Double Alana Dakos Giveaway!

Hi, Knitters,

All photos in today's post are provided by Alana Dakos.

I am back today with another double giveaway! The giveaway today features one of my favorite designers, Alana Dakos. A short while back she released the children's book called, Annie and the Swiss Cheese Scarf. I pre-ordered my deluxe set immediately. This book is a children's picture book that tells the story of a child wanting to learn to knit and how she does just that. At the back of the book there is a knitting instruction section to teach a child to knit. The story is sweet (it is based on Alana's experiences with her own young daughter) and the illustrations are wonderful. 

Here is the description from the website:

About the Author
Alana Dakos is a mother of two and a hopelessly obsessed knitter. She produces a unique line of knitting patterns under the name of "Never Not Knitting" and is the co-author of the 2011 hit Coastal Knits. As a former knitting instructor, Alana has enjoyed teaching countless children to knit as well as her own six-year-old daughter, who helped her with this story. Check out Alana's pattern line, blog, and knitting podcast at NeverNotKnitting.com

About the Illustrator
Neesha Hudson is a freelance illustrator living with her husband in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally from Maine, she studied at Ringling College of Art and Design, focusing on children's book illustration. She now spends her days caring for her beautiful baby girl and drawing everything from knitting needles to nursery art. Find more of Neesha's illustration work at NeeshaHudson.com

The Deluxe Edition Gift Set includes paper dolls (my favorite thing!), stickers, the hardcover book, and a puzzle. It all comes in a neat and tidy box. The set is high quality and just fun and clever! I love everything about the set.

I'll tell you how to win your own deluxe set for Annie and the Swiss Cheese Scarf at the end of the post!

Click here to read more about it on the Annie Can Knit website!

That Alana is a speedy one as she has now released another collection called, Botanical Knits, and it is simply lovely. She offers twelve gorgeous designs inspired by trees and foliage. Included are fingerless mitts, mittens, cardigans, sweaters, hats, a scarf, a shawl and socks. As always, each project is thoughtful and meticulously designed, Alana is a master. I especially love the cardigans and sweater and would love to knit them all.

Below are some important links for you about Alana and the Botanical Knits collection:  

Click here for the Botanical Knits website!

Click here for the Botanical Knits Ravelry group!

Click here to see all of the patterns on Ravelry!

Click here for Alana's Website, Never Not Knitting!

Click here to see all of Alana's designs on Ravelry! She's so talented.

Here is Alana's description of Botanical Knits and the details on how you can order:

Botanical Knits: Twelve Designs inspired by trees and foliage incorporates the natural beauty of plant life into twelve garments and accessories. Included in the twelve are four sweaters for every occasion, a stylish cloche, a matching pair of textured socks and mittens, and an elegant leaf-bordered wrap. Each botanically inspired piece offers both charted and written pattern instructions that are easy to follow and fun to knit.

Purchase the ebook today OR pre-order the printed book HERE for $22 plus shipping at BotanicalKnits.com.

The book is scheduled to arrive in May, but everyone who pre-orders the printed version will receive a complimentary e-book to download right away. This will allow you to get started on your favorite projects while you wait for your book to arrive. As an additional “thank you” for pre-ordering the printed version, I will include a NEW, EXTRA botanically inspired pattern along with your book shipment.

These Spring Foliage Mitts are so sweet and fun. I love the leafy motifs throughout the book.

Autumn's End is an allover lace pattern sweater with clever shaping panels tucked into the sides. I am planning on knitting this one up soon. It's just beautiful. 

The Twigs and Willows cardigan is my personal favorite in the book. It is a simple, classic cardigan with a single branch and leaf motif in the yoke. The cardigan is knit in pieces and seamed and the yarn is Shelter by Brooklyn Tweed.

Alana is an incredibly talented knitter, designer and pattern writer. You will love this leaf-inspired book! 

