Gauge Swatch Purses

In Designing Knitwear, Deborah Newton says that you should always find a way to incorporate your gauge swatch into your design. Her suggestion, was to use it as a pocket or a shoulder pad. (I think we can pretty much date the writing of her book!) At any rate, her suggestion has always stuck in the back of my mind, because what a waste to just toss those old swatches. And ripping and reusing a blocked gauge swatch just won't do!

I started rummaging through my big old bag of swatches filled with years of design ideas, and it was like trip back in time. Since most of the swatches are between 4-6 inches, I thought what about mini pouches? I also found old bits and pieces of felted swatches, perfect for adding accents as well. Luckily, whenever I'm out at vintage shops, I'm always on the lookout for interesting buttons and beads. I was lucky enough to find these 3 buttons at an LYS in my area.

The top orange and variegated pouch is made with Colinette Iona and Mission Falls 1824 superwash wool. The second pouch with the brown button is made in Malabrigo worsted wool, with one pictured here to the right Schaefer Esperanza for the variegated front, and Malabrigo worsted wool for the front flap. The button loop is actually made with a felted piece of Plymouth Homestead. What a treasure I've found in my old swatches. I'm planning getting a little wild with more bits of felting pieces with embroider and beaded accents.

I just made these 3 mini pouches available in my Etsy shop. I'm excited about pumping out a few more today, and hopefully I'll find some time to be "crafty" this weekend!

Scarf Extravaganza is On!

Winter isn't over yet, and it certainly doesn't feel like it in Florida! My electric bills have been sky-high, and I don't see an end in sight. Next week we're looking at temps in the 30's again! I dread the idea of going directly from using the heat, back to the AC on 24/7. Yuck!

So, since I've been doing a lot of scarf-wearing, which is of course a great way to easily spice up my wardrobe, I decided to "share some love" and offer FREE shipping until the of February in my Etsy shop. I've been having way too much fun making my chunky loopy scarves, and to my surprise not only has it been a popular ready to wear item, I've also had knitters request the pattern for this scarf, so now you can get it here. The thing that I love about this pattern is that it's "brilliantly simple." It's easy to make in one day--- really! I think the biggest challenge for me as a designer, is making that perfect pattern that is so incredibly simple and fashionable, that you could knit it in the dark and it would come out perfect! Once you get the hang of working the loops, that's exactly what this pattern offers. The main part of the scarf is knitted in garter stitch, with the 2 ends in a loopy edge that is created on the first end as newly-casted on stitches, and then on the opposite end, as bound-off stitches.

This scarf pattern, Gone Loopy, I fondly call a "neck shawl," is written to make this in a bulky weight yarn on a size 13 needle. The beauty of this pattern is that you can make this in a chunky or even worsted weight yarn too, the only difference is that it will not come out as wide, but it will still make a perfect scarf no matter what yarn you decide on. Oh, and you only need about 150 yards, so you'll probably only need one skein for this scarf, which is pretty cool. I'm sure if you rummage through your stash, I'll bet you could find the perfect skein right now!

SoopSee: Turning My Etsy Shop Into a Website

This morning, my goal was to get up and really get my Etsy marketing in order. I'm very pleased with the amount of traffic I get, but I think it could be better, so I looked into this funky new place called soopsee. The way it works, is your Etsy page becomes a website! The thing I love about soopsee is that you can update all your listings with one push of a button. Pretty cool. I consider this an amazing feature since everything on my igottknits website needs to be added manually, which can take several hours of precious time. Integrating soopsee makes total sense because most of my traffic these days is coming from my Etsy page, so it's a no-brainer.

The Pros--Using soopsee is free for a basic account, and as I learned by playing and having lots of fun this morning, there's lots that you can do with just the basic account, so I won't delete igottknits just yet! I also found that with the basic templates they provide, some have more customizable features than others. The template that I chose seems to be the most flexible, and is called: "Rustic." This template allowed me to change my background color to an image, change my font style and colors, and add color blocks. I like to have the ability to strip a template down to a bare screen and add my own elements. Just having a great banner or logo, and good navigation is all you need.

