Anniversary Sale on LaReine Shawl

LaReine Shawl was my first knitting pattern design and it still remains as one of my favorite shawls to wear. It's small so I can tuck it in my bag and pull it out if I get a little chilly. I knit this one for my sister with Malabrigo Yarn Sock in Tiziano Red. Isn't she gorgeous?

Two years ago I released this pattern and I thought it would be fun to celebrate the anniversary. For the month of October, I am offering a $2.00 discount for fans of my Facebook Page. Just enter the coupon code "FBOctober" when you add LaReine to your cart. (For those that don't know, you don't need to be a member of Ravelry to purchase the patterns. Just click on "Buy it Now" and you can check out with Paypal or your credit card.)

The pattern has both written directions and charts. Although, it was designed to use one skein of sock yarn, it can be easily customized to a larger size. There are instructions on how to make the shawl larger.

Fall Accessories, Knitscene Accessories 2012

As the mornings become chillier, my thoughts turn to accessories to keep me warm when I take Melody to school every morning. I don't need anything heavy yet since the weather warms up by the afternoon. When I was at the bookstore last week, I saw copies of Knitscene Accessories 2012 and was reminded that I haven't blogged about my design in that issue. This is Knitscene's first all accessories special issue and I was so excited to have a design in it. It is packed with 35 accessory designs and knitting how-to articles.

 

It's called the Putney Shawl and is knit with 1 skein of Green Mountain Spinnery Simply Fine, in the colorway Catkin. Lisa Shroyer, editor of Knitscene, always has such great taste in colors. I am always excited to see what colors she picks for my designs.

The name of the shawl is named after the town Green Mountain Spinnery is located in, Putney, Vermont. Green Mountain Spinnery was the yarn company featured in this special issue. I have become a fan of their yarns after knitting with Simply Fine.

At the TNNA June Show this year, I stopped by their booth and they had this displayed at their booth! Interweave had printed these cardboard displays for the show and gave them to the yarn companies to display at their booths. I was so giddy with excitement to see my design blown up that I had to have my picture taken with it. The ladies at Green Mountain Spinnery were more than happy to oblige.

The NYS Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY, is coming up in a few weeks. If you want to see the Green Mountain Spinnery Yarns in person, be sure to stop by their booth. They always have a gorgeous display of yarns. 

If you like my latest shawl pattern, please fave it or add it your queue on Ravelry. It will be a wonderful accessory for your Fall wardrobe.

Tupelo Shawl

Photo from Classic Elite Yarns

Classic Elite Yarns' Spring 2012 Collection has arrived at local yarn stores. There are 15 booklets for Spring. My Tupelo Shawl is published in the booklet, #9174 Peabody Path.

It's my first design for a yarn company and I am thrilled that I got to work with Classic Elite Yarns. Last June, I attended TNNA and their booth caught my eye immediately. I really love their style and aesthetic. So you can imagine my excitement when I got an email a few months later that they liked the design I submitted to their Spring Collection.

Sketch

The shawl is knit from one side to the other. What I didn't anticipate was that I was going to have trouble with the second half of the shawl. I spent 3 days knitting and ripping out, trying to find a perfect way to decrease and mirror the stitch pattern. Have you heard of the KISS Principle (Keep it simple, stupid!)? It's actually easier said than done. I will be the first to admit that I am very picky and extremely detail oriented. I am sure the other 1,000 methods I tried would have sufficed, but I wanted a easy and elegant solution that looked perfect. But after racking my brain for 3 days, I ended up trying a simple method and it totally worked! I learn something new every time I design. :-)

Scan of Swatch, backwards.

I think this scanned picture of my swatch is actually the back (wrong side). But I can't find my swatch to scan it again. Still, you can see that in the overall design, the right side and wrong side is not vastly different. I am not a warm/hot weather knitter, so I had to dig deep in my stash for a cotton yarn to swatch with for my submission.

I knitted this in July and it was one of the hottest months we had last Summer. This shawl even came along with me to the Jersey Shore for my Summer vacation. The yarn, Firefly, is a linen blend and it was never sticky to knit with even with the crazy humidity we had. I pretty much became enamored with this yarn while I was knitting this shawl. The knitted fabric had wonderful drape and was cool to the touch.

