Enter to Win a Dream in Color Kit

The folks at Dream in Color yarn were generous enough to give me two skeins of their yarn to give away - twins to the exact skeins I used for my Paris Wallpaper Socks.

Here's how you enter to win the yarns and a free digital copy of my pattern. Click through the link above to the Ravelry page for the socks and select "add to queue" on the right side of the screen. ("Add to favorites" is nice, too, but it's harder for me, as the designer, to see a quick roundup of who has done that.) That's it. On 1/15/15 (next Thursday), I'll use a random number generator to choose one lucky person who added the pattern to their queue and send them their prize. 

Good luck!

Not a member of Ravelry yet? Why not? It's free and awesome!

Update: KAL (with a prize) Extended

Dream in Color has extended my Knit A Long (KAL) within the I Dream in Color group for Keys to the Castle on Ravelry. (Consider joining, if you're not a member. It's free!)

KAL Rules:

- Any Keys to the Castle started after November 1, 2013 and finished on or before February 1, 2014 will be eligible for the prize.

- To be eligible for the prize, you must use any Dream in Color yarn and must post a photo of your completed project in the KAL thread on Ravelry.

- You can use the tag “DICcastleKAL” for your projects.

Prize: a skein of Perfectly Posh Sport in Heavenly, to be awarded at random amongst the eligible participants at the end of the KAL.

P.S. - Until you have a project photo of your own, feel free to download this sleepy little guy to use on your project page. 

Getting ready to Dream in Color?

Knit and Crochet Now! Review and Giveaway

The nice folks at Annie's Publishing sent me a Knit and Crochet Now! Season 4 disk set to review.

I hadn't seen the show before, but now I'm sad that I've been missing it. It plays on many PBS stations, and you can see where and when it's playing near you using their handy online search tool.

Thirteen half-hour episodes are on 3 DVDs and there is a CD-rom with over 39 patterns on it. If your main interest is in the patterns, they offer many of them for free on their website.

But you're missing a lot if you miss out on the episodes. The host, Brett Bara, is engaging and knowledgeable. The projects look both fun to make and useful or pretty. The lighting and camera work is all professional - so you can really see what they are doing. Also, because it's on DVD, you can pause and rewind if you miss something. One feature I would have liked is chapter controls within each episode. At least on my player, I couldn't skip forward to the next project, but had to watch the entire episode to get to the information I wanted. 

Every episode has at least one project made with knitting and another one in crochet, so there's going to be something in every show for people who aren't bi-craftual. (I'm not a crocheter, but the Woodland Fox from episode 4 has me rethinking that stance.)

Overall, a great show, and well worth the time!

I'm giving away the review copy they sent me. Leave a comment on this post by midnight EST on 12/18/13. I will choose the winner at random and announce the winner on the 19th. I may not be able to mail it right away because of holiday travel, but I'll get it out to you as soon as possible.

Sirka Counter Review and Giveaway (Comment to Win)

The nice folks over at Grellow and Gray sent me a Sirka counter to try out - and give to one of you!

The counter is well-made, cute, and allows you to keep track of up to three different counts at once. Need to keep track of the number of rows, number of sets of decreases and number of times you've worked those sets? Done.

The counter is designed for you to move the three little levers (they call these "crowns") along as you work, until you hit one of the "hands" you have set at the beginning. In the photo above, the gray hand is set to 6, the yellow is set to 10 and the blue is set to 14. The levers do not advance automatically (it isn't a click-type counter), which is a good thing because you have to look at the thing to see if you have lined up with your preset hands. There are springs and things inside the Sirka that make the crowns click into place as you turn them, so it feels solid as you use it.

The makers of the Sirka point out that its best to start the crowns at 1 when counting rows and 0 when counting sets of things (rows, sets of decreases, etc.) This is important because you do, after all, never work a row 0 but you will have a moment, at the beginning, when you have completed 0 sets.

Would you like to get your hands on this little device? Leave a comment on this post by midnight (New York time) on December 11, 2013, saying how you would use the Sirka. I will select a winner at random on December 12 and ship it out!

Review of Cascadia (and a chance to win a copy)

Cascadia, according to the introduction, is dedicated to and inspired by “the mythical sounding temperate region bordering the west coast of Canada and the northern United States, and defined by the Cascades mountain range.” Edited by Amanda Milne and Fiona McLean of Knit Social, the book includes 11 patterns from 10 designers.

The ebook version of Cascadia is out. Paper copies are scheduled to become available very soon. I’m really pleased that Cooperative Press sent me a digital copy to look over - and one to share with you! I read mine on a PC using Adobe Reader. Your experience may vary a little if you are using an iPad or some other tablet. (Full disclosure: I am working with Cooperative Press on a book of my own. I am open to reviews of books from other companies, I just haven’t had any other offers yet.)

The closest I’ve been to that particular part of the world is Eugene, Oregon. If it’s at all similar, it is a place of tall trees, gentle rains, and really nice people.

