Friday, November 14, 2014

Craftsy Blogs about Rib'N Shrug

Here is the link to the blog post and right afterwards I got a surge of sales from Craftsy for this pattern from all over the world.   Social Media is really powerful.






Thursday, October 30, 2014

More free yarn from Plymouth Yarns

Oh, I came home to a lovely surprise, another designer pack of Plymouth yarns.  I really need to start swatching with them.  But they are so lovely I just want to play and feel them.  This time its a box of 15 various weighs and colors.  I vow I will use one for my next magazine submission.

Here is the lovely yarns.


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Duplicate Knitting Dictionaries

I am a collector of knitting dictionaries.  Even though lately I've been creating my own knitting stitch patterns I still love browsing through them.  So I heard about the ARCO knitting dictionary and that it was good so I hunted one down on a used book website.  But alas when I opened it, I had a deja vu, except for the title and cover it's identical to The Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches.  So I wasted my time and money.  Be warned.


 

Friday, September 26, 2014

Yarn Bombing in Madrid

I saw many yarn stores in Lisbon and Madrid but they are typically small and carry Katia or Pingouin yarn which are available in the US and cheaper here too.  Although they have a lot of fabric stores that carry notions, laces, buttons etc that are much more extensive than anything at Joanns.  There are a bunch of them near the Lisbon Design and Fashion Museum.

As I was walking near Plaza Mayor in Spain and saw these street posts.

They are in front of a yarn shop, definitely good advertisement.  There was a class or knitting group inside so I didn't stay since I really didn't plan to buy any yarn.


Saturday, September 20, 2014

Ancient Knitting Machine in Lisbon

I was walking in the Alfama district of Lisbon and saw this knitting machine in the window of a sweater shop.  Nice sweaters too, the sort of minimalist stuff that I like.
This was right before a pickpocket opened my backpack purse, I felt someone following me closely but it looked like a couple of local young ladies so I wasn't alarmed at first.  Then I got uncomfortable and called out to someone just to get attention and a local women yelled, she's trying to rob you. Luckily nothing was taken just an unzipped compartment.  That was the first hour I was in town.  I finally had to wear my backpack in front to avoid attention, as several pairs of men and women were following me with interest during the next hour or two.  They left as soon as I rotate the bag around (I like backpacks because they don't hurt your shoulders but they won't work in Lisbon).  Even though there was nothing valuable in the backpack (my comb, mirror, chapstick, etc), I got tired of the attempts. Wisely I wore my valuables.  Those travel pants and shirts with the invisible zipped pockets are great.  I even sewed an extra pocket to a "Lucy" skirt and a pair of "Royal Robbin" pants so they fit a passport.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

"My" book at Barnes and Noble

I was book shopping when I saw  Knit Noro 123 (I have a cowl pattern in it) in the craft section of my local Barnes and Noble.  I've seen magazines with my designs there but only for a short time.  Hopefully this hardback book will have a longer "shelf" life.


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

I am an international knitwear designer!

A couple of my Red Heart designs are now on the Red Heart Germany website and they have been translated into German and available for free download.  I guess I can learn knitting German by comparing the English and German versions.

So here is the link for Trees for Your Sweater in German


And this is the link for Handsome Harry Cardigan in German


Happy Stricken (knitting in German, love the word)!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

My First Design in a Hardcover (REAL) Book

Even though I have something like 30 designs now, but many of them are only available as downloads.  I like to see my designs in hard cop - glorious colors on slick paper that you can touch.   I've had quite a few designs in magazines but books have a kind of permanence.  Of course I already have designs in soft covered books - draped top in Classic Elite's Oceanside and lace scarf in Knitpicks Under 100.

So I got my designer complimentary copy today of Knit Noro 23 and it's a hardback.  The publishers also offered me a discount for additional copies for a limited time, too bad I will miss both of my knitting meetings this month, otherwise I can see if anyone wants a copy.   Next design goal - a cover.  The closest I have come so far is that the En Pointe pullover was used as the cover for the mock up for the first knit.wear issue. Anyway got to run- have to read my new book.


Thursday, May 29, 2014

Designer Perks - Free Yarn

I just got a box of yarn samples from Plymouth yarns.  I dropped off a business card sometime back at an industry show and here it is!