I am excited to be able to offer you a giveaway from Alana. You have a chance to win the book version of either Botanical Knits or Annie and the Swiss Cheese Scarf - the Deluxe Edition Gift Set. Please leave one comment on this post to enter. You must include either your email address or ravelry id so I can get in touch if you win. I will collect your mailing address so Alana can mail the books directly to the winners. Please only enter once, there is a delay in the posting of the comments so please be patient.

There will be two winners randomly selected, one for each book. Also, in your comment please let me know which book you would like or if you would love either book.

Good luck and let the comments begin!

best, susie

Bandana to Swing Skirt

Hi, Knitters,

First, I randomly selected three book winners from the previous post. pamk (rav id) won the Kaffe Fassett quilting book, kathyg (rav id) won The Spinner's Book of Yarn Design, and smithmks (rav id) won the Art, Doodle, Love book. Congratulations to all and thanks to everyone for entering. Next week I'll have another big double giveaway so stay tuned.

Now for today, I pulled up some older photos from a post gone by. This is TC in 2010 wearing the Alabama Chanin bandana stitched up from a kit I purchased from Purl Soho. You can read the entire post by clicking here. 

Here are a few more photos of TC and the process of making the bandana.

I loved making this little hand-stitched project. It was fast, very fun and new to me. Skip ahead a few years and see what kind of stitching is happening now.

I started a new project, and a much bigger project. It is the Swing Skirt from Natalie Chanin's, Alabama Stitch Book. Actually, the bandana instructions are in this book as well. I ordered and received the skirt kit a short while back but had to finish a few work projects before I could begin. 

I have been eyeing the skirt since I got the book in 2008 so you can imagine my excitement to start pinning, stitching and cutting my new skirt! What I do to make sure I take a few stitches throughout the day is to leave the skirt out on my kitchen table on my fabric cutting board. Every time I walk by I stitch around one or two or three of the stencils. When we need the table for meals and other things I just pick up the board and set it aside. Simple. It really helps to have your projects out so you can quickly work on them during the day.

In the photo above I have finished stitching around the stencils. The second layer of fabric is now attached underneath waiting to be exposed when I cut out the centers of the stencils. This is called reverse applique. I took Natalie's online class on Creativebug about reverse applique. Click here to see all about her class. It's such a good class. She has other classes on there as well if interested.

The outer layer is black, the stencils are gray, and the second layer is brown. I love the dark colors for a skirt. I'll be able to wear it with so many things. The kit comes with the painted stencil pattern already on the fabric for you.

The color of the skirt is truest in the photo above. The skirt comes in four panels so now I have three more to go. 

The entire skirt is hand-stitched, even the seaming. The kit comes with a black elastic for the waistband. The thread is included in the kit, as well.

I am getting the second panel lined up and basted so I can start the stitching again.

(photo from Alabama Stitch Book)

Here is a photo of the swing skirt from the book. I love it in red, too. Maybe someday I'll get to make another one in a different color or maybe one of the t-shirts. 

(Cover of Alabama Stitch Book)

There are three books from Natalie Chanin. I have the first two and would love to get the third one. 

Click here to see all of Natalie's books.

Click here for the Alabama Chanin website. You can order kits and fabric and the books directly from this site if you are interested.

I'll keep you posted on the swing skirt progress. It is really a fun project!

I stitched down the hem on my Sipsey's Folly sweater. You leave the hem stitches live on the needle, turn the sweater inside out, fold the hem up at the cast on edge, and then stitch by stitch attach it to the purl bumps on the wrong side. This took me forever. I had to take it out a couple of times because if you get off by a row or two the hem will pull or torque the bottom edge. No one wants that. I think I got it right and it looks smooth and actually pretty great.

I have my double-points lined up and ready to zip through a couple of simple sleeves. Then comes the fun part of attaching the sleeves to the body and starting the yoke filled with colorwork leaves, squirrels and acorns. I can't wait.

I'll be back soon with my complete teaching schedule coming up over the next few months and beyond. Lots going on!

best, susie

Spin, Quilt, Draw - Giveaways!