The Cons-- The basic account does not allow you to use your own domain name, and if you already have an Etsy page, it automatically inserts your Avatar on the soopsee homepage, which I find slightly distracting, because it's too similar to my banner. The way I'm going to get around this is to change my Etsy Avatar to something that will really standout on my igottknits soopsee site. I'm thinking a funky little stylized knitting graphic, ball of yarn and needles....we'll play.

The bottom line is the free account seems to be the way to go, because the paid account does not offer too many other benefits other than allowing you to use your own domain, customize your navigation menu, and choose from 2 additional layout templates. So for now, I'm sticking with the free account, and at some point, most definitely move the igottknits domain.

To see the final result, you can check out my new soopsee site here, and feedback is always welcome!

The Scrumble Project: Project #1- Sweet Baby Jane's Scarf

Now that the New Year is here, the first thing that comes to my mind is cleaning and reorganizing my work studio. I usually do this every 6 months, and it takes lots of discipline on my part to finally do it! I was preparing to "clean house," I came across an old bag of swatching yarns that I always seem to move to a different shelf, often wondering what do with them. The idea of tossing perfectly exquisite pieces of 4 x 4 inch swatches of yarn seems sinful. I've often thought- just hang onto them to use them to make one big Afghan-- yeah sure. I've got lots of extra time on my hands for that and making small pieces is so much more appealing! So, instead of something such as an afghan that will lose my interest in a minute, I came up with my "Scrumble Project." What is scrumbling you ask? Well, it's knitting or crocheting in a free form way, allowing whatever flows off the needle to be part of the project. Also, using various other materials or methods are allowed too! Basically, the idea is to treat your projects like little works of art. In this case, my leftover swatches being the paint palette!

My first project will be a dainty scarf, which will be a spin off of one of my best-selling igottknits patterns: Sweet Baby Jane, pictured to the right. I used Colinette Tao Silk, 100% silk, color #67 Copper Beach. I also used Rowan Wool Cotton, color #SH965 as an accent yarn in the wave edging and eyelet band as you can see in the photo to the left. Since designing this pattern and making the sample, I've had little bits of yarn and several large swatches hanging around. How could I possibly get rid of these delicate little gems?

As I was digging around in my old swatch bag, I hit the jackpot! I found an old Ziploc bag filled with various stockinette swatches, and pattern stitch swatches, with the wavy pattern piece below, calling out- "Make me a scarf!"

The generously-sized swatch measures 7" x 18" making this a perfect primer for a scarf. My plan is to pick up stitches on each end and create a wave pattern and knit and purl ruffle, echoing the Sweet Baby Jane Skirt Edging.

Luckily, with the collection of swatches I found, it looks like I'll have just enough Tao Silk to work the larger knit and purl rib sections as shown in the Sweet Baby Jane skirt, and just enough of the Wool Cotton to use and an accent for the wave pattern.

Hopefully my calculations are correct, and there will be enough yarn to complete Baby Jane's Scarf!

Next Post...

--catch me picking up stitches along with rectangular scarf to create the knit purl and wave edging.

Time to get busy!

A Little Daily Dharma

For years I've been receiving Daily Dharma emails from Tricycle Magazine, and over the course of time, they've ended in my Junk Mail folder. As a result, I will admit with all the overwhelming emails that I receive each day, I've let them go by the wayside.

For whatever reason, I decided to open up today's Daily Dharma, which I think we can all relate to every now and again- ANGER. It addresses real "freedom," which means being able to CHOOSE how we react in the face of anger. I like that, because it's very empowering to know that we have the ability to react or NOT react. Truly understanding this is where the freedom part comes in, and it puts the ball back in our court. Yeah!

So, here's today's Daily Dharma which I'd like to share....

Real Freedom

Freedom means being able to choose how we respond to things. When wisdom is not well developed, it can be easily obscured by the provocations of others. In such cases we may as well be animals or robots. If there is no space between an insulting stimulus and its immediate conditioned response—anger—then we are in fact under the control of others. Mindfulness opens up such a space, and when wisdom is there to fill it one is capable of responding with forbearance. It’s not that anger is repressed; anger never arises in the first place.

-Andrew Olendzki, "Calm in the Face of Anger," from the Fall 2006 Tricycle

You can read the entire article here.