Happy St. Patty's


Any big plans in your neck of the woods?  Come evening we will be partaking in a delicious corned beef and cabbage meal.  I may look forward to this more than Thanksgiving- no joke. 6 o'clock could not come soon enough!

Ravelry Roundup 3/16/11

Wow!  Maybe it's just because I started looking more, but there were so many great patterns released on Ravelry this week and I am beyond excited to share my picks with you.  From now on, you will be able to locate past "Ravelry Roundups"  in the "Links" section on the blog. Here we go...

Looking Glass Socks by Rose Beck

I'm not usually a sock knitter, but something about these beauties drew me in.  I'm glad they did, because I then I started browsing Rose's other patterns and blog- what a treat (click on her name to see more).

Lavaliere by Cecily Glowik MacDonald


Simply elegant and beautiful- how could you not love it?

Sadie Dress by Nicole Montgomery

Oh, Sadie!  Look at those petite little sleeves- a must-knit for a baby girl.


Hide & Seek by Katie White


This one got me the second time I looked at it and noticed that there are two knit panels to this cowl.  How fun would it be to do a neon color under a neutral?

Little Ivanhoe by Lena Gjerald


Classically cute- 'nuff said.

Tuubi by Tiina Huhtaniemi

Is all about the color choice in this simple slouchy cowl.

Asian Set of Fruit and Vegetables by Brooke & Beth


What little kid wouldn't love these in their play kitchen?

Criss Cross Hat by Tricia Drake
Seriously?  Does it get any cuter?? I love the texture in these hats- I had to order the book!

Elizabeth by Marias Garn

There's no shortage of mittens on Ravelry- these ones are just too clasically perfect.

Knotted Slipper by Cocoknits
Well, we all know I have a thing with slippers, how could I not instantly fall in love with these?

Canaletto Cowl by Megan Goodacre

Just lovely- this color palette almost makes me love winter.


Courtyard by Melissa Thomson

Another designer I have never seen anything from- I'm taking note, she's got an eye!

Hope you enjoyed the roundup this week.  What's your favortie new knit?


My Very Plucky Day

I would say true talent is hard to come by.  I would say finding people who use their craft with such passion to create things of great beauty is difficult.  But between seeing the work of my new friend Andrea, test knitting samples for my good friend's first-ever knitting pattern, and perusing piles of yarn at my Plucky Party this weekend- I know I have been blessed.  I am surrounded by talent!

What a joy it was to share some of that talent with a Plucky Yarn Open House in my home this weekend!  Seriously- so much beautiful yarn just sitting in my house- it was a pleasure.  I wish it all could've stayed, but most of it left.  Some in the hands of others, some back home with Sarah (Mrs. Plucky herself) - although she did forget a small bin of yarn.  Unfortunately, we were able to catch her before she pulled out of the driveway.
Bummer.

In a yarn recap- here's what came:

Here's the damage (wowza!):


And here's what stayed here with me (yay!):



The day was a blast- enjoy the highlights (many of these photos were shamelessly taken from Sarah's photo stream- thanks, Sarah!)...

Beautiful Knits everywhere


Me and Elise in our matchy-match Plucky Cardis:


Elise wasn't the only baby to make an appearance. Oh-so-cute Veronica stopped by with her equally as cute momma:


Jill getting ready:


My sister Amanda came all the way from North Dakota to pick out yarn:

My knitterly friends.  Erica, Jill, Sarah:

Once the clean up was finished, the after party consisted of a photo shoot with Elise:
Dang- this baby knows how to rock a handknit!

Thanks so much for everyone who came out and made the day so successful- we'll most definitely have to do it again.

Sunnie Fairy Spinning Supplies

As many of you know, I have recently started taking sponsors here at French Press Knits. What I didn't expect was to meet so many new fiber-y sorts in the process of choosing sponsors.  It is more than a pleasure to introduce you to the Sunnie Fairy shop on Etsy.


Andrea started her shop on Etsy over two years ago- and you wanna know what's really cool about that?  This is Andrea now:


Andrea is a teenager from Southern California with an entrepreneurial spirit. When Andrea started her Etsy shop a couple years ago she sold crocheted stuffed toys that she personally designed.  Somewhere along the way she added to her fiber repertoire when she began spinning.  She had discovered a new passion and wanted the opportunity to share it with others.  


In Andrea's shop, you will find top whorl drop spindles, bottom whorl drop spindles, and learn to spin kits.  The kits include everything you will need to get started- Drop spindle, roving (in your choice of colors), and detailed instructions to get you started. 


To learn more about Andrea, you can find her over at Andrea's Garden where she blogs about things she makes, wears, and likes (make sure you get a glimpse of some of the yarn she has spun- her beautiful color choices makes me want to drop my needles and learn to spin!).  I'm not sure how she does it all (she does say that she has great parents who don't mind taking her to the post office when she needs to ship out multiple orders), but I know that in about 13 years I'll be sending Elise her way for a talk about how to run and Etsy shop and still manage middle school/high school!




Ravelry Roundup

So here's something I've been wanting to put in play for a while now.  I spend ample a good amount of time looking at new patterns on Ravelry.  The are are so many creative designers out there and it's just fun to see what people come up with.

I want to be able to highlight new patterns, maybe even discover the next big Ravelry hit before it happens :)  Because of this, the patterns will all be recently published- and they won't all just be from the top 20 New and Popular list.

So, without further adieu, I present to you my first ever Ravelry Roundup!


1. Stripe Study Shawl:
Ok, ok... so I know I said I wouldn't just take a bunch of patterns off the New and Popular list, but this shawl  is amazing (along with everything else by Veera Valamaki).   This Shawl is part of the reason I decided to get the Ravelry Roundup going.  As soon as I saw it a few weeks ago I knew it would be an instant hit- what a statement piece.

2. The Signiture Pixiebell Pixie Hat

Not only is this hat cool, it will also be in a movie- now how cool is that?!  You can watch the movie trailer for Theo and see it in action.  If one of my creations were to be featured in a movie, I wouldn't care what it was about- me and everybody I knew would be going to see it.  How exciting for Diane Serviss (See all her stuff here in her Etsy shop)!

3. Arrow Cowl by Madelinetosh
What can I say?  Madelinetosh knows gorgeous.

You may have recently seen her Larch Cardigan (which I will knit someday, when I have the time) all over Ravelry, now Amy offers up this simple but beautiful cowl done up in Madelinetosh Pashmina- yum!

5.  The Birds and The Bees headbands by Alana Dakos


  What mother of a new baby girl wouldn't be in love with these?  They're really quite perfect.  If a super cute pattern weren't enough, Alana also made the pattern extra interesting for not only the knitter- but also the knitter's kids- read more about it here.



Just don't ask me to spell it... or read the pattern.  Although it's not in English, there is a chart.  Double knit...two colors...knit in the round... you can figure it out!

Yes, you probably all know that Jill is a good friend of mine... you may think this is a shameless plug for her first-ever design...but you know it's one of the best new designs on Ravelry- I love it (I also got to test knit it and will post pictures soon).  If you happen to be coming to the Plucky Open House Saturday, her pattern will be available for purchase, along with the yarn. 

8.  Chubby Chirps by Rebecca Danger
Remind you of something?  We all knew these wouldn't stand a chance against my love for fat little birdies- they must be knit... maybe in mobile form?


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And that concludes my roundup for today.  Hope you found a new pattern or two to add to your queue.  Anything else tickling your knitting fancy these days?  I'd love to see your roundup!