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.

Spring Might Actually Be Here!

We happened to be very lucky and it was 65 here on the first day of spring!  The song birds are back and late last night I heard a flock of geese that were heading north for the summer.  While winters here aren't as harsh as many other areas, this one seemed to drag on a bit longer than normal.  The first spring flowers are making an appearance and can be spotted almost everywhere.  I really enjoy seeing them bloom!  This daffodil is in our garden.

 

I spotted this crocus while I was out running errands today.  It was peeking up through the grass next to the sidewalk. 

Ever since I was a little girl one of my favorite things is to get the mail.  You never know what might arrive that day, and even if it is bills it was still fun wondering what was going to be in the box before you got there.

Earlier this week I revived a package full of squishy goodness from Knitspot's Bare Naked Wools.  Erica aka majordomo contacted me about having a sample of Spark knitted for their Look Book in three colors of their wonderful Confection yarn and a second sample in Confection with hand dyed yarn as the accents.  Beth is knitting the sample that is all in BNW's and I am working on the one that has the hand dyed accents.  I'm using Confection Worsted in Cookies and Cream with Indieway's Best Worsted in Black Currant and Periwinkle. I love knitting with both of the yarns and putting them together is extra special!  Confection is lofty and soft and just glides through your fingers while you knit.  Best Worsted is soft and smooth and in Black Currant and Periwinkle really stands out with the Cookies and Cream.  Spark is one of those patterns that is fun to knit and doesn't require a large amount of yarn - just 70 yards for each contrasting color and 200 yards for the main color.  Choose a  neutral for the main color like Cookies and Cream and pair it with some brighter left overs that you have saved in your stash.  I think it would look great with a variegated colorway for the contrast too.  The possibilities are endless.

I've just gotten started on mine so you can't really see much yet.

 

A peek in my project bag shows how pretty the yarns look together:

 

I love the pictures of Confection that Anne has on Raverly.  It must have been a fun photo shoot!

Spark

Andy and I had such a great time taking pictures of Spark last weekend!  We went for a walk downtown scouting out the perfect place and wound up finding this great looking stone wall.  A lot of the foundations and buildings in Lynchburg are older and have really interesting stone and brickwork.  We were lucky to find a spot with good lighting as the winter sun was extremely bright.

Spark is a fun to knit cute little cowl that is perfect to wear with everything from jeans to your favorite cashmere sweater. Pair your favorite worsted weight yarn in a nice neutral with two bright colors (you know you have some left overs that would be perfect for this in your stash) and you will be finished knitting in just a evening or two!

 

Spark is specially priced at $2.99 until March 17, St Paddys Day. 

Cabin Fever

Well we finally had some snow here!  I know, I know, if you are living in one of the colder ares of the country you probably are sick and tired of the snow that has been inundating most of the country.  The forecasters have been promising snow for weeks now and Monday they predicted a blizzard.  Growing up in Maine when the forecasters call for a blizzard we knew to get prepared.  Here in Virginia preparation is still good, but not quite to the extreme that is called for elsewhere.  Are you ready to see the massive amount of snow that we got?

Yup, that's grass sticking up through the snow there.  If you look carefully you can see the nearly bare street in front of our house.  I took this picture early in the morning and by lunchtime most of the snow had melted. 

It has been pretty cold here over the past couple of weeks.  I'm taking full advantage of being inside for most of the day by working on some projects.  There is a really great tutorial from Martha Stewart on how to make Felted Knitting Baskets from old wool sweaters.  I had saved a sweater that had shrunk when I washed it to use for craft projects and decided to give this a go.  I tossed it in the washer with hot water and a little Dawn.  After it dried, I followed Martha's directions and voila!

That's Best Worsted from Indieway Yarns in Howlin' Wolf on the left, I'll be Home for Christmas in the center, Black Currant in the very back and a skein of Gnome Acres fingering in Aquaman peeking out on the right (that was from Andy for Christmas because I had a crush on Aquaman when I was a kid).

The basket was so easy and fun to make that I headed over to Goodwill to see if they had any wool sweaters that could work for another one.  I wound up finding two in the men's section for $3.75 each!  I felted both of them and have already turned one into a basket.

I put them on the shelf in the living room for now.  Eventually when the yarn/craft room/office is organized they will go in there. 

I have a couple of new designs that will be coming out very soon.  Margi just finished test knitting Scrowl and it will be released next Friday (1/31).  It's knit up in Shalimar Yarns Edie Aran and only takes two skeins.  It's a very versatile accessory and can be worn as a cowl, wrap, and a scarf!

I finally figured out a name for the socks in Peppino!  I'm calling it: Frostwork.  Margi and Andi are test knitting it and the release date is February 21.

 The other upcoming release will be Spark.  It's knit up in Shalimar Yarns Enzo Worsted and will be part of the ShaliMarch celebration.  Beth is test knitting it and it will be released in late February. Spark takes about 200 yards of the main color and 70 yards of each contrasting color.

I finished up the handspun sweater and I am so happy with it!  After shopping around at a couple craft stores, I wound up finding the ribbon for the button band at JoAnn's.  I know it's a little glitzy as an accent for natural yarn, but I couldn't resist it.

I'm really pleased with the way it fits.  It's also super warm and very soft.  There is really nothing that compares to wool.  I love the way it feels, the natural warmth of it and the weight of it too.  I have an entralac throw that I knitted a few years ago from two Jacob fleeces. It's my go to wrap in the evenings when it's cold out.

To finish up, here are a couple of skeins that I recently spun.  The fiber is from Rivers Edge Fiber Arts.

The one on the left is Wild Berry Pie in Out of Oz. And the one on the right is Wine Festival in The Monkeys Uncle.

Can you tell I have had a little too much time on my hands and maybe a little too much time by myself?  At least I have put it to good use!