It's Gift-A-Long Time!

The 2016 Gift-A-Long starts tomorrow!

I'm very excited to be participating as a designer and also as a knitter (possibly also as a crocheter; I did work with both for my projects last year) for the third time.

What is the Gift-A-Long?

It's a lot of great things!

First off, it's an event hosted by the Indie Design Gift-A-Long Group on Ravelry , a knit and crochet along, with crocheters and knitters gathering in the group to chat and cheer one another on while making gifts (for others or for ourselves!) in November and December. The event runs from November 22nd, 8pm EST to December 31st, Midnight EST, and features lots of great prizes! Prizes are won through fun games, random draws, and trivia questions. There are multiple categories for projects, and chat threads for each of these. Any design by a participating designer is eligible for joining-in; any paid pattern (not free) is eligible for winning prizes.

Secondly, there is a sale! From November 22nd, 8pm EST to November 30th, 11:59 EST, participating Indie Designers are offering between 5 and 20 of their independently published patterns at 25% off. To take advantage of the sale, use the coupon code: giftalong2016. Head to the Gift-A-Long group linked above to find the full list of participating designers!

Thirdly, it's International and lots of fun!

Image and stats courtesy of Kimberly Golynskiy. Used with Permission

Are you joining in?

FAQ: What is an Opadoo? The Opadoo, as a participant's adorable young daughter has dubbed the noble octopus, is noted for having 8 arms, and there are 8 categories of patterns in the Gift-A-Long. Complete 8 projects in the Gift-A-Long? You have tamed the Opadoo.

Gift-a-Long 2015!

This year I am again participating in the Gift-a-Long on Ravelry!

What is the Gift-a-Long you ask?

Well, for starters, if you're not on Ravelry, you can still participate in one part of it, and that's the sale, because you can shop on Ravelry without even joining. Between 335 participating designers from 30 countries, we are offering a total of 5065 patterns at 25% off from November 19th 20:00 EST to November 27th 23:59 EST.

My sale patterns can be found here in my Ravelry Shop. Use the code giftalong2015 for the discount!

If you are on Ravelry? Even better. There is a crochet-along and knit-along where you can sign up your project in the following categories in the indie-design-gift-a-long group on Ravelry:

Hats & Other Head Things
Hand & Arm Things
Foot & Leg Things
Kids & Baby Things (except toys)
Sweaters & Other Garments
Shawls & Stoles
Cowls, Scarves, & Other Neck Things
Toys, Home, & Other Miscellaneous Things

Any pattern you have purchased from a participating designer is eligible for prizes,  regardless of when it was purchased (particularly helpful if you bought patterns last year that you still haven't made!). Cast-on is tonight, November 19th 20:00 EST, and it runs through Thursday, December 31 at midnight EST.

Want a really big challenge? Sign up for the GAL2015 Head to Toe Ultimate Gifting Challenge and complete a project in each category with patterns from at least five participating designers!

Hope you join us! In the meantime, I'll leave you to peruse the Gift-a-Long 2015 Stats compiled by the amazing Kimberly Golynskiy.

This Past Week

This past week I have:

-Cleaned at least part of the house (or at least, tidied it a lot, not that you can tell anymore now that the week has passed by).
-Spun up a 100g Batt and started to ply it.

-Finished up a work sample and sent it in.
-Taken the kids back and forth from their Super Fun Summer Camp that they had a Really Great Time at.
-Set up a spreadsheet for a new thing, and got started on the grading.
-Swatched.
-Wove-in the ends for a baby hat that had been otherwise finished for weeks.

-Crocheted bits for a special project related to a play that you should go see at Fringe in Edmonton if you are anywhere near here during Fringe.

-Been given a new-to-me camera by my family as an early birthday present. Loving it, but it will be a lot of reading the manual before I actually have a clue what I'm doing. It's already easy to tell how much better it is than our decade-old camera though!

-Visited with the great ladies at the two knit groups that I occasionally get a chance to attend.
-Went yarn shopping.
-Spent wonderful time with family.
-Planned an embroidery project.
-Not at all gotten around to sewing. Maybe next week?

