Let's Get This Indie Party Started

Ok, everyone - the sign-ups are now complete for the 2015 Indie Gift-a-long, and yours truly has made it to the list of participating designers ... along with approximately 279 of my fellow independent knit and crochet designers.

I'm going to kick things off with the first of many individual designs that are new to my shop (although they've been previously published elsewhere) that will be a part of my Gift-a-long offerings. A few of these (like the cowl highlighted today) will also be part of my fall/winter collection, due out in about a month or so. 

With that, I present one of the most wonderful cowls I've ever had the pleasure of making, using all handspun alpaca yarn - it's my shop's version of the La Coeur Cowl. 

Back in mid-summer, I asked my online friend Kathryn at Alpacamundo if she might be willing to provide me with some hand spun alpaca for a cowl I would make for her. I think most people don't realize that many who regularly work with fiber don't always have the time to work designs up for themselves. Since I still get incredible joy from using my hooks and sticks regularly, I thought Kathryn might like something handmade for herself made with her own handspun fiber. 

Kathryn didn't hesitate, and sent me a mix of handspun fibers - some bulky natural-colored alpaca that had been handspun for her and donated from a most beloved, and now former, alpaca in her small flock, Keyla - as well as some darker worsted weight alpaca that she had handspun. To the worsted weight I added some hand spun I had in stash from my other alpaca-loving friend, Andrea over at Wonder Why Farm, and created this colorblocked ode to hand spun alpaca awesomeness.

Look at the wonderful, tweedy effect of the
two worsted weight hand spun fibers held
together in the darker color block.

This cowl design, which is amazingly easy and so quick to work up, came alive in this combination of hand spun fiber. It's rustic yet refined, warm as all get-out, and simply a delight to wear. When my model slipped it on, she instantly said she loved it and wanted one. 

I love the colorblocking. It's going to be difficult to recreate the gorgeousness of the hand spun with commercially made fiber, but I'm going to give it my best effort because my model will be getting one of her very own. It seems the least I can do.

My sincere thank you to Kathryn and her flock of wonderful camelids over at Alpacamundo. I can only hope she might consider giving me some hand spun tibetan mastiff fiber to work with.

Hey, a designer can have a wish list, too. 

Do put the Indie Gift-a-long sale on your calendars - this year it starts on November 19th and runs through the end of the day, November 27th. I'll have 20 different designs in the sale, each at 25% off the regular pattern price. This is the best time to pick up designs for all the gift-worthy people on your holiday list, as well as support independent designers. 

New Occasional Series: Wardrobe Wednesday

My first new fall outfit using some of my own
designs + repurposed items already in my closet.

I have been preparing behind the scenes for a bit in an effort to start an occasional Wednesday series to highlight how I'm incorporating my own designs into my wardrobe. The fact that it coincides with #slowfashionoctober is a happy accident!

The desire for this series started with a look not only at my stash (which, as I've written many times in the past, I've been aiming at cutting down significantly and/or using up yarns I've had for a while to make way for further fiber exploration), but also what I had in my closet and how I might freshen up both it as well as my personal look. I've been in a serious clothes funk for a while, so this effort comes not a moment too soon. However, getting all of these moving parts to work together and fulfill my final objectives really has been a creative challenge. Nevertheless, I'm pretty darn pleased with my first new outfit, which is pictured at left.

The piece that I wound up building up from and around was my La Coeur Cowl published in the February edition of ILikeCrochet.com (and you'll be seeing more about this cowl in the next few months) (top right in the first photo). I had a few skeins left over from the sample cowl I worked up for the e-magazine and, combining it with some yarn I still had in stash from this pullover, I swatched, crunched the gauge numbers, and then whipped up a bulky weight version of my New Wave skirt. 

Let me tell you, this is a fairly quick skirt to make in the original sport weight yarn I chose, but in this heavier weight, it was even quicker! I love how these colors play with each other, and I am absolutely thrilled with how this skirt fits. You can't get any better than that, folks!

I've paired it with chunky leather booties and black tights (which means I can skip any additional slip or underlayer - the tights do all the heavy lifting), the perfect purple tank (can you see a color theme here?) and an oversized blouse that I've had for while and just didn't have anything that looked right to pair it with. I will most likely make a few quick jewelry pieces, and then I'll be all set.

I feel like I'm getting a new school year wardrobe. So much fun!

Happy New Year!!!!

I do love a neat single crochet seam ...

OhMyBob, it's 2015!!!!! I hope everyone had a great New Year's celebration (or at least you rang in the new year in the way most pleasant for you). I have been so busy since mid-December, it still feels like 2014 to me. I will have a recap of last year, hopefully sometime before the end of January.

(c) ILikeCrochet.com; go here at the site
for further information on this design.

In the meantime, I start off 2015 with two new designs published in the February issue of ILikeCrochet.com (and they have yet to make it to the Ravelry database, but they will soon I am certain): the first is the Frozen Crystals Pillow. I am absolutely in love with the mix of tunisian crochet and post stitches in this design. Made with a cool shade of Cascade Yarn's 220 Superwash Aran (which I blogged about here right around the Labor Day weekend, and includes my ode to all the wonderful yarn I used last summer), I am just itching to use this pillow in my own living room. Of course, I want to make a few interior design changes before I do, so it most likely won't happen until the spring. Nevertheless, just knowing I have this waiting for me is such a delicious design treat. 

The other design in February's ILikeCrochet.com edition is the lush La Coeur Cowl:

(c)ILikeCrochet.com; go here at the site
for further information on this design.

Made with Bernat's Alpaca (a chunky alpaca blend that I featured on the blog back in August 2014), this is a quick, quick, quick project. Since I've definitely been feeling the cowl love lately, the timing of this design's publishing couldn't be better. Of course, it would be a great Valentine's Day gift to whip up for someone special in your life (and this isn't an all inclusive list) - mom, sister, cousin, daughter, bff ... or yourself! 

I am so glad these designs are kicking off my 2015 (and Leather, Lace, Grit & Grace is oh-so-close on their heels!), I'm still pinching myself due to the design bounty that continues from 2014. I hope you'll head on over to Andrea's at Wisdom Begins in Wonder and check out how everyone else is starting off their year.


And, hey - have a great, fiber-filled weekend!