WE HAVE A WINNER!

GIVE-AWAY WINNER!

A drawing from my "Followers" was conducted on January 31, and KIM THOMPSON was the winner selected.  She will receive this hot water bottle and its cozy hand-knit cover.  Congratulations Kim, and thank you for following along.  The prize will be delivered to Kim on February 7.

Also, thank you to all of you "New Followers".  Its good to have you along for the ride.

This is Camille and her darling son.  Camille was the winner of my last "give-away", a backzip baby sweater.  Doesn't he look so hansom in it?  I stole this photo off her Facebook page, and couldn't resist showing you how cute her baby is.  Camille is Home Ec teacher, who has taken a sabbatical to raise a family.  She has many great money-saving ideas and recipes on her blog:  camillescasa.blogspot.com.  Luckily, she is also the daycare provider for my more-than-a-handful granddaughter Nola.  Thanks Camille for all you do for her and her Mom. 

A 350 yard hank of my newly milled alpaca yarn will be my next "giveaway".  A drawing will be held on Leap Day (February 29).  It is a soft heathered taupe color, in a fingering weight, and will be enough yarn for a good sized project, such as a shawl, hat and scarf, vest, cropped sweater, etc.  It is a soft, beautiful yarn in its natural fleece color. 

I am planning to knit a shawl out of my yarn like this.  It is a lacy pattern, and as soon as I finish up the patterns I am currently writing, I plan to get started.  It is going to be nice to knit from someone elses pattern for a change.  This always provides me with some relaxing knitting time, where I don't care if I discover a few mistakes in the pattern, as I restfully knit along.

There are 4 new knitting design patterns currently "in the works".  Each is being test knit, to find any errors or concepts, which are hard to understand.  Thank you to my "Test Knitters" (Joan, Cheryl, Carissa & Lacy).  They are all diligently working through my designs, and they are all doing a great job, catching all those little glitches in my writing.  Let me know if you are interested in becoming a "Test Knitter" for my designs.  Each "Test Knitter" will receive a draft copy of a pattern, and all the yarn to knit the item.  The "Test Knitter" chooses the size to be knit, and keeps the finished project for their own use.  Upon completion, a photo-shoot is scheduled and photos are taken for the final pattern.  The "Test Knitter" will also received a revised copy of the final pattern, before it is published for sale. 

Patterns for the following items are expected to be published soon:  JOAN (a fine-gauge lace pullover, with body shaping, a V neck and long sleeves); ALEXANDRIA (an elbow sleeved tunic, with double-breasted buttons and knit in ribbed variations to create body shaping); CARISSA (a cropped vest, which is furry in the front, ribbed for body shaping in the back, and fastened with a ribbon and grommets at the bustline); CAROLYN (a fine-gauge, open-front cardigan, with long raglan sleeves and a fan lace pattern border); NOLA (a cabled, round-yoke, hooded jacket for a Toddler).  These are the designs that have been swimming around in my head, during the time I was doing all of that Christmas knitting.  Watch for the release of these patterns over the next 6 months.  Of course I will be blogging about each, as I have pictures to show.

This is my sketch of ALEXANDRIA.  I didn't think I would be able to sketch my designs, as this has never been my talent.  However, I am giving it a try.  Happy Knitting . . .