The Sexy Knitter: One woman's quest for hotness, style and good design

Why "The Sexy Knitter"?

2012-01-30T15:26:00.002-06:00

Hey everybody! This is long overdue, but I've finally filmed a little video about how I became The Sexy Knitter. Hopefully, this will clear some things up:

I invite you to come back to the blog, because I'm going to be sharing some tips and tricks for achieving the confidence that I talk about in the video. There's a lot of information out there, but sadly more often than not it makes us feel even worse about ourselves. I'd like to share some of these things in a way that will empower you to find the happiness and joy that you deserve. So stay tuned, because in this place, you are allowed to be free. You are allowed to be sexy. You are allowed to be YOU.

Getting to Know You #7: Ann Kingstone

2012-01-23T01:01:00.004-06:00

This feature is back! Today I'm interviewing Ann Kingstone, who I had the delightful pleasure of meeting at last year's TNNA in Columbus, Ohio. (I've since found out that Ann is a hugger, like me, so if you ever get to meet her, just go ahead and give her a big squeeze - you won't be able to resist, anyway!) Today's post is a stop on the Novel Knits blog tour, and Ann was gracious enough to give me a mini-interview to go along with my gushing over the new book.

Ann's first book Novel Knits, is inspired by characters in British literature

I met Ann in a dark corner of a restaurant in Columbus while attending Marly Bird's Yarn Thing Designer Dinner. Ann's outgoing personality and infectious laugh put me right at ease in a room where I knew hardly anyone, and when Marly announced that we would all be receiving a Namaste bag at the end of the night, Ann and I were both jumping up and down in excitement and disbelief (seriously, you had to be there - from all the squealing going on, you would have thought Oprah had just told an audience they were all getting new cars)! When I met Ann, her first book, Novel Knits, had just been released. This book features fifteen showstopping patterns based on the works of Jane Austen, J.K. Rowling and JRR Tolkien. That's a pretty rich set of inspiration, and Ann doesn't disappoint, providing the book with a full range of patterns from lace to cables to fair isle. There are sweaters! There are shawls! There are socks! There are housewares and accessories! And each is beautifully executed with the flair and technical skill that only Ann can give.

Chaussettes de Beauxbatons

TSK: I love the idea of this book. It's like...knitwear based fan fiction! As I flipped each page, I could envision a little story to go with each project. The French mother, sending a pair of Chausettes de Beauxbatons socks in a care package for her daughter at Hogwarts who didn't get the champion spot in the Triwizarad Tournament, or Galadriel, donning Lanthir Lamath for a walk through her wood on a chilly day. Clearly you're an avid reader; do you have plans for more book-based knitwear designs?

AK: I do!! I'm especially keen to get to work on some Brontë-themed knits as I live in Brontëland (the West Riding of Yorkshire).

The actual Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station has a half-trolly lodged in the wall for passerby to take Hogwarts photos!

TSK: I simply MUST ask you this. Have you been to King's Cross Station, and stood at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10? Does such a barrier actually exist, as depicted so clearly throughout the Harry Potter films? I'm curious to know whether this has become a popular tourist spot.

AK: LOL - yes I have!! The metal barrier that the books describe isn't there, but there is a stone walkway between platforms 9 and 10 where the station has placed a tribute - a luggage trolley apparently disappearing into the wall. There is invariably a queue of tourists waiting to be photographed pushing the trolley! Alas, my siter's photos of me pushing it didn't come out very well (it's a dark spot, and the photos were taken with her Blackberry). Maybe another time swith a better camera we'll get some good shots of it?

Hartfield Shawl

TSK: Tell me about your design process. When you read through these books, did you picture each character in a specific piece of knitwear? I do that sometimes... Or would you say you were designing for the spirit of the characters you love so well? I know some books specifically refer to knitwear (in fact, I'm currently designing a 4-piece collection based around the knitwear mentioned in The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern); were the knits in your book literal interpretations, or loosely inspired by?

AK: The designs were mostly 'inspired by' or 'named for' rather than being literal interpretations. For example, in 'Northanger Abbey' Jane Austen parodies the 'Gothic romance' literature that was very popular at the time she wrote, so I endeavoured to give my 'Northanger' gloves a gothic feel. Similarly, the hooded scarf 'Lanthir Lamath' is deliberately elvish in appearance. However, many of the designs were already pretty well formulated before I realised they were appropriate to a particular literary theme. For example. the Durmstrang socks were so named because they had such a Nordic feel (Rowling presents Durmstrang as a school in a very Northern sea-faring and mountainous land...).

Pemberley

TSK: Pemberly is hands-down my utter favorite from this collection. The brilliance of this design, the flattering quality of the undulating center panel, the clever monochromatic nature of the original sample, it all combines for one magnificent piece. Did you have a clear favorite in the collection? If so, what made it stand out to you?

AK: For me it's the hooded scarf, Lanthir Lamath (pictured on the book's cover). I love the way the pattern develops from the drops of water at the bottom of the tails, through the intertwined rivulets further up, to the separation of the cascades to frame the celtic knot on the hood. The design began as a way to make sense of the pattern for embossed circles that I had come up with by using them to represent droplets of water. When I started out I didn't know it would end up being so very glorious! And it seems other knitters agree with me; although Pemberley is very popular too, Lanthir Lamath is currently winning on Ravelry in terms of numbers of projects and favourites.

Tess Slippers, Hogwarts Bookscarves, and Sylvana Beret

TSK: What's up next for you? Tell us all about your latest collection, plans for your next book (if any?), knitting events you plan to attend this year, teaching engagements, etc.

AK: Currently I'm working on a collection of seasonally-themed knits, 3 designs for each season of the year which together form a book I intend to publish in late May/early June. I'm also working on developing the 'Knitting School' at my website where I'm slowly building a library of lessons for advanced knitting techniques. It is important to me to help knitters develop the advanced knitting skills that are used in many of my patterns. That's why I'm also workshops in yarn shops around the UK. Next weekend (28th January) sees me signing books and teaching stranded knitting techniques at The Sheep Shop in Cambridge, then 23rd February sees me signing books at the new season yarn launch at Baa Ram Ewe in Leeds. I have a wonderful knitter friend contacting other yarn shops around the country to set such engagements up for me, with the intention of having at least one teaching engagement a month.

And... I'm coming to America again for the TNNA trade show in June. I hope to see you there again Sarah?

Be sure to visit Ann's blog to keep up with her newest designs!

TSK: Squeee! I would absolutely love to see you again. If you need a roommate, look no further! I'll be looking forward to that. Okay, one last question for you. With so many creative outlets for crafty people (especially literature & movie fans it seems), why choose knitting?

AK: Knitting is about so much more than creating warm and flattering garments. It truly is an expressive art form, articulating feeling, culture, themes, ideas, interests, wishes, etc. I love the term 'knitting voices', so prosaically communicating that knits are expressive of the knitters who produce them. Obviously, my particular interest is in how knitters express literary interests in their stitches. Just how much knitters love to do that is shown in the abundance of literary-themed groups and patterns in Ravelry; for example, there are 89 Harry Potter themed groups and over 300 Harry Potter themed patterns! So when I had the idea for a literary-themed knitting book, I knew that it would appeal to a lot of knitters.

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I'd like to thank Ann for stopping by and sharing a little bit about her book with us. You can check out the other stops on her blog tour through Woolly Wormhead, The Knitting Goddess, MaryJane Mucklestone, Carol Feller, and Anniken Allis' websites.Forthcoming blog spots in the tour include Stephen West, The Yarn Yard, Ruth Garcia Alcantud, and Franklin Habit, so keep your eye on their blogs, as well!

As a special thank you to my readers, Ann is offering a digital copy of Novel Knits to one lucky commenter! To enter, simply leave a comment below telling Ann how fabulous the new book is. I'll announce a winner by the end of next week. If you're on Twitter and would like an extra entry, simply tweet the following:

"@TheSexyKnitter and @AnnKingstone are giving away a copy Ann's book, Novel Knits! Visit Sarah's blog to enter: http://tinyurl.com/novelknits"

Looking for the winner of the last giveaway? It's Andria (Adia on Ravelry)! Congrats Andria! I'll be in touch to get your address.

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Coming Soon: Principesa Dress

2012-01-18T15:33:00.002-06:00

If you'll be at TNNA this weekend, you won't want to miss the fashion show. The Principesa Dress is currently being tech edited and will be available for purchase very, very soon! Details and additional photos will be posted when the pattern goes live.

Style Your Knits: Limeade Fizz Shawlette

2012-01-18T01:24:00.000-06:00

This weekend, I'll be attending The National Needlearts Association trade show in Phoenix, AZ. I hadn't planned to attend this show, but I received some super-generous sponsorship from Anzula Luxury Fibers that made my trip possible, and I'm excited to be attending again after a great first visit last year!

TNNA is one of those events where you need to look your best, and designers are no exception. Since the temperatures are supposed to be in the 70's while I'm there, I thought I could get away with wearing a pair of shorts. For this look, I've styled my Limeade Fizz Shawl & Shawlette (mine is the shawlette size) with a jersey tee with a print that reminds me of garter stitch, some glitzy gladiator sandals, oversized bronze earrings, and a brightly printed Fossil clutch. The whole look is meant to be comfy and bright, with the point of the shawlette in the front, kerchief-style.

I'll be wearing this around the show floor on Friday while I help some folks set up, so if you see me, please do come up and say hello!

Limeade Fizz Shawlette by TheSexyKnitter

Oh, and I'll also be sporting this new diamond ring the Dr. bought for me tonight, just because he felt like buying me some jewelry. I have to tell you, I love this ring, and I don't mind one bit that it came from Walmart! It looks like a little bow on my finger. How cute is that?

By the way, I haven't announced a winner for my latest giveaway yet, so go read all about it and leave a comment so you can be entered, okay? I'll announce a winner and a new giveaway on Tuesday when I get back from TNNA.

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SexyKnitter readers get 20% off 579Jewelry with coupon code "sexyfans"!

Coming Soon: Sulpice Socks

2012-01-14T23:49:00.003-06:00

I'm so excited to finally be able to show you these socks! I designed this pair in July of last year and am pleased to announce that they are about to be published in The Knitter Magazine, Issue 41. The issue will be available for purchase in the UK at the end of this month and will likely hit American newsstands sometime in March or April.

This pair of socks represents my first foray into cable design, and I have to say I'm pretty hooked. I absolutely love working with twisted stitches, and creating a unique cable pattern from one of my own sketches was really satisfying. I've already sketched out about three more and have grand plans for designing around them, so stay tuned!

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Deliciousness: Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel Sandwiches

2012-01-13T15:43:00.001-06:00

Saw these on Pinterest the other day and was practically forced to buy pretzels the very next time I went to the grocery store. They're basically teeny tiny pretzel sandwiches, stuffed with super sweetened peanut butter and dipped in chocolate. You can find the original recipe over at Elissa's blog, 17 and Baking. Apparently these were born out of an epic fail to make something else, and the sheer desperation to make something sweet, dammit, drove her to make something quick and easy. (Note to Elissa: I'm kinda glad that pear clafoutis didn't turn out, because these sounded way better, anyway!)

I'll be attending a baby shower at one of my LYSs on Saturday. Whenever there's an event like this going on over there, it's always sort of heavily hinted that perhaps I might like to bring something? (Let me tell you, it's not like they have to twist my arm!) I knew there would already be cake, so I decided to make my treat a salty-sweet-crunchy snack instead of opting for one of the so-much-sugar-you'll-keel-over confections I usually arrive with.

These aren't going to make it over there.

Fair warning, here. These are stupid easy to make and dangerously delicious. I told the Dr. we'd try one each, just to see how they were, but that I was going to take the rest of them to the shower. Half an hour later, they were almost all gone. I'd decided to dip half of my batch in semi-sweet chocolate, and the other half in white chocolate, and while I fully expected to like the semi-sweet the best (one of my LYS owners is allergic to chocolate so the white ones were meant for her), the white chocolate was both my and the Dr.'s favorite. I have no idea why; I don't usually like white chocolate but something about it just goes really well with the peanut butter mixture.

Other than the white chocolate switch, I did a couple of other things different, too. First, I froze the sandwiches solid before dipping them in chocolate. Since the recipe makes a huge batch, the last few sandwiches were starting to thaw out and get rather sticky by the time I got to them, so I might suggest pulling them out just a few at a time for the chocolate section. Oh, and I used my handy cookie scoop in the peanut butter mixture, instead of trying to form peanut butter balls by hand. My cookie scoop fits about a tablespoon and a half, but I only scooped up about a teaspoon worth of filling for each sandwich, just eyeballing it. With the opening of the scoop facing upwards, click the handle a few times, causing the peanut butter to roll back and forth and form a tiny little ball. Once this is done, you can just tip the ball onto the pretzel, then squash it down with another pretzel. No sticky fingers!

I give this recipe two thumbs up (okay, with the Dr.'s vote that's actually four thumbs up) and will definitely be making some of these again. Since the pretzel sandwiches didn't make it to Saturday, I'm going to try coating some pretzel sticks with the peanut butter and chocolate, and see how that goes! Will report back. In the meantime, seriously. You need some pretzel sandwiches. Now.

Flatten your...cake layers?

2012-01-12T02:58:00.002-06:00

Sprinkle cake, a la Raspberri Cupcakes

This is usually the time of year when folks start thinking about losing weight, eating better, and generally being more healthy in the new year than they were in the last. While the rest of the world is daydreaming about finally getting those abs flat, I'm hung up on trying to get my cake layers flat. I mean, layered cakes are a big enough hassle without having to wrestle 1/4-inch off the top of each cake with an abnormally long serrated knife, amiright? I mean, someone could lose a finger, and that would not be a great way to start the new year. (As a side note, if you are looking to cut calories, check out this post for a tasty way to prepare boxed cake mix in a calorie-friendly way!)

I made a sprinkle cake on Saturday. The Dr. had been craving wedding cake for a week, and we were hosting our preacher and his wife for dessert so I figured, why not? I would've loved to do an ombre cake like Steph's, but the Dr. can be picky about details and I didn't think purple wedding cake would go over well. Word to the wise, though: covering a cake with sprinkles is WAY HARDER THAN IT LOOKS. I think I'll be finding sprinkles in the nooks and crannies of my kitchen until the day we move. I have absolutely no suggestions on how to prevent them from going everywhere, either; Steph suggests putting your cake into a giant container of some sort, but I was frosting on a cake pedestal so that was a no-go for me. I can only say if you're going to try this at home, have the vacuum handy.

Anyway, on with the point. I figured out an easy, no-muss, no-fuss, no-cutting, no-waste way of getting those cake layers perfectly flat, every time. And here's how I did it:

Step 1: Remove the springform section of the pan from your cake as soon as it comes out of the oven (leave the cake on the round metal bit underneath); place it on a wire rack to cool.

Step 2: Cover warm cake with a flexible silicon cutting mat.

Step 3: Put a large, flat cookie pan on top of the cutting mat.

Step 4: Plop a 2-pound bag of sugar (or other light weight) on top of the whole stack.

Step 5: When cool, remove all items from the top of the cake. Note that the just the very moist top coat of cake is going to stick to your silicon mat; this is your delicious, taste-testing treat! Scrape that goodness off with a fork and eat it. (Hey, you gotta make sure your cake is guest-worthy without cutting into it somehow, right?)

Voila! Perfectly flat cake layers with no cutting, no fuss, and no waste.

I didn't add any additional steps to this process - promise! No cutting, no weird frosting-some-parts-more-than-others, nada. Just stacked 'em right up and slapped some frosting on! And look how pretty and even it came out!

I think this technique could also work with sheet cakes; instead of a silicon mat, you'd want to use parchment paper, and instead of a cookie sheet and weight, use a light book or two.

....Yeah, I'm totally doing this any time I make cake layers from now on. WIN.

New Pattern: Pretty in Pink Hat

2012-01-08T13:33:00.013-06:00

I have a new pattern out in the February/March issue of Your Knitting Life (previously known as Knitting Today!), the Pretty in Pink Hat. This hat was specifically designed to flatter curls (HELLO!), big hair, and dreads. It's oversized around the brim to leave room for all that hair, but if oversized hats aren't your thing, the pattern also includes instructions for how to convert the hat to a beret with plain ribbing at the bottom.

This hat uses just 2 balls of Red Heart Boutique Midnight, an aran weight, glittery, self-striping acrylic. I didn't use all of both balls though; I'd say if you were going to substitue you'd probably need maybe 200-250 yards.

This hat was quite fun to make; I wanted it to have sections of zig zag lace set off by bands of lateral braid stitches, with the plain sections not appearing to chevron at all. The technique is simple but different, and achieved exactly the effect I was going for. Let me tell you, it was quite the challenge to make self-striping yarn zigzag in some sections without having it zigzag all over!