The patterns are cozy and stylish, which is not always an easy combination to pull off. As in Hitch, the contents page takes full advantage of the ebook format. Simply click through the thumbnail to jump to the pattern you want. Hats, sweaters, socks and scarves are on offer.

There’s even a sweater designed for men, Wickaninnish, sized from 38.25” to 54.25” at the chest. A unisex (I think it could be rocked by anyone) sweater is a rare treat in a set of fewer than a dozen designs.

Speaking of treats, it’s harder to get sweeter than a sweater design is really cute on an adult and a little kid. There are two such sets in this collection. I’m kind of freaking out about how adorable Britannia looks. It is sized from newborn through 4XL women’s! It’s also a nice combination of cables and lace, which is hard to pull off, but looks great. Sea Glass, a sleeveless pullover that is sized for Girls 6-8 and three adult sizes, looks like it would be a quick, fun knit.

Britannia

My favorite would-knit-for-me design is Beacon Hill. It’s knit from the top down, has a lovely stitch pattern, waist shaping and a double-thick shawl collar. Be still my heart. It’s sized from 30” to 50.”

I have a digital copy of Cascadia to give away! Just leave a comment on this post by Midnight (New York time) on Wednesday, October 16. Tell me which pattern is your favorite, or your best memory from that part of the world.

I’ll use a random number generator to pick from the comments and announce the winner here on October 17, 2013. The ebook will be sent either to your email address or your Ravelry member ID, your choice. Good luck!

(Comments are moderated. If your comment doesn't show up right away, don't worry!)

Review of Hitch - and a Giveaway!

I met Stephannie Tallent in person at TNNA this year. She looked kind of terrified when I said I had submitted a pattern to Hitch, which she edited. I think she was worried I would hate her because it didn’t get in.

On the contrary, I know that sometimes things just don’t fit into a theme. Putting together a collection of knitting patterns is a lot like choosing a portfolio of images. There are always good things that you have to leave out. Also, her rejection note was so nice!

I know that seems like an odd thing to think, but I’ve had some that really left me flat. A very terse: “Not for us.” Or, worse, SILENCE. Silence is definitely the worst. Rejection is a part of any creative endeavor, so it’s nice when someone takes the time to explain why a pattern won’t work for their project. I know time is a problem for a lot of people, but even a few well-worded form letters would help take the sting out of some rejections.

The ebook version of Hitch is out. Paper copies are scheduled to become available very soon. I’m really pleased that Cooperative Press sent me a digital copy to look over - and one to share with you! I read mine on a PC using Adobe Reader. Your experience may vary a little if you are using an iPad or some other tablet.

The book is almost 200 pages long and contains 29 patterns. I love the variety of patterns. There are socks, berets, sweaters (for men and women), various wraps/stoles and fingerless gloves. Twenty-seven different designers wrote the patterns for this book, which really shows Stephannie’s talent as an editor - if it weren’t for the credits, you could easily think they were all done by the same designer.

The cute film-reel style of the table of contents is really fun and makes choosing a project easy. I’m a visual person, so being able to see a photo, even if it’s tiny, helps me choose what I might like to knit. Also, because it’s an electronic book, you can click right through the thumbnail photo to jump right to the pattern. I love it that Cooperative Press is making ebooks that are so functional and going beyond them just being an electronic copy of a paper book.

There is a filmography near the back of the book, for those who are curious but haven’t seen a lot of Hitchcock movies. Basically, you could dial yourself into netflix and have a relatively thorough movie marathon using this list.

Let’s talk about yarn for a minute. Thirty-one companies provided yarn and/or notions support for the book. The list includes relatively large companies like Blue Moon Fiber Arts and wonderful independent dyers like The Verdant Gryphon. If you aren’t lucky enough to have a very large, well-stocked yarn store near you and want to branch out into buying independently-dyed or just very interesting yarns, this is a great list to check out. Links to each yarn company’s website are included.

Charts for patterns are clear and easy to read. Pattern stitches are given as written instructions, too, for the chart-phobic. Sizing is generous. The Greenwich Village Cardigan, for example, goes from XS to 3X. (The Not Your Gal Friday Sweater goes up to 4X.) The Robie Sweater, designed for men, has chest measurements that go from 36” to 54.” I know at least one zippered-pullover-loving woman who would really rock the 36” size. Scared of sewing in zippers? Not to worry, there’s a photo tutorial for that.

Measurements are given in inches and centimeters, so there’s no need to haul out a calculator if you use the metric system. Schematics make it easy to see which size will fit best, but it looks like those measurements are all in inches. Otherwise, I think, there would just be too many tiny numbers to cram onto the page.

In short, there’s something for everyone packed into this volume. Fortunately, I have a digital copy to give away! Just leave a comment on this post by Midnight (New York time) on Wednesday, October 8. Tell me which pattern from Hitch is your favorite (and if you have a favorite Hitchcock movie!)

I’ll use a random number generator to pick from the comments and announce the winner here on October 9, 2013. The ebook will be sent either to your email address or your Ravelry member ID, your choice. Good luck!

(Comments are moderated. If your comment doesn't show up right away, don't worry!)