End of Year Sale

Well, December certainly has flown by! To celebrate the end of the year and the start of a new one, I am having a pattern sale, now through 12/31.

 Carefree Shawl

Moor Shawl

Take a Hike Socks
 

20% off all my individual patterns in my Ravelry shop now through 12/31. Use the coupon code "happy2012" at checkout to have the discount applied!

Thanks for sticking around and reading the blog during 2011. 2012 is sure to be even better!

FO: Wedding Socks

I finally finished the socks that I started the day before our wedding:

 

Some nice plain ol' cuff down socks. These were the perfect knitting for the days around my wedding, when my brain was mostly fried and could do little except be nervous/freaking out about hosting the biggest party of my life.

These are knit out of STR Lightweight in the FemmeBot colorway. 60sts. US Size 1. Made for some nice, mostly non-pooling socks. 

I was going to keep these socks, but I have a person in mind that they would be better suited for. I think she will love them. 

I have lots more STR in the stash, that has been ignored for some time due to other projects and designs getting in the way. I think I may to dive into the stash and get another pair on the needles for those days when shawl math is a little too much. :)

E-Book Pre-Order

So, a couple months ago I decided that I really wanted to do an e-book. I have been having such a great time designing that it seemed like a good next step. I am so happy to say that my e-book is now available for pre-order!

 

E-book Rav Page

The e-book is going to contain a total of 8 patterns, released throughout 2012. The first pattern, the Legume Hat, will be available in the e-book in January 2012.

If you pre-order the e-book now, you will get a PDF file with some general information. Then, after the first of the year, you will get an update to the e-book that will contain the Legume Hat pattern. Every month that another pattern is added, there will be an update to the e-book that will automatically be added to your Ravelry library!

The e-book is called Head, Shoulders, Wrists & Toes. It will contain patterns for those things. So, socks, hats, shawls, mitts. A new pattern will be added every other month, with two bonus patterns throughout the year. That's a total of 8 patterns for the year.

If you pre-order now, it will only be $18. For 8 patterns that is a VERY sweet deal. After Jan. 1, the price will go up to $24.

The patterns will be available for individual purchase 2 months after they have been released in the e-book. But, buying the e-book will be wayyy cheaper (for example, the Legume Hat pattern will be $5 once released). So get one now and tell your friends! :)

E-book Rav Page

Happy knitting. I can't wait for next year and all the great knitting projects I plan to bring you!

It's an addiction.

Ok, this is a problem. I seriously cannot stop knitting wine cork people:

With the deadline for my upcoming pattern book looming and some other things in the works, I don't have lots of time for mindless knitting. But when I do, I don't know why, all I want to do is turn wine corks into people. And now I am getting super crazy and making my cork people with mustaches! Seriously, this is turning into a sickness. 

My combined couple days of cork knitting had turned into this:

And there are more wine corks around here. And I think people are going to start bringing me their wine corks. Someone help me.

Btw, the pattern is Korknisse. I modified it a little adding a little i-cord to the top of the hat.

Cookie Copycat

So, I was reading Debbi's blog the other day and she posted about these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I printed the recipe and then for days I could not get the idea of making these cookies out of my head. Fortunately, today we have family birthdays to celebrate and and a gingerbread house making party to go to, so I had an excuse to bake some delicious treats.

Of course, we had to have a taste test. Let me tell you, these things are soooo good. And, only three ingredients. I think it is literally impossible to screw them up, they are that easy. That's my kind of baking.

You can get the recipe here.

So, yeah, there is no knitting in this post. But in the name of cookies I think it's ok. :)

Knit Simple: Leaf Hat & Mittens

 Yesterday, the new Knit Simple Winter 2011 arrived in the mail.

Knit Simple Winter 2011. Photo by Paul Amato.

And look what's inside:

 Knit Simple Winter 2011. Photo by Paul Amato.

It's my new pattern!! Leaf Hat & Mittens! I was so so excited when I flipped open the magazine to find my pattern taking up a full page:

This being my first pattern in a magazine, you can guess there was much jumping up and down and squeeing. I hope you all like knitting it as much as I liked designing it!

Here are some pattern details:

Pattern: #26 Leaf Hat & #27 Leaf Mittens  (Rav link here & here)
Size: Adult

Yarns suggested: Yarnmarket Fabulous Felines

Yarn weight: Bulky / 12 ply (7 wpi) 

Gauge: 14 stitches and 20 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch (using larger needles)

Needle sizes: US 9 - 5.5 mm & US 10½ - 6.5 mm

If you have a subscription to Knit Simple, you might already have the magazine. If not, it hits newsstands on December 6th. I hope you'll check it out!

Wednesday WiP: Wedding Socks

Today I thought I would show the progress of my "wedding socks." I started knitting them the day before my wedding and have been working on them on and off since then.

