New Pattern Wednesday: Primrose

On Monday night, I released my latest shawl design with a knitted-on lace border. It's Primrose:

Primrose

$6.00

Primrose is worked from the top center outward. Additional stitches are cast on and the border is worked while attaching it to the shawl as you go. It's so efficient. :)

I love the combination of the two lace patterns. I think they play off of each other beautifully. It'll be the perfect shawl when spring finally arrives here in Chicago.

You can get Primrose as an individual pattern, or as part of my e-book Borderline: Taking Lace Borders to the Edge of Shawls. You can get more details on the e-book here.

I am so in love with the shawl. I knit this one out of Knit Picks Gloss Fingering, but I think it would look amazing in any fingering weight yarn. Maybe some Hazel Knits Entice MCN or Anzula Cloud?

Primrose

$6.00

Borderline E-book

$12.50

3/52

It's week three of 52 weeks of happy. Lots of happy things this week. I got lots of niece snuggles this week from my niece, Lauren. You gotta be happy when spending time with a wee babe.

In order to make this week another happy one I was smart enough to make a double batch of Cilantro Lime Chicken for upcoming dinners. One went in the crock pot for dinner tomorrow, the other in the freezer to eat in a couple of weeks. I love when I have dinners all ready to go!

What was happy about your week?

Happy knitting!

New Pattern: Pendleton

Over the weekend, a released a new pattern: Pendleton.

Pendleton

$6.00

From the Ravelry pattern page:

Pendleton is a garter stitch shawl featuring a knitted-on lace border. The shawl is started at the top neck and worked outward. Without cutting the yarn, additional stitches are cast on and the lace edge is worked. Pendleton is a great shawl for those wanting to try knitted-on lace borders for the first time. The lace edge is only a few stitches and a short repeat, making it a quick shawl to work. Charts in this pattern are presented in both written and chart form.

My new obsession are shawls with knitted-on borders. You knit the body of the shawl and then cast on extra stitches and attach the lace border as you go. I just keep knitting more of them!

Pendleton is knit out of the lovely Anzula Cloud yarn, which is a lovely merino/cashmere/nylon yarn. It is definitely one of my favorites to knit with!

Since I have been knitting so many of them lately, I decided to make a little e-book dedicated just to these kinds of shawls. I'm calling it Borderline: Taking Lace Borders to the Edge of Shawls (I'm not good at coming up with e-book names!).

Borderline E-Book

$12.50

Here are the details of the e-book:

What’s in this e-book is all in the title: shawls with lace borders. Some projects will feature simple bodies with a lace edge, while some will combine lace patterns to form a stunning shawl. The shawl patterns will contain knitted-on borders where the body of the shawl is worked then additional stitches are cast on and the border is attached as you knit!


Five shawl patterns will be released from February to June of 2013, with one bonus accessory pattern added during that time as well. I will be publishing updates to the e-book when each pattern is released. Hope you enjoy taking some lace borders to the edge of your shawls.

So, every couple weeks or so I will be adding a pattern to the e-book. The individual pattern will be available at the same time, but the e-book is $12.50 for 6 patterns, and each individual pattern is $6.00. So the e-book is a way sweet deal.

Pendleton

$6.00

Borderline E-Book

$12.50

A book party

On Saturday, Alex planned a book release party for me at one of my favorite bars in the area, Mickey Finns Brewery (microbrews...yum).

It was so amazing to have family, friends and coworkers there to celebrate my book. And celebrate, we did. Alex had an awesome banner made. Lots of pictures were taken surrounding said banner:

I think Melissa was very excited to see the sample she knit in gigantic banner form. :) My coworkers suggested that for my next book party we cut a hole where the model's face is on the banner so people can stick their head in and be on the cover of my next book. I couldn't argue with that. Sounds like an awesome and hilarious idea to me.

I signed some books for my family and friends, and some insisted on being ridiculous while I did so:

Ryan, in particular, who knows that I have a weird obsession with fake mustaches, tried to creep me out while I was signing his book. Uh, he succeeded.

