The Great Game

Introducing the first pattern in the second Game of Thrones Collection! The Great Game was designed to work with Miss Babs 7 Color Gradient Set in Caroline or Yummy 2-Ply, and is shown in the Edge of Reality colorway. Be sure to check out the three amazing Great Game Sets that Miss Babs has dyed up in Caroline, her new super luxurious fingering weight cashmere blend.

Edge of Reality, which is even more amazing in person and what I used to design The Great Game.  The beautiful teal transitions to a teal/gray and then to charcoal. It's one of those colors that looks great on everyone!

This one is Edge of Temptation.  I think I'm going to pick up a set of this and knit another Great Game.  Those reds are really calling to me!

And Phoenix Rising.  Beautiful creams, gray and black.  This would go with anything and be a stunning Great Game shawl!

I designed The Great Game to be a simple to knit shawl that could be worn throughout the year. It has side to side construction with a delicate lace edging that is worked along with the body of the shawl.  It's one of those knit's that becomes intuitive early on in the pattern and provides a relaxing without being boring knit.  Aside from the lace edging, you won't have to worry about stitch counts which make it a perfect project to bring to knit group.  Ive provided instructions for the lace in both written and charted format for your knitting pleasure.  I hope that you guys enjoy knitting it as much as I did!

~Lara

Heat Lighting and Socktober

I'd like to introduce my latest sock design, Heat Lighting in Unplanned Peacock's Cozy Sock.  This is a super fun and easy to knit sock that is worked from the cuff down and incorporates a modified short row heel.  The lace pattern is simple enough to knit while watching tv or going to a game.  Unplanned Peacock's Cozy sock was a delight to work with.  It's a blend of 20% super soft alpaca, 60% merino and 20% nylon.  It had a luxurious hand and literally just glided over my needles.

In celebration of the release of Heat Lighting and Socktober, ALL of my sock patterns in my Ravelry Pattern Shop are 50% until October 1.  Use coupon code: Socktober when you check out.

Miss Babs Knitting Tour

SPOILER ALERT!!! IF YOU ARE IN THE MISS BABS KNITTING TOUR AND HAVEN'T RECEIVED YOUR JUNE PACKAGE YET AND WANT TO BE SURPRISED WHEN YOU RECEIVE IT, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!

I was so honored when Miss Babs asked me to design a shawl pattern for the Miss Babs Knitting Tour last fall.  Babs gave me some ideas of what she wanted and a jumping off point including the them of the pattern which is Atlantis.  I'm a huge fan of mythology and really enjoy reading about it and like to be able to create a design that is related to something that I have either read about or have seen in a movie.  The fact that the destination for this stop on the Tour was Atlantis, was a huge bonus for me as it was right up my alley!

Helen who is one of the fabulous ladies who works for Miss Babs was a huge help with coordinating everything from contact with Sarah who is the test knitter for the Tour, to creating the written directions with Carmen who also works for Miss Babs.  I have to say that this has been one of the most fun projects and working with the wonderful ladies at Miss Babs has been more than a pleasure.
Miss Babs sent me one of the kit's that went out to the Tour Travelers and I was so impressed! It came with a skein of Yowza in the Atlantis colorway, a beautiful glass stitch marker, a booklet that includes the pattern along with a couple of recipes and information about Atlantis, and a little packet of Swedish Fish.  They even included one of the Tour bags, which I think Helen must have had a hand in since she knows that I am a knitting bag lover!

If you didn't sign up for the Tour this year, be sure to join the group on Ravelry so you will know when sign ups for 2016 begin.  There is a lot of value in the kit and the group is a lot of fun!

The Atlantis pattern will be available for individual purchase in December.  It uses one full skein of Yowza and works up really well in the variegated colors that Miss Babs is known for.  The Atlantis colorway is a Babette which means that each skein is unique and this is something that I absolutely love! It's so nice to be able to knit up a pattern like Atlantis, and have what you make be totally unique.  Not just because you made it, but because the yarn you used was created one skein at a time and is a work of art.

