Indie Designer Day

Designer: Karen Scott
Blog: Rainbow Feet
Rav ID: KnitterKMS
Some Great Designs: KnitterKMS' Rav Designer Page


"...visions of [delicate little cables] dancing in her head..."
Now that would be my "Night Before Christmas" tale.

Exemplified by this week's designer, KnitterKMS.
The vibrant socks pictured right are her Little Minx. With a simple wee twist repeat, you get a beautiful pair of socks. On the pattern page for this lovely *free* pattern, it's interesting to see the design in the variegated pink as well as a handsome solid green.

Another (free!) and fabulous design is her Cornflower Socks. A complement to her Cornflower Cowl, this pair of patterns can have you outfitted in lovely, delicate and texturally interesting knits from head to toe!

Can't wait to see what she'll design next. Thanks for the generously offered patterns!

Chauntecler; Or, How I Get My Test Knit On

Here's that post #500!

Pattern: Chauntecler
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, in Oyster Heather (7 balls)

This is a call out for any and all interested in lending a hand.
I'd like to offer this pattern for sale - but in order to do that, I'd appreciate a few generous test knitters!
You can check out the deets here on the Rav group.
Please message me there with your info if you'd like to be a tester, and if you have any questions at all.

I had a lot of fun designing this dress.
It's my first attempt at such a garment - and I'm really rather pleased!
As noted in earlier posts, I enjoy me my Knit Picks Palette.
And truly, it was no easy task choosing which colour I'd knit with. I was rather tempted by Serrano, Pimento and Tumeric, but in the end settled on Oyster Heather.

Chauntecler has a top-down, mainly-in-the-round construction, with most of the visual interest focussed on the back lace panels. I tried to keep all other aspects of the design simple, so as not to compete with the skirt details.

I was inspired by the beautiful plumage of some fancy roosters - hence the Chauntecler name. Jealous of their lovely, extravagant feathers, I wanted to create a tail of my own.
In yarn.
On a dress.

And, with the prodigious amounts of fun that I had creating this knit, I can certainly say that there will be more dresses in my designing future!

Four!

Don't check it out or anything (srlsy, cause the old posts are no good)
but today is my blog's 4th birthday!

I also happen to be creeping up on my 500th post. I'm saving that one for something special.

Have a good day, bloggy :)

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Colleen Teerling
Rav ID: teerling
Some Great Designs: teerling 's Rav Designer Page and Projects Page

One of the bonuses to my moving downtown was that I would be able to walk to work. While I've been very lax indeed on actually taking advantage of this opportunity, the times I do are very rewarding.

Take this morning, for example. It's the perfect time to stroll down the streets and see the beautiful gardens with varieties of tulips, daffodils and whimsical flowering trees.

This week's designer is a perfect complement to this springtime effusion of happiness and delicate natural beauty.

Witness the pictured Lacy Leaf pattern. A very neat adaption of arrowhead lace, this sweet and simple pattern if infinitely adaptable and decoratively useful. I'm having Martha Stewart interior design visions!

And I have to point out the very cool s-t-r-e-t-c-h your Noro pattern. Check out what the designer has to say:
"I got a gift certificate, so I splurged on 2 skeins of Noro. By combining it with the (much!) cheaper Briggs & Little, I got a vest out of it, using a 2-colour fisherman’s rib. I love the way the dark background sets off the Noro.
I later used this in a class I taught at the yarn store on playing with colour and getting the most out of luxury yarns."

Such a good idea. I always seem to have one, or a part, skein of something lovely left over. Stash utilizing projects rawk.

And lastly, there's the cable-rific Rivendell Socks. Just check them out. Can't describe their awesomesauce-ness.

And definitely check out her projects page for some wicked cool intarsia!

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Anna Kuduja
Blog: Lõngakera
Rav ID: kuduja
Some Great Designs: Kuduja's Rav Designer Page

This week's designer does a lot with simple design elements and pieces.

Her Mohair minimalist top (pictured) is a perfect example of the minimalist chic that's infused into all her designs. Making the most of the yarn itself (including a fantastic colour) she creates a piece that is versatile and functional (not to mention stylish!)