This hat would also look lovely in a solid color, and I'm looking forward to making one for myself. I can't decide between red, green, or blue, but I'm thinking I might have to go buy some Malabrigo Twist.

I just happen to have an extra copy of the February/March issue, along with 2 skeins of the yarn used for this hat, and you know what that means!! That's right baby, it's giveaway time!

Even if the Pretty in Pink hat doesn't strike your fancy, there are tons of other great patterns in this issue. I'm partial to the Emma Gloves and the Sweetheart Socks, myself. (There's also a super cute Penguin Hat, for kids!)

I think we'll mix things up this time. To enter, take a look at my portfolio on Ravelry, then leave a comment telling me which pattern of mine you'd be most likely to knit. If you're on Twitter, you can get an extra entry by tweeting the following:

"Tell @TheSexyKnitter which of her patterns you most want to knit, & you could win a kit to make her new hat: http://tinyurl.com/hatgiveaway"

And that's it! We'll leave the comments open until I'm ready to announce a winner, probably sometime in the next week or so.

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Style Your Knits: Ribbed Vest

2012-01-03T13:44:00.006-06:00

I did something outrageous last week: I knitted for myself...from a pattern...using stash yarn! I almost never get to do this any more, as I'm seemingly always knitting for work. Not that I'm complaining about that, mind you; this job is the best I've ever had. However, it does take a toll after awhile, looking at all the latest patterns and my friends' beautiful "I knit this for myself" projects, and knowing I don't have the time to indulge. This year, though, I decided to take off the week between Christmas and the new year, and treat myself to a little selfish knitting. I selected the Ribbed Vest pattern from Sarah Punderson, which is all the rage at my LYS right now. There is this lovely grey sample hanging up in the shop, and it's been all I could do not to shove it in one of my giant handbags and take it home with me. Instead, I bought the pattern and chose some mossy green Mirasol Qina from my stash (I held the yarn doubled) to make my version. I started it on December 30th and finished it last night, and I just couldn't wait to wear it today! Here's how I styled mine:

Ribbed Vest by TheSexyKnitter featuring a project by salwaldo

Pairing a chunky vest on top with skinny jeans on bottom helps to even out the proportions of the overall look. The flowy, high-low button down shirt with a bit of lace also complements the heaviness of the knitwear, and adds a touch of femininity. I finished my look off today with a braid-wrapped side ponytail, a handmade sea turtle brooch purchased from a fair trade shop in Wyoming, a huge silk rose ring from The Petal Collection, and some small brass earrings with a lovely green patina (similar). Hopefully, I'll be able to snag some photos of my outfit soon to post on Ravelry! In the meantime, I give this pattern two thumbs up and highly recommend it as a stylish stash buster!

Style Your Knits: Eustice

2011-12-15T20:12:00.005-06:00

Many of you will know I've been using Polyvore to style knits for quite some time. I've decided this is going to be a fairly regular thing on the blog, so I've officially named the feature "Style Your Knits" (I know, original, right?). You can see the first few I've done by clicking here.

Today's set features Eustice, which is a free pattern from Berrocco using their gorgeous Ultra Alpaca Light. I absolutely love the cabling on this sweater, as well as the comfy, oversized cowl. For this set, I've paired it with skinny jeans, suede heels, a delicate leather lace handbag from Valentino and some shiny details. Looking at this set makes me really want to knit this sweater! I've already got most of these items, except for that amazing Valentino, which was sadly priced a bit out of my budget at a mere $2500. Ahhhh, Valentino, how I love thee. Someday, you will be mine! Perhaps, in the meantime, I can substitute with this more reasonably priced lace beauty?

Eustice by TheSexyKnitter

I have a winner for the lovely notions bag giveaway from Kusala Knitworks! It's commenter #14, InJuneau! I'll be in touch! Remember, you still have another 2 weeks to finish a Muffalette and win the grand prize!
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Deliciousness: Weight Watchers Cupcakes! (sorta)

2011-12-11T01:58:00.012-06:00

This weekend, the Dr. and I had guests over for dinner and board games.We wanted to keep it low-key, so we just heated up the big pot of chili I'd made on Monday, and I whipped up a fresh batch of cupcakes. I didn't feel like making cupcakes from scratch, though, so I bought a box of Pillsbury Moist Supreme in Classic Vanilla. Boxed cake mix is awesome if you're feeling lazy, but sometimes I feel like preparing it according to the box instructions makes for greasy, heavy cake, and I wanted something a little lighter.

The ones the guests got were tied with fancy ribbons too, but I totally forgot to do that to these!

A few years ago, a friend of mine told me a little Weight Watchers trick. If you buy a cake mix that says it has pudding in the mix (all of the Pillsbury Moist Supreme flavors say this), you can make light, fluffy cupcakes with barely more calories than the cake mix itself by adding a few simple ingredients. And I'm gonna tell you how to do it! Here's what you need:

1 box Pillsbury Moist Supreme cake mix, any flavor
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites + enough water to make 1 cup

Toss these ingredients into a bowl, mix them up with a whisk for a couple of minutes, then bake as directed on the box. The only extra calories you're getting is from the applesauce, and hey - that's a serving of fruit, right? So really, you could even say these cupcakes are good for you, amiright? This recipe will make 1 dozen Texas-sized cupcakes or 2 dozen regular cupcakes. I promise the final cupcakes don't taste like apples or applesauce at all. Just yummy cake that will leave you feeling satisfied, not guilty! You can also use 1 cup of canned pumpkin instead of the applesauce, which I hear goes really well with the spice cake. :)

Adorable, edible extras from Sugar Robot

I topped my cupcakes off with cream cheese buttercream frosting (okay, so they're not THAT great for you, but you gotta save calories where you can, right?) and edible Christmas ornaments from Sugar Robot.

Cream Cheese Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Beat these together until smooth. This is tasty and delicious, but be warned: it's thick, so it won't pipe through a frosting bag well (ask me how I know). This frosted all 12 of my Texas-sized cupcakes, but I think you might want to double the recipe if you're making regular sized cupcakes.

I'm no Grinch...

2011-12-10T03:53:00.004-06:00

I'll leave that in the very capable hands of one Mr. Jim Carrey.

Since it's Christmastime, and I'm not a Grinch, I've decided that Muffalette will be free through the end of December! So go snag your copy while you can, and remember...if you finish one by December 31, you could win a kit to make another!

In the meantime, here's my video tutorial for making & inserting thrums:

Thrum, they told me, thrum-thra-thrum-thrum...

Watch while you can, because the video will go back into hiding at the end of December! :)

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Introducing Muffalette (and a giveaway!)

2011-12-07T01:05:00.008-06:00

The new Knitty got me thinking...it's been awhile since I self-published a pattern (nine months, actually, since Limeade Fizz came out), so I've decided to go ahead and release a pattern I've been working on for some time now. I give you: Muffalette!

Cozy thrummed muff!

I’m a native Texan. I spent the first 23 years of my life in Fort Worth, Texas, followed by 3 years in West Palm Beach, Florida. It should have been 5 years, but that’s a very long story involving the Dr.’s career and other people moving and someone else having a stroke, so perhaps that’s best saved for another time. Long story short, at the age of 26 I suddenly found myself residing in the Midwest. You know what? I have learned one very important thing from my time here: I do not like being cold. I’ve also never seen this much snow in my life; luckily for me, I happen to be a knitter. It suffices to say that I quickly set out on a quest to find the best way to cocoon my entire body in as many layers of wool as humanly possible during the winter months. My quest was over when my lovely local yarn shop owner told me about thrumming. Thrumming is, for someone who does not like to be cold, a godsend, because thrumming is a means by which you can knit huge gobs of fluffy, unspun wool, right into your knitting. This leaves you with an insulative layer of wool underneath your knitted fabric! It would almost be like wearing a sheep, if sheep came in loads of different colors and knew how to cable.

Colorful diamonds decorate the outside, while the inside keeps you nice and warm.

Muffalette is designed to be truly practical; it has all the grace and charm of its counterparts from a time gone by, yet still caters to the demands of today’s busy schedules. Worked with a single skein of worsted wool and two colors of fiber, this muff features diamond cables on the cuffs and sneaky colorwork across the body. There’s also a wrist strap, in case you need to send a quick text or open a door to let yourself in out of the cold.

Diamond cabled cuffs are expertly finished with an I-cord Bindoff and wrist strap.

The pattern uses just 200 yards of worsted weight yarn and 60 grams fiber, total. The 5-page PDF includes a link to a video tutorial for making the thrums and inserting them into your knitting, as well as stitch-by-stitch written instructions and charts for both the cable and colorwork sections. I'm offering it for just $4.00, but WAIT! You can get it for FREE, for the next 30 minutes, right here. If you missed the freebie, you can get $1.00 off when you use the coupon code "clubsexy" during checkout.

But that's not all!

No, friends, no post of mine would be complete without a giveaway, would it? I didn't think so, either. To help promote Muffalette, I'm going to be giving one lucky winner the following:

2 skeins Spud & Chloe Sweater in Lake
80% Merino/20% Bamboo Top with Angelina from Shunklies
Undyed 100% Corriedale roving
Project bag from Kusala Knitworks

Jenifer's bag fits all the goodies with room to spare!

Want to know how to enter? Well, I'm giving it a bit of a twist this time. To enter, you need to knit a Muffalette, and post your FO photos to Ravelry by the end of December 31. That's it! Muffalette knits up quickly, I promise; you have plenty of time between now and then to whip out one or five. Remember, each FO you produce counts as one entry, so go crazy! Surely you know someone who needs a lovely thrummed muff for Christmas, right?

I also have a beautiful notions bag from Jenifer to give away to one lucky commenter. To enter to win the notions bag, all you need to do is leave a comment to this post! I'll choose a winner sometime next week. (You know me, I try to be specific and then nope, it just happens when it happens.)

So cute! This one measures 7.5" x 7".

For a second entry for the notions bag, tweet the following:

"Couldn't you use some FREE YARN this Christmas? @TheSexyKnitter tells you how to win enough for her new thrummed muff: http://tinyurl.com/79nvrvg"

Good luck, everyone!

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New Knitty is Here!

2011-12-06T21:48:00.000-06:00

The Winter issue of Knitty came out tonight, and whooboy, it's pretty great! I'm sure you've seen it by now (and if you haven't, head on over and give it a looksee), but I wanted to point a few things out. Y'all remember my interviews with Laura, Alex, and Julie, right? Well, all three of these rockstars are featured in this new issue. Take a look:

Velvet Morning, by Julie Crawford

Mandelbrot, by Alex Tinsley

(Alex's corresponding article regarding fractal spinning is here)

Teknika, by Laura Nelkin

A huge shoutout to these three ladies and all the other featured designers! Another great issue. :)

Looking for the winner of Stacey's amigurumi giveaway? Random Number Generator tells me it's KisforKrissy! Congrats, Krissy! Stacey or I will be in touch shortly to get your address.

I'm going to be posting another giveaway tomorrow, so don't miss out! More yarn, fiber and project bags to be had!
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Picks of the Day:

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Getting to Know You #6: Stacey Trock

2011-11-28T00:49:00.029-06:00

Whoo boy! We had a bit of a break from the Getting to Know You series; y'all didn't think I was done, did you? Well, I'm definitely not finished, because I've got loads more fabulous designers to talk up. This week, I wanted to tell you a little bit more about someone who may have been escaping your radar: Stacey Trock, aka Fresh Stitches!

Newly-married Stacey shows off one of her faves, a giant puppy

I got to meet Stacey this year at (wait, can you guess?) TNNA. She was doing a book signing for Cuddly Crochet in the Martingale booth, so I snagged one of those and snagged Stacey for the evening, too! We met up with the also-fabulous Teva Durham at the social networking event and afterwards wolfed down some of the best Mexican food Columbus has to offer. Stacey & Teva, since I'm a Texan and we had Mexican food together, you should know that makes us friends for life!

Teva, Stacey & myself at TNNA; click the photo to read Stacey's account of our fun!

The list of designers I admire would not be complete without Stacey; this gal is practically a machine of efficiency! Not only does Stacey crank out her amigurumi patterns at an alarming rate, she also has a dedicated following on her regularly updated blog, a solid handle on social networking, being active on Facebook, Twitter, and Ravelry, and she somehow finds time to fill all the custom orders in her Etsy shop. How does she do it all? I caught up with her to ask.

Microbes & Macrob

TSK: I love that you specialize in full-size, cuddly amigurumi, when everyone else seems to be doing tiny amigurumi. But why amigurumi? How'd you get started making those? Which was the first one you made, and how long ago was that?

ST: I've ALWAYS loved stuffed animals. Of course, it started with my favorite teddy, then escalated to getting stuffed animals as gifts when I was a teenager, then sewing stuffed animals in high school and college. After college, I was browsing around online and saw that you could crochet stuffed animals, and I was right onto that! I crocheted my first amigurumi in 2008... and I think I designed my first one the next week. My first amigurumi were a koala and a lion... and they're still patterns of mine to this day! When I look back, I can't believe that I was able to make something cute on my first try!

Maple the Moose

TSK: Yeah, um, I MAY still have my childhood teddy bear. It may or may not still sleep in my bed. What can I say? I sleep on my side and need an arm prop. Nothing else is quite the same. Ha! Anyway. These projects seem to go quite fast for you; do you just crochet quickly, or do they really work up that fast? How long would you say it takes you, on average, to work up a new sample?

ST: Oooh, that's a tricky question! I think it's a bit of both. I've been crocheting since I was a little child, so of course, I crochet like someone with 20+ years of experience! Plus, I make A LOT of amigurumi, so I have the benefit of being able to crochet them without looking at a pattern, which saves time. But mostly, they're quick things to make... much faster than something like a sweater! My amigurumi aren't known for being super-tiny, and the medium-sized ones can take about 4-5 hours (once I've sorted out what I want to do). For some of the tiny amigurumi, they can take less than 2 hours- talk about a great project! I once crocheted a giant puppy (pictured at top), and I don't even know how that took me... it was forever! I'm not making another one of those!

Stacey's two books, Cuddly Crochet and Crocheted Softies

TSK: Now that we've established that you're a downright whiz with a hook, who taught you how to crochet, and when? Do you also knit? What other crafts do you enjoy besides crochet?

ST: My mom taught me to single crochet and increase when I was very little. She never taught me to decrease, because all she makes is ripple afghans. So, I got my hands on a crochet book or two, and am completely self-taught (besides the intro lesson from my mom). I began knitting in 2008, and I have to admit, most of the things I make "for fun" are knitted. I find the motion very relaxing, and it uses up much less yarn (which is important when you're calculating how much baby alpaca you need for a shawl)! Aside from knitting and crocheting, I also sew (mostly clothing for practical purposes) and bake like a crazy person (can that count as a craft?). I've dabbled in tatting, quilting, cross-stitch, french beaded flower making and embroidery... but I always come back to the crafts involving yarn.

Zork the Alien

TSK: Baking definitely counts. You are one busy lady! One last thing I'm curious about, though. Since you self-publish your patterns (other than your books), have you found the "business" end of things impacting your design style? If so, how?

ST: That's a really good question! When I first started designing, I wanted to make a stuffed animal from every animal on the planet. So I set to work: the koala was a success! Everyone loved the monkey! But then... the ostrich? The cheetah? Not so much. That's when I figured out that I needed to design animals that other people wanted to make. It sounds really obvious when I say it now, but it didn't really occur to me at the start how much my designing would be shaped by customer demand. After all, if no one is interested in buying your pattern, there's not much point in designing it!
So, some designs that pop into my head get scrapped because I don't think there will be much demand for them. But on the other hand, listening to what my customers are interested in has given me some great ideas! I had no idea that folks were so into buggy eyes, until I asked around and discovered that people are crazy about them! Now, I've started adding a 'buggy-eyed' option to many of my patterns!

TSK: Makes sense to me, Stacey! I've run into this myself too, because what I really love designing is dresses and skirts, but those are generally the least-likely-to-be-knitted. Luckily I do have a few clients who love having a good showstopper to send down the runway at TNNA and other functions!

Okay, that's it for this time! Huge, huge thanks to Stacey for stopping by. We do have a little surprise for you; Stacey is going to gift one lucky winner with one of her new amigurumi kits from her Etsy shop! To enter, all you need to do is go have a look at Stacey's designs, then come back here and leave a comment suggesting an animal for her to make that she hasn't done yet! I'll announce the winner on Thursday.

We have a winner!

