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.

Catching Katniss

Earlier this year I was asked to design a project for a joint venture with Wendi from Indieway Yarns and our friend Sally who is a bag maker extraordinaire.  The theme for the project was Catching Fire from the Hunger Games books and movies. 

When I started planning Catching Katniss I wanted something light and airy that would be perfect to wear over your shoulders in the heat of summer without being too warm.  With the Catching Fire theme in mind I decided to incorporate the flames from the Mockingjay dress that Katniss wears.  The scene where Katniss's dress bursts into flames and looks like the wings of a bird is my favorite part of the movie.  It's kind of magical and stunning all at the same time and just takes my breath away.  The lace edging represents the flames of the dress and the fun colorway called Ring of Fire has many different tonal shades that flames tend to have.

It was really important to me to create a design that would be both fun and easy to knit and completely effortless.  Summertime is when we all want to relax and have something that we don't have to think a lot about while we knit.  This is a perfect take to the beach or work on during a road trip project. Catching Katniss is deceptively easy to and begins with the lace edging and is worked from the bottom up. The body is worked in garter stitch short rows.  I hope you enjoy knitting it as much as I have enjoyed designing it!  Beth and Margi both had their test knit's done in a matter of days.

Wendi has a very limited number of kit's for Catching Katniss left in her Etsy shop.  Right now I think there are only 3 available.  If you really like this color be sure to grab up one of the kit's before they are gone!  If you would like to purchase just the pattern, it is available in my Ravelry Pattern Store.

Mother of Dragons

I'm so pleased to announce the release of Mother of Dragons!  

Inspired by Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons from Game of Thrones, this lace shawl is deceptively easy to knit.  I used Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in the Biker Chick colorway.  It has a lot of deep orange, dark red and gray colors in it which are perfect for the pattern.  The colors really reflect what I think of when dragons come to mind - fiery, bright and breathtaking.

The Mother of Dragons shawl was created to look like the wing of a dragon. The lace pattern mimics the intricate scales found on dragons and leads down to a fine point lace edging, like the points on dragon wings.

This pattern will be available at the Miss Babs booth at Stitches South April 10 - 13.  If you would like to purchase the pattern in pdf format it's available in my Etsy Shop and in my Ravelry Pattern Shop.

The Mother of Dragon Shawl is worked in 3 sections beginning with a garter stitch tab at the center neck. The body of the shawl is worked over a series of increase rows in sections 1 and 2 with garter stitch edgings to prevent the edging from rolling. The the lace edging border is worked across the bottom edge of the shawl incorporating all of the boarder stitches so there is minimal binding off at the end.

My test knitters Beth, Margi and Julia all did a fantastic job with this pattern. The deadline got bumped up by a couple of weeks when I found out that Miss Babs would be taking the pattern to Stitches South.  The three of them were all troupers and not only finished the test knit in time, but several days early!

This is Margi's test knit in Blue Ridge Yarns Silk Splash.  The dyer is in our area and Andy's favorite socks are in one of her yarns!

Here is Beth's in Fiber Optic Yarns Kashmir: 

Julia's in Buckwheat Bridge Mohair/Cormo Fingering:

 

If you are are looking for yarn for the Despicable Socks, Berry Colorful Yarnings has added several new Minion colorways to her shop! From left to right... Minion, Evil Minion, Edith, Gru.... all avail for pre order.

 This yarn was so much fun to work with!  I love how the strips on the socks match up perfectly - there are notes in the pattern on how to get yours to match up too.

Iridill

It's finally here!  This afternoon I released Iridill.  I'm really excited about this pattern and hope that you will find it to be a fun knit.  I think that knitting should be fun which is why I strive to have my patterns be clear and easy to follow. My test knitters all loved knitting this one and I think you will too!  A huge thank you to Lydia, Aparna, Debbi, Debby and Michelle who all did a fantastic job test knitting.  A lot of time and effort goes into designing a pattern, and it's not possible to do a good job without fantastic test knitters.

