Podcast Episode 147: Designer Inspiration
by Knit Picks Podcast on April 6, 2011
Kelley chats with designers Nina and Kerin about their inspiration and
development process for new fall kit patterns.
3 easy ways to listen…
Discovering Lace Yarns
by Stacey on April 6, 2011
So a confession – I’ve never used lace yarn in my 9 years of knitting. I bought one skein a couple of years ago, but never used it – it just sits prettily on my shelf. I guess I’m scared it too thin for me & I’ll break it immediately – even though I will happily knit socks in light fingering weight yarn on size 0 needles!
But I finally broke down & bought some because I am determine to overcome my fear of it. Plus I’m in love with Barb Wire and feel I must have it for my next sweater project! (interview with the designer tomorrow!)
So I bought some pretty Gloss Lace in the new Peapod color
Since our Gloss line is my favorite yarn, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to start there.
Then I love Alison’s Citron so much that I needed to do that too …
Interview with Grace Mcewen
by Stacey on April 6, 2011
Ever since we put Grace‘s first IDP pattern up in December, she has been one of our most popular designers. All three of her patterns have sold strongly – including her new Victorian Rose, which only went up 2 weeks ago! And it’s not hard to see why – she has such a distinct & lovely style to her designs. Anyone who reads my twitter feed (or my blog here) knows I’m obsessed with making Barb Wire as my first project in lace weight yarn. So I was delighted to get a quick interview with her!
(Grace’s “unwilling” models – her children)
How long have you been knitting?
I have been knitting since I was about 10 – so off and on about 30 years
What motivated you to learn to knit?
My Mother knit all the time. I remember …
What a night!
by Stacey on April 6, 2011
That’s about all I can say about our Spring Yarn Party!
I mean, check out this crowd!
I’m so excited this turned out so well – we haven’t had many events & this was the first one to celebrate our new yarn lines, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect. Since I was coordinating it, I was so worried that no one would show up 🙂 Silly me!
As promised we took lots of pictures!
The before shot with our designers panel, Kelley, Sarah, & Alison:
Our yarn bon-bons of the Stroll Tonals:
Our fantastic designer panel with Kelley, our in house designers Kerin & Nina and IDP designers Rodger & David:
Lucky winner in our raffle – we gave out over 20 prizes!
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Sock yarn – not just for socks anymore
by Knit Picks Staff on April 6, 2011
Well, i really couldn’t wait for silly hubbster to make up his mind
about the trout yarn. So I got him some Hawaiian shirts on sale and cast
on something for myself! So there!
I was thinking socks at first, but with summer on its way I wanted
something I could get a little more use out of. Since summer clothes are
generally pretty light, but the AC in this building is, well,
temperamental, I decided I’d make a shrug instead!
Xena’s new blankie
by Kelley on April 4, 2011
How do our furry friends always claim our projects?
I laid out my first crochet throw to check my progress. Went into the kitchen to make an espresso shot. Walked back into the family room and there was Xena! Sound asleep on her new blanket!
I suspect that she thinks it is perfect as is! I want to finish the outer ring and then there will be enough throw for me and Xena. That’s assuming that she will choose to share it with me.
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Trans-Species Mr. Foster, or, Ms. Tiger
by Knit Picks Staff on April 4, 2011
I have a lot on my plate craft-wise right now– or should I say, a lot
on my needles and hooks? In addition to my regular job of designing
patterns, I have sweaters on the needles, a new sweater class to teach
here on the blog, I’ve learned to double crochet, and finished a few
squares for my project (which I’ll be sharing next week!), and I’ve
dyed about 900g of yarn in the last month! Whew! And with all this fun
stuff going on, it can be pretty hard to remember the dozen unfinished
projects I have laying around my house! So last weekend, I picked up
one of my oldest and most adorable UFO’s and finally finished her up:
Another book available as pattern downloads…
by Knit Picks Staff on March 30, 2011
Little by little we keep adding book download patterns (for $1.99 each) to the KP website. Today we just added 22 new patterns from the book Luxe Knits by Laura Zukaite…
Winners of “A Weaving Contest”
by Knit Picks Staff on March 28, 2011
Thanks so much to everyone who participated in my latest giveaway, A Weaving Contest. We had a lot of great responses and it was really fun reading what you all would like to create. Using a random number generator, we have selected two 1st place winners and two 2nd place winners. The first place winners will each get a copy of the four books: The Weaver’s Idea Book; Weaving Made Easy; Hands On Rigid Heddle Weaving; and Learning to Weave. The second place winners will each receive a copy of the DVD set called Warping Your Loom.
1st Place Winners:
#99 – Mary Peed
#160 – Marilyn Andress
2nd Place Winners:
#62 – Dell Ann Teschendorf
#274 – Kelly Jones
A big congratulations to all of our winners! We will be contacting each person shortly to obtain a current mailing address. Once received, we will get these prizes shipped out. Thanks again everyone!
-Alisha
Make Your Own Needle Felted Sheep
by Jenny K on March 24, 2011
As some of you may have seen by now, the latest cover of the Knit Picks catalog has some really adorable sheep standing in front of the Heartlands Road Trip Tote. We all thought these little needle felted sheep were simply too cute not to share, so we went right to work on a tutorial. And do you want to know the best part? They are oh so easy to make! With the right tools and some roving, you will be on your way to making your very own sheep.
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