How much do I love this yarn? After I shipped my sample to Classic Elite Yarns, I immediately ordered the same yarn, in a different color (Hyacinth), so I can make my own Tupelo Shawl. The shawl needs 3 skeins of Firefly to knit it.

I have been getting questions via Ravelry about where to buy the pattern. You can buy the pattern booklet directly from Classic Elite Yarns or from Webs. They will also be available at your local yarns stores and other online yarn stores, but those are the 2 online places that I know of right now. In March, Classic Elite Yarns will make the patterns available as a PDF download for those of you that prefer digital copies of the patterns instead of a printed booklet.

If you like my latest shawl pattern, please fave it or add it your queue on Ravelry. It will be a wonderful accessory for your Spring and Summer wardrobe.

Vogue Knitting Live NYC 2012

This was my first time time attending Vogue Knitting Live and I had so much fun that I can't even put it into words. Even though I got sick 2 days before the event, it didn't dampen my spirits. I woke up bleary-eyed at 5:30am on Saturday and packed cough drops into my bag along with my knitting supplies. My subway commute was pretty easy to the Hilton Hotel. I got to the registration desk by 7:45am and was greeted by a friendly Vogue Knitting staff member. She handed me a complimentary tote bag with a book, Knitting with The Color Guys, and off I went to find my first class.

My first class of the day was with Ysolda Teague called Approaching Design Patterns for Multiple Sizes. It was about grading/calculating sizes using Excel. Normally, math is hard enough for me, but math at 8am with not enough sleep and being sick was even harder. But Ysolda took pity on all of us and did not delve into the hard math until the second half of the class.

Ysolda brought chocolate for the class! Seriously, who doesn't love a teacher that brings their students treats? The little jolt of sugar and caffeine was very much appreciated by the class. The class was very informative and it has shown me how and why I should use Excel to grade my patterns. I have heard about using Excel to grade patterns before, but having her show us how she does it on the computer really made sense in my mind.

Brandy Fortune and her friend, Claudia, flew in from Georgia for the event. They were both in my Saturday classes, so we had lunch together when we had our 3 hour break in between classes. After refueling with sushi and soup, Brandy and I walked the marketplace together to meet people we haven't met before or haven't seen in a while. We fondled some yarns and saw the new Addi Click Lace Long Tip Set. I have the other lace set and I adore it.

My memory is fuzzy, so please forgive me if I met you and forgot your name. Over the VKLive weekend, I got to meet Katie (the new Design Coordinator) from Spud & Chloë, Laura Nelkin, Cirilia Rose (Creative Director) from Skacel, Melissa who makes gorgeous porcelain buttons, Vicki Howell, Anna Hrachovec, Marly Bird, the ladies from Soho Publishing: Emily Jones (Graphic Designer), Minty aka Erin (Editor in Chief of Yarn Market News), Renee Lorion (Yarn Editor), and Carla Scott (Editor in Chief of Knit Simple Magazine).

One of my favorite stops at the marketplace was definitely the Knit Simple booth. They were selling recent issues and subscriptions of the magazine. And one of the sample pieces that they had at the booth was my Lace-Panel Wrap from the cover of the Winter 2011/2012 issue. They even made my pattern into a postcard for knitters to take when they stopped by the booth. The pattern for the wrap is on the back of the postcard. Brandy had me pose in front of the booth wearing my wrap and holding up the magazine, which you can see here. Fun times!

After we finished the 2nd part of Ysolda's class in the afternoon, we rested in Brandy and Claudia's hotel room before the gala dinner. Here is picture of me and Brandy in her hotel room. Brandy noticed that I was looking a little worse for wear by the end of the day. I think my medicine had worn off and I was so tired. I even contemplated skipping the dinner and going home. Brandy went into her purse and pulled out some Pez Candy and told me eat some of the candy before dinner. And the sugar really did the trick!

Claudia and Brandy waiting in line for the gala dinner. Here is a picture of me and Claudia that Brandy took with her phone.

This is where the gala dinner was held in the hotel. Very pretty! And each seat had a goody bag that included yarn, Addi needles, wool wash, and a cocktail book. The highlight of the evening was getting to listen to our guest speaker, Alice Starmore, talk. She spoke eloquently and had pictures to accompany her stories. She is not just a knitter or designer, but a true artist. Her photos were beautiful. I was thrilled to listen and learn so much about her. Previous to this, I just knew her as a fair isle knitting expert.