Looking for the winner of the Capelet Giveaway Extravaganza? Random.org tells me it's commenter #71, Mamahoov on Ravelry! Congrats, Mamahoov! Shoot me an email at thesexyknitter@gmail.com and let me know your mailing address and whether your prefer your Signature Needles (size US 8) to be circular or straight. :)

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Santa Claus is Coming to Town

2011-11-26T17:02:00.008-06:00

Each year since we've been married, the Dr. and I sit for a photo with Santa. We keep all of the photos in a large Christmas scrapbook with a bit about what that Christmas was like, where we were and who we spent it with; even though we have just 7 photos so far, it says a lot about our life together. Last night, we had our annual photo taken in Sheridan, WY, at City Hall with Santa AND Mrs. Claus! In eight years, we'd never seen a Mrs. - or a fake beard!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! On Monday, I'll announce the winner of the giveaway extravaganza, but there might just be something else going up for grabs, too, so come on back!

Capelet Giveaway Extravaganza!

2011-11-17T16:58:00.002-06:00

Click the photo above to be taken to the Ravelry pattern page

The Winter issue of Knitcircus came out today, and features not only a video where yours truly will teach you how to work I-cord and applied I-cord, but also features a little design of mine, the Priscilla Vintage Capelet!

Texture, short rows and an I-cord edging complete this look. Also, isn't my beagle cute?

This capelet was inspired by an antique stitch pattern book; I selected a dainty border that was originally intended to be worked on minuscule needles and crochet thread, and turned it into a big fashion statement! Seen here in America's Alpaca Blend DK held doubled throughout, the capelet whips up in a jiffy when worked on Size 8/5 mm needles! You've still got plenty of time to knit one before the holidays, so I thought I'd help you towards that end. That's right, kids, it's GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

America's Alpaca was gracious enough to sponsor the giveaway with enough yarn to work the capelet, but that's not all! I also have a lovely project bag from RudDawg, some handmade point protectors from Kusala Knitworks, a pair of Signature Needles, and a copy of the Winter Pattern Collection from Knitcircus!

So here are all the goodies:

That's 1320 yards of luxury, a fabulous project bag, and an entire SET of point protectors!

The project bag is a Medium KIP bag from one of my very favorite project bag makers on Etsy: RudDawg. I have two of her Small KIP bags that I use absolutely all the time, which are great for socks and other small-to-medium-ish projects. Brenda's bags are made out of high-quality cotton, they have a nice fleece base the bag can stand on, and they are fully lined with about a jillion pockets inside (seriously). They also close with a double drawstring, which I generally prefer to zippers, since I'm the klutzy type that always manages to snag my yarn in the zipper. With the small bags priced at just $9.50 and the mediums at $15-$17, they're some of the most affordable bags I've found. And as if that's not enough, she even has a clearance section, where you can often snag the small bags for about $6.50. This one's big enough to fit all 6 skeins of yarn with a tiny bit of room left over!

Fabulous custom point protectors and YARN!!

I was really excited when Jennifer offered up a set of her custom wine-cork point protectors, because how perfect are these going to be with the razor-sharp Signature Needles? Perfect, that's how. It was also Jennifer's idea for me to find a needle sponsor, so thank her for my contacting Signature! Definitely go check out her Etsy shop, because she has many other cute things, including LEGO stitch markers!

This yarn was a real delight to work with; it's the perfect blend of 70% alpaca and 30% merino, with a nice tight twist so your knitting doesn't get a weird halo to it. It was a great pairing for the textural quality of the stitch pattern in the capelet! These skeins come in put-ups of 220 yards per ball and retail for $14.00 each; they come in 4 colors and can be purchased directly from America's Alpaca.

Signature Needles! THE knitting needle.

The winner of this giveaway will also receive a pair of size 8/5 mm needle from Signature Needle Arts, in 14" straight needles with their their choice of point and cap or a 32" circular needle. Seriously, every person I have ever known who has tried these needles says they're unlike anything they've ever worked with before, and tells me very earnestly that if they could afford to switch ALL their needles for these, they'd do it in a heartbeat. That's some pretty convincing advertising, right there!

So, you probably want to know how to enter the giveaway, amiright? Well, first go and queue up the pattern on Ravelry. Hey, this giveaway is all about my pattern, and if you win you'll have everything you need to make it, so you might as well put it in your queue, right? Then, I think it would be nice to thank all of our sponsors in the comments, so come back here and leave a comment with any one of the following (you don't have to answer them all!!):

Your favorite pattern from this issue of Knitcircus OR
Your favorite project bag in RudDawg's store OR
Which item you find most covetable in Kusala Knitworks' shop OR
Which needle you'd choose from Signature if you were to win, OR
Your dream order from America's Alpaca

I'll leave the comments open until midnight, Central US time on Black Friday, November 25th. The winner (one winner takes it all!) will be chosen by the Random Number Generator and announced, um...well, I would tell you when I'll announce it, but honestly every time I do that I never seem to get around to it, so let's just say I'll announce it as soon as I can. I'll be traveling until the 27th (the Dr. and I are going to WY for Thanksgiving!) so it'll probably be the 28th.

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SexyKnitter readers get 20% off 579Jewelry with coupon code "sexyfans"!

8 Years & Counting...

2011-10-29T18:06:00.001-05:00

Eight years ago Monday, a medical student asked me to marry him, and I said yes! This amazing guy changed my life forever, and even though there's been some ups and downs, I wouldn't change a thing. Here's us that night (and this was before he asked me!):

Yes, those are overalls. Don't be a hater.

In case you hadn't figured it out by the Superman getup, Halloween is our engagement anniversary. I had mono, and that day was the first I'd felt like going out in weeks, so he came and took me out to Olive Garden (which is pretty much my favorite restaurant of all time), watched Superman with me, and tucked me back into bed, playing his guitar and singing me to sleep with an original song he wrote just for me. He had my ring on his pinky, and as the song came to a close he sang, "Will you marry me?" Needless to say, that woke me back up. ;)

To celebrate our 8 years together, I'm offering Buy 2, Get 1 Free on every pattern in my shop now through Monday! You don't need a coupon code or anything, it's automatic if you have at least 3 patterns in your cart.

Have fun shopping! Click here to be taken to the shop.

Deliciousness: Raspberry Crescent Squares!

2011-10-27T18:35:00.010-05:00

About a week ago, my oldest brother became a father, and I became an aunt for the third time. Since the baby was a girl, I decided to make some yummy pink snacks to celebrate!

Can't get much girlier than this, right here.

Really, if you need more of an intro to this recipe than that photo, you've got issues. Seriously though, these things are AMAZING. You're going to want to double the recipe (which is really easy, by the way), because you'll have eaten half of them before anyone else can reach the pan. They're also stupid easy. Here's what you need:

For the Squares:

1 can seamless crescent dough
12 frozen raspberries
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup raspberry jam
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

For the Topping:

1 egg, slightly beaten (toss a splash of water in there, too)
1 Tablespooon Sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Note about doubling: If you're going to double the filling, buy 2 extra cans of crescent dough. I always have about half the filling left over!

Preheat your oven to 375°. Open your can of seamless crescent dough and cut it into 12 squares. I kind of biffed it on mine and cut rectangles. Next time, I'll cut 3 long strips and then cut each strip into 4 pieces.

Der, Sarah. These are not squares.

Toss everything else except the raspberries into a bowl and cream it all together. If you have a Magic Bullet, like I do, you can use that. Otherwise, just use a mixer. Flatten out each of your little pieces of dough so they're about 3-4 inches square. Plop about a tablespoon or so of filling in the middle, and top it with a raspberry.

Almost done already! See how cute and pink?

Fold each corner towards the middle of the square, and pinch the edges together, like so:

The mathematician inside me would like to point out that technically, this is a parallelogram, not a square.

Repeat for the remaining bits of crescent dough. Line them all up on a greased cookie sheet, and baste with the egg wash. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together, and sprinkle over the top.

Now we're cookin' with gas! Or...something.

Put them in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the crescent rolls are cooked through. Remove from oven. Hoard from others. These are really, really good warm.

I think I ate about 4 of these right away. Best not to think about the calories, really.

I feel like there are probably endless variations of these. Cream cheese + apple butter + apples? Cream cheese + peach preserves + peaches? I bet almost any fruit would be equally tasty. My original inspiration for this recipe used strawberries; you can find over at Rumbly in My Tummy. You could even top them off with nuts, or powdered sugar, or candied sprinkles, if you wanted a little bit of crunch. However you decide to go, you're going to be really happy. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Oh hey, it's about time I announced the winner of my Infinity Scarf giveaway, yes? It's Pamela McGary! Congrats, Pam! I'll PM you over on Ravelry to get your mailing address. :) Thanks to everybody who stopped by! I've got a little hint for you: You're going to want to come back, because my next giveaway is going to involve about 1600 yards of alpaca yarn, a magazine subscription, another project bag, and, if I can swing it, a pair of Signature Needles!

Infinity Scarf Giveaway!

2011-10-17T23:37:00.006-05:00

It's that time again! Today I have a whole project's worth of goodies to give away:

They could all be yours! Yours, I say!

I received this lovely book, Easy as 1-2-3 Skeins, in the mail a few weeks ago from the publisher; it contains a cowl pattern of mine named Infinity & Beyond. This cowl knits up ridiculously fast on US 11 needles, and can truly be styled in a near-infinite number of ways. The simple drop-stitch pattern serves as a series of buttonholes for two giant buttons, which means that you can wrap, fold or scrunch the fabric in any pattern you choose, then pop through a button or two to secure it in place!

Just a few of the many style options...

The pattern uses just one skein of amazing, bulky yarn; in this case, Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande. I happen to have a skein left over in the very colorway the pattern calls for, so I thought, why not share the love?

Alpaca is my favorite fiber ever. Y'all should feel special I'm willing to part with this!

As far as the book goes, there are FIFTY-EIGHT patterns here, including everything from socks and scarves to baby garments and tank tops, and each pattern calls for at most 3 skeins of yarn. With the holidays fast approaching, this will be a fabulous resource to have at your fingertips! Who among us doesn't have the odd skein or two lying around we have no idea what to do with?

Super-cute project bag has room for the book, the yarn, and then some!

Also up for grabs is this lovely project bag from Mindy over at Knittin' Ninja Designs. Mindy has generously sized her bags at 13 inches x 13 inches, and finishes them professionally with French seams on the inside. I asked her to send me something sexy, and she found this sensuous red scrollwork pattern for me - isn't it fabulous?

Okay, now the part you've all been waiting to hear about - how to enter! I've decided to keep it super easy this time. All you need to do is come join Club Sexy over on Ravelry, and make a post in the Introductions thread. Don't be shy, either! Tell us how you started knitting, who taught you, what you like to make, and anything else that comes to mind. Then come back here and leave a comment so I know who's who! :) I'll draw a winner on Wednesday, October 26th. In the meantime, why not go check out Mindy's shop? These gorgeous drawstring fabric bags are selling for just $6.00 each, or 3 for $15.00. Can't beat that price with a stick! Except you can, because Mindy is offering 10% off any order now through October 23 when you use the code, "SexyKnitter10" during checkout! Seriously, go...go now!

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Beatriz is Here!

2011-10-12T17:10:00.007-05:00

Hoo boy, I've been waiting a long, LONG time to show you guys this one!

Beatriz Dress, from Knitscene Winter 2011

I have been working on this design for almost two years; last year, it found a home at Interweave Knits. Although originally scheduled to appear in the Holiday Gifts issue of Interweave, it eventually got shuffled around a bit and included in this winter's issue of Knitscene, and I couldn't be happier! Knitscene has long been a favorite of mine, and I almost always love how they style the knits. You can get a sneak peek at how they styled this knit for the magazine right here, as well as getting a preview of the rest of this issue. The issue won't be out on newsstands until October 25th, but if you decide to order online, you can get 18% off your order by entering the code "XTRA18" during checkout. (Side note: You can also preorder IK's special issue, Jane Austen Knits, while you're at it!)

This dress, worked from the top down, is worked with Kollage Yarns' amazing Scrumptious, a truly delectable combination of 70% angora and 30% silk. I had a hard time taking the sample off after the photo shoot, it felt so good against my skin!

Fab photo courtesy of Sara McDonald

The dress begins with a hem to give the boatneck a bit of stability; an elongated circular yoke forms the dolman sleeves, then the body is continued in the round. Large, lacy leaf motifs decorate the bottom of the skirt, which gets finished off with another hem. The entire piece is worked seamlessly, and is sized for busts 32"-48".

Add a sparkly belt for a bit of holiday bling!

I've added the Beatriz Dress to the Ravelry database, and just can't wait to see everyone else's projects! This dress was really fun to knit and especially fun to wear; I'm really looking forward to having one of my own!

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Deliciousness: Caramel-Filled Brownies

2011-10-10T17:36:00.005-05:00

That's right, caramel-filled brownies. Doesn't get much better than this, let me tell you.

See the caramel oozing out of the middle there?

If that picture doesn't speak for itself, this one should. These brownies are unlike any other brownie I've ever had in my life. Not only do you get two layers of fudgy, chewy, chocolatey brownies, you also get a thick, gooey layer of caramel in the middle! They're finished off with a healthy sprinkling of chocolate chips. Prepare to be wowed! On the surface, it seems like filled brownies would be kind of a hassle to make, but I found this recipe surprisingly easy. You might be making a trip to the grocery store, because you're going to need a TON of bittersweet chocolate (12 ounces! That's like...6 squares!) and a couple of bags of caramel candies, as well as a bit of heavy cream. On the upside, you don't have to make the caramel from scratch, and everything besides the filling can get mixed up in one bowl. You do have to bake them twice, since the first layer gets baked on its own before the filling and top layer are added, but I promise you it's totally worth the extra step.

I followed Annie's recipe exactly, except that I used a 7" x 11" baking dish instead of the recommended 9" x 13" size (I didn't change the baking time), and I didn't line the dish with foil. My dish was so full I thought it was going to start slopping over the side, but there was just enough room, and my brownies turned out delightfully thick and fudgy. One thing you should be aware of about these brownies, though, is that they're practically un-sliceable while warm. If you want them in tidy squares (or squares at all, for that matter), you'll have to wait until they come to room temperature. That said, they're absolutely unbeatable warm, so go right ahead and dig yourself out a big spoonful - we did! Plop a big scoop of ice cream on top, and I guarantee you'll be thanking me later.

Get the recipe from Annie's Eats, right here. Look, there's even a printer-friendly version!

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Sneakety-Peek, a KAL, and a prize winner!

2011-10-07T14:11:00.001-05:00

I have a little secret: I'm going to have a pattern in the Winter issue of Knitcircus Magazine! Okay, okay...not that big of a secret. But I'm excited to get to show you a little piece of it:

I'll let you all have fun guessing what it is!

For this issue, I'll also be hosting a video tutorial on how to work applied I-cord as an edging. Trust me - it's super easy!

I also have another fun bit of news, which is that the fourth quarter KAL over at Club Sexy has just begun! For the last quarter of the year, completing a project by the end of the year using any pattern of mine will qualify you to win some fabulous yarny prizes! We have four skeins of yarn to give away this quarter, and they are all super gorgeous. Our sponsors, Grinning Gargoyle, MamaZooma, and Our Humble Castle have really outdone themselves! Here's a little glimpse of what we have to give away:

Drooling yet? Come on over and join the club, then read all about the KAL right here. We'd love to have you!

Looking for the winner of Alex Tinsley's giveaway? It's KnittingDancer! Congratulations, Teresa, you've won a copy of Alex's Go Go Malabrigo Collection 1! Drop me a line over on Ravelry (I'm TheSexyKnitter) and we'll work out the details. Didn't win? Don't forget - you can still get 20% off all of Alex's patterns through the end of today! Just enter "sexyinterview" during checkout!

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Now offering Etsy Mini spots!

2011-10-03T14:36:00.006-05:00

I, like many of you, have a few Etsy shops. I have two active shops, 579Jewelry and TheSexyKnitter, and countless other registered shop names that may or may not ever get used. Probably also like many of you, I'm in a constant state of trying to figure out how I can get more traffic, views and sales out of these shops.

Enter The Sexy Knitter Etsy Mini spots!

I really enjoy visiting a blog that has those "You might also enjoy" galleries at the bottom of a post. Chances are, if I'm already reading the blog, I probably DO want to click on something in the gallery and visit whatever-it-is they're linking to, be it another blog post, recipe, or shop. I don't think I'm alone in this, or those types of widgets wouldn't be as popular as they are, right?

So, what are The Sexy Knitter Etsy Mini spots, you ask? Well, they're a chance for you to have items from your Etsy shop featured at the bottom of one my blog posts! Your Etsy items will be billed as "Picks of the Day"; see an example of what these will look like at the bottom of this very post.

How much will it cost? Etsy Mini spots will cost $5.00 each; unlike pricey monthly ads on other blogs, these will stay with their associated posts until your shop or this blog closes for good.

