3 things I’m liking

Ok,that I’m  loving.

1-The new Berroco Yarn booklets arrived! I photographed them in September, and enough time  has passed that they look fantastic and fresh and of course I love seeing how the creative team chose to use what we shot together  on the photoshoot. I am so proud of these! The online versions of the books look good but the printed booklets are gorgeous. .

And there are some pretty fabulous new patterns and yarns. I’m going to single three out next week I think !

(Um, wait.... can you single three? )

2) a Blogger mobile app that seems to work? I’m trying it out right now! It has been a challenging week schedule-wise here,  so I’m thrilled that I might have found a way to make a quick post from my phone. I’ve tried  do mobile posts in the past and found it...clunky and awful.

   3)  Adult Ed Microsoft Excel! Go ahead and laugh but I am authentically excited to finally learn alllll about how this application works and tricks to making my spreadsheets behave themselves. I love a good spreadsheet but my self-taught Excel skills were making me crazy! In just the first class earlier tonight, I already solved a problem that had been plaguing me for years.

november post 1: holland pattern & fibrespace classes coming 11/12&13

I am thrilled to be teaching at Fibre Space in Alexandria VA Nov 12 & 13th 

Thurs evening 6-9 : SmartPhone Photoclass . Not just for knitters, bring a friend!

Fri 10-5  Photo for Knitters & Makers - Tips, tricks, shooting, editing, critiquing - we'll do it all, click links for both classes' details. Limited spaces left! See you there.

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Now, on with the show. Maybe it's the weather or the time of year or the glut of  tempting new patterns going by my field of vision, but I am super inspired to be knitting/making stuff.  For example, I shot this sweater, Holland, designed by Maureen Clark for Green Mountain Spinnery in August.  It has so many good points.

I'll confess, I tried on the sample, I couldn't resist. As you may know, I am shaped not at all like beautiful Josephine, shown here. And yet this sweater somehow looks great on both of us.  That's point 1.

Point 2 - the swingy shape. It's fun to wear. The sleeves are not wide, they are slim fitted, which is Point 3, it doesn't have that saggy baggy overall effect- it works the way Boxy does. The wide  soft V neckline is Point 4- you can wear with a collared shirt or a tank top. A crisp V neck is too preppy for my taste. You could dress this up. Even I could dress this up. It's that good.

Point 5 Beautiful details. The unfinished rolling edge collar, raglan sleeve,  sleeve embellishment stitches. Point 6 it's DK weight, so it's not too heavy yet it'll knit fairly quickly. It's shown in Green Mountain Spinnery Sylvan Spirit, a western (USA) Targee wool and tencel blend. (If you aren't familiar with the Spinnery , you should check them out. They've been doing Grown in the USA and breed specific, thoughtfully sourced yarns for decades, way ahead of the curve).  I love the tweedy gray.  Whatever I knit this sweater in, it's going to need to be tweedy. Maybe in their Mewesic yarn, which is soft and tweedy wool and comes in a really good denim-y shade called Blue Bayou . 

All this sounds so doable- but I am embarrassed to say I've been taking for-eh-vah to knit a simple DK weight sweater that I started in, oh, I dunno, August?  I am only happy that democracy will come to the rescue of my knitting, as I should be able to get some serious sweater time in while working as an election official on Tuesday, during this quiet local-races-only year.

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I just learned that NaBloPoMo is a general thing (I read it on BlogHer) not just a knitblogging thing, as I'd thought. And it stands for National Blog Posting Month.  My track record isn't great but my intentions are solid. I did decently in November 2009. Having just read over the entries from that month, I am cheered by knowing it's possible to come close (I made 25 posts) and also touched by that glimpse into my own life 6 years ago. Only six years! So many changes. 

 Come back and check on me while you're surfing around.   I might just stick with this blogging thing, how about you?

 

FO monster monday

Finished just in time for the cold weather:  Monster Cowl . Started last winter, tucked away when I hadn't finished by spring. I love this chevron stitch, it's gently hypnotic to knit. I was chugging on merrily, when I noticed the pattern suggested stopping to kitchener it at 45", warning of blocking growth. ooops! I was closing in on 50". No worries. I love the size.

Excuse the, ummm, styling, or lack thereof. It was an impromptu photoshoot. Want some details? 
pattern: Monster Cowl by Julia Allen.
yarn: Shepherds Wool from Stone Hedge Fiber Mill in Michigan
needles: US 9
finished size: after blocking, about 54" in length around, and 7.5" wide
notes: so obviously, one edge is going to be nice and neat and the other, the side where you change colors,  is going to have the yarn carried up along it.  I'll fess up to sometimes forgetting to properly wrap the working yarn around the one lying fallow for that row. 
(oh man. I just fell down this grammar rabbit hole and I am still not sure if I used the past tense of lie correctly or if maybe it should have been laying). 
Where was I? 
Oh yeah, my less-than-neat edge. Before blocking, it was messy enough to considering covering with icord all around,  or maybe a row of crochet. Afterwards, it settled in A-OK. Don't you love well behaved yarn?
This was so satisfying to knit that I may cast on for one as a gift for someone I like who admired it repeatedly in that kind of way. I've already cast on for a coordinating hat. Those skeins are generous at 250 yards each.  Not the Monster Hat- that would be too matchy for me --but using the rest of the yarn held double for a bulky hat.
What are you knitting this fine frosty morning? 
(and if it's not frosty where you are? well......)

BTS: Versaci Knits Kids Photo Shoot

Welcome to another Behind the Scenes. This time,  with Lori Versaci of Versaci Knits.  I am a huge fan of Lori's designs for grownups- I mean, Modern Tunic? Pour Moi? .When she said she wanted me to shoot a collection of kids' sweaters for a book,  I knew the little knits would be spot on, too.