And here is the second reason I am glad I didn't miss the gala dinner.

During the dinner, they called out names for the raffle prizes. Oh boy was I surprised when they called out my name for the Noro Yarn Prize. The bag is filled with Noro Yarns and 2 of the latest Noro Books, Knit Noro Accessories and Knit Noro 30 Designs in Living Color. I seriously had a tough time making it back to my dinner table with my prize. I kept getting stopped by other knitters wanting to see what I won or telling me that they had hoped they would win that prize. Lol. My dinner table companions were super thrilled for me. I had a great time getting to know them even though we were perfect strangers when we first sat down.

I am sure you are all wondering how much yarn is in that tote bag. It's a huge bag. The answer is 21 skeins of Noro Yarns with my 4 yr old daughter modeling to show the scale. What do I plan to do with it? Some people have suggested a blanket to me. I might have a pattern collection brewing in the back of my mind or I might give some away to my friends. For now, I am just enjoying seeing the beautiful colors sitting in the tote bag. Melody enjoys taking each one out and telling me which colorways are her favorite. I was quite the sight hauling that prize home on the subway. I got lots of stares and comments. Which is odd since I could not have been the most unusual sight on a NYC subway on a Saturday night. If you have ever ridden a NYC subway, you would know what I mean.

The next morning, I headed back for another 2 part class with Ysolda. This time the class was called, Beyond the Raglan. The class covered the different types of sweaters that can be knit from the top down and explored ways to get the best fit in a top down sweater. Yoke styles included: compound raglans; round yoke; saddle shoulders and set in sleeves and we discussed the calculations involved in creating these. Wow, Ysolda really knows what she is talking about. I wished I was able to absorb more, but I was exhausted. I was carrying around Dayquil in my bag so I could medicate myself whenever the medicine wore off and my coughing fits started. During the 2nd part of the class, we all chose a different top down seamless set-in-sleeve construction method and knit a small shoulder swatch. That way, Ysolda could walk around the room and help us when we ran into problems or had questions while we were knitting.

When class ended at 5pm, I headed back home. I was sad to skip the champagne charity auction in Tribeca (they rented buses to take us from the hotel), but I knew I had to rest or I would fall over. So all in all, I had a fabulous time. The only thing I wish that they would do differently is to schedule the morning classes an hour later, 9am instead of 8am.
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Ready to see my latest published design? Well, it's published in Knit Noro Accessories! Yes, it's one of the books I won. I had recently received my complimentary copy, so I gave the copy I won to a good friend of mine.

photographed by Rose Callahan

This Tulip Scarf is knit with 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden. It's a quick little project that is garter stitch based with just a touch of lace. This book is gorgeous! The styling, models and backgrounds they used really made this book spectacular.

photographed by Rose Callahan

Books take a long time to publish, so I have been waiting patiently for this to be published. I am really proud of this design because it is my first design to be included in a book and it also was my 2nd accepted design. This was accepted last year after my 1st accepted design in Knitscene. It definitely motivated me to continue to submit more designs to publications. And since last year, it has been a whorl wind of knitting and designing for different publications.

photographed by Rose Callahan

If you like this pattern, please RAVEL IT for your queue or fave list. I have been enjoying seeing knitters using a solid color for the scarf.

Knit Simple Winter 2011/2012

Knit Simple Winter 2011/2012 just hit the newsstands yesterday. I am so excited that my Lace-Panel Wrap made it onto the front cover of the magazine. My first cover! The Lace-Panel Wrap is part of the Shawl We Knit? story. There is a workshop section in the magazine that teaches you how to work the simple lace stitches for all 4 of the shawls in that story.

Right now, Knit Simple is having a contest. You can win a yarn kit to make my Lace-Panel Wrap. The yarn used is "Ecco" yarn from Zitron/Skacel Collection. Enter the contest HERE. You can add the project to your Ravelry queue or favorite it, HERE.