Interview with Lindsey Stephens

 Today I am bringing you an interview with Lindsey Stephens as a feature of the Independent Designer Gift-along 2014. Lindsey Stephens brings her love for teaching and mathematics into everything she does. She has her own design line, Poetry in Yarn, and has published patterns in Crochet World magazine, Koigu magazine, the book Curvy Girl Crochet, and other publications. Lindsey also uses her mad math and technical skills for good as a crochet tech editor and website designer. After five years as a stay-at-home mom, she now teaches math at a Yeshiva elementary and middle school in Connecticut. Learn more about Lindsey at PoetryInYarn.com or on Ravelry, where she goes by Leebah.

How and when did you first learn to knit and crochet?

I taught myself to crochet back in 2007 when I was moving from Texas to Connecticut. I knew I'd need something to do on the 3 day car trip. Knitting followed a few years later.

Are there any other crafts that you enjoy working on?

Right now I'm really enjoying embroidery. In the past I've done jewelry making, sewing, and scrapbooking.

What is your favourite yarn to work with at the moment? Do you have a favourite fibre and yarn weight? What would be your dream fibre to design something for if you have the chance?

Just one?! Right now I'm really loving the yarns from Mrs. Crosby Plays. I just finished one crochet design in their yarn, and I'm working up a knit design too.
In general, I'm a big fan of alpaca yarns - they're so soft. I tend to do one lace weight project a year- that's typically enough to get the lace bug out of my system and then I use heavier yarns. This year it was the Fairy Ring Road Shawl.

Fairy Ring Road Shawl © Vivian Aubrey Photography

I find I watch a lot of shows or listen to a lot of podcasts while stitching; how about you? Which do you enjoy and/or recommend?

I love crime dramas. Law & Order, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Bones, and Castle are all regulars on my "watch tv while I stitch" list.

Do you have any upcoming designs that you are able to share details with us at this time?

Spry Twist Mitts and Earwarmer, © Vivian Aubrey Photography

The Spry Twist Mitts and Earwarmer set are my latest crochet design. They're super cute and a quick project. I love the twisted stitch / cabled detailing on them.

Tunisian Crochet has been hitting the spotlight lately, and this is well-deserved. Your Roxanne scarf is a lovely example of the technique! Tell us a bit about Tunisian, what you like about it, and if you'll be designing some more patterns for it in future.

I think Tunisian is best summed up as the look of knitting with the speed of crochet. It's a fun technique to play around with. I love that I'm seeing more and more people doing work with Tunisian crochet. I'll definitely be back at it again soon.

Thanks so much Lindsey, and, to everyone out there, hope you are all enjoying the Gift-along!

Interview With Ruth Brasch

Karen: A Puff Stitch Infinity Scarf

 In conjunction with the Independent Designer Gift-along 2014, today I am featuring an interview with Ruth Brasch, an Independent Designer who blogs at Brasch Elegance. Ruth has a number of gorgeous designs in Knitting and Crochet that you can check out on her Ravelry Designer page (and you can even check them out even if you are for some reason not yet on Ravelry): Ruth's Designer Page. If you're on Ravelry, why not join her Ravelry group? She has plans for testing new patterns in the near future, and you'll be among the first to hear about them: Brasch Elegance Designs

How and when did you first learn to knit and crochet?

My mother taught me to knit when I was about 6-7. Nothing fancy, just the basics - I think I only knit garter stitch for years! One day I found a crochet hook in her drawer and asked her what it was. She said she didn’t know how to crochet, but my grandma could teach me. Well, my grandma lives in North Carolina, so she taught be to chain stitch when I was about 12, but then we left to go home! The rest I learned by getting out books from the library - you know, the ones with the diagrams and the black and white photos? That’s most of how I learned!

Ode to Summer

How did you decide to start designing?

My first “design,” if you could really call it that, was just a pair of fingerless gloves that I made up a recipe for, because I didn’t have anything like Ravelry to look up a pattern, and couldn’t find a pattern I liked. I made a couple things like that for a few years, but in the past year I realized that I’m working off other people’s patterns most of the time, and tweaking them to make them how I want them to be - why not just make my own patterns instead? I saw a few textures and stitches online that I really liked, and couldn’t find a pattern for them, so I started making them up myself!

Are there any other crafts that you enjoy working on? I see you've taken up spinning (I've been enjoying drop spindling since May myself), how are you liking it, and what sort of projects do you have on the go?