These socks make me happy for many reasons. Of course, number one being that every time I wear them I will be able to think of knitting them while everyone was getting ready the morning of our wedding. And knitting them on the plane ride to Cabo, and here and there while on our honeymoon.

These socks also made me happy because the yarn was gifted to me from Jenni, my knitting BFF. And she picked out just what I like Socks That Rock (in the FemmeBot colorway).

Finally, these socks made me happy because I have achieved happiness with this multi-colored yarn. No crazy pooling or flashing. I think I may have finally found my happy place with the mutli STR yarn. 60 sts. US Size 1.

Happy happy WIP. I can't wait to finish these babies!

Bridgewater Socks

I have added a new sock pattern, Bridgewater, to Ravelry today!

These socks were designed for Socktober at Fuzzy Wuzzy in Arlington Heights. Now that Socktober is over, I am happy to have it available here on Ravelry!

It’s a cuff down with heel flap. It’s an easy lace pattern with only two rows of lace/repeat. The rest is just stockinette.

Also, it’s written for 3 sizes - 56sts, 64sts, & 72sts.

Now thru 11/25, you can get the pattern for $1.00 (making it only $4) when you use the coupon code “bridgewater” at checkout!

Hope you enjoy it!

Kollage KAL Cast On

Friday was the start of the Accessories KAL, which features a few of my patterns, in the Kollage Yarns group on Ravelry.

I had some time this weekend to start on my project (due to flying to Chattanooga for  wedding), and actually got quite a bit of knitting done:

It's my Bonnie Jean pattern knit out of Kollage Riveting Sport. It's the recycled blue jeans yarn and it soft and beautiful and yummy. I seriously can't put this thing down. At the rate I'm going, I think I will be done with this by next week!

Did you join the Kollage KAL? If so, what are you working on?

Happy knitting.

More Korknisse

This weekend, I somehow got myself in the Christmas spirit. I know, I know. Today is Halloween, I shouldn't be thinking about putting up the tree and watching classic Christmas TV specials. But, I am. 

To combat this, I decided to work on something I wanted to add to my Christmas decorations this year...some Korknisse.

 

I have been saving wine corks for forever. My plan is to make quite a collection of these, both for me and for some of my friends.

 

I modified the pattern slightly, adding a couple extra rounds of ribbing on the hat (I found the hat stays on the cork wayyy better with this mod). I also added a wee bit of i-cord to the top of the hat. Because I think it's cute. 

I knit these five little guys in just a couple of hours. I think they may be the perfect project for this evening, while handing out Halloween candy. Such a simple pattern and can be easily set down and picked back up while the doorbell is ringing for hours on end!

Kollage KAL on Ravelry

I am pleased to announce that Kollage Yarns will be hosting a KAL with my patterns in their Ravelry group in November and December!

Here is the info from the Rav group:

Choose any of the patterns above - Candlelight Shawl, Vokuhila Socks, Bonnie Jean, Winchester, River Run - and pair it with Creamy, Sock-a-licious, 1/2 N 1/2, or Luscious!

Cast on Nov 5 and keep posting your progress, questions, comments in this thread and you will be eligible for fabulous prizes along the way! knitlikecrazy will be checking in daily to cheer us on and give us advice!

Load your project on ravelry with pertinent pattern, yarn, needle info and tag project with kollageKAL

Finish your project by midnight EST December 31st, share your finished project with the group, and be eligibile for the grand prize!

I am thrilled that Kollage is featuring my patterns in their next KAL. If you haven't tried their yarns yet, you should. They are all really nice and softy and squishy. I wouldn't design with their yarns if I did not LOVE them. :)

Even though I can't win the prize from Kollage, I still have plans to knit along. I will be knitting the Bonnie Jean shawlette. If I manage to get that done, then I need a pair of the Winchester mitts for myself!

With the holidays coming and these projects being small, it's a great way to get some of that holiday knitting done with the chance of winning a prize at the end!

Join us, will you?

Hello, Mrs. Lucas

Well, the blog has been quiet for a few weeks, but I swear I had a good reason....I was getting married!

On October 8th, I finally tied the knot with Alex. This blog has seen Alex go from friend/roommate to boyfriend to fiance to now my husband. So I have to share a few pics. 

 

We were married at Cuneo Mansion & Gardens and the weather could not have been more perfect. It was 80 degrees! We were super lucky that we could have the outdoor wedding that we had planned!

After the ceremony we headed out to take pictures. These next photos are taken by our amazing photographer, Lindsay Johnson. Seriously, if you are in Indianapolis and need a photographer, call her. And, hey, she came to Chicagoland for our wedding, so really no matter where you live, you should hire her for something. She is sooo good.