The Iridill pattern includes two sizes: The Shawl in Worsted and Shawlette in Fingering.  

Introductory priced at $4.50 until December 15 in my Ravelry Shop.  

Shawlette shown in Miss Babs Yummy in Maryland 2013

Shawl in Miss Babs Yowza in Perfect Wreckless.

The shawlette would also work up really nicely in Shalimar Yarns Zoe Sock or Indieway Yarns First String Sock. As an alternative worsted weight Shalimar's Honey Worsted or Indieway's Best Worsted would work well.

If you were wondering where the name came from, here is the story from the pattern:

I have to admit that I am a bit of a magpie. I am drawn to things that have a bit of shine to them, and Carnival Glass is no exception. It comes in beautiful colors that shimmer in the light, showing off the lovely patterns that are molded into the glass. When Carnival Glass first came into production it was called Iridill. The Iridill Shawl and Shawlette are inspired by the ever changing colors in Carnival Glass. It’s an easy knit that will really show off in variegated yarns.

Antarctica or it's Time to Turn on the Heat and Start Wearing Handknits

By nature, I am a cold blooded creature.  Most of the time this isn't a problem since I live in Virginia.  It's swealteringly hot here during the summer.  Spring and fall tend to be very mild and there are only a few cold months.  After spending a week in a tropical paradise where it didn't get below 70 degrees, the weather here seems rather chilly.  When I got up this morning it was THIRTY SIX degrees.  Quite frankly, this is unacceptable.  It means that car windshields need to be scraped and it's not even November! I'm sitting here wearing fingerless gloves while trying to type and hoping that the feeling in my cold to the bone fingers returns soon. I have given in and turned the heat on but only to 68.  It is far too early to have to do this.  I think we are going to be in for a very cold winter and I'm hoping it brings lot's of snow.  As soon as I can adjust to the sudden drop in temperature, I will be a much happier camper.

One thing is for sure, hand knits will keep you warm!  I tend to pile them on in layers in the colder months.  Ok, who am I kidding?  I wear my shawls all year long!  Speaking of shawls, Iridill my new design is shawl and shawlette pattern in worsted or fingering weight yarn.  It's currently being test knitted and should be ready for release by the end of November.  I have the worsted weight one (on the right in the photo) on right now and it's really helping to keep the chill off my neck and shoulders.  It's a super simple knit and perfect for that variegated skein of yarn that's been hanging out in your stash!

The shawlette (right) is in Miss Babs Yummy in Maryland 2013 and the shawl (left) is in Miss Babs Yowza in Perfectly Wreckless.

  
I also have a new sock design that will be coming out at the beginning of November, Frost Bite. Shown here in Socks That Rock Lightweight in the Boobie colorway.  I couldn't resist this colorway! Not only is it beautiful, but the name cracked me up.

I just finished reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King.  If you are looking for a book that will scare the heck out of you, give you nightmares and you still won't be able to put it down - this is it.  I LOVED it!  Now that The Walking Dead is back on tv my week winds up being complete on Sunday nights.

Vacation

Aside from planning, the hardest thing about taking a vacation is coming home and getting back to reality.  This is the first vacation that Andy and I have taken together that was more than a few days and had very little contact with the outside world.  The week went by a little too quickly and looking back it was like being in an alternate reality.  Flying down was relatively easy.  In fact, the drive to the airport took longer than the flight itself.  Once we collected our bags the driver took us to the resort and we didn't get into another car until it was time to head home on Saturday. We were shocked to hear that the Government was still shut down when we came home.

The resort we stayed at had a tropical island feel and even had a small sandy man made beach.  Part of the pool was designed to look like a beach and even had sand in one area.  We got up early every day and headed over to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and then came back tor a relaxing afternoon swim.  We would sit and float on pool noodles and enjoy some much needed down time together.  In the evenings we would either head back over to the parks or have dinner at CityWalk.  A few of the restaurants were closed for private parties so we wound up eating at Bubba Gumps three times.  The food was great there and they had the best service of any of the restaurants that we ate at.  We were able to find some healthier choices on their menu too which can be hard while traveling. 

