2019 Progress, Hope, & Happiness Collection Launch - Year 3!

Oh my friendly makers - it is the beginning of June, and for the third year in a row, I have curated, coordinated, and/or otherwise wrangled a collection of summer makes, and it went live last Friday!  For a viewing of the collection's look book, just click on it below:

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with this year's designs, and the yarny colorways created and/or picked especially for the collection really make the designs stand out. As usual, we have our make-a-long home on Ravelry and people are starting to figure out what they would like to make, and what yarns they will be using.

I have two designs in the collection this year, and they are meant to help anyone get out there for a quick adventure or two. I happily present the Rings of Saturn, a really well-sized bag great for short weekend jaunts (it's small yet so roomy); and Weekend Adventure - a tee with a whole lot of pink attitude that is easily customized to fit a maker's personal style.

There are also a good number of shawls, some head wear, a super tank (in pink!), and a cowl that I really want to make (along with several other designs). So much to make; so little crafty maker time. Grrrr.

Also, there are a few new things this year: if you are on Instagram, do follow the MAL's hashtag #happinessmakealong2019 - we are currently running an #artadventure challenge that, if craftily played, can find both you and a tagged friend winning prizes, including a grand prize (and this year's other big new thing): an e-book of the entire collection of 12 designs! That's right, the collection has an e-book for sale this year exclusively on Swatch Warriors (retailing for $19.95, with most of that going directly to all nine participating designers), but only for a limited time (basically, through the end of July, which is when the maker event ends).

Given the ups and downs in the yarn publishing industry so far this year, it is a testament to my fellow indie designers and dyers that we have just not given up and are continuing to forge our own designing path. I cannot tell you how pleased and proud I am to be among the company of these talented artists. I hope you will check out the look book, buy a pattern or two, or even gift an e-book to someone just because. Then, get your yarn and making tools all lined up and come join us as we each find our own yarny renewal.

Happy summer, everyone! 

It's Been a Frenetic February

Hello everyone - I am sorry I have not posted in a while, but design life has been busy here at chez Voie de Vie.

Initially, I hope everyone has had a fantastic start to 2018. The Chinese Year of the Dog is shaping up to be another eventful year, yes?

So, in keeping with all the momentum, I present the bevvy of designs that have been released in February. First up, the Trefoils Pour Toi Shawl, published as part of the awesome Malabrigo Yarns' Quickies Program, designs published each month that celebrate indie designers using one or two skeins of Malabrigo to concoct something beautiful, yet quick for makers to work up. 

Malabrigo has written a very nice entry on its' blog today providing their take on the design, as well as inspiration background from me and some additional color combinations. I do love how the variegated arco iris colorway on their Lace base works with the frosted pink colorway on Silkpaca, but so many color combinations exist. Malabrigo, those color artists, provide a rich palette for makers to have a veritable color field day when deciding!

I want to thank them for providing the yarn support for this shawl design. I absolutely loved working this up, and I hope all of the crochet shawl makers out there do too.

However, that's not all I've published in February. No siree Bob, not by a long shot. As many of you know, it is all things Winter Olympics around here, and that includes a new mini-collection! S(e)oul for the Gold is my ode to all the athletes' feats during the almost three weeks the world gathers in one spot. Of course, you know I have a look book for the collection, which you'll find at the end of this entry. Some of the makers on my Ravelry Ravellenics team have or will be making a few of the designs from it, and there's still almost a week left of amazing competitive coverage, so if you're game, don't hesitate to come on over to Ravelry and join team Voie de Vie.

Woot - February frenetics continue!

Progress, Hope, & Happiness

And Now On Boxing Day ...

... it's time to unwrap the new Voie de Vie collection! This project is one of the things I've been juggling over the last few months, and I must say I'm rather thrilled with it. Here's the new look book:

As with all of my previous collections, I'll be introducing each of the new designs each day between now and the end of the year, as well as upload each to the Ravelry database and my Ravelry store. You'll be able to purchase each design separately or as an entire collection in an e-book.

I am so thrilled to introduce everyone to the lead-off design in the book - the Hardware Cowl. This is a satisfyingly quick project to whip up, thanks to the super bulky Lion Brand Natural Wool and a mondo sized crochet hook. The swivel clasps and d-rings that create the loose pleats were a notions aisle inspiration. I love how this cowl captures the best of vintage with an updated, 21st century look and feel.

You'll find this in the Ravelry database shortly. 

Come back tomorrow for the second introduction. Woot!

Interior Design Fun in the Summertime

A former student once remarked during a class discussion that we were in the midst of an interior design revolution. This was sometime in 2008, and I wholeheartedly agreed with her.

Well, seven years later, the revolution shows no signs of stopping. Humans continue to define, redefine and refine their living spaces. One of the revolutionary fronts has to be DIY and knit and crochet. Even though decoration for the home has always been one of crochet’s hallmarks, there is an absolute redefinition of its aesthetic. While many have reclaimed the granny square blanket, the crochet interior design fabrics currently being created are full of cutting edge texture, design, and color. From motif work with an ability to mindfully stash-bust to texture rich pillow covers to decorative lace, crochet for the home has come of age. As Marcy Smith, Interweave Crochet’s editor, remarked in her introduction to its first-ever home collection published at the beginning of the year, not only does crochet everywhere in her living space define it as “home,” her teenage son’s friends thought it was cool. Thanks, Marcy, for sharing that nugget – it indeed was a crochet “win.”

I was fortunate enough to have many home fashion designs published in 2014 by third party publishers (including a rug design in the aforementioned Interweave Crochet special home edition). Now that many of those designs’ rights are once again mine, I’ve used them as the basis for my very first home-centered collection. A few pieces I’ve republished in their originally published form, but most have been reworked with slight tweaks in different fibers and colors, and I’ve added two brand new designs that have been percolating in the background for many months.

I hope you enjoy the look book for A La Maison No. 1. I thoroughly enjoyed photographing and putting it together. All of the design patterns can be purchased from my Ravelry Design store either individually or as a complete collection.

I once wrote in an Instagram line that home was where the cat and the hand-made blanket were located. As I think you’ll see from this collection, no truer words were written.