Comings and Goings

Hi, Knitters,

I hope you are all doing well as we move into the late spring and early summer months ahead. It has been busy in this neck of the woods, as I'm sure it is for you as well. Spring always seems to move at a fast pace at home and in the knitting world.

I am working away on my Sonoma Shawl by Kirsten Kapur. I can't say enough good and complimentary things about this pattern and shawl. I have knit and designed so many shawls but I can honestly say this one ranks at the top of the list for me for lots of reasons. 

Here are some of those reasons:

1. It's so simple but yet interesting. Sonoma holds my attention.

2. It appears to be difficult and complicated but it's not. Sonoma looks like stranded colorwork but you are switching colors every 2 rows and using only one color at a time in every row in the patterned sections.

3. I love the slip stitch pattern to no end. This is the first time I have worked a charted slip stitch pattern (and all in garter stitch) and all I want to do now is explore more of these slip stitch patterns. It is really fun.

4. The squishy gorgeous yarn is perfect for the pattern. Home Fingering Weight is squishy 100% American Wool and it is the perfect match for the design. It is fun to match two contrasting colors.

5. Sometimes a nice solid yarn for a garment or accessory can be understated, elegant and beautiful. Although I love brightly speckled and multi-colored yarn, too, I don't necessarily want to wear it all of the time. Variety is good!

6. I can't wait to wear this shawl in every season. The simple, clean lines and neutral colors make the shawl very versatile.

7. It is big and cozy. 

8. The entire shawl is garter stitch, not one purl stitch to be found! Even the lace is garter stitch. That is fun and fast.

The Sonora shawl takes 3 skeins of Home Fingering Weight, two skeins in a main color and one skein in a contrast color. I picked a lot of color combination options to look at, if you are interested click right here.

If you post any photos of the Sonora shawl be sure to tag the photo with #sonorakal so I can find it. I am picking prize winners from this hashtag over the next month. I have already selected the first winner of a fun prize and I am sending it out to her today. Her name is Mary and she is @mamachachacita (love the name) on Instagram. Here are a couple of photos of her Sonoma shawl knit in Home Fingering Weight in Snowy Pine (a light mint color) and Marmalade (a warm pumpkin orange):

Photo by @mamachachacita

You can see how beautiful and squishy the garter stitch is in this photo. I love it! Even the lace border is in garter stitch and it is stunning. I love how the lace border becomes a more saturated section of the contrast color. It is genius.

photo by @mamachachacita

The Snowy Pine main color paired with the Marmalade contrast color is one of my favorite combinations. Well done, Mary! I hope you enjoy your prize and thanks for posting. 

The next quick thing I want to share with you today is that over on Barrett Wool Co. in the Mercantile we are having a bundle sale. If you purchase any combination of scissors, cards and stitch marker tins for $18 or over you get 20% off by using the code: BUNDLE. Magazines are not included. 

Click here to visit the Mercantile on Barrett Wool Co.!

The discount code is good through Friday, May 19th, 2017.

So I spent the entire last week in Denver, Colorado, filming a new and long Craftsy.com class. It was a ton of work but it is always so much fun as well. The crew and staff at Craftsy are fun, talented and supportive. I enjoyed every minute of it. The new class comes out at the end of June so I'll have more details for you at that time.

While I was filming everything came to a sudden stop as Craftsy was at that very moment purchased by NBC Universal. The NBC executives were all in Denver to close the deal and I even got to meet some of them as they toured through the studio as I was filming my class. That was fun.

Here is a good article in Variety about the acquisition if interested. 

This is a very big deal for the company, huge stuff. The mood was so elevated and happy and excited. I am really happy for them all because I think they work so hard with long hours and with sometimes limited resources. They all strive to put out a great product. 

This will certainly mean even bigger and better things are coming for us through Craftsy.com in the future. It is really exciting times over there. 

I just filmed my fourth class with Craftsy. If interested, links for the first three are here with a 50% off discount (these are affiliate links):

Wee Ones

The Not-So-Itty-Bitty-Giraffe

My First Toe-Up Socks

The photo above is my view from the hotel. Colorado is one beautiful state. 

I'm leaving for Orlando, Florida tomorrow after only a few short days at home. I'm teaching at the Good Yarn Retreat along with Ann Budd and Romi Hill. That sounds like some great company. Oh, and of course, Clara Parkes is the featured speaker! I love Clara.

Here are a few more upcoming dates: 

I'm teaching at KnitCircus here in Madison for one day, two workshops, on June 17th, 2017! Click here to find out more!

I'm speaking and vending our Barrett Wool Co. at the Zombie Knitpocalypse on June 23-24th, in Rochester, Minnesota! Click here to find out more.

I'm going to film with Vickie Howell for her new show, The Knit Show at the end of July!

I'm teaching at the first Signature Needle Arts Retreat in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, next Oct. 13-15th, 2017, and there are still openings available! I am teaching with Ann Budd, Romi Hill and Kate Atherley. Good group! Click here to find out more.

I've updated the rest of my upcoming teaching schedule on the sidebar of this blog if you ever want to see my where I'm headed. It's not totally complete and I can't talk about some of the dates yet until the places are ready but most of it is up there.

I'll see you back here on the other side. Have a great week ahead.

xo ~ susan