I have mixed feelings –

• I want people to knit the patterns that I’ve created.
• I want to be rewarded for the time, effort, and money that went into creating my patterns.

I could offer my patterns for free, but that just doesn’t feel that it honours either the work that I put into making patterns nor the work that many other talented designers put into their creations. I am lucky to not be dependant upon selling designs to feed a family or pay rent. Many designers do find themselves in that situation.

As a new designer and I do need to find ways to promote my patterns to ensure they appear to knitters who may be interested in them. Offering my new patterns at 30% off for a limited time seems like a way to hew a middle ground.

So here’s the deal – my three new designs, Yesterday’s Sunrise, the Tickle Inn Scarf, and the Boxwood Shawl are all 30% off on Ravelry from Saturday morning when you receive this post to midnight on Sunday, May 13th. No code is needed.

Continue reading “Three New Patterns – 30% Off For a Very Limited Time”

Do these excuses count?

• 3 new patterns and samples, tech edited and printed, soon to hit Ravelry
• YarnOver SleepOver Retreat 2018, all done
• 2 new classes inaugurated at the retreat
• working with a talented woodworker friend to create innovative, wooden knitgear
• the chaos of a new kitchen under construction in a very small house
• life – wonderful husband and very demanding poodle, both of whom would object to being last on this list

It feels like those should count as good reasons, but clearly I’ve been feel guilty – like a bad person – or I wouldn’t even be asking the darned question.

Did I make a commitment to blog every few weeks? Yes I did!

How long has it been? Do I have to count? I do, it’s been 6 long weeks.

So I wanted to show you something magical – magic created with yarn and needles, now that I’ve returned.

Continue reading “It’s Been Too Long – But I Do Have Excuses and the Gift of a Magical Cable For You”

Take 10 minutes out of your day and watch this film, In Sheep’s Clothing. I can almost guarantee that you will have a new appreciation for the ease of our lives, yarn stores, ready to knit wool, and sheep.

It took some discipline to simply stop, slow down, and watch this film. I kept wanting to fast forward, but realized a few minutes in that I wasn’t watching facts or a “story”, I was watching a way of life from 80 years ago. I owed the filmmaker and the subjects the respect of watching and I’m glad I did.

Continue reading “10 Shetland Minutes”

Aren’t those just the cutest things? They are called cappelletti and I learned to make them from Chef Paola, transported via Skype to my kitchen from the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy.

We made the pasta; we made two fillings, meat and ricotta and spinach; we rolled the pasta to the correct thickness in a machine; we cut, filled, and shaped cappelletti and ravioli; we ate the pastas with delicious sauces. What a treat and so much fun to share with a friend.

Continue reading “Learning Pasta From an Italian Chef”

Oh, Man, It’s Cold! Therefore Cracked Fingers

So I was sitting knitting the other day, watching some Netflix thing with my husband and I said, “My finger hurts. I think I cut it.” He asked if it was split. He was right; it was, and the others on my right hand were showing signs of following the index finger. He said, “Go and put Bag Balm on it.” And I said, “I can’t do that, I’m knitting.” And he said, “Stop knitting.”

Outrageous Husband

Stop knitting? Can you believe it? What a totally outrageous thing to say to a knitter! What a totally outrageous thing to say to me! My answer, “No, I cannot do that.” You would think he knew me after all these years. Priorities are priorities after all.

Continue reading “Outrageous Husband, Cracked Fingers, Shoebox Project, & Saved Sweater,”

This is unheard of – two posts in two days, but my excellent beginning to 2018 warrants it.

I walk in nearby Petticoat Creek Conservation Area every morning, with the yarn eating poodle, as soon as the sun comes up. It’s been a challenge this past week with temperatures at -15 to -22 celsius plus wind chill. Our walks have been severely shortened, but on New Year’s day afternoon I decided to walk the whole park and give Hugo, and me, a treat. It was cold, but not too cold.

On our way back over the bridge, I saw 4 swans in Lake Ontario. Quite remarkable,  usually they are in pairs. A minute later, a small flock of what I thought to be sea gulls swooped in overhead for a landing. Eight more swans! So graceful, so beautiful.

Continue reading “12 Swans a-Swimming on New Year’s Day”

At this, the beginning of 2018, I share three UnFinished Objects, cardigan, vest, and shawl, knitting projects of course, from as long as 20 years ago. I’ve not resolved to complete these; I gave up resolutions years ago. Resolutions have failed in other years- more correctly, I failed – although one did work.

Continue reading “Happy New Year UFOs”

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the United States. It’s an important holiday, bigger than Christmas it seems, viewed from the country to the North.

I needed a history lesson to bump up my sparse Thanksgiving knowledge and turned to Google, of course. Two minuscule bits of information –

• What’s known as the first Thanksgiving, a 3 day feast celebrating the first harvest, was attended by 53 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans way back in October, 1621.
• The turkey that’s usually consumed was native to North America.

Continue reading “Happy Thanksgiving – A Very Little Bit of History and a Few Black Friday Treats”

Anyone who has looked at my patterns or read my thoughts about knitting knows that I love reversible stitches. It’s not that I don’t like other stitches, but the ease and versatility of stitches that look the same, or look good on both sides, has had me in its grip since I began knitting. It all began with seed stitch.

Not long ago, I thought it would be fun to assemble reversible stitches, knit up swatches, and write about one each week or so until I ran out. I’m both a bit sad and very happy to discover that the work had already been done. It’s far better and in much more detail than I would have managed – Reversible Knitting Stitches – A Sourcebook of 200 Double Sided Knit Patterns . It’s available in both print and ebook: your choice. The authors, Moira and Anna Ravenscroft, have kindly offered two of their patterns free until November 30th to celebrate the launch of the print version of this book. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the pattern photos and get the details.

Continue reading “Here’s a Treasure – An Entire Book of Reversible Knitting Stitches”