Violently Domestic

Yarn, Part the First

22 August 2009 · 2 Comments

Sock Summit was pretty much made of awesome on all levels. I can’t possibly do it justice and so won’t try to describe it. I would blather. It would be unseemly. Instead, I’m going to talk about one tiny aspect of the awesome.

As I was getting ready to go to Sock Summit, a few of the vendors working there contacted me to ask about creating patterns for them with their yarn. I was flattered. There may have been a bit of undignified squeeing and perhaps a few goofy grins. I’ll never tell. I’m still awfully new at this, and it feels fantastic when people like my work.

We talked.  Plans were made and agreements reached.  I got to Sock Summit, found their booths, and wandered around molesting admiring their pretty yarns.  Then, and this is the part that still feels like crime, I got to pick some out and bring it home.  It was all the good parts of yarn shopping with none of those pesky bills at the end.

All of the yarns will be getting made into socks over the next few months (I might have tripped and cast one on already).  You’ll be seeing and hearing more about them as they go along.  In the meantime, I can say with certainty that free yarn is by far the niftiest part of this designing thing.  I could get used to this!

More and yet More

28 June 2009 · No Comments

As promised, the rest of the news.

First, I’m thrilled to announce I’ll be designing a sock for another yarn/pattern club.  This one is a little different.  There is a theme – Wicked Women – and it’s a joint effort.  It’s a three installment club with an exclusive yarn and a specially designed pattern shipping out every other month from September to January.  Mine will be the January sock.  All the details are over at the Yarnarina’s page.  Go sign up before the spaces run out!

Next, the questions I asked earlier and their answers.  It was great to read your thoughts, especially on the issue of combination packs.  The consensus seems to be that deals are great, but that I should try not to penalize those that have already bought the patterns by making them re-buy things to get new socks.  That sounds like a totally valid concern, and I’ll probably lean towards offering a buy x get y for free deal rather than tying an exclusive pattern to the purchase of a group of other patterns.  As for the comments, we didn’t quite reach the number I was hoping for to do a giveaway.  I think what I’ll do is save the email addresses of those of you kind enough to answer and put them in future drawings for goodies.  I have entirely more yarn that I can use, and I’d rather give it away than have it go to waste, so there will be giveaways in the future.

On the knitting front, things are, alas, slow.  The real (or at least non-knitting) world is continuing to demand my time, and my arms are limiting the amount of knitting I can do without pain.  The big project is done on Wednesday though, and I plan to indulge in some knitting to celebrate its completion.  However, I did get The Boy to model the current socks and let me take pictures of them (his comment – you want me to put them on the ground?  Outside? But they’re hand knit socks!  I have an awesome Boy.)  Here’s a peek, and wow is it easier to take a picture of someone else’s feet than of your own.

Lots of Business, Very Little Knitting

26 June 2009 · 1 Comment

Pardon the uncharacteristic quiet. My non-knitting life has been intruding to an entirely unjustified degree on my knitting. I’m in the final week of a 6 month project and busy writing my little graduate student heart out. By the time I’ve met my writing quota for the day my arms ache too much to knit. This does little to help my overall mental well being.

However, this lack of actual does not mean that there is no knitting news.

I’ve got a few interesting collaborations coming up over the next year.  Some have been confirmed, and some are still being hammered out.  Looking at the confirmed plans and taking them in chronological order:

• I’ll be designing a sock for a mystery sock knit along for the Solid Socks Group (rav link) on Ravelry.  I’ll be using one of The Yarnarina’s lovely yarns.  The pattern comes out in about 3 installments over the course of October.  It will be available for free during the knit along, and I’ll post more information about how to sign up for it as we get closer to the date.
• I’ll be designing another sock for Gaia’s Colours new Yarn Club.  The pattern will be a club exclusive, and should come out in February.  I’m not sure quite how much information I can give away just yet, but I will say more as we get closer in.  For now, I’ve got the yarn in my hands, and I can say with absolute certainty that these will be some marvelous feeling socks, just the thing to ward off the February blues.
• And finally, I’ll be designing yet another sock (really, it’s just about all I knit) for a newly announced sock and fingerless glove club offered by From Robin’s Nest.  I’ll be doing the pattern for Summer, out of a yarn custom dyed for the club by The Craft’s Meow.

Details on all three partnerships as well as how you can get the patterns (including the free one in October) will be coming in the weeks and months ahead.  I’ll be back with thoughts on the questions I asked in the last post in a day or two.  For now, I have to go ice my arms before my hands fall off from too much typing.  I think that would really slow down the sock prodcution rate.

Luscious

7 June 2009 · 2 Comments

Embonpoint is done, and I love them! They are marvelously smooshy and fantastically photogenic. See?

They are getting shipped off to Schaefer this week. With luck, the pattern should be available shortly. I can’t wait to start seeing these made.

Baaaaaah

25 May 2009 · 2 Comments

I went to the Great Lakes Fiber Show this weekend and displayed astonishing self restraint and admirable fiscal responsibility. I bought a mere six skeins of yarn. Quite noble. I must have been too distracted by the squee-worthy critters to engage in commerce.  Sheep are both cuter and smellier than I had realized.  Especially that smelly part.

In actual knitting news, the first of the Embonpoint socks is complete, and the second will be started shortly. The pattern will be posted here, likely some time in June. I spent some time this morning taking pictures for my Knitty submission. It is doubtless a long shot, but worth a try. If it’s not accepted, it too will be making an appearance here. Finally, Pedigreed is taking a brief hiatus while other projects with more pressing deadlines are finished. It should hopefully resurface toward the end of the summer.

Embonpoint

22 May 2009 · 1 Comment

Embonpoint: \äⁿ-bōⁿ-ˈpwaⁿ\ adjective

-sufficiently fat so as to have a pleasing fullness of figure

Allow me to present my newest creation, Embonpoint!

The name is perfect on several counts.  First, this is the most luciously fat sock yarn I’ve ever seen.  It is thick enough that the socks work up quickly, but still thin enough to fit inside of most shoes.  It has a nice tight twist, making the strands marvelously plump and firm.  The name works for the pattern too.  There is a lovely round little faux cable.  It’s great fun to make, doesn’t take a cable needle, and makes adorable little circles.  Finally, the cuff of the sock is made on straight needles and then joined up for working in the round in such a way that it absolutely will not bother you if you’re having a puffy ankle sort of day.

Also, it’s just a damn nifty word.  If you want to hear the official dictionary droid pronounce it for you, just go here.  It’s great fun to say.