Reader Appreciation Summer FunTime Giveaway!

Welcome to the next installment of the Reader Appreciation SummerFunTime Giveaway!

Congratulations to last week's winner, patricia.
You can message me on Rav or email me at canarysanctuary at yahoo dot com with your mailing address so I can get the goodies out to you pronto.

Yippee! We continue on to week four.

This week we have:

-one McCall's "Pillow Book" (from about 1974), including 60 different crochet, knit, embroidered, quilted, etc... pillows!

-one photocopied Patons "The Great Outdoors" (from about mid 1970s). Focuses mostly on adult sized cowichan-style sweaters.

-two pattern leaflets, from about the mid 70's as well. One is for berets and scarves, the other are "mini tops" (both leaflets include knit and crochet)

-two booklets of patterns. One from 1982, including patterns for kids (check out the awesome hamburger sweater pictured here!), the other from the early 80s as well, including patterns for kids and adults (with sweaters and accessories)

-two skeins of Rosarios 4 yarn - one a green/white/grey twisted blend (about a worsted weight) and the other a slubby greenish grey, 100% wool,130 m.

-one wee teddy bear, handknit by me! (his name is Emerald Joe)

FYI: Next Sunday, July 5, there won't be another draw. I'll try to get in touch with this week's winner on July 5, but failing that, it will be announced when the giveaway returns on July 12.

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Ruth
Blog: roobeedoo
Rav ID: roobeedoo
Great Designs: roobeedoo's Rav Designer Page

Who could resist beautiful lace stockings? When I first glimpsed roobeedoo's Cinderella's Secret Stockings I knew they were something special, and (months ago) I asked her permission to feature this design on this here bloggy. Photo Copyright © Roobeedoo

In the intervening time, there's been a wonderful nod of recognition to this sweet design:

"...the Cinderella stockings are appearing in the Naked Knits 2010 calendar, courtesy of the Knitting Noras. Full details are on my blog".

There's also the Storytellers knitting design competition, which roobeedoo won with these lovely stockings. Check out the story here.

Things Bounding Around in my Head

I have a new favourite song. It's not getting out of my head.
It's been bounding around in there, amongst other things, for days & days.
Admittedly, this could be because I have something of a thing for Sam Roberts.



On more topical topics:

I will say that I have a few patterns involved in the aforementioned brain-bounding, including one inspired by a big wooden button recently purchased.

If you had one fantastic button you wanted to showcase in a knit, how would you do it/where would you put it? I'm thinking something along the lines of a wrappy-cardi-toppy-sweater.
Stay tuned.

Reader Appreciation Summer FunTime Giveaway!

Herebe the next installment of the Reader Appreciation SummerFunTime Giveaway!

Congratulations to last week's winner, theyarniad.
You can message me on Rav or email me at canarysanctuary at yahoo dot com with your mailing address so I can get the goodies out to you pronto.

Huzzah! We continue on to week three:

-one Spring/Summer issue of Good Housekeeping Needlecraft, 1973
this mag is particularly interesting, because it includes quilting, knitting, crochet, and other crafts

-one pre-wound (by me, hehe) wool laceweight yarn. Sorry, no specs. I bought this one online, and in anticipation of using it directly, chucked the label many ages ago

-one skein Lacet (50% cotton, 50% acrylic, 150 m)

-one skein Paton's Bohemian (polyester and acrylic, 62 m)

Here you see an example of the Simplicity patterns they feature (though unfortunately the pattern itself isn't in the mag).

Thanks everybody, and good luck!

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Cyn
Blog: Half-Assed Knitting Blog
Rav ID: randomcyn
Some Great Designs: randomcyn's Rav Designer Page

Long overdue is my post pointing you towards randomcyn.
Want an amazing and consistently hilarious blog read? Make sure to add her blog to your feed. I'm always entertained by her posts.

And she designs, too!
Here pictured you see Maddy, the first one of her knits I'd ever come across. The peek-a-boo lace is cute, and through its various shapes helps to add emphasis to your curves.

The wonderfully named Nom Nom Nom Cowl is an enticingly simple and elegant addition to any winter wardrobe!

Serpentina is a pretty and delicate scarf, with a repeating lace panels which, as randomcyn points out, makes this design easily modifiable, for great thickness or thinness.

And then there's the unassuming wee Secret Admirer scarf.
Or is it...
This scarf can hold a possibly scandalous symbolism for those who can decode it! Read randomcyn's description:

"It uses binary numbers to encode a message that is invisible to the casual observer. Small cables shaped like the numbers 0 and 1 allow the scarf to be 'read' - but only if you know what you’re looking for. Encode 'I love you' for your sweetie or your seeecret crush, or encode anything you want; instructions for the entire alphabet are given."

How totally cool is that?

Proud Pumpkin Parent

My miniature pumpkins aren't dead.
In fact, they're oranging-up my balcony.
I'm a proud pumpkin parent.
That is all :)

Reader Appreciation Summer FunTime Giveaway!

So continues the Reader Appreciation SummerFunTime Giveaway!

Congratulations to the first winner, Ellen.
You can message me on Rav or email me at canarysanctuary at yahoo dot com with your mailing address so I can get the goodies out to you pronto.

And now, on to week two:

This week's items are themed.

The Knit Chill and Thrill Pack!
Up for the winnin' are a selection of tea
(this includes 15 different kinds)
and
a pair of cds, filled with music I love to knit to.
One cd is the "chillax" music, and the second is the "rawk" music.
Choose music appropriate to your knitmood :)

Good Luck everyone!

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Heidi Kirrmaier
Rav ID: PiPiBird
Some Great Designs: PiPiBird's Rav Designer Page

Hello Summer (my most difficult of seasons),

This is an open letter to say ya-boo-sucks-to-you!
I've found a wonderful collection of warm-weather knits, despite your persistent attempts to thwart my summery creative excursions.

