Sleep, as it turns out, is not optional. For over a week, I’ve been trying to knock this bug from TNNA on its head. For ten whole days. And the bug is beating me because it’s figured out my weakness: I need sleep.
I cannot sleep when I am coughing. And I am coughing pretty solidly from about 11pm to 4am, when I finally slip into a slumber from nothing more than sheer exhaustion. But until then,I lie in bed and keep very very still and breathe very very slowly, just willing this cough into submission long enough for me to sleep. It doesn’t work.
And so, the past ten days have felt like a total loss to me. Almost nothing done, almost nothing achieved. *sigh…* All I want in my bed, and that lovely, dreamy, delicious feeling of just slipping under the surface of sleep…
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Is it any wonder that the yarns I’ve put in the shop today are all of the softest, gentlest colours? Cool blues and sleepy greys that make me think of an inviting bed, of soft, dreamy light falling through sheer white curtains…
But there’s something far more exciting for the rest of you than going to sleep. Today is the day that I draw the three winners of the KnitCircus Summer 2011 Pattern Collections! First, a huge thank you to everyone who participated — I really enjoyed reading your comments and find out your favourite patterns and articles.
And now, the winners are…
vitpil
Dawn Hays
PandaLark
Congratulations! You’ve won the complete Pattern Collection from the Summer 2011 issue of KnitCircus!
Please email me at spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com with your email address (and remind me of your Ravelry name), and I’ll pass your details onto Jaala Spiro at KnitCircus so she can send you the collection. Enjoy!
My throat is sore, my nose is stuffed and my head is pounding, pounding, pounding. And, under normal circumstances, I’d be feeling pretty sorry for myself. Probably tucking myself up in bed with a nice a cup on tea and my vapours nearby. But, actually, I’m not feeling so sorry for myself. What I’ve got is TNNA flu, and it’s the sort of ailment that is so much fun to catch, it’s almost worth having.
TNNA is the The National Needlework Association, the trade organisation for all things fibery, and this past weekend was their biggest tradeshow of the year. The official reason to go is because it’s the place to scout out new suppliers, spot new trends, and learn new skills. But the reason is because it is just SUCH a blast. Imagine a knit night where where every where around you are the designers you admire the most, the editors of your favourite knitting magazines, and the dyers whose yarn you covet… Can you see that in your mind? Doesn’t just the very thought of it feel delicious? That’s TNNA.
I loved talking with Jaala Spiro, editor of KnitCircus (on the right). She is so much fun! And a genuinely nice person — I’m so pleased I got to meet her. And next to her, that’s Michelle Miller, the Fickle Knitter, whose pattern I wore at HomeSpun Yarn Party and featured here.
I finally got to meet Sarah Wilson, the Sexy Knitter, who made those fabulous custom Knitter’s Tool Tins for the InterStellar Yarn Alliance, and who designed and knitted this amazing jumpsuit. And next to her is Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches — we ended up having a really interesting conversation in the bar that evening, and she is just a delight.
And I got to chat with so many others that I never got any pictures of: Amy Singer, Clara Parkes, Lisa Shroyer (editor of Knitscene), Stefanie Japel, Andi Smith, Shannon Okey, Ysolda Teague, Mary-Heather Cogar, StevenBe, Nicky Epstein, Rebecca Velasquez, Melissa Leapman, and… and… Oh! There were so many knitterati, I’m sure I’ve forgotten some…! But, suffice to say, it was a fantastic weekend.
And on a more serious note, regarding the actual business of bringing you beautiful yarns to knit with, I discovered some gorgeous new yarns that I am… erm… dying to dye. And a bunch of fun notions and accessories that just might end up in a Yarn Alliance parcel or two…
So when I got home and my throat began to get sore, and my head started to ache, I knew exactly why. Big events with lots of people like that… they always bring on the lurgy, don’t they? There’s just too much chatting with too many people, too much shaking of hands, not to catch something. But… was it worth it?
The thing that I love about knitting, the thing that calls me back to the needles time and time again, is the way knitting grounds me. There is something about the warmth of the yarn, the feel of the needles, the gentle repetition of stitch upon stitch that makes the whole world slow down a little so that I can exist just in that moment. And that incredible sense of calm is the way it’s been making other knitters feel too — for generations and generations. Knitting is ancient, simple, essential.
So every now and again, when I stop and reflect on how the knitting world has changed in the last ten years, it blows my mind a little. I use my phone to keep track of the rows I knit, I can check Ravelry to see how my pattern worked out for hundreds of other knitters, and I tweet back and forth with my favourite designers. Knitting is still ancient, essential, and grounding …but now it’s also all about the techno. Yeah, sometimes that really blows my mind.