A New Sock Pattern and Spoiler Alert

One of the things I love about working with variegated yarns is finding a stitch pattern that really shows off the colors in the yarn.  It can be a bit of a challenge sometimes, but it's something that I greatly enjoy.  Miss Babs is continually coming up with amazing hand painted colorways that catch my eye.  One of them was a one of a kind Babette in Yummy 2 Ply that I knew would be perfect for a pair of cabled socks.  I wanted something with a bit more interest then a plain cable and added a bit of lace to it.  It's one of those stitch patterns that is easy to knit and easy to remember.  I normally don't work on cables or lace while riding in the car because I tend to get motion sick if I have to read anything, but because these were so easy to knit these socks were the exception. I'm really excited to bring you Lartha and here is a little bit of background on the pattern and the name:

Several years ago Martha Stewart tweeted about how often her horses needed new shoes and I jokingly tweeted back to her that I didn’t see that as a problem because who doesn’t love new shoes, right? Well, she replied to my tweet and since then I joke that she and I are besties and our celebrity couple name is Lartha.

Maybe someday I will get to meet Martha in person and can give her a pair of Lartha Socks that I knitted just for her.

Lartha is a cuff down sock with an easy to knit lace and cable repeat that is given in both written and charted instructions. A modified modified short row heel adds a bit of interest while being simple to knit. These socks look great in both variegated and solid yarns.

The sample in the photos was knitted using Miss Babs Yummy 2 Ply in a one of a kind Babette. If you would like to use a similar colorwayPerfectly Wreckless or Soul Food would be great choices. Seriously though, any of the colorways that Miss Babs dyes would be fantastic with this pattern!

Lartha is introductory priced on Ravelry at $4.50 until June 15

Spoiler Alert!

Photo is © Miss Babs

If you are in the Miss Babs Knitting Tour and don't want a spoiler, please don't click on the link below.

I'm so, so excited that the Miss Babs Knitting Tour pattern has been added to Ravelry.   This was one of the most fun patterns that I have worked on and the yarn is fantastic!  I'm really trying not to give anything away so I'm not saying much right now.  If you would like to check it out and see what it is along with pictures click on this link:  Miss Babs Knitting Tour

If you weren't in the tour the pattern will be available for purchase sometime in December.  

It's KAL Time!

I hope you can join us for the Tyrion's Gift KAL in my group on Ravelry.  It's being done in a casual style, cast on anytime you like and finish up by May 16th.  If you haven't tried a KAL before, this is a great one to get your feet wet on.  We have several experienced shawl knitters participating who are happy to answer questions and cheer you on.  Tyrion's Gift is a simple lace pattern with resting rows on the wrong side which makes it a great first shawl/first KAL project. 

Here are the fabulous prizes:

Leslie Wind custom made this pin to go with Tyrion's Gift and it's called Tyrion's Closure.  It's a wonderful design and easily slips into your shawl and stays in place while being worn.  Tyrion's Closure will be available in Leslies shop, if you can't wait until the end of the KAL to see if you won! 

Gwenderful, my favorite stitch marker maker extraordinaire, has donated a set of her Rainbow Stitch markers. I have several set’s from Gwen and they are fantastic! Plus they come in a cute little tin which makes them easy to keep track of.

 I’m donating a choice of any single pattern from my Ravelry Pattern Shop and one of the small project bags that I make and sell in my Etsy shop. This one has cute birds in cages and cheerful colors and is the perfect size for socks or other small projects. I’ll be updating the shop with more bags later next week.

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.

Winter is Here

Never mind that Winter is Coming, it's here!  The temperatures have been well below normal here for the past week, dipping well down into the single digits.  It was only 2 degrees here yesterday morning and barely got into the double digits.  I had all the intentions of blogging yesterday afternoon only to discover that we had a frozen pipe.  I spent a large part of the afternoon thawing the pipe with a heating pad and a blow dryer.  This doesn't sound really awful and normally I don't think it would be, but the pipe happened to be in between a wall in our basement and the foundation in a spot that I could barely squeeze through.  While I was squeezing in and out of this tiny space I noticed that where the main power to the house comes in had a large hole and was letting cold air in. No wonder the pipe had frozen!  I plugged it up with insulation and then insulated the pipes with pipe insulation.  So far it seems to be working. 

This was the spot that I squeezed into and yes, I was terrified I would either get wedged in there or attacked by spiders the entire time!