PiPiBird is the fantastic designer who's rescued me from a seasonal knitfunk with her very cute knits. She says,

"I love the ocean and warm weather, and I love to knit with linen, cotton, hemp and silk, even though (or because?) I live in a place that is typically cold and dry and is over 1000m above sea level.."

And how!

Pictured is her Buttercup top in all its sweetness. Unsurprisingly popular, the sweet, feminine design lends itself graciously to knitting in (and for) the heat.

Another adorable, plant-fibre based knit is Vesper. I love the pleating way mucho much. And the wee pocket along the hemline. And, rather incredibly, both Vesper and Buttercup are offered for free!

While not on a summertime bent, I must also add an honourable mention to the Drapey Neck Silky Tweed Cargidan. Check that one out (along with her other designs!) and save them for the chillytimes.

So, there it is summer. You've been bested.

Huzzah!

Yours Truly,

CanarySanctuary

Post Haste Palette

While not the most terribly stunning photog in the werldz, I was so enamoured by my current WIP reclining resplendent on the coffee table that it needed to be picced post haste.
The yarn is KnitPicks Palette.
It's progressing along at a good pace - hopefully some actual FO shots soon!

Reader Appreciation Summer FunTime Giveaway!

As I mentioned a while ago, I'd like to thank all you wonderful readers for your support, comments, suggestions and all round warm & fuzzy feedback :)

And to demonstrate this gratitude, today begins my Reader Appreciation SummerFunTime Giveaway!

Over the course of the next few months, I'll be holding draws for various knitterly prizes.

How the Draw will Work:

What I'll do is publish a post on Sunday, where I'll give you a pic and short description of the prize. To enter, all one need do is comment to the post itself.
But here's where your previous comments pay off:
I'll add your name to the "hat" for every comment you've posted in the past 6 months - that's January 1. 2009 to June 7, 2009 (but, if you aren't interested in that week's prizes, all you need do is not comment on said post and you won't be included in the draw at all).

The winner will be drawn on Saturday and announced on Sunday.

Sound good? Alright, let's get to it:

Here is the prize for this week. An enticing selection of retro 80s patterns - it includes:

-4 small booklets
-1 Woman's Weekly magazine, 1984
-12 single and double pattern sheets
-3 larger booklets

Here are a couple pics of some of my faves from the lot:

A pretty white sweater
and
a cute sleeveless top for the summer.


Thanks again, everyone, and good luck :)

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Sanne Bjerregaard
Blog: Sanne B
Etsy Shop: Rasmilla
Rav ID: SanneB
Some Great Designs: SanneB's Rav Designer Page

SanneB designs primarily for children and babies. Seeing as how this is clearly a departure from the regular fare that I highlight on these Indie Designer Posts, I feel I must admit to you all that the lovely wee pattern Elvira, which first caught my eye, did so because I thought it would make a cute top for me.
No sooner did I realize I was stand on the precipice of goofy-dom that SanneB made me feel loads better by publishing the design pictured here, Elvira All Grown Up.

Phew! My knit-dar hasn't gone out of whack!

The same classic and cute design elements seen in Elvira and her grown-up counterpart can be seen in other SanneB's designs, such as Cables and Hood and Fionas Top.

Why am I directing you to look at cute kiddie patterns (other than as a diversion to my knit-misreading) ?

Well, as it turns out, I have a friend with twins on the way. And how stinkin cute would a wee cabley jacket be for a behbeh? SanneB's patterns are what I'd love to dress my kids in - I'm sure any small one and her/his accompanying adult would greatly love these sweet designs!

Elements and Principles of Art: Space

A continuation in the discussion of Elements and Principles of Art in knitting...

Bet you thought I forgot about these, didn't ya?

Art Element Definition: Space is the area around, within, or between images or elements. Space can be created on a two-dimensional surface by using such techniques as overlapping of objects, varying of object size or placement, varying of colour intensity and value, and use of detail and diagonal lines.

I included such a long definition of the element this time because it was just so perfect.
And I found me a perfect (though slightly cheating) example of space, which fits in wonderfully with this definition and modern art history.

This beautiful Babette Blanket was created by sarah1rene (she has more lovely images of the piece on Rav and Flickr). I said this was slightly cheating because this project could be considered an artwork. At least, I consider it so.
In modern art (that's basically the 20th century), there was a tendency to flatten space and compress elements together, so that there was little-to-no depth in the work. Instead, artists chose to focus on the physicality of painting itself, emphasizing the reality of the flatness of the canvas. This blanket is very Klimt- or Rothko- or Mondrian- esque, no?
So, to get back to the crochet!
Space exists in this blanket, but it's not three-dimensional space. It's the space described in the definition above, the graceful space between elements, and the harmonious transitions from colour to colour (kudos on that one, sarah1rene!) which, in a manner, tricks one's eye into beleiving there might actually be protrusions and indentations in the canvas... er, I mean yarn.

Conversely, hannahfettig's very popular Whisper Cardigan utilizes three dimensions and negative space to create its most attractive design feature. There's many photos of this knit, but I chose this one because you get a bit of a look at how the "empty" parts of this cardi have the ability to play with space and make it infinitely moveable (that's another principle for another post!)
Because of this clear use of space, it's easy to see how this knit and others like it are very sculptural.
Creating garments like this takes a lot of forethought (as do others) but particularly in this case, the designer's got to envision just how that negative space will interact in a flattering manner with the body that it's surrounding.
Kudos to you, hannahfettig, for being able to envision such an interaction!

You might be able to tell that I have a crush on both these patterns. Yes, I do. Big crush :)