Well, I did just recently start drop spindling, but it’s sort of slow going for me at the moment because of the Christmas season, and the fact that I just discovered designing! I’m currently working on a baby alpaca 2 ply, which may get finished by next Christmas (haha), but my ambition is to buy a spinning wheel so my limited spinning time will be more productive!

What is your favourite yarn to work with at the moment? Do you have a favourite fibre and yarn weight? What would be your dream fibre to design something for (or spin for that matter) if you have the chance?

At the moment, I really enjoy Paton’s Colorwul, and have been making a lot of projects in bulky/super bulky weight purely because of time constraints. Ideally, I would like to work with a worsted/aran weight alpaca (can you tell I have a new obsession?!), but I don’t get the chance to work with higher quality fibers very often, as I’m on a budget. I have plans to design a “soft and squishy” collection, if you will, out of nicer/higher end yarns - purely because I want to, and don’t get the chance to often.

A Whale of a Cowl

I find I watch a lot of shows or listen to a lot of podcasts while stitching; how about you? Which do you enjoy and/or recommend?

I’m currently watching shows like The Mentalist, Doctor Who, The 100, and White Collar. I like shows with a lot of dialogue, so I don’t have to look at the screen very often - my husband and I often joke that crafters listen to shows rather than watching them.

Do you have any upcoming designs that you are able to share details with us at this time?

I’m planning a collection of textured cowls - I wanted to have them published before the Gift A Long, but just didn’t get to it in time. My Black Walnut Infinity Scarf is actually planned to be included in the collection, so more along those lines.

You've a number of lovely cowls (I'll share a link to them here) for both knit and crochet, and cowls have certainly been trending well lately! Tell us about what you think makes for a great cowl, and if you have plans for more coming up.

Black Walnut Infinity Scarf

I see you’ve noticed my current design obsession! For cowls or infinity scarves, I like versatility, and an interesting stitch pattern. I like scarves that look harder to make than they actually are - usually they start because I see an interesting texture or stitch somewhere and can’t get it out of my head. Like I said, I plan to make a whole collection of them in a similar fashion to the Black Walnut Scarf.

Thanks so much Ruth, and, to everyone out there, hope you are all enjoying the Gift-along!

The Next Thing

Finished: One blanket, named Log for it's log-cabinesque construction, crocheted in Knit Picks Billow. I more or less made it up as I went along, and really like the colours. Hopefully it finds a spot to make things cozy in my cousins' home! Best wishes and all happiness to the newly-weds!

On of course to the next project, though housework and yardwork do tend to get in the way of getting very far along with that! The weather is lovely now that it cools down a bit more at night after a hot day, and I must get out to mow the lawn tomorrow if I can!



Knitting in the shade after that would be a good plan too though! My youngest starts kindergarten soon, so I think she needs a new sweater...

A Few Finished Things

As promised, here are the Argyle Vest photos! The pattern is the Argyle Vest by Veronik Avery, and the yarn is Paton's Classic. So, now I am finished catching up to Christmas!

This worked out very nicely, and I do credit the Lego yarn-holder for keeping things simple and as non-frustrating as possible.

 I'm pleased with the colour combination, and my husband seems to like it as well, though I have been so happy to have it done that I haven't actually blocked it yet, so I should get to that sometime this week, as I'm sure the shoulders will lie a bit nicer after that. Anyway, I think he looks great in it, and I'm glad to have finished well before his birthday.






























Also on the finished list is one pair of socks for a friend's daughter, and I really should get them to her sometime this week. Using Ann Budd's highly useful book Getting Started Knitting Socks , which is where I usually turn to determine the best stitch count for a pair of socks, I decided to go with a 3x2 rib, and otherwise kept these pretty simple. The yarn is Lion Brand Sock-Ease, which seemed a nice enough yarn, and has aloe in it for whatever reason, though I didn't really notice. These fit me quite nicely, and yes, I have rather small (but wide) feet, but still, that means that this kid is sure growing up!

Now, here's the coffee-press cozy that my mother cleverly adapted from a tea-cozy pattern! She picked up the purple Bernat cotton while she was visiting, but otherwise shopped the stash. I had her do up a swatch while she was over, and we washed it to measure the shrink-rate. After that, I did a bit of math, and sorted out the minor changes in the pattern. Mom remembered how to crochet pretty quickly, and  whipped this up in a short time.