What happens when the blog post I paid for goes into the archives? Won't I lose traffic? When the blog post your Etsy Mini appears with goes into the archives, so will your Etsy Mini. Because I categorize my posts, I do get a lot of traffic to the archives through folks clicking through the tags, so your traffic numbers will only keep going up as my readers continue to peruse these posts.

Why not just sell sidebar ads? People tend to ignore these ads because they're not part of the content they came to see. With Etsy Mini spots, your items will be the last thing people see after they finish reading my blog post. Besides...not only are sidebar ads tiny, they're also charged on a monthly basis; with my Etsy Minis, you get a chance to showcase specific, current items from your shop, and you only have to pay one time for a forever spot. Because of the way Etsy Mini works, only current items in your shop will appear, which means that if you sell an item, another one will take its place.

Can I choose which post my Etsy Mini goes with? Yes! You may choose any existing post on the blog, or choose from the following categories for upcoming posts:

Videos
Recipe reviews
Designer interviews
Giveaways
Tutorials
Style posts
General (may include travel posts, design posts, new pattern releases, etc.)

Note that each post may only have one Etsy Mini, so spots for existing posts will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.

What is the current traffic like on this blog? Current traffic ranges between 100-200 visitors per day, and popular posts like giveaways, designer interviews, and recipe reviews average between 500-800 readers per month. As the blog gains more popularity, these numbers will only keep going up!

I think I'll just wait until you have more traffic. You certainly could do that, and I'd love to have you later too, but be aware that the price of $5.00 per Mini is likely to go up in direct relation to my traffic. Why not get in early, instead? :)

If I have a coupon code, will you post that too? Yup, just be sure to let me know when the expiration date is! My readers love a good deal.

Will you create a Mini for me? Etsy Minis can only be created by shop owners, so you'll have to provide the Java script for me. Don't worry though, it's super easy! To create your Mini, follow these 3 easy steps (click the photos to enlarge):

Step 1: Log into Etsy with your shop account, and click on "My Account".

Step 2: Scroll down the page a bit and click "Etsy Mini".

Step 3: Choose "Items from my shop", "Thumbnail", 5 columns, 1 row. Copy the code that will appear in the box, and send that to me. I do the rest!

You've convinced me. How do I participate? Shoot me an email at thesexyknitter@gmail.com, and include the following things:

Which blog post or category you want to appear in,
The Java script code for your Etsy Mini,
Coupon code and expiration date (optional), and
Your Paypal address so I can invoice you.

I'll take care of the rest! Please note: I'm happy to accept both knitting and non-knitting related items (including knitting/crochet patterns and stitch markers), but they should be PG-13 rated at highest. No nudity will be posted here! :)

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Picks of the Day:

Sexy Knitter readers always receive free shipping with the coupon code "loyaltyship"!
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My Interweave Debut!

2011-10-02T20:56:00.001-05:00

The internet has been all abuzz this weekend over Interweave's latest special issue, knit.wear. This issue focuses on classic, simple garments styled with a twist. The issue also features my first pattern published with Interweave, the Reversible Scarf Tank! I was really excited to be able to design for this issue after there was a little mixup with another submission of mine that I didn't realize was being held for publication (oops).

My original proposal

The inspiration for this tank came from a memory of a Project Runway contestant from aaaaaaaaages ago (so long ago, I'm not even sure who it was now) who wore a one-shouldered top with a long scarfy thing to a judging panel. It was only on screen for a few seconds, but as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to translate it into knitwear at some point.

Finished garment! Pretty dang close to the original, yes?

My version is knitted from the tip of the scarf downwards in one seamless piece. There's enough going on with the reversible lace and strap shaping to hold your interest, while the body gives you a nice break as it's all in stockinette. There's quite a bit of negative ease around the bust; combined with the weight of the scarf, this is what holds the top in place. The skirt gets a beautiful swing shape due to circular yoke styled increases and is finished with a single round of decorative yarnovers couched in garter stitch.

No hem, and NO rolling.

Now, you may be thinking, "Why would I want to knit a strapless top as we're going into fall?" Well, the answer is in the styling! See, since this top has the scarf attached to it, it's the perfect transition piece to wear as the weather starts getting cooler.

Throw a blazer on over it and you're good to go!

You'll notice in the last photo that you've got more than one option for styling the scarf, so if you're nervous about just throwing the scarf over your shoulder, just tie it on for a more secure feeling!

If you're interested in the pattern, you can find the IK special issue at your local yarn shop or book shop, or buy it online. The pattern's in the Ravelry database, too, in case you want to favorite it or add it to your queue. :)

Getting to Know You #5: Alex Tinsley

2011-09-29T19:33:00.003-05:00

This week, I've invited over a gal I have a total girl crush on. Not only is she hilariously funny, adorable, and stylish, she's also a great knitwear designer, too! It's Alexandra Tinsley! I first got to know Alex in 2008 by test knitting her hat design, The Delicious. (Here's my version.) Since then, I've kept a keen eye out for Alex's designs, and they've only been getting better!

Here's Alex, modeling her Meriwether Hat & Emrigail Scarf. Isn't she gorgeous?

TSK: So, you seem to design mostly hats, and I am stupid in love with them. I'm not even a hat person really, but there's something about your hats that makes me want to knit them all! Why mostly hats? Is there something about them you particularly like designing? Do you wear a lot of hats yourself?

AT: I do wear a lot of hats, but I honestly couldn't tell you whether that started before or after the knitting. When you've amassed a hat collection like mine (I think about 50 at last count), you've really got to wear them, haha... I love hats because they usually take only a skein or two of yarn (and I'm very much the type of person to go "Ooooh, pretty yarn!" and buy one skein of it) and you don't have to make two of them. I like scarves and shawls for the same reason, though usually those take a little longer. Plus, at this point I've spent so much time with hats that I can start doing weird creative stuff with them since I know their basic constructions so well.

She really does love hats! Here, Alex's Darla, Wabbit Season, and Phoncible.

TSK: Oh my word, 50 hats? Girl, you really do like hats! I guess that's about the same as my shoe collection, though...(ahem) Soooooo, how long have you been knitting? Was there a moment at which you thought to yourself, "You know, I could design professionally", or did it just kind of happen for you?

AT: I learned in high school, so like...8 or 9 years ago. Yikes! Has it really been that long? I started knitting a lot in college, mostly to help entertain and keep me awake during lectures. I initially started selling the knits themselves, back when Etsy was new and shiny. Eventually, I decided it made more sense to write up the patterns and sell those, because it's very, very hard to make enough to cover materials + time for handknits. Turns out, I like writing patterns a lot better than any of my other career plans!

Doublish, from Alex's Go Go Malabrigo ebook!

TSK: What's your background? Are you still in school? Working? Designing full time?

AT: I have a BA in Psychology and what basically amounts to a minor in Visual Arts (my school didn't do minors, but if it had, I would've). I'm not so much using the Psychology degree, hehehe...

As of last October, I'm designing full time, though I'm still building to the point where it can sort of legitimately count as a job. Luckily we live cheaply!

Alex has also published 2 ebooks, Go Go Malabrigo, Volumes 1 and 2.

TSK: Uh-oh, now the next time I see you I'm going to worry you're psycho-analyzing me, haha! Glad the arts won out, for real. So what's up next for you? Are we going to be seeing more hats?

AT: I'm working on a super-slightly-secret book project with my friend/fellow yarnieface/photographer Vivian Aubrey. It's been a bit stalled out (it's really hard to not get sidelined when you're working on long-term things), but I'm starting to put my nose back to the grindstone and crank that sucker out. It will have both garments and accessories, and will be centered around a particular fashion subculture that I think is pretty snazzy, aesthetically. If Vivian has anything to say about it, it'll look awesome. We're hoping to get a print publisher to pick it up, but it may just be digital. We'll see.

TSK: Well good luck with that, Alex! I'll definitely be looking forward to seeing the new collection!

Alex is excited to offer a complimentary copy of one of her ebooks to one lucky reader; to enter to win, simply leave a comment stating whether you'd win Collection 1 or Collection 2! I'll announce the winner on Wednesday, October 5th. In the meantime, Alex is offering 20% off her patterns until October 7th; enter the code "sexyinterview" during checkout! What are you waiting for? Go stock up on some goodies!

You can keep tabs on Alex's design career by finding her on Ravelry, her blog, Facebook fan page, Ravelry group, or Twitter.

Oh, and are you wondering who won the giveaways from Laura's interview? Well, sosoclever won the subscription to Adorn, and Moreen won the kit! Congrats, ladies! If you can drop me a line at thesexyknitter AT gmail DOT com, I'll get you in touch with Laura!

ACK! Blogger!

2011-09-28T21:39:00.002-05:00

Hey guys,

I know I was supposed to post the winner from Laura's interview today, but I'm having some trouble with Blogger today. Will post tomorrow! :)

Deliciousness: Carrot Raisin Macadamia Whoopie Pies!

2011-09-26T20:28:00.002-05:00

Oh my word, you guys, these have so many yummy things in them! Not only do they have all the traditional goodness that you expect a carrot cake to have, but they also have macadamia nuts, raisins, oats, and the most creamy, delicious cream cheese frosting you've ever had on a cookie.

These are all mine, baby. Where's yours?

Granted, there are kind of a lot of steps here because of the massive number of ingredients. You'll be chopping nuts, grating carrots, creaming sugar, and digging through your spice cabinet (or in my case, making a special trip to the market) for things like ground cloves, nutmeg and ginger. If your go-to cookie recipes usually just have butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, and a couple of eggs, this will be a change for you, but take it from me: these gems are worth the effort. For your trouble, you'll be rewarded with moist, chewy cookies slathered in tangy frosting that you'll have a hard time not eating by the spoonful right out of the bowl.

Lookit all the goodies!

I made these cookies by following this recipe, and I followed it to a T, down to the size of the cookie scoop, reduced oven temperature, and cooking time. The only thing I'd say needs to be changed is the amount of cream cheese frosting, because only one batch isn't nearly enough to cover all these cookies! If you like frosting as much as I do, you'll want to double up.

This recipe makes a ton of cookies, so they're great for taking to a party, or, you know, just eating all by yourself. Either way! No judgments here - promise.

Deliciousness: Banana Coconut Pecan Bread

2011-09-23T13:04:00.006-05:00

I'm a huge bread fan. And when I say huge, I really mean huge. Give me bread in almost any form and I am a very, very happy girl. In fact, carbs in general are one of the main staples of my diet and half the time, I have to remind myself I need to eat other things, too.

Enter this loaf of banana bread. Not only is it the best banana bread I've ever had in my life, it's also one of my favorite bread recipes ever at this point; and that's saying something, since sweet breads aren't at the top of my crazy-bread-eating list of favorites.

Yum, even if it is a bit dark!

It's overcooked in these photos, unfortunately. I was housesitting for some friends of ours and you know how it is when you're working in an oven that's not your own, right? Well, let's just say I was happy this loaf didn't set the house on fire. Side note: I'd already managed to wreck these people's car avoiding what definitely would have been a fatal collision, so, you know - not burning down their house was basically priority #1 at that point. Long story short, use the biggest loaf pan you have and don't fill it too full, or you'll wind up scraping burnt gobs of bread batter off the bottom of your (or, *ahem*, someone else's) oven. But enough about my misadventures in Florida! On to the good stuff.

Plenty of good stuff to be had! Toasted coconut & pecans, anyone?

This recipe originally appeared over on the ModCloth blog, and it called for bacon. I love bacon, too, but I find it gets soggy if you cook it inside of something else, and as far as I'm concerned soggy bacon is almost as bad as burnt popcorn. I did cook a small loaf of this with bacon in it once, and it was well received, but I was too chicken to try it so now I just omit the bacon and use a cup of toasted pecans, instead. I also toast the coconut (which, by the way, can be sweetened OR unsweetened), but those are the only two things I've changed from the original recipe.

You can have this recipe in the oven in under 10 minutes, and that includes hauling out all your baking goods and mixing up the recipe. The result should be moist, nutty, just-sweet-enough bread that you'll have a hard time not gobbling up the moment you take it out of the oven. It'll stay moist and delicious for almost a week before it starts to go stale, but really - it's not going to last that long.

Find the original recipe (with non-burnt photos!) here.

When I make this, I use a 9-inch metal loaf pan and have enough batter left over to make a mini-loaf, too. Perfect for sharing with the neighbors or stashing in your office drawer for snack time!

Getting to Know You #4: Laura Nelkin

2011-09-22T12:41:00.006-05:00

Welcome back to Getting to Know You! Today I'm interviewing the lovely and gracious Laura Nelkin, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at TNNA. Laura's portfolio includes a stunning 70 designs that have been featured in magazines like Interweave Knits, Knitty.com, Creative Knitting, many books from DRG Publications and Storey Publishing, and her own latest collection, Adorn.

Laura modeling her shawl design, Clarus. See? Lovely!

TSK: With designs that include children's toys, intricate lace shawls, tailored garments, socks, and scarves (just to name a few!), you seem to be extremely talented at all areas of knitwear design. Your latest collection of knitted jewelry patterns, Adorn, has been a runaway hit. Should we expect to see you start focusing solely on jewelry design, or will you continue to offer a full range of items? Are there any items you particularly enjoy designing?

Ten patterns are planned for this collection; six have already been released!

LN: Wow, I love this question! I do love jewelry design, and one of the things that I love about it is that although the design aspect takes me about as much time as any of my other pieces the actual knitting so SO much quicker… that way I can always have some jewelry pieces ready to publish WHILE I am focusing on some longer term more time consuming projects. I do enjoy being challenged by my designs so I am almost always taking something new on… this is how I learn new techniques! Right now, in fact, besides the final designs for Adorn, I have another passion on my needles… colorwork gloves! (Sneaky side note for my readers: The latest from Laura, the Iota Collection, is in the works! The new collection will feature four garment patterns centered around a focal stitch motif. Stay tuned to her blog for more info!)

Beautiful colorwork mittens designed by Laura for a mitten swap. Read more about them here.

TSK: One thing I'm always curious about is how other knitters learned how to knit. What's your story?

LN: I’m actually a bit new to knitting, I went to school for apparel design and did a TON of weaving and textile design while in school. I tried knitting in college, but believe it or not, it was too hard (says the girl who mastered a 32 harness compu-dobby loom) and I gave up. Fast forward almost 10 years, my daughter was 4, I was at a play date and one of the moms taught me how to knit. Suffice it to say, we had A LOT of play dates over the next year while I knitted and learned as the kids raised hell all around us… fun times!

The latest design from Adorn, the Beignet Necklace, and Laura's gorgeous Beaded Cuffs.

TSK: So what's the latest for you? What exciting new ventures are you undertaking these days? I know your class on Craftsy, Mastering Lace Shawls, is doing extremely well! How did you find the experience of working with the Craftsy team?

LN: Frankly, I had a small idea of what I was getting into, but WOW, I am so impressed by the class and the platform! I designed two top down shawls, Clarus and Skywalker, that teach many lace techniques, such as provisional cast ons, chart reading, shawl shaping, fixing mistakes, lifelines, and more. The class and its discussions and videos are available 24 hours a day for students to follow along with at their own pace. The class has been live for about a month and already has over 1000 students. I’ve had a fabulous time interacting with them! If anyone wants to check out the class further there is a link on my blog for 50% off the class… just click on the link on
the image at the top.

This Craftsy class will equip you with all the skills you need to knit lace like a Jedi Master!

TSK: Just had to point this out - Laura's Craftsy class includes over 5 and a half hours of video instruction time! If you sign up via the link on Laura's blog and receive 50% off the class, that makes it just $20.00. Where else are you going to be able to take a class from such an experienced instructor that A) is that inexpensive, B) you can retake any time you want, for FREE, and C) has a teacher that's available to answer questions any time you have one? Just sayin'...

Okay Laura, one last question just for fun. If you had to choose one yarn to knit with for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

LN: Really? Can I not answer this? How about yarns I am currently obsessed/can’t live without by weight?

Lace: Tie between JuniperMoon - Findley and Sweet Georgia Yarn - Cash Silk
Fingering: String Theory Caper
Worsted: Stonehedge Fiber Mill - Shepherd’s Wool
Bulky: Schaefer Yarn Company - Esperanza (Sadly discontinued!)

As a special thank you to my readers, Laura is offering a subscription to her jewelry collection, Adorn, to one reader, and a kit from her Etsy shop to another! To enter the giveaway, sign up for Laura's newsletter (Bonus! Laura randomly selects 5 newsletter members to receive a free pattern each time she releases a new one!), then come back here and leave a comment telling me what your favorite piece from Adorn is. We'll announce the winner on Wednesday, September 28.

My favorite's Ribband!

