Tyrion's Gift

I'm so pleased to announce the release of Tyrion's Gift, the fourth shawl patten in my Game of Thrones inspired series.

Tyrion's Gift is a top down triangle shawl that is deceptively easy to knit.  With resting rows on the wrong side, it's a perfect project to take to knit group or work on while you watch the Game of Thrones Season 4 Premier.  This tribute to Tyrion and his lady friend Shae is knit up in Miss Babs Tarte, in the Volcanic Eruption colorway.  Tarte has a wonderful hand and is a generous 500 yard skein.  Miss Babs dyed some up just in time for the pattern release and you can purchase directly from her site:  Miss Babs Volcanic Eruption 

A huge thank you goes to my test knitters Margi and Helen who whipped through this pattern in no time and gave it raving reviews! 

Like most couples, in the beginning Tyrion and Shae were truly in love. They were both quite happy until Tyrion's father forced him to marry another woman. 

Shae refused to leave Tyrion, even at the risk of her own safety.  Tyrion was forced to resort to sending her away in a rather brisk fashion.  As a parting gift to show how much he cared for her, Trion commissioned a shawl in deep reds of the Lannister colors.

A single, simple gift to keep Shae warm was what Tyrion intended to give to Shae.  The betrayal that he got in return was most unexpected.

Use coupon code: Gift for $1.00 off of Tyrion's Gift in my Ravelry Pattern Shop, good through Easter.

Why do designers charge for patterns?

Have you ever wondered what goes into designing a pattern and why you have to pay the majority of patterns?  I was recently asked why I would charge for a pattern and I found this very thought provoking and I thought it would make a good blog post.  I won't be able to answer why other designers charge or don't charge for their patterns, but I will be able to tell you what goes into one of my designs and hopefully give you an idea of what you are spending your hard earned money on.

I think that everyone's design process is different because we are all creative people.  When I am starting a new design, it's often based on something that inspires me.  The inspiration for my Mother of Dragons shawl for instance, came from Game of Thrones.  When I watched the last scene at the end of the first season where Daenerys emerges from the remains of the funeral pyre with the dragons, I knew I had to design a shawl that would have some dragon qualities to it.  I sketched out the basic shape that I wanted and then did a lot of research in my stitch dictionaries for inspiration.  I worked on the charts for many hours to make sure I liked how the stitches were going to work and then I began swatching.  I dug through my stash to find just the right yarn.  It had to have a fiery effect with some variegation in the colorway to help show off the lace scales.  The Biker Chick from Miss Babs was a perfect match.  Once the swatching is done and the charts are laid out, then the fun begins!  I knit every design that I create.  I know this takes a lot of extra time, but I want to be certain that I like the way something is knitting up.  Especially when something has a lace component in it.  I think we have all knitted something at one time or another that just didn't flow well for us.  It doesn't mean that it was a bad pattern or that the lace wasn't charted or written well.  When this happens I think it just didn't have the right rhythm for me.  With my patterns I figure that if the lace or texture is knitting well for me and that I am enjoying what I am knitting than there is a very good chance that other knitters will enjoy it as well.  

Now we are at the point where the design (a shawl in this instance) is knitted up and I have blocked it.  I work on the final measurements and verify that the gauge from my swatch matches what I knitted.  Now the pattern writing begins.  I take very detailed notes while I am knitting my designs and use them to help me write the pattern.  Out of the whole design process I find that writing the pattern can be the most challenging.  I want to be absolutely certain that anyone who purchases one of my patterns will find the instructions to be clear and easy to follow.  I double and triple check what I have written and then have my editor go over the pattern in case I missed anything.  Anything that needs to be corrected is done at this time and then finally the pattern is sent out to the test knitters.  My test knitters are absolutely fantastic and tell me when they find something that needs clarifying or if something doesn't seem to be working for them or for the yarn they are using.  Once the test knitting is finished, I compile their notes and make any necessary changes to the pattern.  Then this final version is sent back to the editor for a last check before publication.

