how to join the Knit Equals Joy group, just ask!

Summer spa swap III

And, finally, here’s a collage of the lovely swap packages that were sent in our summer spa mini swap. We had a great time!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Thank you to everyone who is already a part of the Knit Equals Joy group. If you are not yet, and you’re a knitter, please consider yourself invited to come join the knitting fun!

xoxo

Carol

Hawaii, Maui, Nature, Weekly Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Corner

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Carol

My entry for this week’s photo challenge – taken at Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge. Throughout the entire hike, I dawdled with my camera, and the others were always turning corners before me. It’s a beautiful, breathtaking place, so I was really quite okay with taking it in at my own pace.

Merriam-Webster defines “corner” as, among other things, “the point where converging lines, edges, or sides meet.” I also like looking at it from the opposite direction: corners are where lines, objects, and people go their separate ways. A corner is literally a turning point, full of tension and potential. ~Ben Huberman, The Daily Post.

See more of this week’s entries here: Weekly Photo Challenge: Corner.

Nature, Oregon, photography, Weekly Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unusual

Posted on July 19, 2017 by Carol

For this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge, please post a photo that is unusual in some way for you, whether it be through technique, by subject, or in some other unique way. This theme is wide open to interpretation because only you know what is unusual to you.

Fungus. Fungus is definitely an unusual topic for me. But this fungus was so unusual and so compositionally interesting to me that I had to take a series of pictures.

Thanks for stopping by this week to check out what struck me as unusual. The other entries for this week’s photo challenge can be found here.

beach, Hawaii, Maui, Nature, photography, Weekly Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Collage II

Posted on July 15, 2017July 15, 2017 by Carol

Collage: An assortment, a collection, a hodgepodge. This week, share one — whether found in the wild or assembled yourself. The Daily Post ~Michelle Weber

Yesterday I came across this collection of beachy material and snapped a few shots. No changes were made to the composition; this is exactly as the objects appeared in the wild. In the sense that hodgepodge is collage, I believe this fits this week’s challenge.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Collage

Hawaii, Maui, Nature, Summer, Weekly Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Collage

Posted on July 14, 2017July 15, 2017 by Carol

Palm tree

Just before dawn

Local color

A complete rainbow

Tree and sky

Inland view

The golden hour…palm trees

mmm…pineapple

The golden hour

Pineapple

A bird

Here’s my contribution to this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Collage. For this challenge, I learned how to create a photo gallery, above. If you click on one photo, you will be able to view each one at full size.

Cannon Beach, Oregon, Oregon Coast, Pacific Northwest, Weekly Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Transient

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Carol

Drifters, nomads, and even the state of impermanence: this week, share your photos of transient. ~Andrea Badgley, The Daily Post.

A leaf, a literal drifter. On its way out to sea or working its way back to shore? Seen floating, lazily, in this inlet. Calm, mellow transient.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Transient

Lighthouses, Nature, Oregon, Oregon Coast, The Coast, Weekly Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Carol

Playing around with depth of focus is always a lot of fun. While I would love to take a fabulous landscape photo with everything clear and in sharp focus, more often I enjoy switching to a more shallow depth of focus, with the foreground being the subject and the expected subject being blurred.

Newport, Sweet peas by the Jetty, 1/320 sec; f/9.0; 55 mm

Yaquina Bay Bridge, from South Jetty, 1/320 sec; f/9.0; 55 mm

And a couple with greater depth of field:

Newport, North Side of Jetty, 1/200 sec; f/11.0; 55 mm

Yaquina Head Lighthouse, 1/640 sec; f/6.3, 200 mm

Check out the other responses to this week’s photo challenge here: Weekly Photo Challenge: Out of Focus.

knit equals joy, Knit Equals Joy Designs, knitters, knitting, knitting swaps, Spa Cloth

Reminder: Final Day for Summer Spa Swap Sign-Ups!

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Carol

TODAY is the last day to sign up for the summer spa swap in the Knit Equals Joy Ravelry Group! This is our third annual summer swap – Summer Spa Swap III – Les Jardins. Our swaps are a great way to connect with other knitters – chatting, making and sending a small gift, receiving a fun package in the mail that another knitter made for you with care…come on over and sign up! The original post about this swap is here.

