Winners of the Winterside/Knitcircus Magazine Contest!

I wanted to start off by saying thank you all for your kind words and for participating in my contest!


Now . . . .The moment we have all been waiting for. Yay!


The winners for the Winterside / Knitcircus Magazine giveaway are:

* Affiknitty
* Adri
* Valerie Clark

They will receive a free copy of the latest Knitcircus Magazine !




Photo courtesy of Knitcircus Magazine

 

I hope you all enjoy reading through the magazine as much as I did.

*I have sent all the winners messages either on Ravelry or in email. Winners were picked using a random number generator.

Winterside - KnitCircus Winter 2010 & a Contest!

The latest Knitcircus Magazine came out today and my pattern Winterside was a part of it.

It's a quick knit because the sleeves and the tops of the sweater are knit in one piece and then grafted together. Then the stitches are picked up around the waist and a fair isle band is knitted following a chart. The band of stranded knitting is a great way to learn to knit stranded patterns because it’s not too hard! Then the rest of the bottom is knitted downwards. It's a great way to learn to knit sideways.

 

I quite love this photo! The model is perfect for the sweater.

I'm doing a contest to promote Winterside in the new issue. All you have to do is leave a comment at the bottom of this post and you are entered for a FREE COPY of the new Knitcircus Magazine! There will be 3 winners! The contest will be closed on Nov.30/10 at midnight mountain time and the I will post the winners the next day! Good luck :)

Here is the side:

and the back detail where you can see I have grafted the back together at the top:

All photos are courtesy of Knitcircus Magazine.

Creating Mr. Monkey Pants . . .

Have you ever knit animals? This is my second and I am just loving it.

It's fun to watch all the pieces come together and to see the personality that comes out of the little knitted creature . . . I decided to name him Mr. Monkey Pants because he's got an aire about him - with his fat body and soon-to-be, little beady eyes!

This Sunday, I am teaching a Sock Monkey Class @ Gina Brown's. It's a two part class in which we are going to make either the adult or baby sock monkey (whatever people prefer) from the Paton's Monkey Business book. I think this is going to be a great class and I can't wait to teach it.

Here is Mr. Monkey Pants so far:

I am definitely going to make the baby monkey after this!

Ewan

Yesterday launched my newest pattern Ewan in the Fall 2010 issue of Petite Purls. Petite Purls is an online magazine that is all about knitting for babies and kids. I am always excited when their magazine comes out because I love knitting for kids. They have had some really great designers work for them (like Stefanie Japel's Tree Hugger Tutu and Kate Oates' Boys Can Wear Pink) too!

I am quite excited about this design! It's knit sideways which is by far my favorite way to knitting a sweater - why make lots of pieces when you can make just two?? Lana Hames (The owner of Hemp for Knitting)is the designer & friend that introduced me to sideways knitting, and to her I am quite thankful. She has the neatest designs and I learn a lot when I knit her patterns. You can check out her blog here.

I'm going to add a tutorial in the "Tutorials and How-To" page on my blog that will help for when you are knitting along and get to the gusset & the sleeve division for the front & back. It's a really simple step but can sometimes need more clarification to ease the process.

I owe a huge THANKS to Cheryl for all of her help. Cheryl, Ewan's mom, was great in letting me 'borrow' Ewan to take some photos. She also is responsible to taking all these adorable photos - (she's a great photographer!) She has a daughter as well that I would love to knit for . . .

Here are some of the photos from the photo shoot that Cheryl and I did. He is such a cutie!

An Aran Twist . . .

We just received a new yarn from Schoppel-Wolle called In Silk Fingerwolle. It's not technically a yarn; more an unspun, pencil roving but it's very soft and cozy with the 25% Silk and 75% Merino fiber content. It has 40 meters per 50 gram ball. I decided that we needed a sample so people could see how to knit with it as it definitely does not look like your normal plied yarn :)

I am designing a cute hat for the winter. Something not too hard to knit but enjoyable and on big needles - Perfect for Christmas presents on the run. Here is a sneak peak of the texture . . .

Fly, Fly, Flutter By, Fly . . .

I am just getting ready to travel home so I can visit friends & family before I leave to go to TNNA. TNNA is held in Columbus, Ohio and is the largest trade show of the year for wholesale. Retailers, wholesalers and designers come from all over to congregate in the yarnie goodness! This is the second year that I am attending with Lana Hames, owner of Lanaknits Hemp For Knitting! PS. Our booth is #733 - love to see you there!

I have been looking for a cute, little pattern that I could bring with me in my purse - something small and definitely cute! I was looking around on Ravelry and stumbled across the Flutter By Socks pattern - just what I was looking for.  There was an extra ball of Fleece Artist Trail Socks looking all good on my shelf and I had been saving it for just the right pattern - this was it! So I had to cast on right away! The pattern is well written and easy to follow :) 

Now off to bed so I can leave early tomorrow morning.

Concord Cable Pattern is now up on Ravelry!

I have been trying to add all of the patterns that I have written lately to Ravelry. Currently they are available at Gina Browns in Calgary. I have added the Concord Cable Cowl pattern the other day. I quite like how quick this pattern is to knit - only a few hours and you have something that you can wear right away. :)