KAL Giveaway Winner!

First and foremost I want to thank everyone for participating and congratulate everyone who’s managed to finish their shawl, whether or not it was during the KAL period! (Hint: clicking any of the photos will take you to the Ravelry pages of the makers)

twiglee’s Sweet Summer Rays Shawl

Special mention to NMStacey who got a late start and knit her hands off to get as close to finishing the shawl as she could before time was up!

AdrialysHC’s Sweet Summer Rays

The shawls in the KAL were all knit in awesome colors, some from Candy Skein and others not, but I really like how the textural differences really pop with different yarn choices

moritz52′s Sweet Summer Rays

And now, the part I know everyone is interested in, the giveaway!  According to the group thread, we had 10 participants who finished and posted pictures in the group before time was up, and the winner, chosen by Random.org, is:

kolorswkrayons

I love this version of the shawl, I love the colors she chose and that, even though she had to bind off with a separate color, it all looks so deliberate and funky!

I think it’s so awesome how international the internet, knitting and Ravelry are, I know to be on the lookout when I visit Australia and keep my eyes open for a Sweet Summer Rays shawl!

Omlair’s Sweet Summer Rays Shawl

Have you made this shawl yet?  Or used any of Candy Skein’s yarns? (They’re fabulous, you totally should).

Christmas Gift Round Up 2: Knick Knack Knucks for the Mister

Originally, I’d planned on making my guy a hat, but after hanging out with him on a few chilly days, I learned that he had a “favorite” hat and there was no way I even wanted to pretend to compete with that.  The next best thing?  Knucks to match his “favorite” hat (he’d mentioned once how he thought mine were cool – gift idea stowed instantly).  I used the same pattern, my Knick Knack Knucks pattern, to make his pair with a few modifications.

In order to match his hat as best I could, and in an effort to be sneaky about it, I based the patterning on this photo, zooming in as far as I could:

His hands are fairly similar in size to mine, so that was easy-ish as far as sizing the mitts went and I used Frog Tree yarn for the main part of the glove.  I’d never used the yarn before, but it’s so soft and luxurious!  Surely he’ll love them, no?  The contrasting colors were stash yarns.

I didn’t have enough to knit two mitten flaps out of the red so I knit them using the white/grey as the main color and I really like the contrast!

I also gave him thumb flaps so he can use his phone with the mitts on if he wants to, that’s one thing my mitts don’t have and sometimes I wish they did.  I added little dark grey buttons to the wrist bands, wove in some ends and they were done!  More Ravelry details here.

Again, the only thing I had to stress over was whether or not they would fit.

Are you doing a Christmas gift round up yet? I want to see what everyone else made

A Hord of Vikings

Since I released the Viking Helmet Pattern, it swiftly became my best seller.  I want to thank each and every one of you who has bought a pattern from me at any time, I appreciate the support and you’re allowing me to continue doing something that I love to do!  I’m hoping to make a career out of this and each time I sell a pattern, it brings me closer to my goal.

Ok, enough with the sappy, back to The Hord.

I really do enjoy (as I’m sure many other designers do) seeing pictures of other knitters’ versions of my patterns!  Here I’m showcasing a few of the Vikings, for more click through to the pattern page.

Viking Princess!

by ebargoum

she wore it to the game!

by cahalvorson

he won the costume contest

by legknits

A Family of Ninjas

I got this picture in the e-mail the other day and its made me smile every time I’ve thought of it since:

Meg bought the Long-Eared Beanie with PomPoms pattern from me and made enough for her entire family!  I just love the photo, it’s a great family portrait, don’t you think?

Can’t see the photo here?  Check out my Facebook Page!

WIP Wednesday: Knick Knack Knucks

Welcome back for another WIP Wednesday!  Want to join in?  Head on over to Tami’s blog to share your own projects.

This week, I’m in the middle of making myself a pair of Knucks, following my  currently-being-test-knit pattern.  The first set I made went to a friend for Christmas and my hands are just so cold and I had enough of the yarn left over to make some for myself.

Comin' along, slowly but surely

I really hope to have this pattern released in the next few weeks, just as soon as I find the time to make the edits that were suggested by one of my fabulous test knitters, MrsMouse.

What are you knitting this week?

Spring In The Winter

I posted a request for test knitters for some of my older patterns, including the Deep Waters and Starlit Skies Shrug.  raederle (Ravelry link) graciously accepted and test knit the large size for me. She’s finished and isn’t it gorgeous?

raederle's version

I love the colors she’s picked out, very different than those I chose and still beautiful, very complimentary to the pattern.

look at those colors!

Thank you so much raederle!

A Green Ninja Beanie

Hello and welcome to the first post of my knitting-focused blog!  I’ve decided to move many of my knitting-related nonsense over here rather than my old blog due to a recent survey I took of my readers and it seems that those who are there for knitting, would like to see more, while those who aren’t into the needle art would like to see less.

So!  My knitting readers, welcome to the knit wonderland that is my knitting life

Today, I would like to show you a green version of my Long Eared Beanie with PomPoms (Etsy and Ravelry) knit by the talented and oh-so-friendly Em of lylianmae.

I’m also working on a collaboration with lylianmae right now!  Its almost complete, the test knitters are reading through all of my typos and hopefully the final pattern will be out late this week or early next week!  Here’s a preview of what the hat looks like: