Friendship Bracelet Swap!

Anyone noticed the resurgence of Friendship Bracelets this year?  Well my internet buddy and fellow designer Ruth is setting up a Friendship Bracelet Swap and I've decided to join in!  I need a little distraction from all my looming deadlines and I'm pretty sure I can squeeze the making of one of these in between everything else on my plate!  

Go here for details on signing up... and leave a comment below if you've decided to take the plunge with me!  I might have just ordered a bit of Habu Stainless Silk for mine.....

Landed from Space!

Wow!  What a weekend!  The heat on the east coast as been unbearable and it was perfect that I got to escape it by teaching in the A/C all day Saturday at Fibre Space and then lollygagging at my friends pool for 36 hours of FUN!  Fibre Space is a knitter's heaven and I urge you all to stop by there if you are anywhere in the area!  That said, I invite you to enjoy a little photo journal of my weekend exploits:

This board made me SQUEEEE when I saw it!

There was concentrating....

and knitting....

and my goofball self....

and GORGEOUS new Fibre Company Acadia

and hand dyed lace yarn...

 and playing, need I say more?

p.s. Entomology students... you all were AWESOME, a 5-hour lace intensive class on a Saturday afternoon is no small thing and y'all tackled it with style.I hope I get to see you all again soon!

Fibre Space... Here I come!

Well, our bags are packed (again...) and we're headed out to spend a fun filled weekend with our dear B-More friends AND for me to teach at Fibre Space.  I'll be hosting a trunk show with some never seen before designs from 11-1, and then teaching Entomology from 1-6.  The class is sold out but if anyone in the area is looking for an escape from the heat stop by the trunk show... I would love to say HI and show you my goodies! 

A Very Stripey Lolly Pod

Remember when I designed Lolly Pod I said that this was the spring of babies? Well, some friends of mine just had a little girl and I made them this version of Lolly Pod for her to snuggle in: 

I had bits of Spud and Chloe Fine in Calypso, Lipstick and Red Hot, and decided that a stripey version of Lolly Pod was just the thing to welcome this wee one into the world.  Since it was the second Lolly Pod I made I decided to learn how to work jogless stripes just to make the project a bit more interesting to me!  

I ended up loving the ease of working Barber Pole Stripes as described in this post by Grumperina.  The technique was crazy easy AND fun... you have to try it some day!  I worked with stripes with three colors instead of the four she sued in her tutorial and worked a third of the stitches for each color.  Stripes make me happy!  I also really enjoyed this article on knitting jogless stripes if you want to read about it further.

Sorry I don't have any baby pics for you.... this babe lives too far from me to make that a reality!  

Thrice: Adorn's July Pattern

Introducing Thrice: July's Adorn Pattern!

Thrice is based on an attached beaded I-Cord stitch I envisioned one day in a class with Cat Bordhi.... this stitch is utterly customizable, so play around with it!  You get to choose how wide you want your thrice, how many colors it should have, AND where you want to wear it.  How fun is that?????  I've worked it up as a delicate bracelet, a wide cuff (that I believe has super powers) and a headband.  What else do you think it can be? 

Thrice is a stash buster, and meant to help you use up bits and bobs of sock yarn!  You can make Thrice as many strands wide as you like! I’ve written the pattern for 3 (4, 5) strands wide, and for multiple lengths, though know that since you will most likely be customizing the pattern to fit your yarn and some of the numbers might change for you.  I used simple little snap clasps to close the Thrice cuffs, I love their low profile look! Wondering what yarns I used for mine?  The headband and delicate bracelet are made with Koigu's mini skeins in a variety of colors.  The cuff in some lovely scraps Schaefer Yarn Nichole.

 

...and there is a treat!  I shot a video to show the Thrice Stitch to simply it even further.  There is a link to the private video embedded in the pattern.  Enjoy!

Finally, if you have signed up for Adorn I have started adding more pages to the collection's pdf.  There is now a NOTES page that will become a compilation of  beading techniques as I use them in the patterns.  Also, I've added a RESOURCES page for those of you who are wondering where I get my beads and clasps.  I'll be adding to both of these pages almost every month... I think they will be a GREAT addition to the project!  (thanks to Sarah for asking me to do this, you rock!)

And the Winner is....#22!

A merry 4th of July to all that celebrate. We are headed down to the lake with friends for the day.... I'm already to knit dockside, with cherries by my side!

Congratulations Geraldine!  You WON this week's giveaway! I'm so happy the book and yarn are on their way to a happy home with you!

And.... are you waiting for the next pattern in Adorn?  Don't fret, I'm releasing it tomorrow, July 5th and I CAN'T WAIT!