My second design for Knit Simple is the Bobble Cowl. It is part of the Knitting By Numbers story. All the projects are knit with 1, 2 or 3 balls of yarn. The cowl is knit with 2 skeins of Blue Sky Alapacas Techno. The yarn is light and warm because it's made by blowing baby alpaca into a mesh tube of silk. You can add the project to your Ravelry queue or favorite it, HERE.

*All photos are from Knit Simple Winter 2011, photos by Paul Amato.*

Petra Shawl in Knitscene Winter 2011

Back in April, I showed you all these gorgeous skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage that I received to make a secret project. The colorway is called Terra. The yarn is a worsted weight, 100% superwash merino wool. It's super soft and squishy.

The color is eye catching. I got so many compliments on the color of the yarn whenever I was knitting this project in public. Even non-knitters would come up to me to comment. One afternoon, I was knitting this at the playground while Melody played. A group of mothers who were leaving the playground came and told me what a gorgeous color it was before they left.

The Knitscene Winter 2011 issue preview went live a few days ago, so I can finally reveal my project. The Petra Shawl is knit from the bottom up in one piece. All three sides of the shawl is bordered by a bobble border.

The worsted weight yarn makes this a quick and cozy knit. It takes approximately 600 yards (549 m) of worsted weight. Now that the weather is getting cooler by the minute, I want to knit one for myself.

Photo from Knitscene

The print versions of Knitscene should be hitting stores on October 25, but if you can't wait, you can buy the digital edition immediately. You can add my Petra Shawl to your queue or favorite list on Ravelry.

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Are any of you going to Rhinebeck? It's that time of year again. Yes, the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival is this weekend. This will be my first year attending the whole weekend. I will be sharing a house with 11 knitters near Rhinebeck. It should be a lot of fun!

Please say hi if you see me walking around in a haze of yarn fumes. This year, I am participating in Rhinebeck Bingo by being a square on the bingo card and as a player. Allegra and Brandy, the editors of Petite Purls, won't be able to attend this year, but they sent me some post cards to hand out to knitters. So be sure to ask me for one if you see me.

Tummy Warmer Vest

The Petite Purls Fall 2011 issue went live on Friday. It's another fabulous issue full of great projects (knitting, sewing, crochet) and articles. The 2 articles on photography was very educational and written by 2 awesome photographers, Brandy Fortune and Caro Sheridan. And how cute is this tutorial on making friendship bracelets?

I am really excited to have a 2nd pattern published by Petite Purls. My Tummy Warmer Vest would be a perfect Fall garment for a new baby. It is knit in the round, seamlessly from the top down. This vest uses a honeycomb pattern that is made with twisted stitches. By twisting the stitches, the thickness of the fabric is doubled and the air trapped by the stitches makes it very insulating.

I learned a lot from this project. Photographing babies are hard, especially when they are not your own. Baby Arden was such a trooper. She let me dress her in 100% alpaca in the middle of August! And not only once, but twice. The first set of pictures were not satisfactory, so I had to ask Arden's mom for another photo session. One of the things I learned is that there is only a small window of opportunity to photograph a baby. And once it has passed, it's over. The baby will let you know it's over. Don't push it. :-)

Thank you to Blue Sky Alpacas for the yarn support. Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight is lovely to knit with. It is a well plied yarn which gives great stitch definition to your projects. This is not the first time I knit with it. I have made a few scarves in the past as presents and everyone always comments on how soft it is. Alpaca is similar to sheep’s wool, but it is warmer, not prickly, and has no lanolin which makes it hypoallergenic. It is also naturally water-repellent and difficult to ignite.

You can get the Tummy Warmer pattern here or Ravel It for your Ravelry queue. Enjoy!

How I blocked my Colfax Shawl.

I have a weird confession. I love to block shawls. There is just something magical that happens to lace after it's been blocked properly. Blocking a shawl evens everything out and makes it light and drapey. It does take a bit of time, so I always try to do it after Melody goes to bed at night. I look forward to the quiet time when I can sit on the floor with my damp shawl and pins and contemplate on how I will shape the shawl.

I start off by giving my shawl a good soak with some wool wash. 30 minutes minimum. After that, I use a large towel and roll up the shawl to get all the excess water out. For most shawls I use pins. Specifically, these pins. I use these pins for sewing and quilting, but they have worked great for blocking my hand knits, too. Pins allow some flexibility on how you can shape the shawl. Did you know you can create points on the edging of a shawl by how you pin it when you block it? I often take some creative license when I block the edge.

