What's New and Sheep in the City Report

Once again, I had a great time at Sheep in the City. This is a great retreat sponsored by Jan from Just 4 Ewe.  Jan always makes it fun with games and give-aways.  I enjoy how we vendors become part of the retreat at this event, and it was great to see some of the repeat retreaters from last year. Not one, but two customers brought in their finished necklaces to show me how they had turned out. Very nice job ladies!

I  introduced a new necklace kit at this show.  It is called Falling Leaves.  It uses fine wire mesh ribbon in addition to knitting wire and beads.  You knit the leaf ties, crochet the "stems" of the leaves and simply stretch out the mesh for the scarf/necklace.  What is really, really, cool about this necklace is its versatility. You can adjust the necklace to different lengths each time you wear it and you can use the leaf tie to tie a scarf or shawl.

I also  introduced my new hat kit at Sheep in the City (See last month's Name These Hats post)  I was happy to get all 3 styles knit up and the pattern written on time for the show. The winning names for the hats are:

Paintball Pillbox

Square with Squiggles

and

Sunspot Stocking Cap

The patterns were much admired and the kits sold like hotcakes! Here is an inside tip to readers of this blog-- In my rush to finish patterns, and introduce these 2 new kits I wanted to get the hat patterns loaded on Ravelry.  I didn't have time before the show to separate the 3 patterns that I had combined into one for my kit into separate documents, so I loaded all 3 patterns together on Ravelry under Square with Squiggles name. For a limited time, you will get all 3 patterns for the price of one. 

Name These Hats

New Year's Resolution: Blog More! 
I haven't been away, just knitting away.  So here are some of the results of my labor:

Santa gave me not one but two volumes of Barbara G. Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and I have been having fun playing with stitch patterns. These hats were inspired by a stitch in her 3rd Treasury that she calls "Lazy Rib."  She showed the pattern in a single solid color yarn, but I immediately saw the possibilities for stranded knitting.

I used Kauni yarn with its wonderful long colorways.  The eye popping combinations of color that you see here just magically happened by knitting with one strand from the center of the ball and one strand from the outside. 

These hats are the first 2 of a planned series of 3 variations on this pattern.  The 3rd will be a stocking cap, still in the works.  I will be putting these on Ravelry soon, but the problem is, I don't know what to name them. 

Here are some of my ideas:

Name ideas for the 3 Hat Series:

Whoville Hats

Crazy Lazy Rib Hats

Crazy Caps

Whacky wondering rib hats

Individual Pattern Name Ideas:

Paintball Pillbox Hat

Sunspot Square Hat

Spot and Squiggles Square Hat

Your votes or suggestions please! (There's a free pattern in it for you!)

Viking Knitters and Viking Knit

I was in Minneapolis last weekend for the TKGA/CGOA Knit and Crochet Show. As always, I enjoyed meeting new people.

This was a smaller show, but the attendees had flown in from all around the country, so I felt like I was introducing myself to a whole new audience. I had customers who hailed from New York, Massachussetts, Alabama, Texas, California, Washington, and Alaska.

I also made many new connections with other knitting professionals. I was both flattered and excited to be approached by
1) an editor from a craft publishing company about a book opportunity
2) an editor from Creative Knitting Magazine who wants to do a product review of one of my kits (watch for it in the February issue) and
3) Three young ladies from BeadTV and Knit1TV (internet channels) who would like me to produce a knit with wire tutorial video for them.

Wow! Yippee! Yahoo!

I should also mention that I introduced a new product at this show. Voila!



It is called the Viking Knitter's Bracelet. My Minnesota customers thought I created it and named it especially for them (football team=Vikings), but as a true blue Packer fan, I could never do such a thing. The name comes from the "Viking Knit" wirework technique which produces a chain that resembles knitting. As you can see here, I paired it with handmade clasps made from recycled knitting needles. It was a hit! In fact, it was such a hit that I sold out! (Clasps have been ordered, and it will be on my website soon).

So, all in all it was a very nice visit to Vikingsland. I hope to return soon.

Midwest Fiber and Folk 2011, Bubble Wrap, and more

I had a great time, as always, at Fiber and Folk last weekend. Sales were good, perhaps a little too good. I was there by myself, and I was so busy on Friday and Saturday I had trouble keeping up with the pace at times. I apologize to my customers out there who had to wait. Sorry, sorry, sorry!