This mini swap is all about sending your secret swap partner a mini “pampering kit”. This year we will use the summer garden as our inspiration. Your package will include a hand knit or crocheted wash cloth that has a Les Jardins (garden) theme or is inspired by the garden, a pretty and preferably a handcrafted bar of soap and one other fun little item that you think your swap partner would like (perhaps a pretty bookmark, some bath salts or a special lip balm…) (Max Value = $10.00).

Part of the joy of the swap is in chatting with the other swap participants, and we post our thanks and photos as soon as we can after we’ve received our swap packages. It’s how we roll in Knit Equals Joy.

That’s it! I hope you will check it out and come sign up TODAY. If you’re not yet a member of the group, please join. If you haven’t posted in the group yet, please introduce yourself and let the group know how you found the swap.

You can read about some of our other swaps here.

See you there!

Color, Weekly Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Order

Posted on June 7, 2017June 7, 2017 by Carol

Here’s my entry for this week’s photo challenge, the organic shapes of farmer’s market bounty gathered into a modicum of order.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Order

Knit Equals Joy Designs, knitting, knitting patterns, sweater pattern

Color Bliss Sweater – Pattern Now Available!

Posted on June 5, 2017June 15, 2017 by Carol

Dear knitters, I’m thrilled to introduce the Color Bliss Sweater! The pattern is on special for my blog readers and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followers through the end of June: 25% off the regular price of $5.50. Follow this link; no coupon code is necessary: Color Bliss Introductory Sale.

This pattern was a joy to write – because it’s all about color!

Scott Webb – Waterloo Region Museum, Kitchener, Canada, via Unsplash

Color is its defining element: beautiful, happy, joyful color. You can go bright, muted, multi-color, monochromatic, just a few colors or lots of colors! The pattern includes suggestions and worksheets for creating your own palette and stripe sequence. Here you will find a Pinterest board with lots of different palettes I’ve collected over the years. Use them as a springboard for your own imagination.

The pattern is written for 10 sizes: 36 (38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54) in. /91.4, (96.5, 101.6, 106.7, 111.8, 116.8, 121.9, 127, 132.1, 137.2) cm Bust. Sample shown in the pattern has zero ease at bust and 4 1/2 inches positive ease at waist.

It’s worked in the round, top-down and seamless.

When my youngest son was in high school, I found a sweater for him that I absolutely loved. It was your basic seamed, striped sweater, but the colors and order of the stripes made me happy every time I saw that sweater. I mimicked that stripe sequence in the gray/orange/blue/red version of this sweater.

I like to design things that I want to wear myself, so this sweater was designed with a round yoke. I like the way that the round yoke hangs on my frame and I feel like a million bucks every time I wear either of my Color Bliss Sweaters.

Here are a few of the finished sweaters. You can see all of the Color Bliss Sweaters, finished or in progress, here.

WillowandTwist made this lovely for her daughter. Beautifully made, and a wonderfully cool palette!

I love the modification MsMEdge made to her sweater, which was to make the striped section mimic short sleeves rather than 3/4 sleeves. It’s perfect on her!

Melanie modified her sweater by lengthening it. This is easy to do if you get some extra yarn. Just keep on knitting until you reach the length you like. I am thinking of doing this with one of own my Color Bliss Sweaters. If I do, I’ll add an addendum to the pattern, and if you have purchased the pattern through Ravelry or through the links on the blog, you’ll receive an update at that time. Here’s Melanie’s gorgeous sweater!

I think Patricia may have lengthened her sweater as well. But, these colors! This sweater makes me smile every time I see it. Must be the happiest color palette ever!

The pattern also includes a hand-drawn schematic (the measurements are computer-typed, however, for easier reading). This is just a little gift from me to you.

I hope you’ll come join the fun and make your own Color Bliss Sweater. Playing with color really is tremendous fun and is another way that Knit Equals Joy!

And just for fun, a couple of photo shoot outtakes…