Edited to Add on Jan. 6th: The author of Art Doodle Love, Dawn Sokol, wrote to tell me that her book is intended for women. I said in the video that older kids or teens could have fun with it so Dawn just wants to make sure that people know the book is for women, not kids. That was my mistake.

Hi, Knitters,

Sorry for the long time in between posts. I kind of lost track of time last week. I had a magazine project to finish and ship off by the end of last week and there wasn't school on Friday... well, you all know how it goes. This morning I looked at my blog to see when I last posted and a week had flown by without my knowledge. This morning I whipped up a quick video for you. Links are all below.

After watching the video, here is how you enter to win one of the books I reviewed:

Please leave a comment on this blog post and tell me which book(s) you would like to win. It can be one, two or all three but each winner will only receive one of the books. All comments need to include your email address or ravelry id so I can get in touch. Please leave only one comment. There will be a delay in the posting of your comments because I approve all comments. Please be patient and don't post more than once. I'll be back in a couple of days to randomly select three winners. The Spinner's Book of Yarn needs to be a U.S. or Canada mailing address. The publishers are sending out the books directly so I will give them the winners' addresses. 

Here are the links from the video:

Sipsey's Folly

Art Doodle Love

Kaffe Fassett Quilts Shots and Stripes

The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs

If you can't see the video click here to see it directly on YouTube. 

Vogue Knitting Live in Seattle (I'm teaching lots of classes! Hope to see you there!)

And because I know I'll get asked, I am wearing my Quaker Ridge Shawlette. This truly is my favorite shawl ever and not because I designed it. It is because it fits so well over my shoulders and stays put. I don't like to fuss around with things I am wearing, I am very simple that way. This shawl is perfection for me as it is warm, stretchy (madelinetosh pashmina) and generous in size. 

Also one last photo to share of TC wearing her Another Flower Headband. She looks so pretty in it. I was glad to see her wearing it one day out of the blue. She dug it out of the closet. In fact, she wore the headband all day inside the house and out. This version is made in Noro Kochoran. Notice the lack of braces.

I hope you enjoyed the video. It was pretty impromptu this morning.

Let the comments begin!

best, susie

Happenings

Hi, Knitters,

Miss Molly (my son's girlfriend) has been a knitting machine over the last few weeks of her winter break from college. She finished a pair of socks for her sister, a bunch of Tiny Sweaters and Tiny Trees, another beautiful cowl design of mine which will be available fairly soon (much more on that  later), and the Gaptastic Cowl shown in the photos here. 

Miss Molly used 3 skeins of Quince & Co. Puffin in the Chanterelle colorway. She worked on US size 11,  32-inch circular needles. It seemed to fly off the needles for her. Miss Molly has now become a cowl knitter. She is really enjoying this type of project and I don't blame her.

Last weekend I washed the cowl with Soak Wash in the Aquae scent and blocked it for her. The stitches evened out beautifully and it dried to be incredibly soft and squishy. The Puffin yarn is a single-ply and it is so much fun to knit. My Agnes sweater is out of the same yarn in the Bark colorway. Plus, it is so reasonably priced, even for a college student.

This is Miss Molly's first time trying it on. Isn't she sweet?

She will get so much wear out of her new cowl on campus. It is supposed to get really cold here over the next few days in Madison with the lows being below zero. She walks to class and work on a daily basis so I am happy she will have a new knit to snuggle up in on her cold winter walks. 

Victory! I love that look of pride. It has been fun to see Molly take off with her knitting over the last couple of years. She told me that people in her classes are always asking her about her knitting and that they ask her to teach them how all of the time. I love hearing that about college students.

Peachy liked this cowl so much that I am knitting one for her in Quince & Co. Puffin in the Twig colorway. The yarn is on the way.

Miss Molly's next cowl is going to be the Honey Cowl and I have a lot of yarn in my stash she can choose from for this project. I love sharing with her because she is always so appreciative and fun.

