giveaway #108

The Grand Prize Winner of the Morning Coffee giveaway is:

Kirsty

The two Runners Up are:

Brenda & Anonymous (rosebob on ravelry)

Congratulations! Please contact me at yarnonthehouse@gmail.com to collect your prizes.

This past weekend just flew by! I got to attend the first ever Vogue Knitting Live event in Seattle (held in Bellevue)! I live just 15 or so minutes north of Bellevue, so I was stoked to learn that the show was so close to home. I chose to take a fair isle class with Susan B. Anderson that I thoroughly enjoyed and have now been sucked into the rabbit hole of stranded colorwork. I'll chat on that and what I got at the show in a post soon! Also, I recently got interviewed by Emma of the Emma Knitted blog. Check that out, if you wanna hear me ramble on about knitting and take a peak inside my embarrassing large yarn stash!

Now on to what you are really here for: the new giveaway! Jessica Anderson of All in a Day's Fun & MonkeyButtBabies on Ravelry along with Spud & Chloe yarns are our sponsors today. Jessica recently released a super sweet and adorable kid's cardigan called Bunny Hop.



Look at those adorable bunny ears! I'm not sure what it is, but I love clothing that looks traditional or normal and then you see animal ears sticking out at the top! I'm not kidding you when I say that I would wear this cardi if it came in my size. On top of the cute stripes and floppy bunny ears, this sweater is knit out of one of my all time favorite yarns, Spud & Chloe Sweater. Spud & Chloe hit the nail on the head with their entire yarn line, but I especially love the Sweater, a worsted weight yarn that is perfect for childrens' garments. It's a cotton and superwash wool blend in an array of lovely colors that work so well together in any combination for colorwork projects like this one.

Here's an interview with Jessica for you to enjoy...

1. Please start by telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

Let’s see, for starters, I’m mommy to my four kidlets (7,6,4 and 20 months!), wife to my awesome and yarn-tolerating hubby. I homeschool the kids and fit in my knitting and designing around them. I started out test knitting about four years ago, then started sample knitting for a few yarn companies and eventually started designing my own patterns almost 2 years ago! I blog (whenever I get some down time, so not too frequently these days!) over at: All in a Day’s Fun. I am on Ravelry, quite a bit and I recently started a group on Ravelry for pattern support for my designs, to host KALs and just knitting chat in general, All in a Day’s Fun.

2. You just recently released a new children's pattern. Can you tell us about that and where your inspiration came from?

My new kid’s pattern is called "Bunny Hop!" and it was inspired by my seven year old. She absolutely loves bunnies and she keeps growing out of her shirts with bunnies on them. When she saw my finished samples for "Go Bananas!" (in Petite Purls!), she kept asking if I would knit her a coat with bunny ears. I love when one of my kids can bring me a picture or talk to me about something they want to wear and I can sketch it out, swatch it up and then knit it into what they want! I am a huge fan of stripes and think that they make miles of stockinette a lot more fun, and so I went with three classic “Spring” like colors. I knit up a nice swatch (my newest hat, Flopsy!), to make sure the colors would play together nicely, and to have a chance to perfect my bunny ears on a smaller scale. It wasn't long before I had two little bunnies hopping around (the littlest in her Flopsy, and the oldest in her Bunny Hop!)

3. What made you want to start designing patterns yourself?

When I was pregnant with my littlest one I kept searching for a little sleeper that was styled in this particular way- I wanted it to snap completely, have stripes, be soft, and most importantly it had to be gender neutral. I couldn't find the exact thing I was looking for, so I meshed a bunch of different ideas together to come up with a little sleeper that was just what I wanted. After she was born, I had an idea for a certain dress that I wanted to knit her, but again, I could not find a pattern, so I took some yarn and needles and made it up myself. After a bit of trial and error, I realized that I really enjoyed coming up with my own ideas and that I loved the finished product even better.