And, of course, there had to be knitting pictures:

My friend, Jenni, who I frequently talk about on the blog was one of my bridesmaids. I can't wait to see more of the knitting pics with us knitting together!

So, that's the wedding. A few days later we jumped on an airplane an headed to Cabo San Lucas. There were a lot of frozen drinks involved in this honeymoon:

 We had a great time in Cabo. We cannot wait to go back!

So, now it's back to reality. Well, not totally, as I still have another six days off of work to get the house in order (it's pretty much a disaster after the last few weeks) and to work on my book and some other designy things I have up my sleeve. What, you ask? :)

In January, I will be hosting another Mystery Shawl KAL.

Also in January, I will be releasing the first pattern in my e-book. The e-book will be one pattern every other month with a couple of bonus patterns thrown in there. I am working on the cover art for the e-book this week, so once I have that done, I will reveal the title and patterns and stuff. I feel confident that this will be something my readers will enjoy!

Finally, I have decided to change my last name on all knitting related things. I always planned to change my last name, I just wasn't sure about what I wanted to do in the knitting world. So, you can find my designs on Ravelry by searching for Jen Lucas (if you type in Jen Hansen, I will still come up).

So that's what's been going on in my life for the last month or so. How about you? What have you been up to?

Lookout! It's a Yarn Bomb!

We were driving through Alex's parents subdivision recently and came along this gem:

A crocheted yarn bomb! It's been there for a few weeks now, and hope it stays forever. I think the subdivision looks much better with this yarnie addition!

A Big Announcement

I have some very big news to share. . . .

I am now under contract with Martingale and Company for a knitting pattern book!

Someone please pinch me, I cannot believe it! When I submitted my proposal back in March I didn't really think it would happen. I honestly thought, oh, this is never going to happen. At least I'll have a few patterns ready to go in my Ravelry shop when I get rejected.

I am delighted, my dear fiance, Alex is delighted (and willing to accept that the first three months of marriage I will be ignoring him and working on my book) and I hope all of my dear blog readers are delighted!

Hooray!

Chicago Yarn Crawl

Earlier this week I went yarn crawling with Erica from Kollage Yarns. With the Chicago Yarn Crawl going on, we wanted to check out some shops we hadn't been to before.

First we went to Mia Bella in Highland Park. It is the cutest shop. We think it looks Martha Stewart-ish in the best way possible. It was so bright and clean and cheery. I think I could definitely spend hours in there knitting.

While there, Erica took a picture of me with the Kollage ad in Vogue, featuring the Vokuhila Socks I designed (free pattern from Vogue website, get it here).

After that, we headed to Three Bags Full in Northbrook. Another very cute shop. The place is huge. I loved their wall of sock yarn! Finally we headed to Arlington Heights were we met Jenni and Jenny (yes, Erica was hanging out with two Jennys and a Jen!) and had a nice dinner with beer, fried mashed potato balls and talk of knitting. A fin Tuesday afternoon/evening if you ask me.

Timberland Shawl

When Chris at Fuzzy Wuzzy Yarns asked me to design a shawl for her with some Schaeffer Anne, I couldn't refuse. The yarn was screaming for something pretty. And so the Timberland Shawl was born:

 

The shawl takes just one skein of the Schaeffer Anne. You could probably do it with a larger skein of sock yarn too. 

I think it's the perfect shawl to have for the fall. It's nice and cozy with the garter stitch, but has that pretty little leaf pattern running through it. I am so excited how this one came out.

Currently, this pattern is exclusive at Fuzzy Wuzzy Yarns as part of a kit. If you want one, you can call the store at 847.253.9276 and Chris can hook you up. The pattern will be available to everyone in February of next year.

So that's what I have been knitting lately. How about you? What have you been working on?

Happy knitting!

Sock Summit - Day Four & Round Up

Ok, I am FINALLY posting about the last day of Sock Summit. Sorry for the delay.

Sunday morning, I took a class on designing with Japanese stitch dictionaries. I really enjoyed the class and had a great time knitting a little swatch using techniques found in the Japanese stitch dictionaries. I even learned to make a crocheted bobble. While I don't really see myself using that in a design anytime soon, it was super cool.

After class was over, I met Jenni and we decided to walk over to Twisted. We knew it was kind of a hike, but it was nice and we hadn't been outside of the convention center area, so off we went. It really was a nice walk. We stopped for lunch and beers, and then went to Twisted.

This shop is seriously cute.

 

I especially enjoyed the vintage knitting pattern section. I spent some serious time flipping through all those booklets!

I left there with a skein of A Verb for Keeping Warm sock yarn and some roving.

Then we walked back to the hotel and chilled on the roof for awhile. I was especially exhausted after our weekend of knitting, so we headed back to the room and knit in our PJs. A wonderful finish to a wonderful weekend.