 I hear she has some wash-cloths on the go too, and I'm telling her that she should sign up on Ravelry now!












Now that I'm finished these, I'm still at no loss for things to work on! I went shopping for fabric on the weekend, and am washing it right now, so here's hoping I can coordinate some sewing time in the next week or so. Just a quick flip through "Fabric by Fabric One Yard Wonders" has me planning all sorts of lovely things...

Quick(ish) Handmade Christmas Gifts

I used to just post all the projects I've been working on, but that's before I told the people who are likely to be getting these gifts that I have a blog. But, I'd still like to share, so, in recognition of the times I have spent roaming the internet in search of the perfect gifts to knit or crochet, here's a few ideas that I'm sharing that I hope will be helpful to others.

I can certainly tell you though that at this point (more than halfway there from what our Advent calendar is telling me), you'd be well advised to pick quick things if you are still looking for ideas, and not decide that your plan to knit your husband a sweater is still do-able. I do wish I was better at taking my own advice.

So, quickish gifts to make:

Ornaments:





Whether knit or crochet, they're quick and adorable. I've mostly done up miniature socks, but I've seen amazing mittens, and all sorts of fun crocheted Christmas things.

Crochet:

Crochet is  amazingly quick and satisfying. Toys, scarves, or perhaps some lovely Washcloths. I made up several one year, and packaged them with lovely soap.

Knitting:

Infinitude

Here's the one I just finished working on, and I found that it works up quick. I made the large version, and I'm taking the chance that the recipient doesn't read the blog. Knowing I would be short on the blue yarn, I put in white stripes. The yarn is Berroco Vintage, and two hanks should get you the large sized Infinitude, which happens to be a free download on Ravelry.

Cowl of Skaro

Quick, fun, and reminds Dr. Who fans of Daleks. 

Ladybug Headband

Also quick, and lovely. A good project to try out cables if you haven't done them before.

Quant

Much quicker and easier than it looks, and a lot of fun besides.

Sewing:

Sew Something! I'm always happy when sewing gets me out of a jam, as it's so ridiculously quick. Perhaps an apron (pattern from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts), or the ever popular Buttercup Bag from Made by Rae.

From the Kitchen:

Candy!

Most of the candies I make are from Canadian Living 

Mint Patties

I made some with dark chocolate, and some with white.

Berry Gelees

 I substituted cranberries.

 

And last night we made Two-Tone Peppermint Bark, with the kids helping by unwrapping the chocolate squares, and crushing and sprinkling the candy-canes.

I do hope the list is helpful! Happy Crafting and Happy Christmas!

Chequey Potholders

This is just to say that I have a new pattern available for those who would like to crochet and felt some chequered potholders.

Chequey are a pair of potholders, crocheted in four pieces using a combination of tapestry crochet and intarsia, then crocheted together in two sets and felted.

I had seen some knitted ones like these, but then thought, hey, that would be way easier in crochet, with less ends to weave-in if I could just use tapestry crochet to set up the colour changes instead of cutting the yarn and shuffling it over.

It works, and makes nice, thick, fire-resistant potholders.

Since there didn't seem to be a pattern quite like this out there for crochet, I decided to go ahead and make one. The Chequey potholders are now available via Ravelry, for 2$ Canadian. Enjoy!

Spoke too Soon

What do you know! Right after proclaiming it a lost cause, my zucchini plant offered me two gorgeous zucchini the other day, just right for cutting up and tossing in last night's stir fry. Well, one anyway, the other is for another night, and I need to come up with a recipe now. Let me know if you have any brilliant ideas, and I'll plan to try out some new recipes. I still haven't seen any pumpkin progress, but I'll keep an eye on the zucchini for more delicious squash.

My husband insisted on adding the pencil for scale.

In other news, I have finished the  Moderne Log Cabin Blanket  by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne.  I liked the look of this blanket, though for the sake of my sanity and to complete this in relatively short order, I turned to the awesome powers of crochet. It worked well. The blanket is very cozy, and drapes very nicely. I only got bored during the last two squares, and at that point, being almost finished kept me going. I used half-double crochets (North American terminology here) for the whole thing, including three rounds of the same for the border.

