Rhinebeck Bingo 2010

The time has finally come, and I am so excited to be headed to Rhinebeck this weekend for the New York Sheep and Wool Festival.  

A couple weeks ago I noticed a fellow blogger mention Rhinebeck Bingo and I had to check it out.  I contacted Stitchy McYarnpants herself to get included on the list to be a square in bingo, so if you've come here because I ended up on your Bingo board- here's a look into what I'll be wearing on Saturday.

(That's right- it's my finished sweater...pattern coming soon eventually)


If that's not enough on the clues- here's another.  I'll be the crazy lady driving from Michigan when she's eight months pregnant (honestly, I feel like I should be a free space!).

Even if I didn't make your bingo board, I'd love for you to say hi.  If you will be attending Rhinebeck and haven't signed up for bingo, it's not too late- sign up closes tonight.  

Comfy Sews VS. Cozy Knits

A few months ago I came upon one of my (now) favorite blogs.  Maybe it's the excitement of my own little one on the way, but I think it's more all the great crafts that are highlighted on luvinthemommyhood that draws me to it.


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All this month, the theme on luvinthemommyhood is Comfy Sews VS. Cozy Knits.  Round one featured slippers- knit vs. sewn (go take a peek, you might see a familiar pair or two :)).

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I'm already excited to see what will be included in the next round.  Although I am a little biased toward knit slippers (really... can you blame me!?!), I think comfy sews may win out on a round or two in my book. What about you- which do you prefer???

And the Winners are...

Thanks so everyone for their participation in my first blogiversary this week- it was great to have so many to celebrate with!

Mr. True Random Number Generator at random.org provided us with the following contest winners:



For the Never Not Knitting Pattern giveaway, our winner was number 22....

Chrissy  who wrote:

Loving all of the patterns, but the Cedar Leaf Shawlette really looks devine! I entered on twitter @chrissyza as well!

And for the Knitterella Notepad giveaway, number 92- which was a Twitter entry from...

Gynnab83

here on the blog, Gynna commented: 

I absolutely love the "Knitted Sweater Note Card Set" Totally cute! Now just gotta hurry up and knit more gifts for Christmas!

Congrats to both our winners, I will be contacting each of you for your addresses. 

Before I sign off for the weekend, I need to let you in on my exciting plans.  Tomorrow I will be having my very first trunk show at Have You Any Wool in Berkley, MI.  The day begins at 10 am with a showing of all my designs.  Not only will I have the new Aravis Hooded Cowl with me, but I will also be previewing a brand new (just came off the needles last night) sweater design.  Here's a sneak peek...



If you want to see more, you'll have to stop by.  I'll be there at 10, and there's even a French Press Felted Slipper Workshop starting at 1.  Space is limited, call (248) 541-9665 to check for availability.  For those of you not in the area, I'll be sure to take some pictures to document the day and share with you next week, have a great weekend.

A Year in Review

Well, today's the day!  I have officially been a blogger for one year now- I can hardly believe it!  In honor of the first blogiversary, I figured it's as good a time as ever to take a little stroll down memory lane and look at what an exciting year it's been. 



October 8, 2009- I set out to be an official ravelry designer by posting my first pattern



October 12, 2009- The French Press Felted Slipper Pattern was released on Ravelry




October 15, 2009- I fell in love with Fair Isle
**side note:  it's not as scary as it looks, every knitter needs to give it a go!


November 19, 2009- Found my LYS (even if it's over a half hour away- it's worth it!)



November 29, 2009- Celebrated the sixth annual International Craft Day in the Bernardi home
(we'll give you a little more warning this year!)


December 3, 2009- Launched the Breckenrdige Cowl


Thursday, December 17-  I was Harlotized.  This may sound like a bad thing, but for a knitter, there is nothing better! (Harlotization actually occured on the 10th- crazy things happen after haroltization, and I was not able to write about it until the 17th)


December 23, 2009- Joe and I held differing opinions on the proper size of a Christmas tree


January 9, 2010- I made my debut on YouTube



January 20, 2010- A knitter is born


January 26, 2010- We started wholesaling!


February 4, 2010- We started work on my knitting studio


March 12, 2010- Montebello Launched


March 13, 2010- I met the Harlot (and Jill!)


April 19, 2010- Launched 3-in-1 Baby Booties Pattern


April 21, 2010- Made progress on the knitting studio


June 23, 2010- Made a little announcement

July 16- Continued to work on my greatest WIP to date


September 10, 2010- Joe and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary


September 20, 2010- Launched an exclusive new pattern for the Lansing Shop Hop


October 5, 2010- Launched Aravis Hooded Cowl Pattern


And that sums it up, folks!  Whether you've been around since the beginning, or are a new reader, I hope you enjoyed this little trek down memory lane.  It's been quite an exciting year for us and I can't wait to see what this next year holds!


















Knitterella Giveaway!!!

As if this week hasn't been exciting enough, I have another giveaway to offer up today!  If you have been reading my blog for any time at all, you have probably heard me mention my good knitterly friend, Jill.  Jill is better known in the knitting world as Knitterella.

Jill is a graphic designer by trade, and a knitter by choice!  With these two talents, she has created her own line of Knitterella Stationary for knitters.  I actually knew of Jill's work before I knew Jill the person- it's popped up all over the big knitting magazines, including Vogue Knitting and Interweave Knits.

Besides the stationary,  Jill has also been busy designing logos and layouts for many knitters. If Sally Morgan is the "Physchic to the Stars", then Jill is the "Graphic Designer to the Knitters".  If you have been looking for a great graphic designer to work with, you should check out Jill's work (but honestly, if you are a knitter, you've porbably already seen it!).  Jill was one of the graphic designers behind Alana's new printed pattern line- so if you read my blog, you saw her work on Monday!

Up for grabs today is the complete set of Knitterella notepads:

One lucky winnner will receive all six notepads from the Knitterella collection.  Here's how to enter...

Stop by knitterella.com to check out the rest of Jill's line.  What's your favorite item- what would you like to see more of?  Leave a comment on this blog post before tomorrow night (midnight, EST) for your chance to win. Winner will be announced on Friday along with the Never Not Knitting Giveaway winner.  

For an extra entry, copy and paste this to your Twitter feed:

Just entered the giveaway on frenchpressknits.com for a chance to win notepads from @knitterellajill .You should enter too! @frenchpressknit

I have my own Knitterella notepads- here's one of them hard at work:



This one reads,  "Knitting through the day one stitch at a time"- how fitting!  This is definitely the 
ugly side of working on a new design.  Fortunately for you, by the time I have a  pattern all ready to go, it's a bit more legible than the above picture!