Thanks so much to Laura for stopping by! Follow Laura's career through her blog, Twitter, Facebook fan page, or find her and her group on Ravelry. Her Etsy shop, featuring gorgeous kits to knit the pieces from her Adorn collection, can be found here.

ALSO, through the October 26th, you can get 15% off anything in Laura's Etsy shop or Ravelry shop by using the code, "FALL4KNITTING" during checkout.

Yarnside Chats 003 - Kitchener Stitch Made Easy

2011-08-30T13:34:00.008-05:00

Did you all notice that there's a new Knitcircus online? The Fall issue is really beautiful! You should definitely go take a look. While you're there, visit Page 21 to see my newest video on Broomstick Lace! In the meantime, here's me demystifying the Kitchener Stitch.

Have trouble remembering the steps? Watch this video and you'll always know which end is up!

The winner of Jennifer Hansen's Cabled Turban giveaway is Allyson, of SweatShopofLove! Allyson, drop me a line at thesexyknitter@gmail.com, and I'll get you hooked up with Jennifer for your prize. Congratulations!

Deliciousness: Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-08-24T13:57:00.007-05:00

First I just have to say that you really must try these cookies. The first time I had one of these was at my friend Lisbeth's house, and when she told me she was going to make "Banana Cookies", I was a little reticent. Then she told me they also had oatmeal and chocolate chips, and I felt a little better about it. The defining moment, though, was when she gave me a little round of frozen cookie dough to eat. Let me tell you - not only did I take back my snarky comment about banana cookies being "gross" (or something similarly gracious), I also wound up groveling for the recipe. Lisbeth, being the amazing friend she is, generously complied. You can find the original recipe here.

Raw, frozen cookie dough & warm, gooey cookies

The Dr. practically expects me to have a stock of these in the freezer at all times. In fact, we both like the frozen, raw dough so much I almost never even get around to baking any, but they are quite delicious both ways.

You can make up a batch of these in practically no time at all, with stuff you probably already have lying around your pantry. I almost always make a double batch, and am able to use my hand mixer to mix up all of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Once your dough is mixed, use a small cookie scoop (like this) to portion the cookies out into a large, airtight plastic container. You can get about 3-4 dozen cookies into one of Ziploc's large rectangular containers; be sure to put a piece of wax paper between the layers, so the dough doesn't all stick together.

If you're baking the frozen dough, heat your oven to 375 degrees and bake for 8-10 minutes. Basically, you want to leave them in just long enough for the cookies to set, or you'll wind up with crunchy cookies. Still tasty, particularly if you happen to like crunchy cookies, but I prefer these with a nice, chewy texture and just-barely-crispy edges.

Stacey's EASIER Magic Ring for crochet!

2011-08-23T23:13:00.004-05:00

Looky, you guys! Stacey Trock from Fresh Stitches has made the Magic Ring for crochet easier! Didn't think that was possible, but apparently it was. Give it a watch, or see her original blog post and photo tutorial on the subject here.

Thanks, Stacey!

Getting to Know You #3: Jennifer Hansen

2011-08-22T17:09:00.003-05:00

Welcome back to Getting to Know You, my series of mini-interviews with other knitwear designers I admire! This week I've interviewed the woman who holds the title of "Designer whose patterns I have knitted more than any other designer", Jennifer Hansen! Jennifer is the powerhouse behind Stitch Diva Studios, and I first got wind of her gorgeous designs when her sexy tank, Goddess, came out. Since then, I've knitted almost a dozen designs from SDS, some for myself and many through Jennifer's sample knitter program. Believe it or not, I actually got into designing because of Jennifer! But that's another story for another day. For now, on with the interview!

Sahara and Goddess, modeled by me

TSK: You've built such a massive brand for yourself it's actually more like an empire! Offering everything from fabulously sexy, beautifully designed knit, crochet, AND tunisian lace patterns to kits, video tutorials and even your own in-house yarn brand, you've turned yourself into a household name among knitters. How did you go from being Jennifer Hansen to being THE Stitch Diva? What tips can you give other designers looking to expand their brand?

SD: Hard work! Although that sounds trite, it is true. Probably a more valuable insight would be to look at what you can do that provides value in a different way than other things you see out there. Find a niche you love.

Cecilia Chemise - sample crocheted by me

TSK: What would you say your niche is?

SD: I'm told that Stitch Diva garments have a certain look to them - a distinctive aesthetic sensibility. I also have interest in techniques like hairpin lace, broomstick crochet, and Tunisian that are not that commonplace. I don't think anyone would come to the Stitch Diva site for menswear, amigurumi or conservative female apparel. There is nothing wrong with those things, but that is not where I like to play.

Endless Knitted Cardi Shawl - Modeled by Jennifer and green sample knitted by me

TSK: Social media is touted as one of the most important things in brand-building, yet you are scarcely to be found on Twitter or even (gasp!) Ravelry. How do you keep your customers interested in what you've got going on, and how are you pulling in new followers?

SD: At the end of the day, I think people are interested in the quality of the design, the quality of the instructions and the value of what a designer does as it contributes to the craft and to a knitter/crocheter's enjoyment of their hobby. There are only so many hours in the day and I really try to create distinctive work that says something different than other offerings out there. I can only hope that defines the brand.

No. 6 - sample knitted by me

TSK: You design, you photograph, you model, you Photoshop, you build websites....is there anything you DON'T do? What tips do you have for those of us who feel overwhelmed by all this technology? What would you say is the single most important thing for a designer to get right, besides writing a top-notch pattern?

SD: I come from a pretty varied professional background in IT, architecture and professional services, so I am fortunate that I have pertinent experiences to bring to bear. Many of these skills have no relation to being a good designer. I also am fortunate to have met some very good people along the way who work with me. I don't do all of this alone.

Silken Scabbard - sample knitted by me

TSK: Interesting that you noted all those extra skills that have nothing to do with the design work itself. It's so true, but unfortunately for self-publishing, these skills do seem vital to a designer's overall success! If you had to pick one skill to recommend a designer develop outside of pattern-writing, what would it be? Photography? Styling? Layout? Having a great website to promote the pattern?

SD: I think photography is key for online sales - this applies to patterns or just selling your used personal items on CraigsList. You can have the most beautiful design in the world, but unless you are able to convey what you have done in a compelling visual way, it just won't be successful. On the same token, it is important for the photo to convey the reality of the design. Other people will make it and post their results online as well. I have ripped designs that showed shaping flaws in photography and then fixed them and rephotographed to get the kind of photo I wanted. The camera is a great design tool.

Cabled Turban - modeled by Jennifer

As a special thank you to my readers, Jennifer has generously offered a copy of my current favorite pattern, the Cabled Turban (above), to one lucky commenter! To enter, you must first "Like" Jennifer's fan page on Facebook, then leave me a comment here telling me you did (be sure to include your Facebook name or I won't be able to look you up)! Winner will be announced on Wednesday, August 31.

Looking for the winner from Angela Tong's interview? It's Miss Julep! Congrats, Nancy, Angela will be sending your free pattern along shortly! Didn't win? Don't forget you can still get $1.00 off Angela's Kouyou or LaReine shawl patterns with the coupon code "sexyinterview", now through August 30!

Deliciousness: Pretzel Bites

2011-08-21T13:07:00.009-05:00

Cooking always gives me a little pick-me-up when I'm feeling sad or bored, or need to feel like I've accomplished something. With the Dr. at Vascular Fellows Bootcamp in Houston all weekend, I needed something to do. So, I whipped up a batch of pretzel bites and invited the neighbors over for some board games!

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites & Vanilla Glaze

I followed Jonna's recipe from Get Off Your Butt and Bake! You can find it here. The genius of this recipe lies in the fact that you get to use purchased, frozen dinner rolls as the base for your pretzels! Jonna recommends Rhodes Texas-sized rolls, so that's what I bought. The recipe says you have to thaw them out, so genius me, I decided to toss the whole bag of rolls in the refrigerator to thaw out overnight. I, um, exploded the bag (these are yeast rolls). Oops. Actually it wasn't too bad, the bag had popped a seam and a big chunk of dough had oozed out. I just cut that part off and continued with the recipe as written, except that I had one ginormous piece of dough to work from instead of individual rolls. Ah, well.

Garlic Parmesan Pretzel Bites

I followed the recipe for the cinnamon sugar bites exactly as outlined in the original recipe, except that I didn't need to let the balls of dough rise before boiling, and I forgot to grease the baking sheet. Don't forget to do this. For the parmesan version, I added a generous shaking of garlic salt to the parmesan before I rolled the bites, and they were DELICIOUS.

I'll definitely be making these again! They're quick, easy and inexpensive, plus you can make a huge platter full of pretzel bites out of just one bag of rolls, so they'd be great for parties.

Oh, and the board game we played?

Mid-Life Crisis, ca 1982. What can I say? I go for the obscure.

Deliciousness: Andes Mint Cupcakes

2011-08-19T15:12:00.008-05:00

Are you guys on Pinterest? I am, and I find it extremely inspiring; having all those photos of fashion, stylish hairdos, DIY tutorials, enchanting destinations and especially food scroll through my screen is fascinating to me. I've been trying loads of new recipes (you can follow that board of mine here) and thought I might start sharing a few of them with you. Up first is something I just whipped up for the first time today, Andes Mint Cupcakes, from Your Cup of Cake. Lizzy's recipe just sounded so good I had to try it! I'm a sucker for Andes Mints. Anyway, here's my version:

I actually broke out the piping bags!

One thing you can't see from my photo is that these cupcakes are filled with Chocolate Mint goodness. Lizzy suggests using a squeezy bottle to pipe the chocolate inside, but I didn't have one on hand so I just used a small, round pastry tip and a piping bag. I must say, I think a squeezy bottle would be easier, but I got the job done!

Putting one of these in your mouth is simply magical; you get tangy, fluffy, chocolatey cake, oozing with peppermint chocolate sauce, and creamy, perfect peppermint buttercream. Need I say more? I had to force myself to stop at just one; I'm taking the rest of these around to my local yarn shops this weekend! (Don't you wish you lived near me?)

I made these cupcakes exactly by the recipe; the ONLY thing I changed was that I only put half an Andes on top of my cupcakes, instead of a whole one. From one recipe I was able to make two dozen regular sized cupcakes, and 3 Texas-sized cupcakes. I filled the cupcake liners with two scoops from my small cookie scoop (similar) and they turned out perfectly fluffy! At first I wasn't sure the chocolate filling would get me through all 2 dozen cupcakes, but it did and I was even able to drizzle some over the tops of the cupcakes as in the original blog post. It took me just over an hour from the time I started mixing up the cupcake batter to the time I was finished decorating.

I'll definitely be making these again; in fact, I'll probably be using the cupcake part of the recipe any time I need to make chocolate cupcakes, because the addition of sour cream and buttermilk to the boxed Devil's Food cake mix is a stroke of genius. This was my first time ever filling a cupcake, and now I want to fill all the cupcakes!

Next time: Cream Cheese Filled Snickerdoodles! That's right, I said it. Stay tuned!

Getting to Know You #2: Angela Tong

2011-08-16T22:25:00.002-05:00

Welcome back to Getting to Know You! Today I interviewed Angela Tong, who I had the pleasure of meeting at TNNA this year. I'd been drooling over Angela's Kouyou Shawl since the day it first came out, as well as being a huge fan of her hand-drawn knitting robot project bags on Etsy, so naturally I was pretty excited to meet her in person. When I decided to start doing a series on designers I admire, Angela was right at the top of the list.

Kouyou Shawl - isn't it gorgeous?

TSK: So, Angela. I’m already head over heels for your designs, and you’ve only published 5 so far! Your 5th pattern, Colfax, appeared on the pages of Knitscene Magazine. I LOVE that you've gone from Beginning Designer to Golden Girl overnight, because you totally deserve it. Please tell me you're going to keep designing - I for one, want to see more. What are your plans for upcoming designs, and where should we be looking for them?

AT: Yes, I'm definitely going to keep designing! I will be having more designs being published in print magazines, online magazines and books. I am very excited about the upcoming designs, which will include patterns in Knitscene, Petite Purls and the book, Knit Noro: Accessories: 30 Colorful Little Knits.

Colfax Shawl, from Knitscene Fall 2011

TSK: I understand from your Ravelry profile that you are a former fine jewelry designer. Any plans to translate that expertise into knitwear? Knitted jewelry seems to be very trendy right now! Surely your experience in that area would give you a bit of an edge over competitors, too...

AT: Funny that you should ask. I have often thought about designing some knitted or crocheted jewelry. Since jewelry design was my career for so long, I wanted to take a step back from it. For now, I am enjoying designing knit wear.

Knitting Robot & Knitting Ninja Project Bags from Angela's Etsy Shop

TSK: That is totally understandable. We're enjoying your knitwear design, too! Okay, last question. What’s the one book you’d recommend to beginning knitters that you feel will teach them everything they need to know?

AT: Oh, it’s hard to pick only one book since I love collecting books. But I would recommend Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook by Debbie Stoller.

TSK: I love this answer! I am always recommending that very book to beginners. It totally changed the way I knit! I think one of the most important pieces of knowledge any knitter can have is an understanding of how stitches relate to each other in the work.

Mao, from Petite Purls Summer 2011

That wraps up this week's interview! Thanks for chatting with me, Angela! As a special thank you to my readers, Angela is offering a FREE copy of my favorite pattern from her line, the Kouyou Shawl, to one lucky commenter. I'll announce the winner on Monday, August 22! Can't wait to see if you won? Angela is also offering $1.00 off her Kouyou or LaReine shawls with the coupon code, "sexyinterview" through Tuesday, August 30. Go buy one now and support this fabulous new designer!

Follow Angela's design career online through her blog, Ravelry, Twitter or Etsy.

Yarnside Chats - Judy's Magic Cast On Tutorial

2011-08-10T21:51:00.006-05:00

So awhile back, I did a tutorial on the awesome Judy's Magic Cast On. It appeared in Yarnside Chats, my regular featured over on Knitcircus. (This was Episode 2, for anyone who's counting.)

I wanted to do a feature on Judy's Magic Cast On because not only is this a great cast on for toe-up socks, it's also just about the most genius provisional cast on ever. You can even use it to cast on for something you want joined on two sides, like a hoodie or a zippered pouch. Want to learn how to apply Judy's Magic to these techniques? Sure you do. Watch on, below:

See the original article on Judy's Magic at Knitty.com

Huge thanks goes to Judy Becker for sharing this cast on with the world at large, and to Knitcircus, for encouraging me to film my ideas on how the technique can be applied outside of the sock world.

Getting to Know You #1: Julie Crawford

2011-08-06T15:03:00.001-05:00

Hi everybody! You may have noticed a few changes to the blog...it got a little facelift this week! I thought it was looking a bit plain/cluttered, so I brightened it up a smidge and (hopefully) made it a little more streamlined. Let me know what you think of the new look in the comments area, won't you?

Okay, on to the fun stuff! I thought it would be super fun to do a little series of interviews with other knitwear designers I admire. So hopefully you're going to get to know some new faces and be inspired by their work, too!

First up is Julie Crawford. I first got to know Julie through the Designer's Group on Ravelry, which I help moderate. When her fabulous lace tank, Make Up Your Mind, came out in Knitty Summer 2011, I knew this was a girl who was going places. Sure enough, her design was one of the most popular from the issue, with over 250 projects in just five short months since its release. This design is definitely on my must-knit short list, and luckily for me I just happen to have a few skeins of the exact yarn the pattern calls for!

I think that this fabulous racerback is a really versatile piece. Even though it's a lace tank, I think it could easily be worn right into the cooler months of fall with a few simple layering tricks, so I decided to style it up using my trusty friend, Polyvore! Here's my take:

Make Up Your Mind by Julie Crawford of knittedbliss.com

Styled for fall by The Sexy Knitter

Julie was gracious enough to give me a little mini-interview, so read on for a glimpse into her mind:

TSK: So, Julie. What got you started designing?

JC: I was really reluctant, actually. There already seemed to be so many amazing new designs coming out all the time, and so many great designers; I didn't feel that there was anything really missing from the offerings. My Ravelry queue was often over 100 items, so there were certainly lots of existing patterns I was interested in knitting. But then Tanis (of Tanis Fiber Arts) had contacted me about doing a design in her yarn, even though I had never designed anything. She liked my style, and was confident that it would translate into good designs. I'm not sure when I would have gotten around to designing if it hadn't been for that push in the right direction - Sometimes all it takes is someone else to believe that you can do it.

TSK: I love your style, too! I for one am super glad that Tanis stepped up to the plate and encouraged you. You are clearly gifted at this, so I'm excited you've entered (or should I say, been unceremoniously shoved into?) the world of knitwear design. Hopefully we're going to be seeing a lot more from you in the near future. What's up next for you, design-wise?

