Stella Eve and her Snoozle

I'm finally giving Stella Eve's Snoozle a proper pattern launch.  I'll be running a sale starting, 07/11 at 19:00 EST through 07/17 23:59 EST with a tidy discount of 20%!

There will, of course, be a better discount for newsletter subscribers. If you would like to sign up for that, you can find it here.

Stella Eve's Snoozle is a great blanket for any baby with chevrons, eyelets and ridges from beginning to end. A snoozle is another name for cuddle, caress, hug, snuggle or nuzzle. All the things you do with a baby and blanket, colors selected for whatever nursery it which it will be a part. It was designed for my grandniece, Stella Eve.

Self-striping yarns, such as the ones used in the original, make it easy because they're aren't as many ends to weave in.  If you decide to make one, don't forget to tag it on Instagram with #kraziknitzdesigns, #stellaevessnoozle or both. You can follow my posts about this blanket and the baby who it was made for by following me on Instagram here.

This is Stella Eve and her Snoozle!

Canova Beach is in testing....

Canova Beach, one of my local beaches, is like most others. It constantly renews itself, as the waves bring the sand in and take it out again. The wind sculpts the dunes, while the sea oats and other vegetation keep it all from eroding away. This circle is infinite and always.

Translated into knitting, Canova Beach is a long capelet, knitted in the round with lace, cables and texture stitches calling to mind waves, drifting sand dunes and the sea oats that hold them fast, despite the action of wind and water. The stitch patterns are straight forward and easy to remember, which makes it a pleasing knit for adventurous beginners, but enough of a challenge to keep more experienced knitters engaged.

I recently had my pattern tech edited by Frauke Urban of Urban Yarning, who did a wonderful job. She's a non-native speaker of English and looked at my pattern with both the eyes of a tech editor and a consumer of knitting patterns.  She was very encouraging and made some great suggestions, which helped the look of the patterns. 

I put up a call for testing and had lots of wonderful applicants, but I was giving preference to people who were willing to purchase their yarn for the test from my partner in this venture, Melody Harmon of Arrowhead Fibers. We have several great testers in the US and two in Europe (Germany and Italy).

Canova Beach should be out in late May, as I gave extra time to my testers in Europe due to the shipping time for the yarn. I have included a picture below for your viewing pleasure. It is on my dress form Bertha Rose, which was named for my husband's maternal grandmother and my paternal grandmother. It seemed fitting to give her a name, since she is earning her keep as my model some of the time.

I will have a real model for my pattern photos, as I recruited my niece for that job when she was in town. You'll have to wait a bit longer before I start using those shots. You can follow along on Instagram where I am @kraziknitz, to see progress photos from the various test knitters or you can join my group on Ravelry, KraziKnitz Designs for future test knitting opportunities, KALs or other events.

Canova Beach

The secret is out....

I should have posted about this sooner, but promoting my Rushing River Cowl and other medical  issues have slowed both knitting and typing.

My secret project was a design that appeared in Knotions Magazine, for their January issue that went live on the 27th.  I spent quite a bit of time promoting it all over Instagram, Ravelry, Facebook, and a few other places. It's a free pattern and can be found here. Please enjoy it with my compliments.

Rushing River Cowl made it to the first page Ravelry's Hot Right Now and stayed there for about 36 hours, which was very exciting! I've never had anything go there before, so if you are one of the folks who helped it get there by making it a favorite or putting it in your queue, I want to thank you. If you look at the picture on the right you will see it. It made it into the upper twenties, which is pretty good considering that I am a fairly new designer to conventional patterns, outside my knit/felt niche.

Speaking of my knit/felted niche, I will be rewriting all of my patterns to coincide with my better pattern writing skills. It may take quite a while, because I want to have them all tech edited as well, which is not an inexpensive undertaking.  It may take more that a year, but I want to provide the best patterns that I can for everyone. I will re-launch each of the patterns as I have them done, but will also have them test knitted as well, so be on the look out for calls for test knits on Instagram and Ravelry.
If you would like to be included in the test knits, you may contact me at http://www.ravelry.com/groups/kraziknitz-designs, Reply to the general test knitting thread, I usually recruit from there and from past successful test knitters first.  After that, if I don't have enough test knitters, I recruit from Instagram and Facebook groups I belong to.

That's all for now. 

Design duty... & challenges.......

I am designing a new pattern, but the knitting is taking some time.  When you knit your own prototypes, you are controlled by your own speed and physical shortcomings. That said, I am making progress on the current project and thought I would post a few pictures.

I am also engaging in some on-line classes & challenges to enhance my skills, so that I may continue to develop as a designer.  I recently took part in a challenge sponsored by ArohaKnits to make 5 shawls in 5 days.  They were mini-shawls (swatches) to explore shawl construction for folks who want to either knit shawls or design them.  I had fund diving into my yarn stash to select the yarns I wanted to use.  I decided to use some handspun yarn that I purchased several years back.  I think they came out pretty nicely.  Five popular shapes & a bonus for the weekend.

From the top clockwise, Crescent, Square Knit in the Round, Side to Side, Asymmetrical Triangle, Triangle & Semi-Circular.

This week, I am taking part in a 5 day headband challenge, which also sounds like a great bit of fun.  I will post more about that once I have started.  Solene Knits is the sponsor of the new challenge.
It should prove to be enlightening and I'm hoping that I will find new inspiration while taking part.

I'm back.....better than ever....

My finger has healed and I am knitting again. I am working on a design and am making slow, but steady progress.  I have put one or two small sneak peeks on Instagram where you can follow me @kraziknitz. I'll try to get a few shots on here as well.  Thanks for staying with me through thick and thin.