The photo shoot comes next.  It's always a lot of fun for me to finally get to see how one of my designs is going to look in real life!  Andy and I are always on the look out for new places to take pictures and we are lucky to live in an area with really great scenery.  I edit the pictures and choose which ones will work well in the pattern lay out and which ones will work best on line.  Speaking of pattern lay out, that is another very important component.  I do the lay out myself and try to incorporate the theme of the design into the pattern. I put almost as much time and thought into the lay out as I do on the written portion. There are also advertising costs, fee's from the places that patterns are sold at (Ravelry, Etsy, etc.), and fee's for PayPal as well. 

From start to finish not including the time that it takes to knit an item, a pattern generally takes me about forty hours to create.

I hope that this helps to explain the design and pattern writing process and gives an insight on why designers charge for their patterns.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Lara

Modifications

One of the things that I like the most about designing is getting to see all of the beautiful projects that you are making from my patterns!  It's really fun to see them knit up in different yarns and you guys have so much creativity with modifications.  KisForKnitting added beads to her Mother of Dragons Shawl:

Stephanie used her own yarn that she had made at a mill from local fiber to create a larger version of Mother of Dragons. 

FlowerKnitDeborah who won a copy of Juliet on Facebook, knitted hers up in just a matter of days!  She used Indulgent BFL Silk DK which is from her own shop.  I love how Juliet looks in a tonal colorway.  The lace pattern really shows up well.  I really enjoy working with variegated and self striping yarns and sometimes forget how pretty something can be in a more understated colorway.

 

What modifications have you made to patterns?  Are you a knitter who strictly follows the pattern, or do you like to change things up a bit? 

Fresh off the needles and soon to be handed over to Margi for test knitting is Eclipse.  She is knit up in Unplanned Peacock's Peacock Sock in Sun and Moon.  Here is just a hint of what she looks like!

I don't want to go on and on about the puppy and how cute he is and how much I love him and all, because not everyone loves puppies and some people just want to hear about knitting and that is perfectly ok.  We did finally figure out a name for him last Friday so we don't have to call him Voldemort.  We are calling him Iggy!  He looks like and Iggy, don't you think? :)

New Pattern Coming on Monday, KAL Updates and Other Fun Stuff!

Game of Thrones Season 4 has come to a close and if you are like me, the withdrawals have already started.  It's the only show on tv that I find so completely enthralling that I don't knit while watching it.  A year is just too long to wait for next season!

After Mother of Dragons was released, Miss Babs and I have been collaborating to create a series of Game of Thrones themed patterns.  I have been having a hard time containing my excitement and not letting the Direwolf out of the bag!  There will be two more patterns coming out this year and the next one is being released on Monday June 30 and will be available in my Ravelry Pattern Shop.  The third in the series will be coming out later in the fall so you will have plenty of time to get this one knitted up before the next release!

Night's Watch is a effortless one skein garter stitch triangle shawlette in Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in the Coffee Break colorway.  I have included both charted and written instructions and the pattern is easy to memorize which makes this a perfect knit night project. I've included some fun Game of Thrones graphics and a few other surprises in the pattern layout that I hope you will enjoy.

For a chance to win a copy of Night's Watch "like" the Lara Smoot Designs Facebook Page and share the Night's Watch post on Facebook.  The drawing will be on June 30 in conjunction with the pattern release.

The Summer of Socks KAL is in full swing with lot's of lovely projects popping up.  Be sure to pop on over to the KAL thread and check out all the socks!  A huge thank you to SuchGwenderfulStuff on Etsy for sponsoring the Summer of Socks KAL with a set of stitch markers from her shop.  I absolutely love her stitch markers.  They are thinner then some of the other brands that I have used the past and the colors show up well in my knitting.  The winner with have their choice of a set of markers in Gwen's shop.