And one of the best things to come out of this techno-revolution is the rise of online knitting magazines. Fresh, individual, quirky, and oh-so-vibrant — opening an online knitting magazine gives an instant virtual fiber rush. It makes you want to cast on something gorgeous. It makes you want cast on now.
Here my three hands-down favourites:
Did Knitty start the online knitting magazine craze? Even if it didn’t, it did for me. Knitty is the brainchild of Amy Singer, who launched her online magazine alllll the way back in 2002, and quickly became the starting point for thousands of new knitters and the launching pad for hundreds of new designers.
Filled with informative features that help new knitters find their feet and advanced knitters move on to higher planes, and offering instant access to a library of entirely free patterns, Knitty has revolutionised the concept of accessibility for a whole generation of knitters.
Twist Collective
The Twist Collective began with a mission: to treat designers and writers honourably by giving them a place to display their talents and get paid fairly for their work, while still having the option to use and build on their work after publication.
But beyond even those loftly ideals, what the Twist Collective ultimately achieves — through luscious photography and beautiful designs — is downright seductive.
KnitCircus
Starting out as a print publication, KnitCircus transitioned to an online format in 2010, and I’m so glad it did! Another magazine with an emphasis on treating designers fairly, KnitCircus is also committed to supporting indie fiber businesses, which gives readers the wonderful opportunity to discover new dyers and fiber artists that they might not otherwise find.
I find KnitCircus an absolute pleasure to read, partly for the totally trivial reason that the pages flip by delightfully (just like a real magazine! go try it!) and mostly because the articles are absorbing, the photography is sharp and fresh, and the patterns are utterly lovely.
Enter to Win the Entire KnitCircus Summer 2011 Pattern Collection
And here’s the bit that’s got me crazy-excited: KnitCircus‘s editor, Jaala Spiro, has generously offered me three copies of the KnitCircus Summer 2011 Pattern Collection to give away!
Wait, what’s that? Did I just hear you go squeeeee?!? Oh yeah, I know you did!
Ok, here’s what you have to do to enter:
Click on the links the three magazines above and choose your favourite pattern or article out of all of them (just one favourite, not three).
Then, come back here and leave a comment below telling me what your favourite is (and feel free to tell me why — I’d love to know!).
Now, because this is such a fabulous prize, I’m going to give you a way to get two bonus entries. To enter up to twice more, all you have to do is:
Mention this contest in a post on Ravelry (anywhere except the SpaceCadet group board and the InterStellar Yarn Alliance board)
Then, make sure you leave a comment here to let me know you’ve done it (include your Twitter and Rav names).
And there you go — you’re in with three chances to win one of three copies of the Summer 2011 KnitCircus Pattern Collection. And you can’t beat that with a stick stack of magazines!
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Someone… who shall remain nameless… Someone in our house is celebrating a birthday this week. A big, BIG birthday. The sort of age you know you’ll get to someday, but you never really believe you’ll ever reach. A tough birthday …but a fun birthday.
So, on Sunday, we had a big family celebration, and it was a fantastic day. You can imagine the scene in your mind: a table spread with amazing food, glasses filled deep with buttery white wine, a luscious chocolate cake covered in strawberries… And everywhere, everywhere that beautiful, dreamy, glowing light of a summer’s afternoon, gently dappled as it falls through the trees. It was a glorious day, and a glorious start to a new decade.
Today’s shop updates are yarns that evoke beautiful, lazy, summer days. Days filled with good food and plentiful wine. Days filled with golden sunshine, and evenings of glorious twilight. Even if it’s not your birthday this week, you deserve a little celebration too…
Congratulations! Send me a quick email to spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com to confirm your correct email address, and I will pass your info onto Leslie and Rock&Purl Ruth.
Thank you to everyone who participated!
(…and just to let you know that we’ve got some more great contests coming up in the near future, so stick around! If you’d like to hear about them first, be sure to subscribe to the blog, using the subscription box over there in the right-hand column)
Last week, I asked you guys to give me your questions and tell me what intimidates you about hand-dyed yarns. And I loved the responses — I got some great food for thought, and you guys prompted me to ask a couple of experts to contribute to the ebook and answer some of your questions. Exciting stuff!
And that post has started several really interesting conversations with friends about their approach to hand-dyed yarns. In each of these conversations, there have been some saying they are always trying to avoid pooling, and there are others saying that they just sit back and go where-ever the yarn takes them — treating it as an adventure, a journey to be traveled, whether the yarns pools or not. I have to admit, I loved hearing that because, as a dyer, that’s how my creative process often feels too — a little adventurous, a little out of control. Sometimes I’m in charge and the colours follow my lead, but sometimes… sometimes it’s better to stop controlling and just go where-ever the colour takes me. Sometimes it takes me to some really beautiful places.
