I am so excited that we’re going to have another Wuv, Tru Wuv Mini Swap in my Ravelry Group! You can read all about the 2016 Valentine’s Day Mini Swap here.
And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva…
…from The Princess Bride
The rules for this swap are easy:
You must be a member of the Knit Equals Joy group on Ravelry.
You will send one small knit, crocheted, sewn or stitched gift, a card and a small treat ($5.00 max) to your secret swap partner.
Sign-ups end January 4th and partners will be assigned by January 5th.
Our mailing deadline is January 25th (if you have an international swap partner, we encourage you to mail a few days earlier).
You must participate in the swap discussion at least once a week.
When you receive your package, you must post your thanks as soon as possible and post a photo as quickly as you can.
You must stitch your project with love. 🙂
Sign-ups are here. Don’t miss out: Sign up before January 4th!
All of 2016’s wonderful Wuv, Tru Wuv swap gifts:
Wanna be a knit equals joy swapper? Come on over to the group and join us!
This week, we’re challenging you to think ahead and show your work in a representative photo. If you set New Year’s resolutions, give them some thought a few weeks early. If resolutions aren’t your style, show us something that you want to achieve — it could be setting a new goal, making plans, or even tackling that pile of laundry waiting by the washer. The goal is to get out of the busy “now,” and imagine your new horizon. Go!
The photo:
I am excited about new horizons in 2017! My hope is to change all of my design monikers to knit equals joy. This will include my designer name and my Ravelry group. The beautiful gold and blue colors you see on this page consistently and constantly call to me, so I foresee them as being front and center in my branding palette (not necessarily in my design palette, although they certainly crop up a lot!).
I enjoyed pulling together the yarns and other items for this still life. Photography continues to be a love of mine, and I look forward to improving my photography skills in 2017 by taking classes and getting in lots of practice!
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!
The beach, friends, knitting, seafood, yarn shop. Not a bad way to spend a weekend!
Coastline nearby.Thursday night, dinner.Along the coastal trail.Successful beachcombing.Sunset Thursday.Fabric. Amazingly perfect bags made by Becky for everyone attending.Another view of Becky’s project bags. The inside fabric print was sea glass. Awesomeness!Fishing boats at Newport.Bridge at Waldport.Seen at Waldport.Shopping at In The Wind Yarns (in The Shops at Salishan).Three Salishan Cowls made by Elizabeth at In The Wind Yarns. I LOVE the top one, made in a linen blend from Juniper Moon. It shows off the stitch pattern really well.Aww…at In The Wind Yarns.Rocks near the trail.Love the ocean’s power.A moment in flight.Woo hoo…wave action!
A huge “thank you” to everyone who came out to share this knitting weekend. I am fortunate to know such wonderful, talented and generous people, and I look forward to our next knitting retreat!
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!!!
Another fun swap is in the books! An overview of the lovely and creative swap packages that jetted across the country in December:
I love that our group is so enthusiastic about the mini swaps, and I’m very grateful to our amazing swap organizer, Jen. A new swap is being organized right now. Knitters, we love to have new group members and new swappers (swapees?). If you’ve been thinking about it, come check it out here. Hurry, though, sign-ups close January 4th!
This is a lovely post…about how sometimes something happens that changes our focus – whether it is something uplifting we have read, meeting up with friends, or taking delight in a little boon, surprise, or gift. Alex won one of the finished object prizes in our recent knitalong. It was a joy to send this yarn to her because she understands about beautiful yarn. Please enjoy this post as well as Alex’s blog, alexand knits.
I also wanted to add a link to Knot Another Hat, the yarn shop owned by Sarah Ericksen Keller. Sarah made the gorgeous, amazing yarn that is part of this story.
Oh, and that hat pattern Alex mentions is just about ready for testing… 😉
Stuff is hard right now, as I’ve mentioned. However, it seems like whenever I’m getting too down on myself, something happens to help me change my focus. Sometimes it’s a blog post that really strikes a chord for me, or a knitting group meetup, or getting a really cool free pattern or something. It often comes from my fiber community, local or virtual.