The Mother of Dragons KAL is ending on July 1.  If you haven't posted your finished Mother of Dragons in the thread be sure to do so before July 1 to qualify for a chance to win a skein of Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in Biker Chick or your choice of one of my patterns.

Photo courtesy of Miss Babs.

Maryland Sheep & Wool Recap

When non-knitting friends and family ask me about Maryland Sheep & Wool or MDSW as most fibery people call it, the only way I can describe it is that it is like Black Friday held at a fair for fiber enthusiasts.  There are every type of sheep that you can imagine, yarn of every color in the rainbow and fiber type, fantastic lamb cooked in a countless number of ways, and more fiber and yarn enthusiasts than I have ever seen in one place together.   Since pictures tell a much better story than I can, this post will mainly be pictures of what we saw and enjoyed.

The Central Maryland Knitting Guild yarn bombed the fence at the entrance.  What a happy thing to see first thing when we arrived!

 

 This is a baby mohair goat having his breakfast.  It's a good thing our yard is too small for farm animals or this guy would have been coming home with us!

 After we went through the line to get a t-shirt our first stop was the Miss Babs booth.  This was the booth to be at the festival.  There were a few others that were busy, but Miss Babs booth was packed for the entire weekend and the line to pay went out the back door of the building she was in and curved around.  When we saw the line Andy immediately told me to go pick out what I wanted and he would wait in line.  I wish I had taken a picture of the line - it really was like Black Friday only with out the pushing and rudeness.  Everyone was as nice as could be!  I made it in and out of the booth with some goodies and met Andy who continued to wait in line while I walked through a few other booths.  Have I mentioned that he is the best husband ever?!  I was really excited to see my Mother of Dragons shawl hanging up in the booth along with the pattern.  It's one of my proudest moments :)

 

I picked up a few goodies in her booth and a couple of skeins from other dyers that I like. Can you tell that I was in a bit of a purple mood?

From left to right: Miss Babs Polydactl Set in Edge of Reality (I think this is going to be a new shawl design!), Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in Shaken Not Stirred, Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in Bat Sh**** Crazy, Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in Perfectly Wreckless, Miss Babs Yowza in Zombi Prom, Maple Creek Farm Yuma in Twilight, Ellen Coopers Yarn Sonnets Tinkerbell's Gold in Diva - those flecks you see are sparkles, and Maple Creek Farm Portland in Spice's.  

I also picked up a few other goodies.

Andy found the bag with the dragon on it.  I absolutely love it and totally missed it when we were walking by the booth that had them.  It's a backpack and holds a huge amount of yarn.  What else would you put in a backpack, right?  A purple MDSW t shirt, added to my Signature Needle collection and picked up a Shark Week kit from the Tsarina of Tsocks that I pre-ordered before the show.

On Sunday we got to hang out with our friends Julia and Daniel.  Julia was so sweet and brought some of her Babydoll Southdown roving!  I'm pretty sure it's from her own sheep and it's so soft that you just want to cuddle up with it!  She brought sampler of different colors which you can find in her Etsy shop and a larger ball in a beautiful creamy white color.  I think it's going to be time to break out my wheel soon and spin this lusciousness up!

One of the other booths that I had way too much fun in was Going Gnome.  They had so many cute felted things and were so nice and let me take a million pictures of everything!  There was a felted chess set with Vikings and gnomes, a couple of tree creatures that had incredible detail, and one of my favorites was a giant purple dragon.  I think she was about 4' long!  If you look closely at the picture of her you can see that she accidentally stepped on one of the gnomes!  I picked up some felting supplies while I was there and took a few extra pictures of the Viking so that I can make one.

