Knit City // floor plan & Kick off Party!

Image courtesy of Knit Social Event Co.

Knit Social has just released the floor plan for Knit City, Vancouver's first full blown fibre festival. My booth is # 27! I'll have all of my samples and printed patterns with me. I'm also working very long days in hopes of being able to reveal my latest work to you (fingers crossed!) at the event. October 13th & 14th is only one month from now so don't forget to mark your calendars, get a sitter, plan a road trip, gather up your girl friends and come make this an event to remember! 

Image courtesy of Knit Social Event Co. 

And don't forget, there is a Kick Off Party on Friday at the Croatian Cultural Centre from 7pm-11pm. This is a great chance to mingle with Knit City vendors before the weekend market opens, Kim Werker and Sylvia Olsen will be speaking, there will even be a cash bar available. Tickets are $25 and include a weekend pass to the Knit City marketplace!

Read about Knit Social and the story behind this amazing partnership in Interweave's holiday issue! Amanda and Fiona are such an inspiration, this event is sure to be incredible!

Off My Needles...

I have a confession to make... I have been keeping a secret from you. I've been working on a little something since the Spring and I haven't said a word. I'm not trying to be secretive, it's just how I tend to operate. I don't like to talk about things openly until I'm certain they are going to work out the way I've planned... it puts less pressure on my projects which in turn preserves my creativity. This project happens to be in the home stretch and I can't wait to reveal it to you!

...now back to work.

Fibrations 2012

Fibrations 2012 was held on Sunday. It happened to be my very first event as a vendor. I've been quietly prepping for it for months now not really knowing what to expect but wanting to be well prepared. I thought I had far too much stock and even brought my knitting thinking I would be bidding my time between passers by...

Boy did I ever underestimate the traffic that my booth would receive and the overwhelming response to my patterns. I ran the booth by myself and literally went non-stop from start to finish, I didn't even have enough down time to scan my surroundings let alone walk the grounds to check out the other vendors. I ran out of business cards, sold out of many designs, and was cleaned out of my free pattern handouts only hours into the event. It was overwhelming and at the same time so completely wonderful. I met so many kind and enthusiastic knitters, I was able to enjoy people trying on my samples, I had endless talks about fit and how to choose your size when embarking on a garment project. It was everything I am so passionate about and I was in heaven.

 Thank you Shannon for spending endless nights chatting about booth ideas with me and for snapping some photos of my booth!!! Nook for using precious cargo space to make sure I had a table at the event, Amy for jumping in to allow me 5 minutes to eat my Quinoa Salad!!! Knotty by Nature and volunteers for organizing an amazing, inclusive, fun-tastic event. Thank you to the number of LYSes and event coordinators who stopped by the booth, your positive response to my work is hugely encouraging. And last but not least, an enormous and heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you who stopped by the booth to say hello, purchase a pattern, try on a sample, or simply chat about knitting. I left the orchard on cloud nine because of your overwhelming support and am doubly revved up for Knit City in October! 

Canadian Living // Duly Noted

August has been an absolute blur. It's been so jam packed full of fun, all of which I've been wanting to post about but haven't had a moment to do so. 

Hands down the most exciting moment this month was seeing my name in print in the September issue of Canadian Living. I was over the moon when Austen wanted to host a Classic Raglan Pullover Knit Along but when she asked me if I could provide a quote for an upcoming issue of the magazine I nearly fell off my chair! ...and the topic of conversation was right up my alley...

Where do you jot your notes?

Just like my works-in-progress I also have a bit of a system when it comes to my note taking, are you surprised? I'm a little methodical about my where I jot my notes. 

Sketches for new designs are done in a custom notebook made by a dear friend who works at a print shop.  This spiral bound notebook is filled with heavy cardstock and it's the perfect size to carry in a purse without being too tiny to be useful. Of course I had to tag the cover with a yarn ball. 

I also have a zillion Clairfontaine notebooks in all shapes and sizes, they are my mothers go-to gift for me. Most of them are filled with pencil drawings I've done over the years. 

But the workhorse of my notebook arsenal is my trusty clipboard. It's old and beat up and to be honest I can't even remember how I acquired it. I load it with scrap paper and use it for everything, note taking, quick sketches, crunching numbers and pattern drafting. All of my pattern sizing and calculating happens in Excel but every once and a while I'll take my clip board, calculator, pencil and eraser and just sit in a comfy spot with my numbers and a cup of strong coffee. ...sigh, I love math. 

So, where do you jot your notes?

Spud & Chloë for Vogue Knitting | Rosie

After putting together the Dogwood Set for Spud & Chloë, Katie asked me if I could design a little something for a collaboration with Vogue Knitting. I was given the Fine to work with and I suppose it was the silk content or the summer weather that inspired me to design something sweet and feminine. 

- Rosie -

I often wear a vintage bandana tied in the front when I'm at home or in the garden, it makes me feel like Rosie the Riveter. Originally I had picked up a skein of Red Hot to swatch with, trying to recreate the look with an open stitch pattern and fun little ties to imitate the ends of the knotted bandana. My second sample was knit in the vibrant Goldfish colourway, I think it brings a modern fresh feel to the classic style I was inspired by.

Rosie is a perfect summer knitting project, it's very portable and super fast. Find this pattern and two other freebies from Spud & Chloë over on Vogue Knitting's website. For more on this fun collaboration hop on over to Spud & Chloë's blog!

Happy Knitting!   

Save the Date // Fibrations

You may recall my recap of the first annual Fibrations last year. It was a fun and relaxed event and I loved the setting, the vendors were set up in the orchard at St Ann's Academy, downtown Victoria. 

It's almost that time of year again and I am so pleased to announce that I will be a vendor at this years event! I will have all of my samples on display to view and try on as well as printed copies of all of my patterns. 

Hope to see you there!

. . .

Fibrations

August 19th 

The Orchard at St Ann's Academy 

635 Humboldt Street, Victoria, BC

Sunday from 10am - 4pm

Stay up to date by liking them on Facebook. For more information on Fibrations as well as a complete list of vendors visit their website. 

The Finalists

The race to be the first ripe tomato is finally over. Today I picked these beauties off of their vines, they are the first ripe tomatoes of the season and boy was it a close finish. Gold Nugget is our official winner, these three little guys were properly ripe when I picked them and practically fell off the vine. Tied for second place, Rocket and Glacier weren't quite as ripe but tasty nonetheless. 

Here are the results of the taste test: 

Rocket was sweet and very mild, this tomato packed the least punch, we'll see if it's a better contender when it's good and ripe. I give it third place.

Glacier was our flavor winner, a little sweet with just enough acidity to give it zip, this one packed the most punch, even slightly under ripe! Yum.

Gold Nugget had a bit of zip too but was milder than the Glacier, I haven't been as impressed with the yellow tomatoes in previous years, they've seemed a bit bland against their red counterparts. This one was quite nice in the flavor department.

Are you growing tomatoes? Who were the winners in your garden this year?