Today, it was this:
Envelope is facedown to protect the innocent
I was just sitting down to have a cup of half cocoa, half coffee, thinking about whatever random negative noise was in my head, and thought I would check the mail. I found an envelope and recognized the name on the return address right away. Here, you can open it with me:
In case you can’t tell, that’s yarn in there! To be specific, handspun yarn made of merino, silk and cashmere. It’s 168 yards of…
The tee now has a rolled neckline. The plan is to offer options to leave this neckline or to pick up and knit either a corrugated ribbed neckline or a regular ribbed neckline. Stitch counts and charts are looking good and I am champing at the bit to get back to knitting this!
It seems to me that I should be further along by now. But sometimes other things move up the priority chain and have to be finished first. Here are some of the other items:
Basic Sock
I am teaching a basic sock class at Tangled Purls, our local yarn shop. The sock above is my shop/class sample. The Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 (20% Cashmere) yarn I used made knitting it up a joy. Then I was thrilled when I read the idea of making Kitchener kits for the knitters taking the class. It was great to provide a way to practice the Kitchener stitch on larger yarn and needles before tackling it on their socks.
Tomorrow is Part II of the class, so tonight I will finish this sample heel flap and heel shaping, using highly contrasting colors to highlight the sock construction. I always love blue and yellow together!!!
Basic Socks have been so much fun that next month it’s going to be Basic Christmas Stockings, pattern also by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. Last weekend was spent frantically knitting to finish the sample. Getting a good picture for the store’s newsletter was another story…but here we are and that can be put aside for awhile. I’ll make Kitchener kits for that class too…in Christmas colors, of course!!!
The Passport Mitts KAL continues in my Ravelry group, and I’m knitting along, as well. I’m working on a red pair, using Rowan Felted Tweed DK in the colorway Rage. I love love love this yarn! It is so light, yet warm, and the colorways are wonderful! Here is my progress as of the other morning:
The knitalong goes through November 15th, so there is plenty of time to join in. Did I mention that there were prizes? Lovely, yarny, prizes! And a knitting bag, too.
Finally, I started my Stroll Cardigan by Olive Knits, once again using the wonderful Rowan Felted Tweed DK. This colorway is Ginger. I finished 3 or 4 inches of it, but worked on it while watching football, and somehow got off on my raglan lines, so I frogged it. But I can’t wait to get back to it!!! (When? I don’t know!!!) I even found the perfect earrings to coordinate with the sweater.
I’d best get knitting now! Have a wonderful weekend, and I hope you have some time to knit – or to do something creative and beautiful!
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…
Passport Mitts, my new design, is now available on Ravelry. This pattern was originally written as an exclusive design for Tangled Purls’ Passport program. The exclusivity period is now over and so I am able to offer the pattern for sale to everyone.
The mitts are long and elegant with details that make them a great additon to your fall wardrobe. They make a perfect project for your holiday gift giving! The pattern is written in two sizes.
To celebrate, I am offering a discount to readers of this blog. For 20% off the $4.50 purchase price through September 30, 2015, use the coupon code PMblog20. Click here to purchase the pattern now, and enter the coupon code at checkout. You do have to belong to Ravelry to purchase patterns, but it is free and easy to join, and it is an amazing website with a huge database of patterns (among other fantastic features)!
We’re also having a knit-a-long (KAL) in my Ravelry group starting October 1st. A KAL is great fun. We discuss our progress, ask questions, post pictures – and at the end, there are prizes. I’ve found some gorgeous yarns that will be the KAL prizes. Winners are chosen from among the finished projects randomly. We truly have so much fun! I hope you will join us! You can sign up for the KAL here.
Some of the Prizes:
Thanks for letting me share my latest design with you!
The rules for this swap are easy:
knit equals joy 