I am so glad that Jenni and I decided to make the trip to Portland for Sock Summit. And, of course, we have already made plans to return in 2013!

Travelling West Socks

While at Sock Summit, I gave away some Knitting Like Crazy goodie bags. Inside were some stitch markers, some coupon codes, and the Travelling West sock pattern, my most recent sock creation.

 

Now Sock Summit is over, and I thought it was time to share the pattern with everyone else! I really hope you all enjoy it!

The pattern is written for a cuff down, 64 sts sock. It's an easy little lace pattern, and has both charts and written directions.

It's available on Ravelry for $5.00. You can see the pattern page here. Or, just click the buy now button below.

Hope you enjoy. Happy sock knitting!

Vokuhila Socks

I seriously can't believe I haven't blogged since Sock Summit! Bad blogger. I still have a Sock Summit wrap up to do, but something very exciting happened that I have to share first. 

So, sometime in late April/early May Erica at Kollage calls and says there is this opportunity to have a sock pattern on the Vogue Knitting website, but the deadline is literally crazy.  I thought about it for a second and agreed to do it. I had about 4-5 days to think up a pattern, write it, get it tech edited, knit the socks and convince someone to test knit the socks on the same 4 day deadline. I guess all the stars aligned or something, because I got it done. And, I can now reveal the Vokuhila socks:

 

They are a part of the Sock-Cess ad campaign in the brand new Vogue Knitting Fall 2011. Just one skein of Sock-a-licious and you are good to go.

The pattern is now available on the Vogue Knitting Website here. And, it's a free pattern, so really you have no reason to not download it. You know you want to make them!

Also, the Kollage Yarns group on Ravelry is hosting a Vokuhila Socks KAL starting on 8/22. So, if you are in the mood to knit some pretty socks, you can join us over there for some sock knitting fun. Details are in this thread on Ravelry.

And, finally, I have been getting A LOT of questions about the name of the socks. Here's the story:

Vokuhila is the German word for mullet. It’s the perfect name for these socks as they are all business down the back of the leg onto the heel flap, but it’s party time down the front of the sock.

Hope you enjoy the socks. Happy knitting!

Sock Summit: Day Three

Greetings from Sock Summit! Day three of the convention proved to be another good one. The morning started up with a little Knitting Like Crazy meeetup:

It was so much to fun to meet people that I only previously knew online! At noon, I headed over to the Paradise Fibers booth to sign the Coffee Break Knits booklet with all the designers:

I can't believe my pattern was included in a booklet with all these amazing women. Irishgirlieknits, Thayer Preece, Sandi Rosner and Anne Hanson are all women I respect so much in this business, so it was awesome to meet them all and be included in a booklet with all of them. Hope I cross paths with these ladies again soon!

Finally, we went and watched the Sock Summit Flash Mob:



It was amazing. I nearly shed a tear at all those knitters dancing for the love of yarn!

Tonight, Jenni and I are just chilling out in the hotel room. We just ate a little Burgerville (Walla Walla Onion Rings....Yum!) and are now just watching a little tv and knitting the night away. Perfect relaxing evening to another perfect day at Sock Summit

Happy sock knitting! :)

Sock Summit Video Update: Day Two

I've been Skyping with Alex while at Sock Summit, and that gave me the idea that I should try to do a video for my blog update today. Hope you enjoy it!

Sock Summit: Day One

I had the most wonderful day at Sock Summit today. I had a full six hour class with Cookie A. I learned so much about sock construction and also moving lace panels around socks in crazy ways as Cookie likes to do. It was amazing. I was also happy to see Denise (who was in the class with me) and that we were able to chat for a bit. 

After the class was over and met up with Jenni and we headed to the marketplace. I bought kind of a lot of yarn (but more on that next week when I return home and can take good photos of it) and a couple other goodies, but the best part of  the marketplace was seeing my pattern in the Kollage Yarns booklet "Coffee Break Knits." I was a little ridiculous when I saw it:

 And then I had Jenni take a nice picture that didn't make me look crazy. :)

 Hopefully lots of people will be stopping by on Saturday in the Paradise Fibers booth to get their booklet signed! :)

After that, we headed up to the ballroom for the Opening Night Reception. We met some very awesome knitters while in line waiting to get in:

The Viking Hat ladies are all in the same knitting group. There were several of them. I seriously love their hats and the little variations each one added to them!

So that's it. Jenni and I are pretty wiped out from our first day at Sock Summit. Tomorrow I have another full day of classes and of course the Sock Hop. Tomorrow is shaping up to be another good one!

Are you at Sock Summit? How was your day? What did you learn? And, if you weren't at Sock Summit, hope you had a wonderful knit-filled day!