Thursday evening we went to Universals Halloween Horror Nights (HHN).  It was so scary and so fantastic and the best part of the vacation.  We stayed in the park and had dinner at Finegans Pub while HHN was set up.  They kept us in a special area and we were able to go in to HHN thirty minutes before it was opened to the public.  The first house we went in was themed after An American Werewolf in London and it was FANTASTIC!  There were eight houses total, which doesn't seem like a lot, but when you are being scared shitless to death it was just the right number.  My favorite one was The Walking Dead.  The front desk clerk at the resort told us that some of the original props from the series were used in it and that someone from the Walking Dead special effects helped to design the make up and costumes.  There were zombies walking all over the park through out the evening.  They would sneak up on you and I have to say there was a lot of screaming going on!  I'm pretty sure this is actual car that was used in The Walking Dead.

 Dale's camper.

We also got to see a tribute to one of my all time favorite movies... The Rocky Horror Picture Show!  Woot!  Andy and I got up and did the Time Warp and it was just so much fun.  The actors were fabulous and very authentic. 

The scariest thing of all was that Andy bribed managed to convince me to go on a roller coaster.  There is a picture of us riding on it that we purchased.  I'm not posting it here or anywhere else publicly.  I'm white as a sheet and the look on my face would be good to use for a model of what to look like if you are auditioning for a role in a horror movie.  I went on it twice more after that. Heh.

We wound up having so much fun that I didn't even have time to knit.  I did do a little bit while we were waiting to board the plane and go home and when I wasn't passed out from shear exhaustion on the flight I managed a few rows on a second Camberwell. 

While there were no yarn shops to be found on site, we did find a window display with yarn on one of the side streets at Universal.  Yarn.  It's everywhere!

I'm heading outside in a bit to take pictures of a new design that will be coming out in December.  It's a shawl in Miss Babs Yowza and shawlette in Miss Babs Yummy.  I'll have pictures to post next time.  I always wonder what our neighbors think when they see me hauling the mannequins around outside. 

Balls!

Balls of yarn that is.  What were you thinking?  For Christmas Andy got me one of the best gifts ever.  A lot of women like jewelry and perfume or dainty little things which are all fine.  I'm not saying I don't like those things, because really, you can never go wrong giving me something sparkly. I'm like a magpie that way.  This year though, he really outdid himself.  I've been bitching and moaning mentioning that my rotor cuff bothers me when I have to wind a bunch of skeins with the behemoth of a jumbo winder that we have.  Andy's been really good about it because he will wind the yarn for me when he is home.  Well on Christmas morning I was never more surprised when he gave me this:

 

 

Yes knitters, there is a Santa!  And I just happen to be married to him. 

 

I've been having way too much fun with this.  First I organized all of my little balls of leftover fingering weight yarn.  Before they were rewound into tidy little cakes of yarn, I couldn't get the drawer they are kept in closed.  It's so much better now!  Yes, I know.  I'm starting to get all Martha Stewart about this. Although, I think she would have nice neat little labels on each one and perhaps organize them by color or brand.

 

 

Yarn Glamour Shots

 

Before:

 

During:

 

After:



 

The yarn is Cephalopod Bugga in Mantis Shrimp.  I used it in my latest design, Candy Necklace.  It's a one skein or less spring scarf worked in fingering or light sport weight yarn.  I'm looking for test knitters for this pattern.  If you are interested please leave a comment here on my blog or PM me on Ravelry - SpinningLara

 

 

As soon as Andy and I can get our schedules coordinated I will have much better pictures of Candy Necklace.  The self portrait cell phone pictures were a little too uncoordinated looking to post!