Craft Room Inspiration

There are many events in a girl's life that she dreams about for many years. Falling in love, her wedding day, buying her first home, starting a family. For me (and I assume many of my loyal readers), designing an ideal craft room has always topped the list.

I admit, in the past decade many a'pages were dog-eared and torn out of my personal collection of Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes and Gardens magazines. There are folders on my computer marked 'decorating ideas' that seem to only grow with time.

I don't know if its the soft colors or pristine organization that draws me in. Either way, it's always been a dream of mine to have a full-fledged craft studio and yesterday, my dream started to become a reality.

We will be starting to frame out our basement on Monday, and an 11' x 15' space will be completely dedicated to knitting. Granted, we will be working within a budget, but I've started looking for inspiration on the web. Get ready for a picture overload... these are just a few of rooms I love:

{via BHG}

{via BHG}

{via BHG}

{via Pottery Barn}

{via Country Living}

{via Apartment Therapy}

{via Apartment Therapy}

So here's where I enlist your help. Any wonderful craft room inspiration ideas? Throw up the links- I want see them all!

Wholesale Available

You all know a couple things right now:

1. I have been away from the blog for a few days

and

2. Joe is a much better writer than I!

When I was originally toying with the idea of starting a blog, I begged Joe to be the writer. It's not that I don't like the blog(in fact, I like having it more than I ever thought I would), it's just that I have never been too keen on getting words on paper. Hopefully Joe will start to frequent the blog more often- it is a treat for all!

Last week I was away for work in Chicago. Right before I left, I placed my first print order for the French Press Felted Slipper Pattern. My work meetings were finished up on Thursday so I took Friday off with the sole purpose of visiting yarn shops in the Chicago area. Joe met me and brought the new patterns along(which arrived when I was out of town).

As of yesterday, I am officially set up for wholesaling the French Press Felted Slipper Pattern. If you are a LYS and would like to have the pattern for your shop, you can contact me at wholesale [!at] frenchpressknits.com. Right now the slipper pattern is the only one available for wholesale, but I will be adding more in the near future.

Was it a successful trip? What do you think?

*Yes, these bags are all filled with yarn and other knitting sundries :)

Kung Fu Knitting... by Joe

There's a story told in China (it's told on the History Channel too- but mostly it's told in China) about a boy sent to live with the monks of the Shaolin temple. There, it was expected he would be taught the art of kung fu. Yet the only training he receives is an order to fill a large pot with water, and splash the water out using only his hands. He repeats this process all day long for many months.

When the boy is allowed to visit his family, they are eager to have him demonstrate his new skill. The boy, thinking he does not know any kung fu, becomes furious with their pestering, and slams his hand down on the table in front of him, just as he had brought his hand down onto the water countless times before. To all of their surprise, the table shatters to pieces.

For me, this hat is somewhat of a table shattering experience. I learned to knit on Melynda's slipper pattern, and for many months getting pieces ready for felting was the only knitting I knew. Yet during that time the basics of knitting were trained into my hands. Knit stitches, purl stitches, increases, decreases, casting on; even the elemental task of holding on to everything while manipulating the piece, were all skills mastered by cranking out slippers. When the time came to make my hat, I didn't have to think about what I was doing. I knew the basics well enough that even my first experiences "tinking" and picking up dropped stitches came naturally.

So this hat stands in tribute to Melynda. For her ability to focus her gifts into something people can enjoy. For showing me how to smash tables. She won't know what she means to me until we are sitting face to face with the one who made us.

(The hat is "Ullared Cap" from the book Hats On! by Charlene Schurch)

Version 2.1 for Haiti

For the past few weeks, I have been working closely with my graphic designer (who happens to be my good friend Kelly) in preparation of launching an updated version of my French Press Felted Slipper Pattern.

Version 2.1 has a few differences when compared to the original version. First of all, it looks way prettier! Kelly did a great job of making the pattern clean, cohesive, and aesthetically pleasing- it sure beats my Microsoft Word graphics(can we even call them graphics?).

I have been listening to customers to find out what you all would like to see in the pattern and what areas have been unclear. Much time was spent on the forums at the new French Press Knits group on Ravelry and I got to work. Although, due to space constraints, I couldn't include every suggestion given, I did my best to clarify and add helpful information.

I posted the new pattern on Ravelry today, and when I did, I checked the box to notify past customers of the update. Because I have not been on Ravelry that long, I am not quite sure how this works. I'm hoping that past customers will automatically be able to download the updated version. If this is not the case, please let me know.

