Cowl Girls contest deadline extended

UPDATE 9/28 – Contest is now over!  We’ve posted our winners here!
Stacey is on vacation, lucky girl! And it’s lucky for you too! I told her I’d go ahead and pick the winners of the Cowl Girls contest for her today since she isn’t in the office, but I am swamped today so I’m making the executive decision to extend the contest deadline until 12pm Pacific on Monday, 9/27. So keep those entries coming and have a great weekend!
Enter here.

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And the winners are…

I’m excited to *finally* announce the winners of our Cowl Girls giveway (picked by the Random Number Generator!).
Congratulations to:
1. Nadine B.2. Bitsy Busby3. Nicole
I’ve sent each of you an e-mail to get your mailing address, so check your inboxes.
Thank you to everyone who entered. Cowl Girls is available now on our web site if you’d like to pick up a copy, and it’s 40% off during our book sale, so you can get it for under $12.

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TheYarn Bowl pattern and WoTA yarn Contest Winner!

WOW, I can’t believe how many of you tried out for this contest!!  We had 3,878 comments!!!!  Using a random # generator, we have a winner for the Wool of the Andes yarn and Beautiful Yarn Bowl pattern…  We would like to congratulate Stephanie B. (# 3264)  We’ll be sending her an email shortly to make arrangements for shipping this marvelous selection of Wool of the Andes and pattern to her…
Also, I would like to thank you all for the wonderful, encouraging comments about our new book pattern download program.  In the next week or two we’ll be adding 4 more books (from Martingale & Company) and there will be many more coming later as more publishers join this great new venue…  Thanks again!!!

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Crochet and IDP

One of my favorite things I’ve learned this year is how to crochet! 
I’ve always been surrounded by women (and men!) who crochet more than knit, but for
some reason I couldn’t pick it up – I had some sort of mental block. 
That ended back in May when my mom & I took a rainy holiday on the
Oregon Coast – finally for like 20th she tried so show me, something in
my brain clicked and I’ve been crocheting up a storm since then!  And
since the IDP Crochet pattern selection has grown so much, I’ve been in heaven.

My first big crochet project was the Adva Scarf by Lauren Osbonre.  This is her version:

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Interview with Amy Duncan

Amy
Duncan
joined us early on in IDP and I couldn’t be more delighted
to have her in the program.  Her patterns are all fantastic fun projects
and give us a glimpse of her personality through them – can I just say
I’m in love with her Laodice
Shawl
?  I have the sample here & I like to wear it around the
office.  Though it does looks better on her:

It
been great to get to know Amy (we both share a deep love for The
Amazing Race
) and I’m so excited to share my interview with her!

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I need a little help from my friends.

I was feeling fairly confident when I choose my crochet project for
the summer. I’ve crocheted a hat and a scarf before, how hard can
expanding on those basics really be, right? Um, wrong.

I’d bookmarked a tutorial for how to make gorgeous crocheted lamps months and months ago from resurrection fern, and I decided this summer was the perfect time to make a pair for my porch. I picked out my Cotlin colors, chained 5 and away I went.

First mistake- using the wrong size crochet hook.
I started out with an F which made sense for the Dk weight yarn, but
not for the lacey, stretchy fabric I wanted to make. This is much too
dense-

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A bit of summer at Christmas

I know it’s a bit strange to think about summer knitting just as winter has begun. But, when I saw the photo samples of these Lantern Moon knitting bags, all I could think was, “Yes! Bags I can use in the summer!”

Have you every noticed that summer purses tend to be small? Or, a bit gaudy? Or, made out of fabric with no support underneath so everything sags into the middle?

You can begin to understand why I love these Lauren bags. The neutral colors mean that I can keep a knitting project in one and not have to worry about moving it to another bag that goes with my outfit. The size is large enough for a decently sized project but small enough to look “light” for summer. I can fold it up to fit in a suitcase for trips. The lining makes these “safe” woven bags because my needles won’t poke out of the sides. The sturdy base means that the bag will stand up nicely on the ground while I eat outside at a restaurant, look at art during our First Thursday art walk or chat with a friend in the park.

You may be holding a mug of hot chocolate in your hands right now, but a Lauren Bag will fill your mind with dreams of summer knitting.

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Help us get hooked on crochet

You may have noticed that since the introduction of crochet patterns by
indie designers
through IDP, we’ve been slowly expanding our selection of
crochet hooks and books. In addition to the Clover hooks we’ve had, we’ve added
Susan Bates and Boye hooks, a pretty set of rainbow acrylic Clover Reflections
hooks
, ergonomics, and a few new complete sets.

With all these crochet hooks floating around the office, some us have
gotten curious about what to do with them! Kim and three of our wonderful
customer service representatives, Lori, Georgianna, and Jeanine are our in
house experts, but since we have a slew of employees interesting in learning,
we thought we’d ask you for help. Come teach Knit Picks how to crochet this
summer in our first crochet along!

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