Magazine Deadlines

This has been the summer of deadlines!  Normally my summers are carefree but this year I thought I'd try a few magazine submissions and even an unsolicitated book submission to fill in the void that summer usually brings to my business.  Holy smokes - I almost bit off more than I could chew!  I had a few submissions that I had to "trust" my calculations and hope that my vision turns out right.  With an average knit time being 3 weeks from the time I get the yarn to the time I need to block it, I had to trust my instincts as I didn't have the time to rip and re-do.  Thankfully, they did and I was over-joyed with the outcomes and very relieved.  2 deadlines were mailed out yesterday and 2 more were mailed out today.  I just have 2 more hanging over my head --both due end of September and then I'm taking a small break to catch up on the house, kids and personal life and breathe! 

I see the same designers in a multitude of magazines, issues and sometimes even several designs in each issue and I wonder how they do it.  I'm not sure if they use test knitters which frees them from the long knitting hours or if they are just quicker then me in both knitting and pattern writing.  And...how do they come up with so many acceptable designs?  Do they also do their own schematics and charts too?  I have a techie doing those but if I tried to do them myself, it would tack on another 8 hours of work.  I must be doing something slow and wrong, I just don't know yet.  I guess I'll have to chum up with another designer and exchange notes.

That's been my summer in a nut shell.

Love of Knitting Fall 2011 - All Grown Up Cardigan

Newest design in the new Love of Knitting magazine, due out August 9th.  Luckily for me, I had a great model next door, willing to shovel some gravel while my husband shot 150 pics trying to get 1 good shot!  Well - we got several good shots and in fact, they were so good that the magazine used our images.

You will notice that all of my designs will grow in size as my models grow!  Lucky for me again - that this same neighbor just had a baby girl and isn't even done yet!  Better hope that she doesn't move anytime soon!

Regal Silk by Artyarns

http://www.artyarns.com/

I have this thing for fibers that contain silk or cashmere.  It might just be the fancy name, then too, it could be that a long time ago (when I first started knitting), such fibers were hard to come by and too expensive to afford.  Nowadays, they can be found at nearly every local yarn shop from a silk blend to a pure silk and at the price point we knitters can afford. 

 

This scrumptious yarn is 100% silk - oh yea, I'm definitely in heaven now!  The reason that I love silk so much is that silk absorbs color dyes so well.  The hues are vibrant and deep.  The other reason is that there is no other fiber that has such a high sheen to it.  And of course, the obvious, that silk feels like butter against the skin as well as when knitting it. 

Silk is definitely an affordable luxury these days- I believe that's an oxymoron??? 

I may not be able to tell you about the luscious design that this silk will become, but I hope that during your summer travels, stopping at local yarn shops along your route, you stop to buy a few silk hanks as a treasure of your travels.  I can't imagine a more decadent scarf or shawl ---all done in silk!

Trying to make a deadline

I'm on the last leg of my big deadline.  It's 11 pm and I'm just checking and re-checking my work for the last time before I ship it out in the morning.  Everyone is in bed - but me and the cat.  Cats know when they're not wanted and cats hate that!  So, good ole Sox jumps up on my huge pile of work and makes himself comfortable!  Luckily the red light on my camera bugged him enough to annoy him enough to jump ship.  Maybe I can get to bed by midnight now.

Stitch-n-Pitch, Cheney Stadium

Had a great time at the Stitch n Pitch, Cheney Stadium last night!  Weather was beautiful, had my knitting BFF by my side and an easy "just knit" project with me. 

We weren't sitting with the other knitters because they were in the shade and it was a tad cold in the shade so we chose to isolate ourselves and be warm!

In my haste to run out the door, I threw on my daughters sandals which are identical to mine - only in a few sizes larger than mine!  I thought they felt funny.....

This was also the first time that I actually stayed for an entire game - EVER!  9th inning and we have a tie - 5 to 5.  Someone hits it out of the ballpark - and wham, we win the game!  It was really fun to see -

The low of the night......couldn't find any red wine...boo hoo hoo.  High of the night....ate a delicious salmon burger while catching up with a close friend - Sonya from Yorkshire Yarns and of course having the entire evening with Sherri!

My First Article

Can I officially call myself a writer?????  I finally have written my first article in the latest Creative Knitting Fall 2011 issue. 

The article is directed to beginner knitters wishing to try a new technique.  It's amazing at how much more difficult it is to write down each move in Fair Isle knitting -when you have to twist the 2 yarns around each other at the beginning of the wrong side row only on the flat knitting, not on the knititng in the round - huh??????  I can't even follow what I just said!  It is so so much easier to just demonstrate visually than to write it out and hope that the newbee knitter can follow my words alone. 

 

Love the cover by the way!

Latest design...due out soon

Fair Isle basics and beyond is due to hit the stores shortly.  I have one scarf in this booklet and I'm thrilled with all of the designs and the photography.