All these yummy  yarns (13 skeins) to inspire new designs.  I actually already have a free pattern on Ravelry that uses Plymouth Alpaca Baby Grande (baby blue on the bottom right)  and here is the link to the free download.







Monday, May 26, 2014

Power of Social Media

I just went to my college reunion and was on linkedin finding my classmates and connecting, when I saw a face that I am familiar with on Ravelry. She's quite a prolific poster and also in the SF Bay area so I friended her on Ravelry and we met for coffee yesterday.  We attended a very small science and engineering school with very few women so it was nice to meet another alumna.  When I went to college I toyed with the idea of going to fashion design school but decided career prospects are better in the sciences even though I was interested in both.  I think I made the right decision, after school, grad school,  I took fashion design classes at the local community college and was just short 2 classes for a diploma when I had to drop out because I had to travel for my day job.  And now I design knitwear in my "spare" time so I get the best of both careers.  My Ravelry friend is doing the same, she has a job and dyes and weaves off-hours -  and she also used Nancy Robert's technique which I just blogged about, it's really a small world.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Dyeing Machine Knitting Dyed Blanks

The Machine Knitting Guild of San Francisco Bay Area, it is a mouthful but a great group.  We have Nancy Roberts of Machine Knit to Dye for do a dyeing demonstration today.  She knits up a blank, dyes it in different colors and then unravels and use it for fair isle and jacquard knitting.  Nancy showed us some of her very beautiful colorwork and this is an example.   I am thinking of finally trying dyeing.  I always worried about the mess.


On a sadder note, one of members passed away unexpectedly.  She was very enthusiastic and energetic, hard to believe that so much vitality suddenly disappeared.  We took some time in our meeting to reminisce and tell stories.  It was very touching - this is a great group of knitters and friends.  


Thursday, April 24, 2014

Sinuous Cowl from Knit Noro 123 Skeins

My latest design for a Sinuous Cowl is just released in Knit Noro 123 Skeins.







The pictures of Sinuous Cowl by Alice Tang are from Knit Noro 1 2 3 Skeins, published by Sixth&Spring Books. Photography by Rose Callahan and text copyright © 2014 by Sixth&Spring Books. Used by permission.


The following picture shows the stitch pattern more clearly.


I made another one in scarf form in a solid color yarn so the pattern shows even better. It has garter and ribbing alternating to make waves.


Monday, April 21, 2014

                Convertible Hat/Cowl



This hat/cowl is knitted as a cylinder with spiral cables.  It can be worn as a hat when the i-cord is drawn tightly or as a cowl.  The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted and featured on the Malabrigo Blog on April fool's day.  It only takes one skein.  The pattern can be purchased from Ravelry or Craftsy.

I made two of them already, one for my sister's birthday and one went to my college roommate who was getting chemotherapy and I thought could use a soft hat to keep her head warm.  The yarn is really soft by the way.  I will have to make another one for myself  and use it as a sample.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Knitting Guild Meeting

I went to the MKGSFBA, otherwise known as the Machine Knitters Guild of the San Francisco Bay Area meeting today.  We meet in El Soborante once a month.  At today's meeting we measured each other so we can customized Susans Lazear's  http://susanlazear.blogspot.com/ Cape Sweater.  It's just a plain rectangle draped sweater but her pattern gives instructions based on your measurements.  It was really insightful as I am "short" but my arm length and span is longer than my measurement partner who is several inches taller than me.   She has short arms.  I guess the lesson is patterns are just for the average measurements everyone is unique.  I suppose that' why we knit/make our own clothes, not only for individuality but also for fit.

Anyway highly recommend the pattern many of our members already made one and they all look great no matter what size/shape they are.  Hoping to post one here soon.  Although I have 2 deadlines in the next week for knitting projects and written patterns so might not make it for a while.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Gusset Tunic

Gusset Tunic was published in knit.wear Spring 2014 issue.  The original sample is kept by the magazine so I made one for myself.  I used a yarn called fettuccine, it was on a cone and I got it from a yarn exchange with my machine knitting guild.  I made it shorter than the original sample.  I am 5' tall and the model is lots taller.    Since it's top down I just ended earlier and this also cause the gusset to be shorter as there are fewer stitches to decrease to a point.  That's what's great about top down knitting, flexibility.



Friday, April 4, 2014

Enchanting Top 

RedHeart just released my latest pattern with them.  The yarn Swanky is sprinkled with oval sequins. Download free pattern here.