For my Colfax Shawl, I decided to use my blocking wires. This shawl does not have any complicated lace that requires pinning out. So, I threaded my wires through the crochet loops on each side of the shawl. In some instances, I had to overlap wires because 1 wire was not long enough. I pinned the top edge. Then I pulled the wires as much as the knitted fabric allowed and pinned down the wires. I like to block the heck out of my shawls. Those wires are under a lot of tension. Once it dried, the shawl was incredibly light and airy. Success!

What did I pin the shawl on? I put a huge towel I got from Ikea over a piece of floor carpet that I also got from Ikea. If it's during the day, I might pin it on my comforter on my bed and direct a fan towards it. Some times, I even use the square foam alphabet blocks on Melody's bedroom floor. Shawls dry pretty fast and with the help of a floor fan, it dries even faster. Another tip, do not unpin your shawl until dries completely. You don't want to waste all the time and effort you put into pinning out the shape of your shawl.

The winner of Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi Book Giveaway is Tomobeans! Congrats! Please email me at oiyi.yau(at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address. I will forward your address to Potter Craft so they can send you the book.

Winner of the Knitscene Fall issue...

And 4 skeins of Zitron Lifestyle in Grass #59 to make my Colfax Shawl is KnitNurd! Please email me at oiyi.yau(at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address.

Before sending off the sample to Knitscene, I made sure to take some quick photos. They keep the sample so I wanted to make sure I had a record of it before mailing it off and saying goodbye to it forever. I didn't have time to ask a friend to model, so Melody stepped in. She loves shawls, so I didn't have to beg or bribe her.

Since it's a full size shawl, it is quite big on her. But she was an enthusiastic model and tried really hard to mimic the poses she has seen in pictures.

She just couldn't keep her arms steady. I gave her an "A" for effort! Plus she had so much fun and was giggling the whole time. Isn't it all about having fun when you are a kid?

Detail picture of the border.

Thank you to all who commented and left such lovely and supportive comments. I will be having some knitting books to give away real soon so be sure to check back.

Colfax Shawl in Knitscene Fall 2011

Photo from Knitscene

Have you seen the Fall issue of Knitscene? I am proud to have my first print magazine published design in Knitscene. Back in October of 2010, I saw Lisa Shroyer's call for submissions for Knitscene's Fall issue. I looked at the mood board and thought about submitting. At that point, I had only self-published 2 of my designs on Ravelry. I had a design that I had swatched a month ago and wanted to send that in. But I wanted to re-knit the swatch in a different color. Well, time went by pretty fast and the deadline approached. I never did get the chance to re-knit it. I was left with 2 choices: not submitting or submit my design in the current color swatch that day. Well, I went for it and quickly sketched out my design proposal. I really had no clue what I was doing, but I did the best that I could. Drawing was never my strong suit in art school, but I was hoping my swatch could convey my idea.

Photo from Knitscene

Melody was the one that kissed the package and dropped it in the mail box for me at the post office. She was my lucky charm. Honestly, I didn't feel that I had a chance of getting in but it wouldn't hurt to try. In the beginning of December, I got a email from Lisa that she loved my shawl design and the color yarn I used. In fact, she chose a yarn and color for the sample that is pretty much the same as the yarn I used. It was fate.

When I got the acceptance email, I was jumping up and down. Melody thought it was funny and started doing the same even though she didn't understand why I was so happy. I immediately called my husband and then my sister. Even though they both do not knit, they were excited for me. I was on cloud 9 for a while.

The shawl is knit from the top-down with a simple eyelet pattern and sections of stockinette. The border of the shawl is done with a crochet hook. You don't need to know how to crochet. As long as you can make chains with a crochet hook, you have all the necessary skills for the border. The finished shawl measures 60" wide and 27" deep at center point, after blocking. It's a full size shawl which is a first for me. I think there may be more full size shawl designs in my future.

To celebrate, I am having a little giveaway. I am giving away a copy of Knitscene Fall 2011 and the same yarn/color (Zitron Lifestyle in Grass #59) to make a Colfax Shawl of your own. Please leave a comment that you would like to be entered in the giveaway. Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you, either Ravelry name, blog link, or email address. Giveaway ends on August 10, 2011.