Next, Miss Molly immediately cast on for another pair of socks. This time in the Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn in the Dusk colorway. I bought this for her on our trip to Key West last spring. It is knitting up so pretty with the little bursts of color. She loves it.

Now on another topic, I get a lot of emails from people sharing their knitting adventures with me. Every once in awhile something will really inspire me and these two emails I'm sharing below may inspire you, too.

(photo provided with permission by The Wool Cabin)

A short while back I received an email with a link from my friend Alison, one of the owners of the lovely knit shop called The Wool Cabin in Salt Lake City. This is one of my favorite shops, by the way. Call them to order anytime 801-466-1811, their customer service is fantastic! I could not believe it when I saw that one of Alison's customers, Mary, had knit 68 of my farm animals for her grandchildren for Christmas! That's right I said 68! They are so well-done and you have to read about the barns (plural) that were made for her, too. That barn is adorable.

Read all about the talented Mary and her wonderful farm knitting by clicking right here!

Thanks to Alison for sharing with me. And Mary..... wow, you are something else, grandma of the year at the very least! Those kids are lucky to have you.

(photo provided with permission from Teresa)

Here's another email I received a short while ago from Teresa, now a college student. She won a big award for her farm knitting. All of the patterns for the animals are found right here. Read all about it in her email below (shared with permission, of course).

Hello Mrs. Anderson! 

My name is Teresa and I'm currently a college student. I just wanted to share with you my knitting experience from my senior year of high school. 

I came across your book Spud and Chloe at the Farm on one of my favorite knitting blogs, http://nevernotknitting.blogspot.com/. It looked like such a fun project!  I saw the book at my local grocery store, and almost bought it, but then decided that I wouldn't have time for such a big project during my senior year of high school. I changed my mind a few weeks later and bought the book off of amazon. I purchased all the yarn from Joanne Fabric and Craft Stores and got to work right away on making Chloe. 

I loved working on the project and very quickly found myself spending every evening working on the different characters. I have never worked on such a big knitting project and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed working on the animals. They were all so cute! My little siblings loved watching the animals take shape and every time I sat down to continue knitting, I had to continually tell my siblings to keep their hands off my project. I would have loved for them to play with the animals, but I was working on the project to enter it in the 4-H department of our county fair and I didn't want any pulled stitches or funny stretch marks. I did make two dolls for my sister's birthdays that looked like each of them: one with a blond ponytail and one with extra thick brown pigtails! Those are well loved dolls! I nearly completed the project by the time judging day at the fair rolled around. I still have to complete some hay bales and the picket fence, but other than that the entire set was entered into the county fair. It won the Best Overall Knitting award and was selected to go to the state fair. At the state fair, it received the purple rosette! I was so happy! 

I just wanted to share this with you and thank you for creating the Spud and Chloe at the Farm project. I really enjoyed working on the project and I learned so many new skills while knitting the farm animals. 

Attached is a copy of the three page article I wrote for the 4-H newsletter. It tells of my 4-H experience, and it might not interest you, but the part mostly about the farm animals begins in the second paragraph of the second page.

I look forward to following your blog and I can't wait for Christmas break so I can have more time to spend knitting!  

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I hope you have a lovely day! 

~Teresa

It's me again. Thank you, Teresa, for sharing with me. That was quite an undertaking for a young and busy knitter. Congratulations.

I was going to do a giveaway at the end of last week but it got moved to a slightly later date for a good reason. It is going to be an even bigger giveaway! I'll keep you posted on all of that coming up. 

I hope your week is off to a good start.

best, susie

Annabel Cardigan Story

Hi, Knitters,

Well, I have a new cardigan. Finishing a handknit garment is fun and satisfying every time. I always think about how you start a knitting project with simple sticks and string and you end up with something amazing. That's what knitting really is, amazing. I am in love with this sweet little garter stitch cardigan. You might like to knit one, too.

Here is the information on my wonderful new cardigan:

Pattern: Annabel by Carrie Bostick Hoge  

This is a wonderfully written pattern, very clear and easy instructions.