My Aunt Linda, Uncle Gary and Cousin Lindsay live within driving distance of the festival and we got to visit with them Saturday evening and stay the night.  Lindsay has her own place and came over so we could all hang out and have a mini slumber party.  Andy and I tried to stay up with everyone, but couldn't stay up as long as we liked.  We had so much fun visiting and they have a beautiful house on the water.  We were able to sit outside in the evening and have wine and appetizers.  Gary has built boats as a hobby ever since I can remember.  We were talking about when he lived in Franklin Square, NY with my Grandparents. Every summer I would get to go spend some time with them and it was always a huge highlight.  One year Gary was building a boat while I was there and he took a picture of me and my brother in front of it and one of us took one of him leaning on it.  It's been at least 35 years and he still has the boat.  He pulled out the album from when he was building it and we decided to try to recreate the picture!  I think we did a pretty good job.

Andy took a picture of us.  It's been so long since we were all together, but it didn't seem like it.

I was able to work on the shawl in Coquette while we were driving to and from the festival. It's making really good progress and I am really enjoying the pattern and yarn.  I haven't named the design yet and have just been calling it Coquette after the name of the yarn.  Since that name has been used for patterns about a million times on Ravelry, I think I need to pick something else.  Any ideas?

Festivals, Knitting and Blooms

I had so much fun at the Powhatan's Festival of Fiber last Saturday.  I have worked at festivals and trade shows for other companies and organizations, but this was the first time I actually had space at one.  I wasn't sure what to expect or how it would go and I was a little nervous.  Erica had some great words of wisdom for me which really helped to keep me on track and not worry so much beforehand.

It didn't take long for Stephanie and I to set up.  The practice set up was well worth it.  We knew where everything was going and operated like a well oiled machine.  We were in a great spot and I think the booth looked really good.

Once the festival opened for the day our booth was so busy that we hardly had time to take a break!  I am so blown away with the support that you guys have given me and can't tell you how much I appreciate it.  I really enjoyed getting to meet so many of you at the festival.  Thank you so much for stopping by our booth.

I am so over the top excited that my Mother of Dragons pattern will be in Miss Babs booth this weekend at Maryland Sheep & Wool!   If you are going to the festival and haven't gotten a copy of the pattern yet, be sure to stop by Bab's booth to get yours and some Yummy 2-Ply to go with it. The original shawl will be on display in the booth.   Beth was kind enough to lend me the one she test knitted to the festival.  It's the dark green one in the picture above.

If you are wondering what the pattern is like, Tina Sanders did a great review on her blog - and there is a chance to win a copy of the pattern there so be sure to leave her a comment. If you would like to see the shawl in motion, Julia from the Dropped Stitches Podcast shows her's off and does a pattern review too.  Julia was one of the test knitters who whipped the shawl up in record time so that it could go to Stitches South. Julia and her sister Jennifer are a riot to watch and their podcasts always make me laugh. 





Today I am getting packing and doing a few last minute things before we head to Maryland Sheep & Wool.  The first priority (of course!) is to figure out what knitting projects I want to take.  I have a simple hat that I am working on for my Uncle.  Since we are staying with him this weekend, I had better hurry up and get that finished.  I think I can get it done between tonight and the car ride up.

I am bringing a new sock design in progress.  It's small enough to tuck into my bag at MDSW and I can work on it while waiting in lines.  The yarn is Gnome Acres - House Gnome in the Aquaman colorway.  Andy got the yarn for me for Christmas because Aquaman was my favorite superhero when I was a kid.  Can you see my inner geek peeking out here?

I am also taking the shawl I am working on in Coquette from Wanton Fibers.  The yarn is so incredibly soft and really enjoyable to work with.  It's triangle shaped and worked from the bottom up. 

I think these will keep me occupied during any lag time over the weekend.  Our drive is about four hours each way so it's good to have something to work on in the car.

I'm leaving off with pictures of the garden.  Andy and I have spent the past couple of weeks removing the bark mulch and replacing it with stone.  In the long run it will be much easier to maintain and hopefully we will have fewer weeds.  This first picture is taken from our deck and overlooks the garden on the side of the house.

Columbine which is one of my favorite early spring flowers.

The chives always look so pretty when they are blooming.

 

I was a little surprised with the early appearance of this group of Irises!  They are in a really sunny spot in the yard which I think is why they bloomed so early.

