A Sheep & Wool Celebration!

Hello Handsome!

I was invited to knit a row… so i did!

See you next year, dudes!

Hay ride anyone?

Spinning wheel, they always make me think of Rumplestiltskin…

Gorgeous colorwork

wool, before being carded and spun.

Weighing a recently shaved angora rabbit.

I’ll take one of everything!

We are so excited to be gearing up for the annual Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival in a few days at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds. While we aren’t quite to the point where we’ll have a booth, (fingers crossed and working hard towards having a FloMa booth next year!!) we are planning on going to the fair both days.

There’s lots to see and buy so I always mean to start saving up months in advance, and yet I never seem to start early enough! I want to indulge in all of my impulse buys. Believe me, there is a lot to be tempted by. The gorgeous yarns (that means you, Miss Babs!), beautiful knitting patterns, eating the great food, taking in a lecture or two, not to mention the silly  critters.  Though I do not anticipate taking home any sheep… just wool.  We are so fortunate to have this great event in our own backyard and would be crazy to miss it!

So in the spirit of woolly goodness we’re offering a FlorrieMarie coupon code! Starting tomorrow, Friday October 18th you can get 30% off of any one FlorrieMarie knitting pattern. We really hope you see something you like!

We’re going to be passing out these little cards at Sheep and Wool, and during the Ravlery Meetups.  We don’t want our internet friends to be left out, so we’re sharing it here with you, too!

The Fine Print: The code, sheepwool, is valid starting at 12:01 am Friday October 18th through midnight Saturday November 30th.  The code will give you 30% off any one pattern in the Ravelry FlorrieMarie Pattern Store.  It is good for one use per person. We’re sorry, but it is not valid for past purchases.

Autumn Leaves Lessons

In the years since I have published Autumn Leaves Scarflette, my very first attempt at knitting pattern writing, I have learned more than I could ever express in one blog post.

I remember very clearly the night when I uploaded the original pattern. I was too chicken to charge any money for the download.  I imagined myself refunding money left and right if the pattern turned out to be awful.  I’ll never forget the pride and butterflies with which I uploaded my first PDF to Ravelry, and then the crushing disappointment when the negative reviews rolled in. Cringeworthy, yes. But its the reality of it, and I’m laughing at myself as I type this.

I seriously considered throwing in the towel and vowing to never publish again after reading comments like, “very poorly written pattern” and “full of mistakes”.

While those comments stung, they were absolutely not wrong.  My pattern was poorly written, and it was full of mistakes, and I had to face the facts.  One knitter commented in her project notes that she noticed row 29 had wandered off to have a lie-down. Looking back over the pattern it was true!  27, 28, 30… oh boy. How did I miss that? Though I did have quite a laugh at her phrasing.

I came to a crossroads.  I could slink away with my tail between my legs, or I could learn from this feedback and plug on.  After a short pout, I got over myself, and looked at the pattern again with fresh eyes. I poured over patterns from designers that I admired to educate myself on what makes a great knitting pattern, but I craved more information.

I checked out a few local colleges to see if they offered courses in the type of knitting I was interested in learning.  I wanted to know more about pattern writing standards, and grading knitwear sizes, technical editing and clothing shaping techniques.  Color work and cables and how to write cable charts, and how to write knitting charts in general.

Being in NYC I figured these things would be a cinch to find. But boy I was wrong.  F.I.T., nope.  Pratt, no.  Even local yarn shops only had beginner and intermediate knitting classes, nothing for a budding designer.  I found a few books and blogs that were helpful, but my real saving grace was Craftsy.  They offer video classes in exactly what I was craving to know. I was able to shape my knitting education into exactly what I was looking for.  I think Ravelry is definitely my favorite knitting resource and my favorite platform from which to sell my work, but for instructional videos you can’t beat Craftsy. Plus they have a platform for indie designers like myself where they don’t take a cent. And that’s pretty cool.

I’m still reading and knitting and frogging and watching videos, learning all the time.  I have revisited my Autumn Leaves pattern and tweaked it applying all the information I have gathered and now I feel that its finally the best version of itself.    I’m so pleased to be re-launching the pattern and I hope that you’ll knit one and let me know what you think. I can take it. I promise!

Download the pattern for FREE at Ravelry.

In My Queue

I can only speak for myself, but I have a LOT of knits in my Ravelry Queue.  Which in and of itself isn’t a bad thing.  However my queue tends to be more of a wishlist, not things that I am actually going to knit any time in the near future.  Once in my queue, things tend to languish.  Its funny, too, because sometimes I’ll go back and look through it and be surprised at how many great knits are in there that I haven’t knit yet.  Am I alone out there?

I was browsing through patterns on Ravelry this weekend and stumbled across quite a few that made it into my queue. For instance the Changeling Collar by Tiny Owl Knits. How stinkin’ cute is that?  Stephanie Dosen treads the fine line that lays between magical and pretty, without stumbling into the dreaded valley of twee.

Tiny Owl Knits Changeling Collar.

I was also a bit smitten with her Sweet Robin Wristees. Her color work is pretty impressive. I love the little embroidered robin’s eggs.

But then again I’m a bit partial to robins, and aqua… so I may be biased.

I saw this great sweater by Stefanie Peulen. The Astra Sweater.  Its nice and simple, with just enough pretty detail. I like the ribbed yolk. I suspect the increases are cleverly hidden in those cute rows of squishy garter stitch.  It reminds me of the 70’s. In a good way and looks like a very nice comfortable knit.

And since I seem to be on a Stephanie (Stefanie) kick, lets change things up and look at a very pretty Arrow Caplet by Courtney Spainhower.

I love the textured pattern and the little arrow color work. Hmmm, maybe its time to do a little slacking off and knit a few things from my queue!

-Marie

Mini Knitted Hearts

The other day I was compelled to knit a heart. Maybe I had been bitten by the Saint Valentine. I’m not sure. Over the course of working out a pattern, my hearts got smaller and smaller until they were the perfect size to wear as a pin. Then I got the idea that they would make the cutest love token for Valentines day, Let someone wear your heart on their sleeve.

There are three different heart patterns, two are worked in stocking stitch and the third is worked in garter stitch.

Here is the PDF Knitted mini hearts pdf

After the hearts are knitted, the ends sewn in and they have been steamed, flip them over and sew on a broach pin, you can pick them up from jewellery supply shops for about 50 cents each.

All that’s left to do is secure it to a card and write a note.