Level of difficulty: First time sweater perfection! Millionth time sweater perfection! Fun, simple and fast for everyone.

Yarn: Malabrigo Twist in the Indiecita #416 colorway (bought several years ago from Webs) I think this is the softest and squishiest cardigan I have ever made. I don't always go for the softest yarns but this time I did. If softness is something you seek out Twist would be perfect for you.

Needles: US 10.5, 32-inch circs and dpns

Buttons: Sheppardhandmade on Etsy (I'd like to buy everything in this shop. Adorable and sweet buttons, packaging divine, origami crane included, an extra tiny button, too, and letter stamped tape like from when I was a child. Love, love, love everything about this shop.)

Modifications: None except added a little length in the body and arms. I followed the pattern exactly for the second size. Also, I substituted the yarn. The pattern is written for Quince & Co.'s Osprey. I would love to make another in Osprey. 

What I learned: 

I learned that I really don't love alternating skeins but it is imperative when knitting with a variegated yarn. I already knew this but my dislike of alternating skeins every 2 rows was confirmed. It just slowed me down a lot. However, the finished fabric and coloration throughout the sweater is absolutely beautiful, even and perfect. It was worth all of the trouble.

I also learned that I really don't love garter stitch in large quantities. Again, I already knew this. Remember my Hitchhiker shawl? It's still not done. I just find garter stitch um.... a little boring (my least favorite word) but I love the finished garter stitch items so I will continue to knit every row when it's needed.

Here's the rest of the story in pictures:

A cardigan love story.

A sweet, simple one.

Have a good weekend and I hope you are knitting a love story, too.

best, susie

More Socks

Hi, Knitters,

I'm trying to get those unfinished socks off the needles this week. I'm having some success. I've started the second sock for the Rainbows and Clouds socks. The cheerful yarn is by the wonderful Abbi Grasso and her shop is right here. It feels good to get going on the second as the first sock has been finished for a long time now.

I hand washed another batch of handknit socks. I thought I might as well as long as I was washing and blocking the finished Annabel Cardigan (more on that later). Try and match them up! None of the pairs are next to each other.

This delicious stack of socks includes some pairs that were knit 6 or 7 years ago. I do think that hand washing really helps to keep the socks going longer.  

All of these socks are knit from my free pattern which can be found by clicking right here.                                                      

The freshly washed socks look so bouncy, warm and inviting. 

The socks from the top down are the Patchworks, Noro Silk Garden Lite, Cakewalk Yarns Cherry Blossom, Noro Kureyon Sock, Trekking XXL, and more Noro Kureyon Sock.

It has been cold in Madison over the last few days. I have been layering my woolens just to keep warm. I keep thinking about how I want to knit an Elizabeth Zimmermann Rib Warmer to wear over my handknit sweaters when the temps dip below zero. That's a must in the near future. 

Back to socks, while washing and blocking my socks and new cardigan I wore my first pair of socks knit from my own handspun. This yarn was from the Knitgirllls spinalong/knitalong a couple of years ago. I love these socks.

I finally finished the second sock from my beloved Freshisle Fibers watermelon striping yarn. These are definitely my favorites for the moment. I still need to wash and block them. 

Click here for Freshisle Fibers.

I have wanted to knit the watermelon striping socks since I saw Stephanie Pearl-McPhee knit them years ago. Finally my dream has come true. The yarn is a rustic hearty single-ply which I adore. I loved every second of knitting these socks. I will wear these with great adoration for years to come. 

I can't wait to wear the watermelon socks with my watermelon mittens out on the pond skating rink in my neighborhood, possibly by the end of the week. The below zero temperatures right now won't permit the skating but soon it will happen.

I'll be back with all of the details on my fresh new cardigan and the sweetest ceramic buttons from etsy I stitched on yesterday. 

Stay warm and layer those woolens.

best, susie 

p.s. If you are interested please join me on instagram for quick and more up to the minute updates on my knitting and other activities. It's a lot of fun over there! Click here for my instagram photo collection.