Because there was exposed insulation and god knows what else, I dressed properly for the occasion:

Now, onto some fun and much happier stuff!  

Last month Verity from Truly Hooked contacted me to see if I would be interested in having my Wentletrap pattern included in her sock club!  The mail has been really slow here and I sometimes wonder if our mailman likes to keep the yarn packages for a bit before delivering them.  After all,  they are really soft and squishy and hard to resist!  I can't tell you how delighted I was when I opened the lovely lavender package that contained Verity's yarn!  The colors are bright and cheerful, just the thing for the middle of a dreary winters day.  The yarn base is an 80/10/10 Superwash Merino/Nylon/Cashmere with just the right amount of twist to work well for socks, and soft enough for me to just want to wrap the skein around my neck and dance around the house for a bit.

As well as being a fantastic indie dyer, Verity also just recently had one of her crochet designs published in Inside Crochet. Verity also has a group on Ravelry and there are quite a few Wentletraps knit up in this colorway.  It's called Quirky, which suits it's cheerful colors perfectly.  Here is a link to this months yarn club: TruelyHooked

Here are Verity's Wentletraps in Quirky.  Don't they look like happy socks?  The colorway is perfect for them!

I've been working on a second Arya's Needle that has three of the lace panels and omits the sword in the center.  It's going to be used as a sample at the booth I will have at The Powhatan's Festival of Fiber in April.  I dyed up the yarn myself and will have some kitted up with the pattern at the festival. It was snowing again this morning and I wanted to capture a bit of it in the pictures without actually going outside. Even though they are a touch dark, I really like the way they came out.

Sugarplum

I know it's been a few weeks since I've posted, it just couldn't be helped.  I've been a bit under the weather since just after Thanksgiving.  I finally went to the doctor and he gave me on an inhaler and steroids.  the inhaler works great and I'm hardly coughing anymore.  I had a fantastic allergic reaction to the steroids on the first dose, which means I won't take those again!

I'm feeling a bit perkier and wanted to share my latest design release with you. It's called Sugarplum and is a super fun knit.  I knit it the sample up in Countess Ablaze Viscount of Spark in the Fake Your Death colorway.  The yarn was divine to knit with and the colorway is amazing. This cute infinity scarf can be doubled and worn as a cowl on the super cold days of winter.  When spring comes along, wear it with your favorite top as a cute little accessory.

Sugarplum is available on Ravelry for just $2.99 until January 20th.  If you are located in the EU, Sugarplum is available on Love Knitting for the same price later this week.  I apologize for any inconvenience, it takes approximately 24 hours for patterns from Ravelry to make their way over to Love Knitting.

Happy Thanksgiving from
Lara Smoot Designs
All patterns in my Ravelry Pattern Shop will be 30% beginning November 27 and ending on Midnight December 1.
No coupon code required.

Stash Bash

If you are like me and have little balls of sock yarn hidden away throughout your home, then it's time to cast on for Stash Bash!  

Knit or Treat!!  Stash Bash is just $2.99 on Ravelry until November 5th and then it will be $6.00.  

I had such a great time designing and knitting Stash Bash.  Originally there was just one version, but when I finished knitting it I knew that I had to cast on for a second one!  It's such a fun knit and doesn't require a huge amount of concentration which makes it perfect to take to knit group or work on under your desk when your boss isn't around. 

The Mild version was knitted with the two skeins of Kismet Fingering  that I picked up at Mosaic Yarn Shop during the Yarn Crawl. This was a limited edition colorway and is no longer available, but Kismet Fiber Works now has Gradient Kits which would work up perfectly.

The Wild version was knitted with one full skein of Bugga (416 yards) and varying amounts of left over yarns for the contrast:
Contrasting Colors:
1. 4 gm/10 yards Indieway Yarns First String Plus Fingering
2. 9 gm/15 yards Painter's Palette Premium Merino
3. 12 gm/20 yards Verdant Gryphon Bugga
4. 13 gm/25 yards Socks That Rock Lightweight
5. 15 gm/30 yards Verdant Gryphon Bugga

6. 17 gm/35 yards Gnome Acres House Gnome
7. 19 gm/40 yards Plucky Feet
8. 21 gm/45 yards Socks That Rock Lightweight 

Seasons

I got an email from Carol at Rivers Edge Fiber Arts this week telling me to keep my eyes out for a package.  The mailman now thinks I am some sort of yarn crazed lunatic because I have been meeting him at the mailbox every day! When you are waiting for something exciting like yarn it really feels like time slows down and this week was no exception.  I was only a few moments too late to meet our mailman today and it makes me wonder if he has started speeding up his route to avoid the yarn stalker?  When I opened the mailbox, the package from Carol was there!  I opened the package up right away, and am so delighted at the amazing fall colors! 