JC: I'm working on lots of things!! Once I started designing, it was like I'd wake up almost every day with a new pattern idea. I can't knit fast enough to keep up with the ideas that are swimming around in my head. I'm trying to work as fast as I can, but I have a day job as well, so that really cuts into my knitting and designing time. I'm aiming to put out about one new design a month, which is kind of a lot considering that a year ago, I had no design ambitions at all. Now, it's all I want to do! I try to knit seasonally appropriate things, but that can be challenging since I'd also like to publish more, and the lead times for submissions are often months out of season from the garments themselves.

Not only is Julie super talented, she's also a knockout! Here she is modeling some of her own designs.

TSK: I totally understand that! It always feels kind of strange to be knitting a worsted-weight, woolen sweater in the middle of summer. Don't forget about self-publishing, though! With the huge success of your first Knitty pattern, I think you would do well in that arena. Side note: Julie let me know that next month she's going to be releasing a fabulous new, FREE pattern. You can get a sneak-peek at her design, here. Okay, last question. Who would you say was the one knitter who has been most inspirational to you?

JC: I'm extremely hard pressed to pick just one, but I think that it would have to be Eunny Jang. Way back in pre-ravelry days, long before she was the editor of Interweave Knits, she had a blog and I read every single post. It was such a totally inspirational blog for me, for both my knitting and blogging of course, but also about what it meant to see the world as a knitter. She made modifications. She made up patterns, and her FOs were things I could see myself wearing. That's what I want from my knitting, and my own designs- not just something to knit, but something that I love to wear when I'm finished knitting it.

TSK: Yes! You and I share the same design motto. :) Also, Eunny is a serious badass, so that qualifies as an awesome answer in my book. She's also super nice! I got to chat with her at TNNA this year and she is a total sweetheart.

That wraps up our inaugural interview! If you want to follow up on Julie's design career, you can check out her blog at www.knittedbliss.com (definitely worth stopping by on a Monday), or find her on Ravelry and Twitter as knittedblissjc.

Harry Potter, and other randomness

2011-07-31T21:49:00.002-05:00

The Dr. and I watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for the eleventy-millionth time last night, and for some reason this particularly caught my eye:

I think I need one.

Also, you know the part at the end where Harry tricks Lucius into freeing Dobby, and Lucius gets so outraged that he whips out his (super awesome) wand and makes like he's going to curse Harry? Yeah....listen closely to that next time. Right before Dobby goes all Yoda on his ass, Lucius manages to utter one single word: "Avada". Yup, it's there, and for whatever reason last night was the first time we caught it.

And in other Harry Potter news, I know I'm the last one to the party, but LOOK WHO PLAYS CEDRIC DIGGORY:

I knew he looked familiar!

Well, that's pretty much all I had to say. If anyone knows of a good pattern for the plaid hat McGonagall is wearing above, or a source for quality, plaid wool felt, let me know! And in the meantime, check out this gal's fabulous collection of Harry Potter-inspired fashion sets on Polyvore! They're pretty great.

New video coming soon! And, I'll have something to give away!

TNNA Recap - Yarn and Book Samples

2011-06-17T15:20:00.003-05:00

Wearing: Headband made by me, earrings from Etsy, tank from Gap Body, watch from Fossil, bracelet from the Barbie aisle

Samples from:

Anzula Luxury Fibers - Twitter

Alisha Goes Around - Twitter

Lorna's Laces - Twitter

TNNA Recap - Designer Dinner!

2011-06-15T22:20:00.006-05:00

I'm back from my first-ever trip to TNNA, and I have so much to share! First up, I talk about the Yarn Thing Designer Dinner:

I totally forgot about the Malabrigo! It's in the yarn bag, so I'll show that off tomorrow. :)

Thanks again to Marly for inviting me! It was such a pleasure. If y'all haven't checked out Marly's podcast, Yarn Thing, you definitely should! She's a ton of fun. :)

Our generous sponsors for this event were:
XRX Books and Knitter's Magazine

DellaQ

JHB Buttons

Soak

Bijou Basin Ranch

Kraemer Yarns

Simplicity Creative Group

Namaste

Skacel

Coats & Clark

The Crochet Dude

The Knit Kit

Quince & Co

The Buffalo Wool Co

Random House Audio

Fibersphere

Dublin Gift Company

Vickie Howell for Caron

Universal Yarn

Malabrigo

Lorna's Laces

Eucalan

Craftsy

Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel! :)

Club Sexy opens on Ravelry!

2011-03-04T13:40:00.000-06:00

I thought it was time, so I made the leap and started a Ravelry group for fans of my designs! You can find us on Ravelry right here: Club Sexy. The group was founded back in January, and had almost 200 members in the first 3 days! Right now we're just shy of 400, so why not come check us out? Here's a little of what you'll find going on:

Quarterly, sponsored knitalongs - this means PRIZES, folks!
Random pattern giveaways - be the first to find the download link, get a pattern for free!
Fast, friendly help with The Sexy Knitter pattern questions
Exclusive coupons for my patterns and Etsy shops (TheSexyKnitter and 579Jewelry) for club members
Fun drawings and contests
Group chats
And so much more!

If the group reaches 400 members by the end of the day, I'll be posting FIVE pattern giveaways! So come on in and introduce yourself, and maybe even invite a friend!

We have winners!

2011-02-03T13:25:00.000-06:00

Well, I tallied the entries (64!) and used the Random Number Generator to pick 14 winners for our Knitcircus pattern giveaway! The winners are:

From Twitter:

@susanmowska
@marudesigns
@lansingerland
@limapopshoppe
@adrienescouch
@knitterlydesign

Congratulations! You've all won a copy of the Spring Pattern Collection from Knitcircus.com! I'll be in touch via Twitter to get your E-mail addresses.

From the Ravelry thread:

LynnIL
TreasureGoddess
jmailj
gswart
gorillakeeper
sarahlou
envycreative

Congratulations! You've also won a Spring Pattern Collection from Knitcircus.com! I'll be earburning you on Ravelry to get your info.

And the grand prize winner, winner of a year long subscription to Knitcircus Magazine, was a commenter right here on the blog:

Christina Habberjam!

Christina, you forgot to leave an E-mail address for you, so would you kindly leave a comment on this post with that information so I can get you in touch with Jaala for your prize? I'll wait until February 10th to hear from you before selecting another winner.

Thanks for playing, everybody, and enjoy your prizes!

Yarnside Chats 001 - EASY Tubular Cast On

2011-02-02T01:49:00.000-06:00

With the new issue of Knitcircus coming out today, I thought I'd post the video that appeared in the Winter episode here for all to see. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel, which is where all the rest of the videos will go as they get published. I'm thinking about doing a few episodes just for the blog, just little tips for staying sexy! Anyway, here's the first one, which covers the tubular cast on:

Yarnside Chats 001 - EASY Tubular Cast On

My variation of the tubular cast on is a LOT easier than others you may have seen, so even if you're familiar with the technique you may want to give the video a looksie. This cast on is good for oh so many things!

You can catch Episode 2 over on Knitcircus' Spring issue, due out today at knitcircus.com. In it, I show you how Judy's Magic Cast On can be applied for more magic than just socks!

I'm giving away THIRTEEN spring pattern collections AND an entire year's subscription, courtesy of Knitcircus Magazine! Check the post just below this one to find out how to enter. Contest runs through the end of today. Tell your friends! :)

Knitcircus Giveaway!

2011-02-01T11:15:00.002-06:00

Have you heard of Knitcircus Magazine?

Knitcircus Spring comes out tomorrow!

Knitcircus is an online, quarterly knitting magazine with a similar format to Twist Collective. The biggest difference between Knitcircus and Twist is that unlike Twist, which sells each pattern individually (usually around $7.00/each), at Knitcircus you can buy ALL the patterns in one issue for just $7.99. This offer is limited to the magazine's current issue, though, so if you see something you like you'll get the best bang for your buck by buying the entire collection because once an issue goes into archive, you'll have to purchase each pattern separately from its designer. Today's the last day to snag a Winter Collection, so if you haven't had a look at that one yet, click here to view the magazine or here to purchase the patterns.

Some of you have noticed that I'm hosting a series of videos for Knitcircus; the first one was featured in the Winter issue, and I have another one coming out tomorrow with the Spring issue. I also have a pattern in Spring!

In order to promote the magazine, editor Jaala Day has authorized me to give away THIRTEEN Spring pattern collections and ONE full year subscription! Here's how you can enter:

Come join my new group on Ravelry! Once you're in, leave a comment in this thread and let me know.
Tweet about the giveaway, mentioning @TheSexyKnitter and linking back to this blog post.
Read Jaala's blog post about the Spring Sneak Peek, and leave a comment here guessing which pattern she previewed was designed by me!

We have lots to give away, so please do invite your friends to come participate, won't you? Good luck, everybody!

Misss Brooks is here!

2011-01-21T23:40:00.001-06:00

Hey guys!

Just wanted to pop in and say that the pattern for Miss Brooks is available now! I wrote the pattern in six sizes from 30-inch to 50-inch busts, so it really fits a lot of gals! If you've got a knitting machine, I highly recommend using it for this because this dress is a LOT of stockinette! On a knitting machine, you can get one of these cranked out in two afternoons (one, if your machine isn't being cranky like mine was).

ah, the good old days of train rides and fashionable hats...

for $6.00.

Recipe: Cheesecake Factory Raspberry Lemonade

2011-01-13T13:01:00.002-06:00

The Dr. and I have agreed that we will not go out to eat this year, except for dinner out once a month and our usual, ubiquitous coffee shop visits. Now, for any of you who know me, you know that this presents an almost-insurmountable challenge for me. I LOVE food. I LOVE going out to eat. However, I wanted to be a good sport so I'm using my creative skills to bring some of the restaurant tastes that I love home.

Enter Cheesecake Factory's Raspberry Lemonade. Have you ever had it? It's like crack in a glass. It costs $4.50, and is worth every penny. Whenever we go, I usually suck down at least 3 glasses worth, and then try to talk the server into giving me one to take home (hey, it is $4.50, after all)! Now that we're eating at home, I knew this was one of the restaurant items I would have to try to recreate. And well, I did!

Cheesecake Factory's Raspberry Lemonade
Makes 2 quarts

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
Extra sugar for sugaring the rim of your glass

Directions:

Bring the cup of water to a boil. Add the sugar and stir constantly for one minute until sugar is thoroughly dissolved; remove from heat and add to a blender with raspberries. Puree until smooth. Add puree to 2-quart container with lemon juice and enough water to make 2 quarts. Chill before serving. Serve over ice in sugared glasses. (Or, you know, glass, if you're going to hoard it.)

To sugar your glass, run one of your lemon rinds around the edge of the glass to moisten. Dip rim into dry sugar until coated to your liking.

YUM.

********************

Want your Etsy Mini in this spot? Click here!

SexyKnitter readers get 20% off 579Jewelry with coupon code "sexyfans"!

The Knitter's Tool Tins are here!

2011-01-11T13:26:00.000-06:00

Several months ago, a very thoughtful friend of mine, knowing how much I love bacon, gave me a tin full of bacon-flavored gum:

It was every bit as nasty as it sounds.

Let's just say that the gum was thrown out. The tin, however, found itself a constant companion of my knitting project bags. In it, I put some needles, stitch markers, a stitch holder, a pair of scissors, a tape measure - all the little things I always want in my project bag but somehow, forget to add. This went over spectacularly well, and I found myself scouring my local shops for more tins, because let's face it: I have more than one project bag, you know? After awhile, I got to thinking: I bet other knitters would find these useful, too. In fact, I bet I could even theme some up just for knitters!

So, I did.

On Saturday, I opened my new shop, The Sexy Knitter. Introducing: The Knitter's Tool Tins! Everything you need for your project bag, in one convenient tin.

So much cuter than that other Knitter's Kit! ;)

I'm offering 12 choices of knitting-themed tins - you can even add your own custom photo or screenname/avatar combo! The tins are just $20, and include the following items:

• White metal tin (silver inside) measuring 3 3/4 in/9.38 cm long, 2 3/8 in/5.95 cm wide, 3/4 in/1.88 cm deep – same size as an Altoid tin

• 1 Stitch holder measuring 2 1/2 in/6.25 cm long

• 1 Cable needle measuring approximately 2 in/5 cm long

• 1 Double ended crochet hook measuring 2 1/2 in/6.25 cm long

• 5 handmade, folded paper star stitch markers to fit up to US 8 needles (these are surprisingly durable!)

• 1 Retractable measuring tape – measures up to 60 in/150 cm

• 1 pair Puppy Snips scissors measuring 1 7/8 in/4.69 cm tall

• 1 large eyed, blunt needle

• 1 large eyed, sharp needle

• 1 sewing needle

Here's a little sampling of the choices. Come visit the shop to see the rest!

For a limited time, you can get 15% off your order with the coupon code, "grandopening". I've already sold 7 tins; the next 5 will get an extra 5 stitch markers, FREE!

The Studio Elms Retreat

2011-01-05T15:31:00.003-06:00

knitting and eating and a spa, oh my!

I'm so excited to announce that I'll be teaching at my LYS's annual retreat! The retreat is held every year at The Historic Elms Resort & Spa in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. This year, it's going to be January 28-30, and you can still sign up if you're interested in joining us! This will be my 3rd year to attend the retreat, and this year I'm teaching a class on top-down raglans. This 6-hour class is basically a KAL-with-help of Mr. Greenjeans, but I'll also be covering how to cable without a cable needle, how to do the long-tail cast on and construction of a basic raglan.

If you've always wished you could go to a knitting retreat but found yourself prohibited by cost, I would definitely encourage you to take a look at that flyer up there. The Elms Retreat runs from Friday to Sunday, and for just $150, includes the following:

· Goody Bag
· Fabulous door prize
· Friday Dinner Buffet
· Saturday Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
· Sunday Breakfast
· Friday Night “Strut Your Stuff” Fashion Show
· Saturday Night Designer Fashion Show (squee! I know who it is this year, and it's going to be GOOD!)
· Other fun activities from the“cruise” director.

Classes and hotel rooms are extra, but at just $50 for a 3-hour class and about the same for sharing a hotel room, this is one of the most affordable weekend knitting retreats I've seen (also, the food is amazing). Last year, I took just one class and still had a fabulous time knitting with friends at this gorgeous hotel! Can't make it this year? The Studio Knitting & Needlepoint arranges this retreat every year - why not find a friend or two and put it on your calendar for next year?

Miss Brooks

2010-12-30T17:20:00.003-06:00

This summer, I was fortunate enough to run into Sabrina Famellos of Anzula Yarns while she was pitching my LYS on her way to TNNA. I was working on Guinevere in the shop that day, and we got to talking about design. A few hours and some delicious Kansas City barbeque later, we agreed that I would design a dress with Sebastian and Mermaid for the next TNNA, coming up this January. Four months and five skeins of gorgeous yarn later, I give you: Miss Brooks!

Worked entirely in stockinette and reverse stockinette, this dress is a timeless classic with plenty of sex appeal.

I have a thing for style of days gone by. If I could get away with dressing in Regency dresses and Tudor gowns every day I would, but that's another story for another day. For this piece, I wanted to reference the glamour of 1920's fashion; skirts were getting shorter, legs were just starting to go bare, and modesty was still a valued commodity. I considered giving the piece a dropped waist, but in the end I decided placing the skirt just below the natural waist line would keep the pattern more accessible to today's woman. A boat neck, sheer sleeves and sexy layered skirt finish the dress in style, snatching it away from the land of costuming and landing it squarely in the 21st century.

Check out the outline of that leg through the bottom layer of the skirt! Sexy! The top two layers cover you where it counts.

I particularly love the skirt on this dress. Each layer is worked side to side in reverse stockinette; the bottom edges are allowed to curl up, and they're seamed only partially from the right side, resulting in a cool sort of deconstructed look. Once you put it on, the bottom layer is almost completely sheer. Nineteen-twenties, meet The Sexy Knitter!

Vintage fashion not your thing? Give it an even more "right now" twist by styling it with a steampunk vibe, instead.

As much as I love the monochromatic look of the dress worked all in one color, I would be excited to see it knitted using a different color for each skirt layer. It would even make a lovely wedding gown, worked all in white or cream! Replace the satin belt for leather and the vintage heels for half boots, or add a bit of steampunk and make the style all your own. Can you see the possibilities? There are lots!

This dress will be featured in the fashion show at TNNA in January 2011. Stop by Anzula's booth to preorder the pattern for your LYS, or visit my Rav page in January for your own copy!

Many thanks to Lee Ann Barker for the gorgeous photos. She was, as always, talented and patient.

Watch for trains when you're shooting on the tracks! Lord, I thought we were going to get run over...

A little update...