 

 

 

A quick count of the empty Knit Picks Wool of the Andes yarn ball-bands tells me I've used tells me that the blanket took 5 balls of Cloud, 8 of Coal (and it would have been good to have a 9th ball for insurance here, as I used up every last scrap plus about one yard of another black wool that was close enough for jazz), 7 of Dove Heather, and 7 of Mist. I enjoyed this yarn, and would happily use it again. Actually, I've started planning out a blanket for each of my daughters, though I might play around with some other log-cabin-related layouts.

 

This came out to a not-quite-queen-size blanket, so either a cover for a smaller bed, or a nice big blanket to snuggle up under by the fireside, or perhaps by the eerie glow of the T.V. Either way, it is very warm and snuggly. I can attest to this from sitting under it while crocheting, which is something that I was only able to do in our nice cool basement, as it has been rather hot out (August is like that now and again). I'm quite pleased with this, and hope that the future owners of the blanket will enjoy it.

In Which Crochet, Knitting, and Gaelic Football Occur, but Not Neccessarily in That Order

I've been away, and also very busy, so I haven't been keeping up with the blog lately. Sure, it's fine to take a vacation, but it's so easy to fall out of the habit of posting regularly that today I'm having a hard time coming up with much more than simply providing a photo of the blanket in its current state (and it is coming along quite nicely):

There's more to write about, though, it's just a matter of putting in the time to actually think and write about it, so I will steal some time instead of doing the laundry to do this properly, at least to recount the very first part of my vacation.

Back at the last weekend of July, I went with my Gaelic Football team (The Edmonton Wolfe Tones) to Calgary to play in the Western Canadian Division Championship. We had a great time, and enjoyed some great football. The Edmonton ladies, with eleven players for an eleven-a-side match, won the Calgary tournament (by 7 points), lost the friendly match (nine-a-side) with the Calgary Chieftains later that day (by 3 points), and then won the Championship the next day (elevens again, but with twelve players, so we had a sub); the score was 5-7 to 2-1 (so that's a win by 15 points, as the first digit counts for goals put into the net, worth three points each, the other digit being points for balls put through the uprights, and one point apiece). I am very proud of all our team, but should particularly mention the pride I feel for the three players who had only just learned the sport anywhere from a month to five months ago, and who all rose admirably to the occasion. If we can recruit a few more newcomers like that next year, we'll be a force to be reckoned with indeed.

Kim and I pose with the hardware

The ladies' matches were truly exciting football to play. I also hear from our loyal fans, including the lads' team, that it they were exciting matches to watch as well. Our lads played some excellent football, which I really enjoyed watching while cheering them on. They made it to the finals, though the Vancouver Harps proved victorious in the end. Calgary threw an excellent tournament and an excellent party for afterwards. I'm still reliving the best bits of the match whenever I think of it, and I can tell you that it felt just great to hoist that cup.

It took the better part of the week before I stopped talking on and on about football and how fun the tournament was to whoever would listen (though in all honesty, being me, I still would go on and on if anyone asked about it). To those of my readers who have never played Gaelic Football, it's hard to describe just how exciting a game it is. I mean, I love soccer, but there's just something about Gaelic Football, with how it exercises so much of the body and mind while providing a series of exciting contests with little or no pause in between, that goes beyond that love of sport through to obsession. After one practice, I was entirely hooked, and wanted to work hard to learn all the new skills needed. I'm already planning out my winter fitness program for the sake of improving my ability to play next year, and hope that I'll be fit enough to keep playing the sport as long as I can.



Lest you think there was no knitting that weekend, let me finish off by presenting to you the socks that I knit for my youngest. I knit nearly the entire second sock while travelling down to Calgary, and in odd moments, finishing it while watching the Kerry vs Limerick and Cork vs Mayo matches (also Gaelic Football) on TV in the morning before our Championship match.

The yarn is Regia's Flusi Das Socken Monster, colour being "Zottel" (which comes up in a translation search as being either rat's tail or pom-pom, so some sort of adornment anyway). My daughter picked out the colour, and appears to love wearing them. I made knee-highs for her, as she always pulls her socks up as high as possible, and would pull them that high (or try to) even if they were anklets. She was certainly pleased to model the socks despite the heat today. They should keep her warm in the fall and winter; it's way too nice out (25 ᵒC) for socks though today!