photo from Little Skein
Hi, Knitters,
I am so excited today to be able to offer a winner one of the amazing Big Woods Luxe Kits curated by Anne Vally of Little Skein. I was fortunate enough to be asked by Anne to design a shawl with the theme of Little House on the Prairie. Not only did I love these books as a child, I love them as an adult. I had recently reread the series before Anne had even contacted me and as you know I often hike in the beautiful prairies of a nearby nature conservancy. It was the perfect match!
Click here for the Pioneer Girl Shawl on Ravelry! The individual patterns for the shawl and mitten bookmark/ornament will be available in my shop in a couple of months.
There is an Instagram-along happening right now with the hashtag #littlehousealong that Anne is hosting. You can post photos with this hashtag #littlehousealong to enter. The photos don't have to include knitting, the photos can include the books, tv show, crafting related to Little House, cooking, prairies, etc..... anything related to the Little House! There are already lots of photos posted. I think Anne is selecting for prizes during the #littlehousealong so don't miss this chance.
After I was in for the design, Anne and I talked about yarn and colors. She brought up the Plucky Knitter and she wasn't sure if that would work out. Well, as it happened I had seen Sarah, The Plucky Knitter, and her sister recently at Fibre Space where I was teaching and she was having a trunk show. We chatted enthusiastically about doing a project together. I have known Sarah since before she was the Plucky Knitter and that's getting to be a long time now. Since we had discussed doing a project together I thought Anne would have a pretty good chance at putting the two of us together for her kit.
It worked! The hard to get your hands on Plucky Knitter yarn was in! You get 2 skeins of Plucky Primo Fingering in this kit! This yarn is really nearly impossible to to get.
Then the colors were discussed. I wanted a deep red. I know that Laura had red wool mittens and Ma had a red shawl (in the Disney movie version of Little House and I think the mittens or a red hat were also mentioned in the book). Then The Plucky Knitter came up with the most gorgeous rich, red exclusive colorway. I was surprised and delighted that the color was named Mr. Edwards. Who doesn't love Mr. Edwards?
Anne and The Plucky Knitter came up with the caramel gold Half Pint colorway and the cool emerald green The Big Woods colorway. They are all so pretty and fun and perfect.
photo from Little Skein
Just look at the fabric Anne designed for the project bag! Click here for a better view! It's so cute and the inside fabric is just as sweet.
Here is description of today's prize, the Big Woods Luxe Kit worth $135 from Anne:
I am delighted to offer The Big Woods shawl kit, featuring an exclusive new shawl pattern by Susan B. Anderson and three exclusive new colors of Plucky Knitter yarn in the scrumptious Primo fingering base. The Luxe kit begins at $135 and you can customize your kit to include absolutely everything you would like from my Big Woods collection, which has involved eight different artists -- all of whom are passionate about and inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilder's incomparable stories of her pioneer childhood.
Your Luxe kit is made to order and will ship in approximately 3 to 4 weeks. It includes:
- Pioneer Girl shawl pattern by Susan B. Anderson (which can be downloaded immediately)
- 2 skeins of Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering yarn in one of three new colorways (fingering weight; 75% merino, 20% cashmere, 5% nylon; 385 yards/100g) (which is shipped immediately, so that you can cast on and join in the knit-along)
- Project bag (drawstring bag at the base price or upgrade to a larger zipper bag for an additional $15)
- Little Skein stitch markers in one of eight new designs
- "Christmas in the Big Woods" row marker, an adorably handcrafted stack of polymer clay pancakes with lobster claw clasp
- Lo-Lo "to go" lotion bar in the exclusive "Big Woods" scent or in an unscented version
- A wee packet of wildflower seeds, to create your own corner of the prairie
- A bonus pattern: Half Pint Mittens by Susan B. Anderson, to create an adorable bookmark, ornament or other decoration from a wee bit of your Plucky yarn
photo of The Pioneer Girl from Little Skein
I am so proud of the design, Pioneer Girl. It takes 2 skeins of the The Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering yarn. I wanted to do a modern take on the Little House theme. At first I was thinking about the traditional triangle shawl shape (which I love) but I know that many don't enjoy wearing this shape as much. I wanted to design a shawl that everyone can wear successfully. I also wanted the shawl to be super simple to knit.
I decided on a long crescent shaped garter stitch shawl, it's so easy to knit and wear. I added a simple house-shaped lace motif. The final touch was an elegant and beautiful applied garter stitch edging. I love it so much. You will have it memorized in no time and the applied edging will zip right along, I promise. Of course you could always leave the applied edging off and call it a day after the lace motif but I think it really makes the shawl something special.
The photos above are my iPhone photos of the Pioneer Girl shawl as it was blocking. You can see the full shape of the shawl and a close up of the edging and lace. It is very sweet. This is a great first shawl, first lace, first applied edging for knitters of any level of experience.
After I finished the shawl I kept looking at the leftover yarn and thinking we really needed to add a little something extra with that yarn. The books are the heart of this kit and as I was thinking I remembered Laura's mittens. I decided to come up with a mitten bookmark which fit in perfectly with the kit as a whole. Anne loved the idea.
Here are a few quick photos of the mittens on a string pattern called Half Pint Mittens. This bonus-pattern is included in the kit:
I think I like the tiny mittens on a string as much as I like the shawl which would come as a shock to no one. It is an adorable bookmark or ornament. I want to hang these little mittens on a string all over my Christmas tree and put them as present toppers next year. They only take a bit of fingering weight yarn, too. Perfect.
Anyway, if you'd like to win the The Big Woods Luxe Kit by Little Skein please leave one comment on this blog post. You must include your Ravelry username or an email address to be eligible to win. In your comment you can just say hello with your contact information, but if you feel inclined tell me what The Little House on the Prairie books mean or meant to you. I'd love to hear. Please be patient for your comment to appear and only click on Publish one time. There is a delay before your comment is posted.
Thank you to Anne Vally of Little Skein for this amazing kit and for offering the Luxe Kit worth $135 to one of you. Thank you for everything. The kits have been an enormous hit for Little Skein. Anne has had record-breaking sales and the shawl pattern made it up to #8 on the Ravelry Hot Right Now patterns. There are limited kits in The Plucky Knitter exclusive yarn (I think some of the colorways have sold out) so this prize Luxe Kit is a treasure trove.
The pattern for the Pioneer Girl shawl and the Half Pint mittens will be available for individual purchase in my Ravelry pattern shop in a couple of months if you only want the patterns. I will let you know when the patterns become available for download.
Good luck and let the comments begin!
xo ~ susan