Photo above , captioned later by the mom as "Please, put on the sweater, please. I will buy you a pony tonight if you just. put. on.the. sweater." 

 The photo shoot was in Princeton NJ. I always set up a joint secret Pinterest mood board as we plan, to get the photo juices rolling and define the look. Sometimes you can't articulate what you want--but you know it when you see it. Pinterest is genius for this.
Lori's Pins revealed a love for classic but updated kids' imagery- just like her designs. We chose a historic stone building for the background, kept everything understated and neutral except the knits themselves (oh those saturated Madeline Tosh colors!) and gathered classic kids'toys, and accessories made form natural materials-  leather and straw.
The weather served up a sticky, drizzly day with rumbling clouds and threatening thunderstorm, and our  little 3 year old model wasn't feeling great-- up until the last minute we kind of wondered if the whole shebang was going to be a bust--but then, Boom, it came together. Luckily the building had a wide protected  porch, and the skies opened up (biggger BOOM) in torrents just as we completed the photo shoot. 

VersaciKnits is doing  series of trunk shows and appearances, if you want to catch her. I'm planning to see her at my LYS Knit New Haven next week (yay!). She's teaching a short rows tutorial, which I hope will staunch that feeling I always have on short rows, that I am quite possibly doing them wrong. Or, there's a Better Way.
Lest you think all my photos turn out well--here's an alternative set-up that shows why the background choice matters!

book reviews & giveaway #3

The third knitting book giveaway!  Still time to leave a comment for 50 Sunflowers by Krisitn Nicholas .  And for Just Like Me Knits by Brandy Fortune.  You can enter every giveaway I'm doing this month, one comment for each.  And, more books added every coupla days.

Today , in celebraton of Wear With All: Knits for Your Life being available as an e-book, I'm giving one e- book away. I don't know about you, but 2013 has been the year in which I switched my allegiance from printed-out patterns on paper to  knitting from e-versions on my ipad and iphone.  Don't get me wrong, I am all about owning the books!! I love books for browsing and reading and choosing. But the ipad is in my knitting bag now more often than not.

the patterns are all like this: stylish, accessible, classic but modern

what I coyly showed when I blogged about the photoshoot in Nov 2011

Of course, being the photographer for this fabulous knitwear collection, I can't really give an unbiased review. I'll let Clara Parkes do that--because she loves it too, and says so right here on Knitters Review.

same cardi, shown in 3 differnt yarns and finishing treatments

 designed by Mary Lou Egan
 

I'm, sitting here trying to decide what else to show you from this book,  realizing that I still love all of the designs. Most--OK, truthfully, all- are knits I hope to get to sooner or later. 

 I'm thinking this cowl as a gift this season... it'd be a quickie....

 And this?  The Stole, by Theresa Gaffey , put in the book almost on whim, and has become the most popular knit from it. I fell in love with the sample upon touching it (Isager Alpaca 2) but have seen so many beautiful versions, I know I need to knit one myself, even if it is a larger slog than I usually take on.  Hello 2014 to-do list!

To enter the giveaway for an electronic copy (e-book)  of Wear With All: Knits for Your Life, leave a comment below telling me what knitting challenge you'll take on in the new year. (Maybe. I won't hold you to it.)  I'm giving away this book electronically , leave a comment below, by midnight Monday night December 9th , with  your email address* or your Ravelry name.  I’ll choose a winner by random number generator. ___Stop by again soon, I'm going to keep reviewing and giveaway-ing all month.__________  *my blogging platform doesn’t reveal your email address with your replies normally, so I need it. if you are worried about it attracting a ‘bot scanning for addresses, feel free to leave it as JaneSewAThotstuffDOTCom  ok? 
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A plug for classes I am teaching at Vogue Knitting Live in NYC on January 17th! A hands-on workshop,  Photography for Your Ravelry Page (limited seats left) and a fast. fun and functional slide lecture,  10 Tips and Tricks to Fabulous Photography , from noon-1. Sign up now.

we're so chill we wear mitts

Last weekend, no not the one that dumped 36" of snow on me, the one before, I had the honor of teaching a Photography for Knitters workshop for  The Village Knitter . 
This is what it looked like when we strung up a temporary clothesline on Main Street in Babylon NY. 
And here is Stephanie, aka Crooked Knits, shooting. Let's play a game. How many handknits can you spy her wearing? The funnest, if I can mangle English here, part of the workshop is usually the part where we bust out of the room and go all hands-on, giving everyone a chance to try some of the hints tricks direction photobullying I have been laying on them during the slide talk part. This group didn't let a few degrees fahrenheit stop them. 
A class so cool they had to cover themselves in wool. It was a blazing good time, in direct contrast to the icy wind blowing off the Atlantic a block away. Afterward, I ended the day knitting and yucking it up at Ann and Katy's yarnshop , my sponsor, The Village Knitter. This is the kind of yarn shop you hunker down in. Big open table to sit at. Great selection of yarn. Super friendly owners and workers. Talented knitters and raucous conversation. We are already planning a spring/summer Photo for Knitters adventure, to take advantage of the lovely photo opps for knitwear in the town, while not suffering frostbite at the same time.

 On a not unrelated note--you can't ignore the snow here this week, mostly because we have run out of places to put it.

This is not a special pile or even the tallest on the street, it's just your basic corner. Good weather for knitters though. Suddenly everyone loves a wool mitten.

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I'm brewing up a few more workshops between now and the summer-  in New Haven CT, Maryland and Massachusetts. Want one at your guild, shop or group? Give me a shout.