The Green leaf bolero is a very cool study in combining textures harmoniously into a whole. This bolero is infinitely wearable - it maintains her minimalist chic style while incorporating a variety of stitch patterns. This, my friends, is what demonstrates fantastic designing - the ability to somehow combine disparate elements (that is, simplicity/minimalism and variety) into a piece that demonstrates one's unique artistic voice.

Here, in her own words, is kuduja's ideas on designing:
"For me, patterns are a source of ideas. Most frequently, I knit without patterns. If I like a pattern, I always experiment and end up with modifications. Recently, I’ve started writing my own patterns."

As always, check out her designer page - much more to see there than I've room to write!

Knot Tying 101; Or, How Wedding Planning Comes Along

... wherein I continue to chat about my wedding plans, and it's still about the fun crafty stuffs ...


Ah yes, here it is: the reason (or at least, one of them!) for my sustained bloggy silence.
I've been keeping myself busy busy with various and sundry wedding bits.
Ok, so what've I actually done?

Well, first off are the invites. Last week I had a bit of an assembly-party, including me and four very generous and talented helpers, five hours, many metres of tape and some delicious snacks.

It was really rather fun - now I'm just waiting on the envelopes, and I'll then be sending these sweeties out in to the wide postal world.

Other paper-based activity includes the guestbook I've put together, using blurb dot com.
It's just arrived today, and I'm sooo happy!
What I did was gather up a whole whack of my and his family photos, scan them and use the software to edit the images together.
I also thought it was a neat idea to encourage guests to write more than just their name and address (while cool, not really very interesting). On the signing pages, I put two columns; one says "Name", the other "Thoughts, Wishes, Memories, Advice".


Incidentally, I'm not the only one who's been busy planning and paper-crafting. My very dedicated sister-turned-maid-o'-honour has whipped up what, I have to say, are some of the absolute coolest Bridal Shower invites I've ever seen.
Not only are they hand-made, they're yarn themed!!
She's keeping her plans quiet, so I'm not sure what awaits me next month.
I'm really looking forward to it!

And, on to yet more stuffs I've been doing:

I have a pretty good idea what the centrepieces are going to look like - one part of it are these round glass vases.
These vases have become the bane of my existence. There's boxes and boxes of the things sitting in my apartment, awaiting their turn to be etched.

The frustrating part is the fiddly wee bits of stencil I have to place for each vase. I've
used them so much now, they're beginning to lose their stickiness and readily slip off, move their position and wreak general havoc on my glassy crafting attempts.
And so, I have about ten left to make. I'll have a bit of a celebration the day they're done and out of here!

And now, I have a question to ask of you all (because you've all been of such help in my many other wedding-advice asks!).
Months ago, I bought several rolls of rather cute ribbon, thinking it would be some sort of back up if the vases didn't work out. As noted above, the vases (though troublesome) are very near being deemed successful, and so I have the riddle of this ribbon, and what precisely I should do with it.








And, one last thing I'd like to share: this craft-in-waiting.
I'll show you what exactly they'll all become when it's finished.

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Bekah Stockwell
Rav ID: ClaudiaThorn
Some Great Designs: ClaudiaThorn's Rav Projects Page

I can't tell you how appealing and interesting I find this designer's work!

Take for instance her Ridiculously long Peruvian Shaman/Elf Hat (pictured).
Here's what she has to say about the piece:
"I needed a hat that would fit over my dreadlocks… and had some awesome heavy worsted red variegated yarn I wanted to use… so I improvised this hat on chopsticks!"

This, to me, is a fabulous way to play up the beauty of a handspun yarn. Her colour palette is amazing - but even if this were in a solid colour, the shape and texture of the hat would make it an appealing piece alone.

I'll also point you towards her Le Fee Vert Victorian Collar. This is another lovely knit with whimsical, historic character (that stuff always gets me!) I truly hope she continues designing, and (perhaps? please?) writes up a few patterns to share with all us knitters.
Soon.
Because really, I'm an impatient creature.
:)

ETA: You can check out her work on Facebook as well: just search for No Spectators Designs!