2010-12-21T22:45:00.018-06:00

These past few months have just been a blur of activity and work for me. Quite a bit of what I've been doing I can't even show you yet, but trust me, it's going to be good! In the meantime, here's a glimpse at what's been going on over at Chez Sexy:

First, I had a trio of designs published by The Knitter Magazine, Issues 23 and 24:

Aviatrix, Trek Socks and Serleena Socks

Then, another trio of designs, this time for Knitting Today! Magazine, Issue #1. Have you guys heard about this new magazine? It's the sister to Crochet Today!, and so far I love the way it's been styled. I'm so excited to be a part of the magazine, because I've always thought Crochet Today! was really cute and Knitting Today! is just the same. Check them out over at www.knittingtodaymag.com, or follow them on Twitter as knitting2day. Issues have been spotted at Barnes & Noble in the US, so be sure to have a look next time you're in!

Big Red Shrug Chi-chi Slouchy Beret and Drummer Boy Sweater

Oh,let's see. What else? Oh yes...I became a designer for The Loopy Ewe! That was a BIG day for me - so excited to be a part of their Sock Club and Sock Club Lite in 2010! Loopy has such a diehard following, it's been fun to get to know their fanbase and become involved with such a great company! These kits are absolutely FOUGHT over, so if you're even thinking about signing up for 2011, you'd better literally be stalking Sheri's blog next month if you hope to get a spot, because they'll be sold out for sure! Here's the two patterns I've done so far, but you'll be seeing more from me for them in 2011:

Cable Crossings and Argylers

Last but not least, I was honored to be asked to design for Woolgirl! Jenn puts together The. Most. Amazing. kits ever, and do you know how I know that? Because I get to receive a kit for each month I design a pattern! I've had four so far:

Through the Woods, Poppy Fields, Elphaba's Revenge and Cuppa Cowl

Seriously, if you have ever thought about getting a kit in the mail, I highly recommend Woolgirl's kits! She puts a lot of thought and effort into making sure each one is just like getting an amazing present in the mail - she even wraps everything up like a gift! I also love that you can order just one kit at a time, instead of having to lay out a huge sum of money for a full year's worth of club. Check out her available kits here. You'll be seeing more from me for her in 2011!

Okay, this turned into more like a big update, but there you have it! This doesn't even scrape the surface of what I've been up to since the last update though, and that should give you any idea of how busy I've been! Speaking of busy, I've got a cowl on the needles for The Knitter Magazine right now that I need to get back to - I'll be back soon to post photos from my latest shoot!

I love you all! Did you know?

New pattern: Khufu Mitts

2010-09-21T22:15:00.003-05:00

The September shipment of the 7 Ancient Wonders Club by The Unique Sheep is winging its way to club members all over the world, and I'm going to give you a little peek at what's inside! It's my new pattern, Khufu Mitts, inspired by the Great Pyramid at Giza. I have long been obsessed with all things Egypt, so when I was approached about designing for the club, I was more than excited to be assigned The Great Pyramid! At first I was a little stumped at how to make a mitten correlate to a desert region, but in the end I'm really happy with the symbolism here!

Cabled cuffs suggest the waves of the Nile River

Bricklike patterning and a pointed mitten top represent the pyramid itself

Sand stitch across the hand evokes the vast deserts of Egypt

These mitts are worked in the amazing Green Sheep Sport, an organic merino wool truly unmatched by anything else in its class. Only 250 yards knits up the pair of mitts, which are worked upwards in one piece from the cabled cuffs. Instructions are included for a full and partial thumb, and a nifty convertible mitten top means the wearer may choose between a full mitten and a fingerless glove.

This pattern is exclusive to club members until March of 2011, but if you are interested in knowing when the pattern is available for sale, please leave a comment on the pattern page, and I'll be sure to let you know! In the meantime, why not look into joining another of The Unique Sheep's clubs?

Welcome and a free pattern!

2010-09-17T12:05:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited about my new Knitty pattern, Crosswaves, which I'm sure most of you have seen already! This pattern has been a long time coming, as I designed these socks in September of 2009, and I'm so glad I can finally share them with you! By the way, these were a total accident, because the day I was struck with the idea to design them, I was actually trying to design something else entirely. Hooray for serendipities, yes?

Squee! I love the Converse shot!

I'm so pleased to have so many new visitors to the blog, so welcome if this is your first visit! I'll be doing a post in the next couple of days to sort of explain why I'm The Sexy Knitter, so do stop back by and have a peek at that, won't you? :)

Oh! And just click the little photo to download the free pattern. You can queue it up on Ravelry right here. Enjoy!

In which we shop at Etsy...

2010-07-16T16:02:00.002-05:00

One of the projects on my needles at the moment is a reknit of my Diamondback Shrug for Knit Picks. I'm this close to finishing the new sample, knit up in their City Tweed (which, by the way, is amazingly squooshy, especially in garter stitch). As I've been knitting along, I've been considering how I want to style the photo shoot. . .I know there will be some big, chunky jewelry involved, so naturally, I turned to Etsy.

While I was looking, I found these:

way cute, right? click the photo to view the listing!

While I've decided to style the Diamondback with my own jewelry from 579, I couldn't pass these up. At $8.75, they are such a steal! The shop has plenty of other cute things, too, prettily photographed and very reasonably priced.

I got so excited about my new owl earrings, I was inspired to create a whole owl treasury! Did you know there are about a million awesome owl-y things on Etsy? Of course you did. . .and here are just a few of my favorites:

gahhhh! so many owls! i want them all! click the photo to view my treasury

Between Etsy treasuries and Polyvore, I could waste ginormous amounts of time. Perhaps I should have been a graphic designer - I love playing with photos!

If you stop by the treasury, do leave a comment, won't you? :)

Rag Quilting for Project Linus

2010-07-15T15:27:00.002-05:00

Three snuggly quilts await new homes

Many moons ago, I undertook a rather large charity project, and since I began that project, I have made over 200 rag quilts. I chose to make rag quilts for my project because rag quilting is, quite simply, the easiest and silliest blanket-making method that I've ever seen, resulting in the most delightfully snuggly blankets imaginable. If you can cut on a straight line and sew on a straight line, you can make a rag quilt! It really is that simple. If you want to learn more about it, Wendy Bernard has written an excellent tutorial which you may download for free right here. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, the charity project. Well, we finished that project, we actually did! Almost 250 quilts in less than a year by no more than three sewers. . .I'm still quite proud of that, let me tell you! But I was saying, after we were finished with that particular project, I had a few quilt squares left over. About 15 blankets' worth, in fact. Those squares, they sat and they sat and they sat and they sat. For about three years, they sat. I even had to move those big trash bags full of quilt squares from Florida to Kansas, and still they sat. I'd promised myself that I'd finish them up and donate them to some kind of charity, but see, after that Big Project, I thought if I never saw another Quilt Square, it would be too soon. Fast-forward to April, this year. One of my LYSs here in Kansas City hosts charity drives throughout the year, and they announced that the second-quarter charity would be benefitting Project Linus. If you've never heard of Project Linus, you should definitely give that link a visit, because they are a most worthy charity organization which has brought comfort and warmth to almost 3 and a half million children through the gifting of handmade blankets. If that doesn't just blow your mind, well. So you know what I did? I hauled those big bags of quilt squares out of the basement, dusted them off, opened them up and got to quilting! I've already donated 10 so far, and I have only 3 left to finish up before this Sunday's deadline.

I'm curious: How are you using your talents, whatever they may be, to benefit those less fortunate than yourself? I'm not talking about just giving money to charities, here - I'm talking about getting down in the trenches and really doing something. Do you volunteer at a soup kitchen? Knit caps for preemie babies? Crochet prayer shawls for the sick? Perhaps you volunteer your time regularly at an organization like The Ronald McDonald House or Heart Gallery of America (which, by the way, is awesome and I just heard about the other day). Share with me! How are you changing the world? :)

No-Bake Blackberry Nectarine Cheesecake

2010-07-14T17:56:00.003-05:00

Last night, we had guests for dinner and board games. Nothing too fancy, you know, just throw a couple of frozen pizzas in the oven (actually, we had these guys' frozen pizza, so as it turns out it was kind of fancy). The day before, I was texting the guests about dessert options, and given the choice between blackberry cobbler, cheesecake, or cookies, the answer was "Yes". Well! I got to thinking, and I started thinking that blackberry cheesecake sounded rather good, and to put it on a cookie crust sounded even better. So I mishmashed a few things together, and here's what I wound up with:

Using nectarines instead of peaches prevents oxygen discoloration

I promised my Twitter followers a recipe, so here it is:

Crust

15 Pecan Sandies cookies, crushed to oblivion

2 Tbsp butter, room temperature

1/2 cup pecan pieces

Combine the crushed cookies and butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers. Press firmly and evenly into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Sprinkle pecans across the bottom, patting them into the crust a bit so they stick. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Allow the crust to cool completely before adding filling.

Filling

2 8-oz packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 Tbsp lemon juice + enough nectarine juice to make 1/4 cup

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 pint frozen blackberries, chopped into pieces

Note about the nectarine juice: Peel a ripe nectarine, then just sort of squish it to death with your fingers - you'll get lots of juice and a bit of pulpy stuff, too. The puply stuff is okay, because it'll all get blended in when you mix up the filling. :)

To make the filling, just dump all of that stuff except the blackberries into one large bowl. Mix it with an electric mixer on high until alllllllll the lumpy-bumpies are gone, or at least 5 minutes. Gently fold in the blackberries. Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust, and top with a sliced nectarine and a couple of whole blackberries. This cheesecake needs to be refrigerated at least 6 hours before serving, but it's best to make it the afternoon before and let it refrigerate overnight so it can really set up.

Enjoy!

Style Your Knits: Vestish

2010-07-06T08:08:00.002-05:00

Today I have decided to style Robin Dodge's design, Vestish:

Spring Vestish

This lovely pattern has been in my queue since the moment it was published in Meta Post Modern Knitting in Summer of 2008. Though I haven't actually knitted one for myself yet, I am inspired by the versatility that a key layering piece like this possesses. Wear it alone for summer, or add light layers and wear it into spring and fall. Come winter, replace the striped chinos with skinny jeans, swap the sandals for knee-high boots, add a casual patterned button-down and a scarf, and let your hair down - the possibilities for this piece are only as limited as your imagination! Hmm....do I sense a second set coming on?

Queue the pattern on Ravelry, here. Get it for free, here.

New pattern: Cuboid

2010-06-15T16:29:00.004-05:00

A while back (really, it's been a few months now), I worked up this little felted box bag for The Unique Sheep:

Cuboid

You can read all about it by clicking the link above, but basically it's a little felted box bag which uses only 340 yards of worsted weight yarn. I made it for The Ram Club Series 4, which is a series of accessories for men. My kits just shipped out this month, and so far have had a great response! This is a super quick knit that gets transformed in the finishing work. Knit flat in one piece, fabric lining gets fused to the inside of the bag for sturdiness (there is no "stuffing" in the bag in these photos), then a zipper is inserted and the whole thing gets folded up origami style and seamed together with a sewing machine. No sewing machine? No worries - you can just as easily sew it up with yarn and tapestry needle.

I love the detail at the corners!

This pattern will be available for individual purchase from me in October. Don't want to wait so long for the next one? Consider signing up my next club with The Unique Sheep, the 7 Wonders Club. This club features one kit for each of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World, and I was lucky enough to get the Great Pyramid at Giza! Yessssssssssssssssssss! Anyone who knows me knows I am fascinated with the pyramids and all things Egypt, so this was a real pleasure for me to get to do! The item I designed for that club is one of my favorite things I've ever made, so do go check it out won't you? :)

Style Your Knits: Vine Yoke Cardigan

2010-05-29T02:23:00.009-05:00

Vine Yoke - Casual Friday by TheSexyKnitter featuring Mikan's project photo

Decided I'd have a little more fun on Polyvore today, this time styling Ysolda Teague's Vine Yoke Cardi (available from Twist Collective). This has been an extremely popular piece and there are many, many gorgeous variations of it on Ravelry already. I, however, chose to style it for Casual Fridays at the office. A beaded cami and flowery ballet flats lend a bit of femininity to the ensemble, while a bold plaid handbag, sleek hairdo and tailored pants keep the look "together" enough for the office. If you're lucky enough to have a fashion-forward boss like I did back in my office days, you may even be able to get away with the fedora, but if not, some sort of fascinator (like this beauty) would be an excellent substitute.

Style Your Knits: Bijou

2010-05-10T18:26:00.001-05:00

Casual Bijou by TheSexyKnitter

Today I took a much needed break from designing to create this set on Polyvore. The set styles Marnie MacLean's gorgeous Bijou (available from Twist Collective) for a more casual, daytime look. This sweater strikes me as a more dressy item, with its delicate stitch patterning and dainty finishing details, and from what I've seen is usually styled that way. Well, doesn't that just present a challenge! I've pulled out what my brother refers to as "mad layering skills" to put together a sweet little outfit that is young, edgy and comfy! I could see myself hanging out at the coffee shop in this, window shopping some fabulous boutiques, or even going on a date with the Dr.! Movies, anyone?

If you're not familiar with how to use Polyvore, Marnie has put together a great tutorial for it over on the Twist Collective blog. Why not get addicted today?

Destash - Prism 1/2" Rayon, Nevada Colorway

2010-05-05T17:41:00.000-05:00

I've got some lovely ribbon yarn up for grabs!

Three skeins Prism 1/2″ Rayon Ribbon, Color: Nevada
95 yards per skein, 100% rayon
Dye Lot #72004
Original Price was $172.50 for all three skeins. The skeins are untouched as seen in photo.

I'm asking only $100 for all three of these pretties, and that includes shipping to the US (add an extra $10 for international shipping). Leave a comment here if you're interested, or message me on Ravelry!

I have quite a bit of novelty yarn that I'm basically giving away, if you're into that sort of thing. Pop on over to my Destash page to see the rest.

I'm giving away free patterns!

2010-05-01T15:13:00.001-05:00

Interested in knitting one of my designs, but just can't commit to clicking the "Buy Now" button? Well, now you can win one for FREE - just by following me on Twitter! Each Saturday, I'll randomly select a knitterly follower to win a pattern of their choice from my portfolio. Followers are eligible to claim more than one prize, and you do not have to be a new follower to win!

Follow me now to win!

Jumpsuit Mania!

2010-04-30T09:09:00.004-05:00

So, I've been thinking lately that if I could afford it, I'd buy almost of my clothes on Etsy. I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to wear the same thing everyone else is wearing, so I browse Etsy a lot to drool, and to get style inspiration!

Today's search for jumpsuits turned up these pretties:

Convertible Harem Jumpsuit, $125.00 from NICFISH

Persephone Backless Jumpsuit, $88.00 from VeronicaTrost

Urban Warrior Jumpsuit, $70.00 from ME2Designs

Hemp Jumpsuit, $76.00 from MeatMaster

I love when a seller takes the time to style their clothing and take it out for a real photo shoot on a real model! It makes all the difference between feeling like you're buying something made in someone's basement and feeling like you're buying something from a professional designer in a boutique. Love it!

I'd wear all of these in a heartbeat - I'm just that kinda gal.

Pattern Refresh - Argyle Golf Club Covers

2010-04-27T17:43:00.009-05:00

I had an E-mail a couple of days back from a lovely Raveler with a question about my argyle golf club covers. She was wanting to use the pattern to teach a class, which I thought was wonderful! This prompted me to take a look at the pattern, which was in dreadful need of a makeover. Well, I provided said makeover, and the shiny new PDF is now available for your downloading pleasure! The new version features in-the-round construction and a chart for the fair isle bit! Don't worry, though, the verbose instructions are still there, too - and if you prefer to knit the pattern flat, just omit the bit about joining in the round and follow the chart for the fair isle. Then, in the decrease section, purl the even rounds, and you'll be good to go!

Get it now, for free: PDF download

I also get a lot of questions about yardage requirements - the pattern lists 1 skein each of 3 colors Malabrigo, and my guess is you could get 2 covers out of those skeins, likely 3 if you omitted the ginormous pompom on top (or made the pompom in a different color). If anyone out there wants to weigh their cover and let me know how many grams it took, well that would just be swell!

Sarah

Welcome!

2009-03-11T12:23:00.000-05:00

Welcome to everyone who's filtering over my way from Knitty, and to my other five loyal readers! Today I'm excited to announce that my newest pattern, Cirque, is available through Knitty!

cute cably goodness!

These socks are in the advanced knitter category of "extraspicy" because they feature detailed patterning, including many sections of line-by-line patterning at the heel and toe, circular cables, and an "unvented" bindoff. If you're looking for a bit of a challenge or something to pay attention to, these are your socks! I'd like to thank Cindi and Lisbeth for testing these for me - my knitting group rocks!

the twist goes allllllll the way around the toe due to an unconventional three-needle bindoff

I'd also like to thank the fabulous sock tech editor over at Knitty, Kate Atherly, for helping make this pattern perfect. I hope that you will all find it to be error-free! (And in a complicated pattern, isn't that even more important than usual?)