The Beauty of Pooling (…no, really!)
And pooling can be the same way too. Yes, absolutely, sometimes pooling can be horrible — just horrible — and I totally get why knitters and crocheters strive to avoid it. But sometimes pooling can take a really exciting turn that gives spectacular — and unexpected — results.
Take this scarf for example, knit by my friend Megan. Now, we’ve all seen pooling that forms diamond patterns before, but I have to say I’ve never seen a more perfect and even example than this. And though this was entirely unintentional, it adds so much to the scarf — gives it a real feeling of fun and adventure. In fact, she liked it so much that when she switched to her second skein of yarn, Megan was really careful to join it in such a way that the argyle-pooling continued uninterrupted all the way to the end of the scarf. Spectacular!
So, ok… being surprised by nice, evenly repeating pooling along a nice, even rectangle is one thing, but when you get patterned pooling on a shaped project like a hat, that is really something. Here’s a one that Megan knit (that woman has some kind of uncanny pooling gift, I tell ya!) for a little girl with brain cancer, and when I saw the pooling, I nearly fell off my chair. Check out the pictures — this is not colourwork, this is the yarn just pooling in a beautiful way. I love the way the stripes work through the colours and then back out again in reverse order, and they stay in that formation right up until they hit the sharpest decreases in the crown. Amazing!
But what if stripes and argyle-diamonds aren’t your thing? Well, check out this shawl by Karrie of KnitPurlGurl.com. Because it’s crocheted instead of knit, the stitches move the colours about in a different way… and it produces small squares of pooled colour that look to me just like tiled mosaic. Honestly, I can’t take my eyes off it! Breathtaking!
.So, have you ever had a project start to pool in a really beautiful way? Did you love it? And did you do anything special to encourage the pooling?
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Pattern Giveaway
Don’t forget, there’s only a few days left to enter the Pattern Giveaway to win beautiful shawl patterns from RockandPurl and Leslie Thompson. Click here to see the patterns and get entered!
The weather has changed and, while the days are quickly becoming unbearably hot, the evenings are suddenly sublime — soft and warm and silken. And of course, it is the perfect time to knit.
And I know that last bit won’t make sense to the rest of the world, but you and I both know that summer just begs for luscious yarns, delicate lace, and lovely light shawls that wrap gently around bare shoulders. Oh yes, summer is perfect for knitting.
But I know lacework is not for everyone. So check out the Make It Work! shawl by Leslie Thompson (you know her, she’s one of the KnitGirllls from the Knit Girllls podcast!). What caught my eye first was the beautiful edge shaping — I think looks just like waves washing onto the shore — and then I spotted that it’s got enough short-row shaping and simple lacework to keep you interested without becoming too intimidating. I love this shawl!
But if lace is your thing, prepare to fall in love… This is Adoro, a gorgeous all-over lace shawl from Ruth Garcia-Alcantud. I love the delicate edging and the beading detail is just beautiful. This shawl just oozes starlit nights and warm breezes…
The pattern comes with instructions for both laceweight and fingering yarn. And even though it is simply amazing in that stunning deep red, I’d love to see how delicate it would look in an ethereal colourway such as SpaceCadet’s Luna LaceWeight Yarn in Silk and Merino, in Covetous (below left) or in Translucence (below right).
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Hey Cool! Win Both Patterns!
And here’s the best bit… Leslie and Ruth have very generously offered to give a copy of Make It Work! and Adoro to one lucky winner! To enter all you have to do is retweet this tweet:
“GIVEAWAY! I’ve just entered to win two shawl patterns from @rockandpurl @theknitgirllls and @spacecadetcreat http://wp.me/pKX4B-EU #RPKGllls”
And then just leave a comment here telling me you’ve done it.
I’ll draw a random winner from all the commenters next Monday or Tuesday, and then let you all know who’s won here on the blog. So come on in — the summer is warm and the knitting is gorgeous!
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The details (they’re eeeeeasy!): Sweepstakes opens when this blog post is published and closes on Sun June 5 2011 at 11.59pm EDT and all entries must be made before the close. All entrants will be verified and must retweet the tweet specified in the above blog post and then leave a comment to that effect on this blog post to qualify, and comments must include the commenter’s Twitter name. Invalid entries will be disqualified. Winner will be announced on this blog within 72 hours of sweepstakes close and must respond within 72 hours or we reserve the right to choose another winner. No purchase necessary. Only one entry per person. SpaceCadet Creations reserves the right to substitute prizes. Prizes cannot be redeemed for cash. See, that wasn’t too bad, was it?