Some of the excitement in my booth was generated by my new shawl pattern: Bubble Wrap, that you see above. I love this pattern! Except for the fan border, which I admit is a tad difficult (but beautiful!) the pattern is easy to memorize and fast to knit. I love the texture and the fact that it is totally reversible.

The sample that you see here was knit in Blue Heron Rayon Metallic--absolutely gorgeous yarn. The pattern worked great with the handpainted yarn, but I think it might look even better on a solid yarn or kettle dyed semi-solid. I plan to start a knit along for the shawl soon and I will be curious to see it in different colors.

Bubble Wrap is just one of several new patterns and kits that I am planning to introduce. I have new patterns and kit ideas at various stages of development for:

a cute cell phone holder
women's gloves
a dressy summer top
a viking knit bracelet kit

Hopefully, at least one of these new kits/patterns will be ready for my next show, which is just around the corner at the Knit and Crochet Show in Minneapolis at the end of July.

Yikes! I'd better get knitting!

I'm Back!

Okay, this is kind of embarrassing. I've been MIA for (yikes!) 10 months.
I have lots of excuses for this:

1) life intervened -- lots was going on in my nonknitting life. For a while there I wasn't knitting much, and since I would like this blog to stick to my knitting, there were times when there wasn't much to say.

2) I was rebelling a little bit against blogging. Admit it fellow bloggers, after much blogging without comment, don't you start to wonder, is any one out there? Blogging sometimes feels like talking to myself, so is that therapy or is it insanity?

3) I have been keeping a few secrets (which I am about to reveal). For the last 5 months or so, I have been working on new designs and I have been contemplating trying to get at least one of them published by a print or online magazine. Most magazines require that patterns for submission not be published elsewhere, including on blogs or Ravelry, so I have been holding back, but I think I can tell you that since January I have designed the following:

* A new Knitter's Journey necklace kit. (Actually it is a necklace/bracelet--it's convertible!)
* A lovely shawl that uses Blue Heron's gorgeous Rayon Metallic yarn.
* Some very clever gloves that I have already knit up three times with two different yarn weights and 3 color variations, but I am not quite satisfied that I have found the best yarn for the pattern.
* A cardigan using Knit Picks yarn -- this is completely planned out, but as I have only knitted the back thus far, I have a long way to go before this one will be finished.

I am racing to finish as many of these projects as I can before I start the summer show season. My first show is June 3rd and 4th at the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival in Franklin, Indiana. It will be my first appearance there, and I am excited for a new venue.

---Watch this space, and my Ravelry page-- Secrets to be revealed in the near future!

Fiber and Folk 2010

I'm packing the car and heading to Grayslake for Midwest Fiber and Folk. This is my 3rd appearance at this festival and I'm so happy to be back. I love the folk music and the mix of vendors. I suppose its because of the music, but I've noticed that this is the one fiber festival with a significant number of men in attendance, with a male to female ratio of something like 1:3 instead of 1:100.

I am bringing some goodies with me that aren't listed on my website and may never be due to their limited availability or one of a kind nature, in particular the Heart of Stone kits and Flower Pin/Earring kits. I almost hate to part with some of the Heart of Stone kits that I put together -- each stone is unique and I put careful thought into the complimentary bead combinations. The Flower Pin and Earring kits will only be available while supplies last. I expect they will go quickly at just $9 for pattern, beads, wire, and findings to make 2 flower pins and 2 sets of earrings. Do check come and check it out this weekend at the Lake County Fairgrounds. I'm booth 203. Hope to see you there!

A Haul of Hearts

I went to the Bead and Button show last weekend and I scored a haul of hearts! I've been desperately searching the internet for more gemstone donut hearts to use in my Heart of Stone necklace kits, and I was worried that I would never find more. I found 35 hearts in a variety of colors at the Eclectica booth, and I snatched them up. I think I have now cornered the world market in 42mm stone hearts. Now that I have a somewhat larger, albeit still limited, supply, I will be adding Heart of Stone kits to my web store. Of course, I will continue to sell them at the knitting/jewelry shows that I do. I will be sure to have a nice selection on hand when I go to Giralte Beads and Yarn this Friday and Saturday. It will be interesting to see how long it will take before they are all gone.