Yes, those are both my feet. No, I wouldn't wear them like that.

Comments welcome - I'd love to know what you guys think!

Till next time,
Sarah

Tops & Toes!

2009-02-21T13:36:00.001-06:00

Today I am getting interviewed by Jennifer Tallapaneni of Pieknits about my work in the book, "Tops & Toes"!

Be the first to comment on this post for a chance to win an awesome knitting T-shirt from the book's editor!

JT: Hi Sarah! Thanks for having me over to your blog. It's so nice to get to learn a little more about great designs! I've always thought your pieces are really cute.

SW: Welcome, Jennifer, and thanks so much! Glad to have you here.

JT: So this was your first book correct? How did it feel to get published? Did you enjoy working with DRG?

SW: Yes, this was my first time being published in a paper & ink book! It is an incredible feeling, holding this book in my hands and seeing my name right there like a real designer! Working with DRG was a very happy experience and something I would definitely do again if given the opportunity!

Diamond Swirl Socks - queue them up!

JT: I saw that you have three designs in this book (Daisy Rib Buttoned Leg Warmers, Diamond Swirl Socks, and Zany Zigzag socks - congrats!). My question is how did you find time, or manage your time to work all three at once?

SW: Wow! Well, I was very excited to have all three of my proposals accepted for the book. As it turns out, I wound up having to knit these projects in a frantic hurry while in the middle of a cross-country move! I was literally working my Diamond Swirl Socks (above) in the car while driving from Florida to Kansas City! I guess it's just a classic case of doing what you have to do to get the job done. But really: is any of us going to complain about having to knit? I think not! :)

JT: Do you have some quick thoughts on the different yarns you used?

SW: I particularly liked working with the Happy Feet (Zany Zigzag Socks) and Jitterbug (Diamond Swirl Socks). These are both great yarns; the Happy Feet is super soft and squishy and is also one of the most affordable sock yarns on the market! The Colinette Jitterbug has amazing yardage - there was enough in one skein to make the large size pair of socks, with even a wee bit left over! The Burly Spun by Brown Sheep was a great choice for legwarmers since it has the insulating properties of wool and knits up quickly since it is such a thick yarn!

Zany Zigzag Socks - queue them up!

JT: I LOVE your Buttoned Leg Warmers (they are going in my queue)! Where did you come up with the concept for those?

SW: Thanks so much! Actually, my dear Seester had the idea of doing a legwarmer that buttons up, because she was walking to work at the time and disliked having to remove her shoes to take her legwarmers on and off! I loved the idea and asked her if she would mind if I designed something using that concept, and she very unselfishly said I could (thanks, Seester)! I absolutely love how they turned out and couldn't be any happier!

Daisy Rib Buttoned Legwarmers - queue them up!

JT: Do you have plans for any more books in your future? What things would you like to tackle next in your design career?

SW: Well, you can look forward to seeing more of my work in this spring's issue of Knitty! I also have a piece due out in an upcoming issue of Yarn Forward. As far as goals, I would absolutely love to see something that I knit in a movie (though that might be considered more of a fantasy, really!) and hope to have my own book deal in the next five years!

That's it for this time, folks! Thanks to Jennifer for stopping by and asking such provocative questions! I hope you all enjoyed the interview! Remember to stop by her blog tomorrow, February 22nd, to find out more about her work in the book!

Till next time,
Sarah

It's Almost Here!

2009-02-20T21:55:00.000-06:00

It's been almost a year since mailing off my last of the pieces for this project, and it isn't something I've ever blogged about, but guess what? I'm going to be in a book! And it's a nice, clever little book, too!

squee!

It's Tops & Toes: A Whimsical Collection to Delight Hat & Sock Knitters, and it's put out by DRG Publications and is available through Annie's Attic.

Can't wait to see more? Come back tomorrow for a sneak peek at all three of my designs in the book, and to hear my interview from Jennifer Tallapaneni of Pieknits! Catch all of the designers on the blog tour following this schedule:

2/21- Me!

2/22- Jennifer Tallapaneni: PieKnits
2/23- Erika Flory: It's About The Knitting

2/24- Erssie Major: ErssieKnits

2/25- Ann Squire: Annie-O

2/26- Faina Goberstein: Faina's Knitting Mode

2/27- Celeste Pinhiero: Two Stix In The Woods

2/28- Kara Gott Warner: sheknitsintheloop with Laura Nelkin
3/1- Joanne Seiff: Yarn Spinner

3/2- Cindy Moore: The Fitter Knitter Catch the interview with me about the making of Tops & Toes!

3/3- Sean Higgins: Kblicious

Till next time,
Sarah

Free Pattern Day - Golf Like an Egyptian!

2009-01-21T23:05:00.004-06:00

Next up, another golf club cover! This one features an easy mosaic stitch that looks much more complicated than it actually is!

For those unfamiliar with mosaic stitch, it is a two-color knitting technique that only uses one color per row; the second color of stitches are slipped from the row before, creating an interesting fair-isle effect!

Get the PDF for free, here.

Till next time,
Sarah

Free Pattern Day - Guitar Strap!

2009-01-19T16:43:00.000-06:00

Next up, we've got a super simple, crocheted guitar strap:

This works up quickly and uses just a scant amount of worsted yarn! This is great for that sari silk you bought but now realize you have absolutely no use for. Know someone who likes to play around on their guitar? That friend of yours that's 36 but still thinks his band is going to make it? This is for them. :)

Download the PDF for free, here.

Till next time,
Sarah

Free Pattern Day - Profane Golf Club Covers!

2009-01-18T19:25:00.000-06:00

As promised, here's the next free pattern up for grabs!

thanks to BumbleBeas for the kind use of this photo!

For golfers with a sense of humor, this set of covers will not only keep your clubs cozy, they'll give your foursome a good chuckle, too! Includes charts for #, @, !, * and %.

Get the free PDF here.

Till next time (and don't worry, there's more to come),
Sarah

Free Pattern Day - Argyle Golf Club Covers!

2009-01-15T02:11:00.003-06:00

Whoa! I just realized I've never uploaded all of my free patterns to the bloggity-blog, so I'll be doing that over the next few days. Check back tomorrow for another freebie! Today's lovely is:

Argyle Golf Club Covers!

These have been popular for Dads, Brothers, Boyfriends, Husbands, and men in general, but I'm partial to this fun pink and green combination!

This pattern requires basic fair isle skills, but would also be a great beginner fair isle project. Check out the projects already posted on Ravelry!

Download the PDF for free, here.

Till next time,
Sarah

Free Pattern Day!

2008-09-27T12:23:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been awhile since I've given you all a new free pattern, so I thought this was long overdue! I give you:

The Three-Way Scarf!
(snickering here is entirely appropriate)

This little pretty is based off the Climbing Trellis Lace pattern showcased on Purl Bee, also used in Elisa's Nest Tote. It's a simple, quick knit worked lengthwise to the width desired, blocked, and styled in one of three ways. The scarf and shawl options require no other effort, while the shrug calls for knitting cuffs across the shorter ends. Voila! A stunning new accessory for fall.

Pattern calls for 1 hank of Henry's Attic Peruvian Tweed.

Enjoy, my dears! Click here to download the free PDF!

Till next time,

Sarah

Vote!

2008-09-03T23:11:00.000-05:00

Well, it's getting to be that time again, time when all good citizens do their part to make this country a better place. Yes, folks, I'm talking about the Jones Soda label contest:

Vote for Me!

We'd love to have your vote! Sarah & Jax 2008!

Blue Hawaii!

2008-09-01T11:19:00.000-05:00

Yes, dears, it's finally finished and ready for your knitting pleasure! I give you:

Blue Hawaii!

This pretty, clever top features an elastic band that’s worked right into the fabric while you knit, making folded hems and sewn-in elastic a thing of the past! The beautiful cabled detail is all done without a cable needle, using simple twisted stitches appropriate for even a novice knitter. Also featuring easily removable straps, you’ll find this top will take you from the beach days of summer right into fall – just throw on a blazer and keep on wearing it! Styling suggestions are included in the pattern. Sized from XS-3X.

MATERIALS:

The Unique Sheep Pima Petite (100% cotton; 265 yards per 100 gram skein); color: Spring Lilac; 3 (3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4) skeins

Rainbow Elastic Thread (1 mm Fine, 50 yds per card); color: 64 Violet; 1 card (available at Beadwrangler’s Thread Shop)

1 set 20 inch US #6/4 mm circular needles

1 set 20 inch US #7/4.5 mm circular needles

2 3/4 inch buttons

Purchase the shiny, 2-page PDF for only $5.00!

Till next time,
Sarah

Coming Soon...

2008-07-23T13:19:00.000-05:00

Polyvore!

2008-06-25T11:45:00.000-05:00

Hey, have you all heard about Polyvore? With it, you can create collages of just about anything, by swooshing photos from any website you wish! Use it to plan an outfit for a special event, create a fashion storyboard, or even develop a wish list!

Here's an example of a collage I made this morning:

"Modern Day Cinderella"

I just heard about this yesterday over on the Simply Knitting blog, and I'm already addicted! This is going to be my second-biggest time waste after Ravelry, I can tell. Unfortunately, unlike Ravelry, Polyvore doesn't seem to actually be helpful or productive in any way, so it's just for fun!

Enjoy!

Till next time,

Sarah

Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera....

2008-06-04T14:15:00.000-05:00

I know, I know...it's too late for a Memorial Day post. But look! There was knitting!

and a picnic, to boot!

and fireworks!

We had a great time at Celebration at the Station here in Kansas City. There was a free concert by the symphony, yummy food, and fireworks! What's that? You want to know what that lovely piece of green silk turned out to be?

No. 6 by Wendy Bernard for Stitch Diva Studios

Based on a classic Chanel piece, this new pattern (available soon at http://www.stitchdivastudios.com/) features seamless, top-down construction with set-in sleeves. In over 15 years of knitting, I'd never constructed a sweater like this before, and I have to say: this is something we should all know how to do! There's no better pattern to give it a go with than this one, either. Wendy's no-nonsense style of pattern writing gives clear, precise directions on how to master this interesting technique! Knit up in delicious Tilli Tomas, this is going to be one piece you'll be reaching for again and again!

pretty sleeves!

There's been another test on the needles in the past couple of weeks! This one is another knockout:

Silken Scabbard by Jennifer Hansen for Stitch Diva Studios

Knit up in delicious 100% cashmere, this design features morphing cables that outline the raglan shaping, sleeves, and waist shaping. Bee-you-tee-ful! This one's sure to be a big hit. The pattern will be out soon and I believe will feature both a short-sleeve and long-sleeve version.

for this test, i knit only what you see here - jennifer added the rest

pretty girl says: you need one of these!

Well, that's it for now, I guess. There's been more knitting going on, but I've been meeting book deadlines, so I can't show you!

Till next time,
Sarah

In which knitting appears on the knitting blog!

2008-05-22T14:19:00.000-05:00

It seems like I've been knitting a lot of socks lately. Now, I don't by any means consider myself a Sock Knitter, but socks are just so darn easy to design that I've been doing a lot of that lately. Two of the pairs will be seen in the upcoming "Tops & Toes" by DRG Publications/The House of White Birches, due out this fall. The other pair, well, we'll have to see.

So anyway, since I've been knitting all these pairs of socks, I started thinking I needed to get a pair of sock blockers. After looking in all the local yarn shops and finding only those awful plastic things (no offense, Amber!), I decided I wanted something a little prettier. And where else do you go for something that's pretty and practical but Etsy??

swoon!

I got these from Leggy Creations on clearance at a stunning $20 - for the pair. Her usual price is only $30 per pair, which is a steal considering that most of the plastic blockers are $25 per pair. If you're in the market for sock blockers, I'd highly recommend checking out her Etsy shop. I believe she takes custom orders, as well as the items already in her shop. I only regret that I only need one pair, because these could get addicting! I was also really happy with the friendly, personal service that Becky gave me, as well as super-quick shipping. Very, very happy! And these got put to use as soon as they arrived. On what, you ask? These:

monkeys!

Yes, I know there are like 5,000 pairs of these on Ravelry. Mine are the non-lacy version, knit in Koigu. Didn't they turn out pretty though? I absolutely love how they blocked so nicely on my new sock blockers! Hmm...maybe I will become a Sock Knitter, after all!

Till next time,
Sarah

A Brilliant Ikea...

2008-05-19T21:16:00.000-05:00

I paid a visit to the Sunrise Ikea before leaving south Florida (that's a whole other story for a whole other blog post, but I can sum it up in one word: Hellhole!!!) and snagged some goodies. Among them was this lovely herb garden container, which I filled today:

pretty little green things!

Clockwise from top left, we have lavendar, large-leaf basil, chocolate mint, lettuce-leaf basil, rosemary, and sweet basil. I like basil a lot! I use it quite a bit to make fresh pesto. Yummy! Plus, it smells unbelievable! And since this lovely little collection is inside instead of on the porch, my whole sitting room is going to smell delicious - and I can't wait!

Loads of knitting is going on at my place these days. I'm trying to finish a dress, a sweater and half a pair of socks before the end of the month. Wish me luck!

Till next time,
Sarah

Rusted Root!

2008-05-08T14:06:00.000-05:00

I finished my Rusted Root a couple of weeks back, and have been too lazy to take photos until this morning:

Look, there are green things here now!

I love my back porch!

I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease, 3 skeins for the Small size. I thought it might be knitting up a little too tightly at first, but now that it's finished I love how it turned out! Get all the gritty details here.

I'm also currently test knitting a design by Jennifer Hansen for Stitch Diva Studios. It's a sweater, and it'll be out for the fall line.

100% Cashmere by Jade Sapphire

It's coming along nicely and is going to be just gorgeous! One of the things I love about working for SDS is getting to use these wonderful luxury yarns that I'd never choose to afford for myself. This stuff is just amazing! It's also eerily similar to the 4-ply mongolian cashmere that Sarah's Yarns carries.

I'm also working on a sooper-secret project for an upcoming book by Cherry Tree Hill Yarns! Here's a tiny peek:

Shhhh, don't tell anyone I let you see!

That's it for now!

Till next time,
Sarah

They Do. . .

2008-05-03T15:32:00.000-05:00

This past week has been a whirl of activity, preparing for my oldest brother's wedding on Friday. Here's a shot of the happy couple:

Cutting the Cake

And what did I wear, you ask? Why, this:

6 yards of silk dupioni!

I designed it myself! I wanted a super-full skirt (over 300" inches at the circumference), with a satin cumberbund at the waist and neckline. The back slopes sharply from the neck to the small of the back, attaching to the cumberbund. Finished the whole thing off with these, this and a 10-inch black satin bow worn aside my parted, chignoned hair. Only about 4 days from start to finish - I was surprised I could pull it off without a pattern! I haven't worked with fabric in a long time. I may have to start doing it more often. . .hmmm. . .summer dresses, anyone?

Till next time,
Sarah

Angularities!

2008-04-03T14:41:00.000-05:00

Originally featured in Magknits, April 2008.

Knit with sock yarn, these lovely armwarmers will keep you warm in style, while munching up those leftover skeins! As seen here, they use 1 skein of Lang Jawoll and 1/2 skein of Tess Super Socks & Baby - but you could use any odds and ends you might have lying around! In total, you'll need about 400 yards for the pair.

Buy the 3-page PDF for only $1.00!

Till next time,
Sarah

Making Progress...

2008-04-01T21:49:00.000-05:00

Here are the "after" shots, as promised (I haven't hung any pictures yet, and there aren't any window treatments, but you get the idea):

The doggies approve!

The sitting room - adjacent and attached to the living room.

The living room looking into the sitting room.

The craft room. It's pink!

The stash! I saved the best for last. : )

Till next time,
Sarah

Blogging from Home...

2008-03-28T22:48:00.000-05:00

...due to the very lucky fact that my next-door neighbor (whose name is apparently Debra) has wi-fi! Yippee!

Progress unpacking and decorating is going well! Here's a couple of "before" pics for your entertainment:

The craft room - not the craft/guest room. Yay!

A very sad and brown living room (don't worry - it gets fabulous later!)

Till next time,
Sarah

We've Arrived!

2008-03-27T15:23:00.000-05:00

The doctor and I are safe and sound in Kansas City, Kansas now and are slowly but surely unpacking everything! We've already painted the living room and I'll post pics of that soon!

Almost there!

Welcome to Kansas!

Mommy, what are you going to do with all these boxes?

Till next time,
Sarah