Gift-A-Long 2015

The Indie Design Gift-A-Long, a hotly anticipated annual event on Ravelry, starts tonight at 7 pm central time.

"Um, I don't know what that is, why should I even care, ugh," you say.

Well, you should care, and here's why. From tonight until midnight on Friday November 27th, you can get 20 of my patterns on Ravelry for 25% off with coupon code giftalong2015. (See my discounted patterns here.) And it's not just me- there are 334 other designers participating this year. That's a lot of potential discounts. After the sale period, KALs will run until December 31st for ALL paid patterns by participating designers, not just the sale patterns. There are tons of prizes, including a copy of Charmed: Whimsical Knitted Accessories donated by yours truly.

In my magical world where I will have tons of free time to knit non-design stuff this Christmas season, I'm totally going to make either Graupel or Marooned socks by Hunter Hammerson, both of which will be discounted this week:

Graupel on the left, Marooned on the right

And Estheray by Annie Watts, which I ordered yarn for last month (not discounted, but it counts as part of the KAL):

And maybe this Hobby Horse for my nephew Simon, because I think it would so cute to watch him run around the yard riding a hobby horse. (Discounted, which is awesome because I've had my eye on this pattern for a year.)

I mean, this is all totally wishful thinking because I have five samples due before the end of the year, and I want to knit a sweater for my husband for Christmas, but I've only done the gauge swatch so far, and I'm halfway through a blanket that I really, really wanted to have done before Thanksgiving. I might end up just buying the patterns while they're discounted and finding time to knit them later.

Had your eye on one of my patterns? Now's the time to get it for 25% off! Patterns! 

Giveaway Winner and a Couple New Patterns.

The winner of the sweater pattern from my last post is Tori, aka lilwestie on Ravelry. She's been contacted!

In the past week or two, I've had two new patterns come out, both for accessories. One is a self-published slipper sock pattern, and the other is a polka dot hat in Issue 54 of Knit Now magazine.

These are the Bienville Slipper Socks. They start with a cabled cuff that's knit sideways and seamed, then stitches are picked up around the bottom of the cuff for the sock itself. Knitted in worsted weight yarn, these are quick and make great gifts!

You can get the pattern on Ravelry for just $2 until November 21st.


Next is the Polka Dot Hat (clever name, I know) from Knit Now magazine.

Stranded colorwork doesn't get much easier than this. The hat is worked in two colors of Malabrigo Worsted, one of the lovliest yarns on the planet, and it's topped with a pompom. I love pompoms. A hat is not a hat without a pompom. 

This magazine is available in the UK, but you can get a copy here if you live elsewhere. 

In other news, yesterday was the first day that I wasn't too hot, so I think fall has finally arrived in Louisiana. I opened up the handknits bin this morning, and I'm looking forward to a day of football, knitting, apple cider, and kitty snuggles. Happy Sunday knitters!

I wrote a tutorial for Holla Knits.

Last stop on the Holla Knits Winter Issue blog tour! And yes, I know it's my second stop. I designed a pattern AND wrote an article, so that means I get to go twice.

The Winter issue of Holla Knits features a tutorial I wrote. I've had this article/tutorial in my head for over a year, and I'm really glad that I finally got a chance to write it and publish it where knitters will (hopefully) read it. My article is called Picking Up Stitches: The Sometimes, Always, Never Rule. I talk about picking up stitches (like for a collar or a button band), and I make an analogy between the "sometimes, always, never" rule about buttons on a suit coat and my own personal "sometimes, always, never" rule about which leg of a stitch to pick up a new stitch from. If that sounds complicated, it's actually not, it's just wordy. Anyway. Read my article and go forth, more confident in your knitting decision making! If you're not already a Holla Knits subscriber, you can get a copy of the magazine here so that you, too, can make good choices about picking up stitches. (It also has my AWESOME pattern for Fair Isle PANTS, so there's that incentive, too.)

To celebrate me finally writing something I've meant to since early 2014, let's have a giveaway! You can win one of my patterns that requires picking up stitches for a collar so that you can test out my rule.

Leave a comment before Sunday, November 15th, and you could win one of these sweater patterns, shown top to bottom, left to right:
Electric Oasis, Ghost Stories, Bellefonte, Tullamore
Kenner Street Pullover, Over the Fence, Fenwick Island, Vistoire,
Olmsted,  Everett Henley.

Your choice! Tell me which sweater you like best, and be sure to leave me a way to contact you! I'll pick a random winner sometime on Sunday.

If you haven't read the other posts about this collection, here's a blog tour schedule.

Oct 26: Launch Day

Oct 27: The Sweatshop of Love - pattern giveaway

Oct 28: Cosmos and Cashmere - pattern giveaway

Oct 29: Brown Sheep Company Blog - SEG 2 balls Nature Spun Worsted Ash

Nov 3: Klever Knits

Nov 4: Canary Knits

Nov 5: Aphaia- pattern giveaway / SEG: 4 balls KP Brava Bulky

Nov 9: Ashwini J Designs - pattern giveaway

Nov 10: The Owl and the Bee

Nov 11: Cosmos and Cashmere

PANTS winner

The winner of a copy of the Fair Isle PANTS pattern is AnnBan. Thanks to all for commenting! I can't wait to see some finished pants!

In other news, last night I finished my weird Lisa Frank sort-of-rainbow socks. I didn't take a picture so you'll have to trust me. Here's a WIP shot.

This yarn is The Lemonade Shop's Stormy Day, and it was only ok. The yarn oddly felt like a cotton blend, and was a little bit rough on my hands. But now they're done, and I can start some new socks.

Someone gifted me the Jellyfish sock pattern a few weeks ago; are these too wild? Would I never wear them, or are they awesome? I tend to prefer knitting plainer socks, but these... I think I might have to go for it.

photo © Cookie A.