I hope to see you at MDSW this weekend! 

Powhatan's Festival of Fiber

The past week has been spent putting the final touches on everything for the booth that Stephanie and I will have at the Powhatan's Festival of Fiber tomorrow.  I have had so much fun putting the Ready to Knit kit's together, sewing the bags for the Limited Edition Mother of Dragons kit's and making the stitch markers to go with them.  Here is a sneak peek of the Mother of Dragons kit.  The yarn is Indieway Yarns First String Plus and is a lovely Superwash Merino/Nylon blend.  



Stephanie and I decided that we had better do a dry run with the tent, tables and some of the displays so she came over last night.  We set up on the patio and had a blast figuring out where everything was going to go.  Hopefully this will save us some time in the early morning hours tomorrow while we set up.

 

I am coveting that painting of the llama wearing glasses that Stephanie painted! I know just where I would hang it too.  

I already had the majority of my stuff packed up.  I set up my tables and a few other things to make sure they would fit under the tent with everything else.  It worked out well and we are good to go!  I've had everything staged by the stairwell for a couple of days.  I think Andy will be glad it's out of the house!

 

We are all packed up and ready to go!  Since Steph and I live about and hour away from each other and we underestimated how much we were taking, we decided to take separate cars and meet up at the festival grounds.  I will take lots of pictures and hopefully one of us will have time to watch the alpaca shearing so I will have that to share with you too.  I think we are going to have a fun day and I am really looking forward to it!

The little bit of knitting that I have had time to do this week!  It doesn't look like I did much, does it? I really didn't have as much time to knit as I had hoped to, but that's ok.  The nice thing about knitting is that it doesn't go bad and it's there anytime you want to work on it.  The lovely yarn I am working with is Coquette from Wanton Fibers and is 70% baby alpaca, 20% silk and 10% cashmere.  To say that I want to roll around in it and rub it all over me would be an understatement!  I am working on a new design, it's a bottom up shawl and I will have more details on it as it comes along.

 

 

An Interview, Powhatan's Festival of Fiber and Spark KAL with Bare Naked Wools!

Last month Robin Hunter contacted me to see if I would be interested in participating in an interview for her blog.  There are a few blogs that I try to read on a regular basis and hers is one of them.  She always has interesting information and I enjoy reading the interviews she does with other designers.

Robin posted the interview today.  I'm really honored that she asked me!  She asks a lot of good questions and if you were wondering more about me and my business, please check out her post:  An Interview with Lara Smoot

For the past few weeks I have been getting ready for the Powhatan's Festival of Fiber.  I've put together some "Ready to Knit" kits with a few of my patterns.  These kits include the yarn, pattern and a stitch marker.  All you will need are your needles to get started!


Frost in Bloom



Oktoberfest



Iridill
 


Ferry Beach 




I will also be bringing some Mother of Dragons kits.  They include a Limited Edition dragon project bag, Mother of Dragons pattern and coordinating yarn.  This is just a little hint of the bag as I am putting the final touches on them:

I will be adding some project bags and kit's to my Etsy shop around the first week of May.  I am really excited to be starting this new venture!

Speaking of excitement, the Spark KAL has been announced in the Bare Naked Wools group on Ravelry.  We would love to have you join us.  It begins on April 30 and Erica and I have some fun things planned for the KAL including a few contests along the way.  If you are looking for something to knit for your Mom for Mothers Day, Spark is a perfect gift.  Mom can wear it in the chilly spring air when she goes out for her morning walk, or in the evenings since the nights are still a bit chilly.  Ok, who am I trying to kid here?  When I spoke with Erica earlier this week she had 2" of snow at her house! It's definitely a late spring and Mom would sure appreciate a nice hand knitted Spark cowl to keep her warm.  Check out these pictures from the look book photo shoot.  Beth knitted the lighter colored Spark using all Bare Naked Confection and I knitted the darker one in Confection with Indieways Best Worsted for the contrast.