This is Seasons, a blend of 70% Royal Baby Alpaca and 30% Tussah Silk.  It's so soft that I just want to wrap the skeins around my neck and wear them just like they are!  The colorway is Riverstone and can be found at RiversEdgeFiberArts.com  This is the same yarn that my Juliet pattern is designed for.  I was going to knit another Juliet in Riverstone, but when it arrived all I could think is what a fantastic cowl this yarn would be!  If you are heading to SAFF this weekend, be sure to stop by the Rivers Edge Fiber Arts booth and pick up a set of Seasons so you can make your own Juliet.  I have to warn you though, if you pick it up you will not be able to put it down.  It's that soft!

It's gotten chilly here and we had a bit of frost on the car's this week.  I thought it was time that Iggy had a proper hand knit sweater.  I don't really have much worsted yarn in my stash and wound up using left overs from the two Intersect projects.  Iggy doesn't seem to mind and I think the stripes are cute on him!  I made it on the large size so that he has some room for growing.  I also skipped blocking it since the yarn is superwash and I can get a bit of stretch to it if needed in a month or so. 

 

Just before we left for Florida I had a moment of panic and thought that I would run out of things to knit on our trip.  It happens every time we go away and not only have I yet to run out of something to knit, I can't remember finishing a project while on the road!  Back to the moment of panic...I went digging through my stash, skeins were flying everywhere, and I found a lovely skein of Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in Perfectly Wreckless.  I wrote up a little cable and lace sock pattern and stuck it in my carry on bag.  Of course I didn't have time to work on it while we were on vacation!  Now that we are home and settled back into our routines, I have cast on and am really enjoying the yarn and creating the new design.

A New Pattern Is Coming

This has been such a busy week!  Andy and I have been spending every free moment working on the deck to try to get it finished.  The majority of the construction is done, which is a tremendous relief.  We still have the stairs to put in and then can begin work on leveling up the ground under the deck so that we can have a cement patio poured. 

Andy and I sat outside this afternoon, put our feet up and had a beer.  It was so nice to be able to take a moment to relax and enjoy the deck and the beautiful day.  The new wood needs to cure for six months before we can paint the deck.  We plan on painting it, along with the house this spring.  It's going to be fun to choose a color and we are really looking forward to it!

I haven't had as much time as I would like to knit this week and am still working on the Bethesda's Socks for the Sock it To Me KAL.   I also have a new cowl design on the needles that I plan on taking with me next week while we are on vacation. Yep, that's right, we are taking a vacation!  This one doesn't include construction, cooking, laundry or anything of that nature. 

I have a blog post scheduled for next Friday which will have a BIG surprise and announcement which I think you will like.  If you follow me under Lara Smoot Designs on Facebook there will be a few hint's there during the week as well. 

Coquette

Introducing Coquette

Have you ever touched a yarn was so soft that you could wrap yourself up in it? I liked the Coquette yarn so much, that I named my new shawl design after it! 

When I got my first skein of Coquette, I fell in love it!  I knew I had to design a shawl that I could wrap around myself and really enjoy the feeling of the yarn while I was wearing it. The Coquette shawl is light and airy while warm enough to keep the chill off your shoulders. Coquette is the perfect accessory for any occasion and pairs well with everything from your favorite dress to jeans and a t-shirt. The simple lace pattern is easy to remember and enjoyable to knit.

I am so excited about Coquette and hope that you will enjoy knitting it as much as I enjoyed designing it.  Please use coupon code: WF2014 in my Ravelry Pattern Shop for $1.00 off.  The coupon expires on August 18, so don't wait too long! 

Use the same coupon code atWanton Fibersfor 10% off your order through midnight August 18th.

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.