4. For budding new designers out there, what's the one piece of advice you have?

Keep knitting and keep learning! I look at my early designs that barely made it off my needles and smile. And then I look at something like my “Go Bananas!” that was published in Petite Purls and I really smile. I am so glad that I had a good friend that gave me the “keep trying, don’t give up!” speech, because it has been so worth it! Also, take advantage of the opportunities there are out there to learn- whether it is one of the designer forums on Ravelry, or one of the Craftsy classes on designing- the one on Sizing Knitwear Patterns has been a HUGE help to me!

5. What will be next for you? Do you have new designs in the works that you can share with us?

Well, I have a KAL for Bunny Hop that starts April 10 and runs until the end of May. Check out the Ravelry Group for all the KAL details! I am really excited about it, and can’t wait to see everyone’s finished Bunny sweaters. I just finished up a design that is a “Upstairs/Downstairs” inspired Cardigan that I am super excited about and can’t wait to have released! I’m working on a few kid inspired sketches at the moment and pulling out the yarn to start swatching for those. So, definitely stay tuned!

6. Why do you knit?

Good question! I knit because I enjoy it, I love to see the finished object but I also love the process of making something. And I love when my kids ask me to make them something and they help pick out the colors and how they run off with the finished item, ready to put it on (even if it is a thick coat when it’s 80 something outside!) Their little grins and giggles make it all worthwhile.

7. When did you learn to knit and who taught you?

I learned to knit a little over 6 years ago when I had two little ones in cloth diapers. I found the cutest little pair of longies that I wanted to get to put over their diapers, but my husband thought that $60 was a bit much to spend on something to go over their diapers. He challenged me to learn how to make them, and so after much more than $60 on yarn, needles and other knitting things, I've made well more than a pair of longies (and he is kind of wondering why he didn't just spend the money on the longies and call it a day!). I learned how to knit by reading knitting books and watching YouTube videos.

8. If you were to knit and live anywhere in the world, where would you knit and live?

That’s a tough one! We have such warm weather here in the desert but I don’t like it super cold (except that you can really layer on the knits!). I’m pretty content to knit what I like wherever I like, so I guess I’m slightly adaptable! It’s just nice when you can actually use what you knit. I’d really love to have a sheep and alpaca farm somewhere so I can at least have a source for my yarn should I ever need it!

9. What's been your worst knitting disaster?

Hmmmm, other than the headless penguin (I had some seaming issues when I first started knitting toys!), the one that is really bothering me at the moment is a skirt I recently knit, where the gauge was giving in stockinette, but the skirt was worked in a particular stitch pattern. I swatched and blocked a gauge swatch but the top of the skirt turned out two sizes way too big! I’m still trying to figure out if I want to rip out the top and the buttonband or if there is some way that I can turn it into a wrap skirt to avoid ripping anything out. So, not too big a disaster, but definitely a frustration (and one of those times where you shake your head at your gauge swatch!)


10. And last but not least, if you were to be drinking your favorite drink while reading my blog, what would it be?

Coffee! (And more specifically, a triple grande caramel latte, with four kids, especially with one that thinks sleep is overrated and keeping mommy up all night is fun, coffee and that extra shot of espresso are required!). (And if I had no knitting to get done and all the kids were in bed, I’d definitely go for a mojito, yum yum!)


Jessica and Spud & Chloe have teamed up to bring you a really fantastic giveaway this time! TWO lucky followers will each win THREE skeins of Sweater in their choice of color(s) and a PDF copy of the Bunny Hop pattern!




I would like you to do the following if you would like to be entered into this week's giveaway:


1. Read over the rules if you have not done so already.

2. Leave a comment on this blog post by the end of Sunday, 4/21/13. I have two questions for you today! 1. What's your favorite Spud & Chloe color? 2. Jessica wants to know, if you could have a sweater with animal ears, what animal would you pick?

I'll join in this time... 1. Favs are: Beluga, Waterslide & Grass 2. I'm lovin' the bunny ears, but I would probably want big oversized doggy ears, because they're my favorite animal!


I'll randomly pick the winners in 2 weeks and post the results along with the new giveaway, so be sure to check back. Good luck everyone.

Sincerely,

Ve