And, of course there was a cake, complete with a yarn ball and needles:

It was a fantastic night and I feel so lucky to be surrounded by people who support me and my design endeavors. Can't wait for the next book party. :)

Happy knitting!

2/52

52 Weeks of Happy. Week 2.

New patterns, lots of productivity, flowers and a lovely book release party planned by my husband, Alex. It was a good week.

P.S. More on the book party tomorrow! :)

That which is not a sock yarn

Last night, I started a Timpani shawl from my new book Sock-Yarn Shawls. And, yes, while my book is one of shawls knit out of sock/fingering weight yarn, I am knitting my shawl in a DK weight yarn. :) I am knitting it as part of the Sock-Yarn Shawls KAL going on right now in my group on Ravelry. If you haven't joined in the fun yet, you should. There are prizes involved!

The yarn is Classic Elite Magnolia and I have to say, it's quite yummy. 

I am loving the merino/silk blend. I have itchy issues with wool yarns around my neck, but add the silk and it's no problem at all. I have six balls of this yarn, which is around 700 yards, so I may add some extra lace repeats in for fun.

Have you joined the KAL yet? If so, which shawl are you knitting? 

Daisy Overload

In December, I knit a couple of Upside Down Daisy Hats. One for my new niece and one for a coworker's baby. The one for the coworker met an unfortunate end...the mouth of her dog. She brought it back to me, but there was no repairing it, so over the weekend I knit her a new one.

It came out looking pretty much like the first one did. Hopefully the dog doesn't want to use this one as a chew toy. I think I am daisy-ied out at this point. :)

Happy knitting!

Something new...

Last week at TNNA, I took a business class with Gwen Bortner (aka EntrelacQueen). She was wearing this AMAZING Entrelac skirt. I coveted it so. I went back to my hotel room when the class was over and promptly bought the pattern. One problem: I have no idea how to knit Entrelac!

Fortunately, Gwen herself has an Entrelac class on Craftsy and I happened to have a free class coupon from the website. It's like it was meant to be. Now that I have watched the first few videos, I am starting to get the hang of technique:

This is the Infinity Neckwarmer pattern from the class. I am knitting mine out of some Noro Silk Garden that I have had in the stash for exactly forever. I love the way it's knitting up!

I look forward to working through the other two projects in the class so I can then move onto the skirt. I can't believe I am so far gone into knitting that I am actually considering knitting a skirt!

Happy knitting.

1/52

52 Weeks of Happy have been popping up on the various blogs I stalk and it seems fun so why not?

Lots of things made me happy in the last week, but something today made me especially happy.

My new iPad!!! This morning Alex said to me, "Let's go buy you an iPad today." How can I refuse an offer like that? I had a plan to buy one in April, but now is better, right? :)

Do you have an iPad? What apps do you love? I have an iPhone, so I have a few in mind already, but I would love to hear your suggestions!

Timpani Class

Starting this month, I'll be doing a class at Fuzzy Wuzzy Yarns in Arlington Heights, IL for the Timpani Shawl in my new book, Sock-Yarn Shawls! So, if you are in the area and are interested in knitting one, give Chris a call at the shop: 847-253-9276!

 

Here are all the details:

Wednesdays  6-7:30p.m.  2/13, 2/20, 2/27 and 3/6

I'll will cover all the basics needed for the shawl: garter tab cast on, basic chart reading, loose bind offs and blocking, but students will have time to sit and knit in class as well. With a little work on the shawl at home in between classes, students will have a finished shawl at the end of the four week class.  $65 for four sessions.
Required Skills for Class:
-  Knit, purl, increasing, decreasing
-  Chart reading helpful, but not required

Students will need a copy the book,  Sock-Yarn Shawls by Jen Lucas.  If you don't already have a copy, Fuzzy Wuzzy will have these on hand for sale at a discount to those participating in the class.

Hope to see ya in class!

P.S. If you are not local, but want to knit the shawl, why not join the Sock-Yarn Shawls going on in my Ravelry group, starting Febuary 11th? Details here. 

TNNA, Part II

I've been home from TNNA for a couple days and am back to the grind (non-knitting work, ugh). I thought it was time to share a little more about the second half of my trip (you can read about the first half of the trip here).