In the mean time, Ravel It. It has been fun seeing the projects show up on Ravelry. I love the variegated versions that some people are doing.

My 1st toy pattern, Mao.

I am proud to finally reveal my first toy pattern, Mao. If you haven't seen the Summer 2011 Issue of Petite Purls yet, you are in for a surprise. It's their 2nd anniversary and to celebrate, they published an all toy issue, plus launched their new website design. Co-editor, Brandy Fortune, did an amazing job with their re-design. She is the genius behind the design and coding of the website. For this special issue, she photographed all of the projects for the patterns. I love the photographs she took of the kitties in the tree for my pattern page.

This is the prototype of Mao. Mao is the name for “cat” in Chinese. It is knit in the round, seamlessly from the top down, starting at the ears. It has a flat bottom and the tail is made with I-cord by picking up stitches from the back of the cat. When I did the final version, I refined it a bit with different increases. And for child safety reasons, I decided to embroider Mao's facial features with yarn and embroidery floss.

I am so excited that my first toy pattern was included in this issue along with all the amazing toy designers. You all know that I am big fan-girl of Susan B Anderson. Well, I got see her Fat Robin and meet Susan in real life this month, but more on that later. This amazing issue features toy patterns that are knitted, crocheted, and sewn. It's been so much fun seeing the projects pop up on Ravelry. Take a look at this stripey Mao and this variegated Mao.

Thank you to Stacey at Knit Picks and Knit Picks for providing the yarn for this pattern. Swish Worsted is a great machine washable wool yarn. The pattern takes less than one ball. In fact, I think you may be able to get 2 cats out of one ball.

Ravel it or cast on right away, pattern is here. It's such a quick project, you'll have a full litter of kitties before you know it.

Winning!

I clicked on this link this morning and was shocked to see that my Shizuku pattern won 3rd place in the 2012 Knitting & Crochet Calendar Contest. Totally unexpected! My pattern will be included in the 2012 Knitting Calendar and I will get a cash prize and a copy of the calendar. I am off to claim my prize. Have a great day, everyone!

Random number generator says...

...that Muddling Through is the winner! Congratulations! Please email me at oiyi.yau(at) gmail (dot) com so I can send you the scarf. Thank you all for participating.

Here are 2 more examples of Shizuku. You can see that it also works well with variegated or semi-solid yarns.

Tomo knit this one using Malabrigo Yarns Silky Merino. The color is called Indiecita. She made is for a friend's birthday gift and she told me her friend loved it. I think the silk content makes this a scarf a pleasure to wear around your neck.

I have been saving this yarn for a special project. It’s Buckwheat Bridge Angoras, 70 Mohair Kid & 30% Cormo, 250 yards. It is a natural indigo dye and produced entirely with solar power. I purchased it at NYS Sheep and Wool Festival, Rhinebeck 2009.

I knit to 34 stitches for the widest part and then started decreasing. I used 220 yds and had 30 yards left over. After blocking, this scarf is much longer than the original Shizuku. It's so soft and I love the color. This may be a hard one to part with.

I have been enjoying seeing everyone's version of Shizuku on Ravelry. It's a really quick project and there is still plenty of time to make one for a holiday gift. I already started another one for a birthday gift.

Download Shizuku Now or Ravel It!

Shizuku 雫

This is my latest pattern design. Shizuku means drops or tear-drop shape in Japanese. This scarf is knit from side to side with the droplets knitted along one side. The droplets are made with short row shaping.

The scarf is made with 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon, but you can substitute any yarn with the same weight. This colorful example is made by my friend, Tomo, who is also the one modeling both of the scarves. I love the colorway that she used.

This one is knit by me in the colorway 150. Noro Kureyon really softens up quite bit after a good soak with Eucalan and blocking.

Guess what? I am giving away this scarf (the one that I knit) to one lucky winner! Please leave a comment by Sunday, December 5, 2010 stating that you want to enter to win this scarf. Anyone may enter.

If you don't want to wait to see if you win, you can knit one up for yourself. It's a super fast knit. Plus the pattern is FREE! My gift to you all of you for the holidays.

Download Shizuku Now or Ravel It!