Also, if you have bought the pattern on Etsy and would like the updated version, just shoot me an email with the last name on the Paypal account and the approximate date of sale.

Finally, from now until the end of the month, half of all proceeds from pattern sales will go to World Vision's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. World Vision has worked in Haiti for 30 years and has more than 800 staff on the ground. Your gift will help them meet the immediate, urgent needs of earthquake survivors, and also enable World Vision to help the people of Haiti in the weeks and months to come. Please join us in praying for the children and families devastated by the earthquake in Haiti. Read more at http://www.worldvision.org

You can also learn more about organizations to donate to at http://www.charitynavigator.org

If you haven't had a chance to buy the French Press Felted Slipper Pattern or Breckenridge Cowl Pattern, there has never been a better time to buy!

Improv Hat and Cowl Patterns

Earlier this week, I posted my selfish knitting projects. Both the hat and the cowl were a super easy knit, and in a couple evenings, I had a new matching set.

I jotted down some notes as I went, and as promised, will share them here. I will most likely get around to putting these in PDF format to have available on Ravelry someday, but for now I will just post them here on my blog. After all, there needs to be some sort of benefit for being a loyal reader, right?

These patterns are relatively simple and quite suitable for a new knitter. If you have not yet knit in the round, challenge yourself to do so. You may feel like you are all thumbs when you start, but by the end you will have it down!

**A general note about the amount of yarn used: Joe gave me 5 skeins of Ella Rae Latte(from Center Street Knits) for Christmas. I knit the hat first, and it used up about 1 1/2 skeins. When I knit the cowl, I just kept going until I ran out of yarn. Although the yarn is a bulky weight, I think it knits up a little thinner than a regular bulky. For a 50g skein, there is 82 yards. This means for the hat I probably used about 120-130 yards. Check my hat gauge against yours to see if your yarn it going to work- you may need to use a different needle size.

Improv Hat

Yarn:
100 g bulky weight yarn
(I used about 1/2 skeins Ella Rae Latte)

Needles:
Circular needle, 16-in length, size 6 & 7 (4.25 &4.5 mm)
and one set of dpn, size 7 (4.5 mm)

Gauge:
19 stitches and 26 rounds= 4 in(10 cm) over stockinette stich

Instructions:
Cast on 80 stitches with size 6 circular needles. Place marker. Join, being careful not to twist.

Cuff: Work k1, p1 cuff for 6 rows

Switch to larger needles.
Round 1: *k8, m1 ; continue from * to end of round (90 stitches)
Round 2: knit
continue in stockinette stitch until hat measures 8.5". Since you are working in
the round, you will just be knitting(no purls)

Begin decrease rows (switch to dpns when you can no longer work on circulars)
Round 1: *k7, k2tog; repeat from * to end (80 stitches)
Round 2: knit
Round 3: *k6, k2tog; repeat from * to end (70 stitches)
Round 4: knit
Round 5: *k5, k2tog; repeat from * to end (60 stitches)
Round 6: k2tog across all stitches (30 stitches)
Round 7: k2tog across all stitches (15 stitches)

Break yarn, leaving tails about 8" long. Draw yarn through remaining stitches
and fasten off.

Improv Cowl

Yarn:
200g Bulky Weight yarn
(I used about 3 1/2 skeins of Ella Rae Latte)

Needles:
Circular needle, 29-in length, size US 13
Gauge:
(double strand of yarn used)
8 stitches and 17 rows= 4"(10 cm) over seed(moss) stitch

Instructions:

With two strands of yarn held together, cast on 93 stitches. Join, being careful not to
twist.
Round 1: *k1, p1; *repeat from * to end
Round 2: *p1, k1; *repeat from * to end

Since the whole cowl is worked in seed(moss) stitch, and there is an odd number of stitches, you will k1, p1 for the whole cowl. Just continue to repeat this until the cowl is the length you want it. Mine is about 6" wide, but I would have gone longer if I didn't run out of yarn! The shape is a very long circle(about 54"), that you can wrap twice around your head/neck.





For all the new knitters, you can do this! Even if you have never read a pattern before, try to figure out as much as you can, and ask me any questions you have.

For the more experienced knitters, let me know if there are any mistakes or changes I need to make.


PS...sorry for the deja vu pictures. My usb flash drive broke this week so I have to use pictures that are already on my computer until I get a new one!