On Saturday, I was able to meet some of the wonderful ladies of Martingale & Company, who published my book. It was so nice to meet the people who published my book when I had only ever talked with them over email! Sunday it was more walking the show floor, meeting people and chatting.

Monday was the best day of them all. It started with my book signing in the Unicorn Books booth.

There was actually a line of people who wanted their books signed! Yay! After that, I wondered a bit and then Carrie and I scored some Namaste bags.

Here's a close-up of mine:

Mine is the Monroe bag. I love it! I can't wait to use it for my next knit night. :) I also got some new yarn to play around with. Some Dream in Color Classy w/ Cashmere:

Some Berroco Captiva Metallic:

And some Zealana Air laceweight yarn:

As if the trip couldn't have gotten any better, on Monday night I went to dinner with Melissa Leapman. I have looked up to her for years, and it was so great to get advice and motivation from a designer I have such deep respect for. It was a really great time!

So, that's pretty much it. I am glad I decided to make the trip to Long Beach this year. I came home so inspired and with tons of new ideas. Get ready for that!

Book signing, the first

I swear someone needs to pinch me. This whole book thing has been so exciting and wonderful so far that I keep thinking I must be dreaming. On January 25th, I had my very first book signing at Fuzzy Wuzzy Yarns. Honestly, I was terrified no one would show up. But people did show up. Yay! Some of them were people I didn't even know. :)

Here are some photos taken by my BFF Jenni:

It was great fun and it made me so happy to see people excited about the book and wanting to knit things out of it. I am one lucky lady these days!

Creekwood Sale!

I know lots of you have already knit the Creekwood shawlette during the KAL last November, but if you didn't, you can get the pattern on sale now. It's 20% off through February 16th!

Just use the coupon code "sockyarnshawl" at checkout to get the discount.

The Creekwood shawlette features cables and lace (my new favorite combo!) and includes instructions on how to make the shawl bigger, if you like.

Creekwood Shawlette

$4.80 with coupon code "sockyarnshawl"

February Lady, The Second

Four years ago this month, I knit myself a February Lady Sweater. I honestly don't wear it much, it's kinda big, and in the end I didn't really love the sleeves. So when my knitting buddies starting whispering February Lady KAL, it seemed like a good idea to me. I haven't knit a sweater in so long now, it seemed like it would be fun.

Last Tuesday we all cast on while at our weekly knit night:

This time I am knitting mine out of Cascade Venezia Worsted. I used this yarn for a big Ishbel shawl a few years ago and really love it. Seemed like a good choice for a sweater.

So far, while at TNNA, I have worked a few rows (mostly on the plane on the way here) and am almost ready to separate for the sleeves:

I knit my original Feb Lady Sweater in 8 days. That's highly unlikely to happen with this one, but I think it will only take me a week or two to finish it up. I can't wait to wear it. I plan to make the sleeves smaller and longer this time.

What have you been knitting lately?

TNNA, Part I

This weekend I am in Long Beach, CA (beats the 10-degrees and snow at home in Chicagoland) for TNNA. It's my first time at this trade show and I'm having a great time! It's so surreal being here and actually experiencing what you have been hearing about for years. It's a little overwhelming too, especially for the woman whose main job is staying in a windowless lab for 8 hours a day talking to no one. :)

I was pretty excited to pick up my badge and attach my Martingale author badge (yay!) to it:

 The view from my hotel room is pretty spectacular!

This light-up hand/apple nightlight thing is a little weird. It's in my room outside the bathroom.

Yesterday, I took a little walk by the water and just enjoyed the change in scenery. I talked to Alex last night and it was snowing at home. Definitely not the case here!

Last night I went to dinner with Carrie and friends and had a great time. It was great to talk to another designer and hear more about her process and business and everything. Very good night.

Today I hit the show floor, petted some yarn, talked to some people. It's hard not to be totally inspired here. I have so many new ideas rolling around in my head already. Tonight, I'm headed to the designer dinner and then more yarn petting and networking tomorrow. Monday, it will be book signing time. I'm very excited about that!

Happy knitting!