A Life of Colour

Leaves - Volume 1.

If you haven't heard of Fickle Knitter Designs, you're in for a real treat with the release of Michelle's first pattern book! If you are already a fan of Michelle's I'm sure you'll enjoy her first book too! Michelle specializes in projects using one skein of yarn or less and her first book includes 8 knitting projects which range from cowls to shawls to flats and wristlets. It really is a must have for all of you looking for a set of projects to do with all your sock yarn you have in your stash! 

I had the pleasure of first meeting Michelle at TNNA this year and shortly after she released her first book entitled Leaves - Fickle Knitter Design Volume 1.  Michelle, like Anna, also holds various science degrees including her Masters Degree in Physics which also translates into her ability to write up a clear and concise pattern that's easy to follow. Michelle has other books on the horizon as well - you really should keep track of her designing if you aren't already!

Included in her book is a gorgeous shawl she named Golden Leaf and made from Zen Yarn Garden's Serenity Silk yarn. It was a real pleasure to be included in her book and I hope you will all buy the book to knit not only the shawl in Zen Yarn Garden yarn but all the other projects she has for you - they are all adorable!

CONTEST TIME!

Michelle has graciously offered two prizes for our blog writing today!  These will include one of each:

E-Book Copy of Leaves
Hard Copy of Leaves

All you have to do is leave a comment with your Rav ID to this blog post telling us what types of projects you like to knit with one skein of sock yarn. One entry per person please and we'll make the drawing for the winner next weekend. Deadline to submit your comment is Midnight EST, Friday, September 30, 2011. Good luck!

Contest is now closed!  Winners are comment #96: Quilter1446 & comment #62: Knittinggirl13 - congrats to both of you!

Shaping Shawls.

If I had to sum up Shaping Shawls, a lovely new shawl pattern book, in one word, it'd have to be breath-taking! Anna Dalvi, the book's writer and designer, manages to capture not only gorgeous lace designs expressed in several different shawl shapes but also delves into the technical knitting aspects of each one in thorough detail. She has managed to not only give knitters beautiful designs but has also managed to explain them all in great detail. Gorgeous lace design paired with material geared to enhance your knitting skills...there's not much more to ask for in a book!

Ravelry: Shaping Shawls

I had the pleasure of first meeting Anna in person at TNNA in June of this year in Columbus, Ohio. We only spoke briefly over the 3 days of the market but with our first meeting, I could sense that Anna really had a lovely grasp of the technical side of lace knitting. It wasn't until the Knitters' Fair that I got a chance to talk more with Anna about her designing and it all came together as she showcased and signed her book in my booth:

Anna Dalvi - Shaping Shawls
Book Showcasing/Signing
Knitters' Fair - Sept 10/2011
Kitchener, Ontario 

Anna is an Engineer by education and also holds an MBA. Finally, the pieces of the puzzle were coming together because as a few of you know, Mr. Zen is also an Engineer by education. Engineers have a way of conceptualizing design and implementing them with fine details. Anna is no exception when it comes to lace designing and her Shaping Shawls book definitely captures her ability to put her conceptions into her designs.

So with that in mind, I had a chance to ask Anna a few questions about her book and I hope you enjoy these as much as I did: 

Roxanne: Where did you grow up and did you go to school for any degrees?  If so, what degrees did you receive and do your degrees help with your designing process?

Anna: I grew up just outside Gothenburg, Sweden.  In 1990 I moved to the US and went to school at Cornell University.  I have a B.S. in Computer Science with a concentration in Electrical Engineering.  While I was in school, I worked in a robotics lab developing localization algorithms for the robots (basically helping the robot figure out where it was and how to navigate in an unknown environment).  I also worked on a Hybrid Electric Vehicle - an HEV built from scratch by a team of 40 students or so.  Our HEV then competed in a race in California against a number of other schools.  After I moved to Canada, I went back to school for an MBA (from Queen's University), which has been very useful in terms of running your own business.  I've been self-employed since 2003, and that MBA has definitely been useful.

Roxanne: What was the inspiration that led to your taking the leap to becoming a designer? 

Anna: I have always liked to experiment with my knitting and make up new things.  As for writing the patterns down and publishing them, I really just looked around at a number of the knitting patterns that were out there and thought "I could do this".  I submitted a design just on impulse to (now defunct) MagKnits, and when it was accepted I wrote it all down.  That was the Burridge Lake Aran Afghan.  And after that, I decided to host a lace mystery KAL, just for fun, and that was Mystic Waters.  After that, it just sort of continued, and here I am.  

Roxanne: Are there any particular fibres you like for shawls?

Anna: I'll have to say that it depends on what I'm making.  I mean, I always love a good merino, as well as a number of merino blends (MCN, merino/silk, etc).  I also really like the yarns with a slight halo, like the baby alpaca blends, or even angora blends, as long as the yarn is not so furry that the lace pattern is obscured. And then silk and tencel result in a completely different texture and drape.  All are nice, it really depends on what I'm aiming for.

Roxanne: How do you incorporate colour into your creation of a design?  Does the colour ultimately inspire you to design something or make you design in a certain manner?

Anna: I often do start with a particular yarn and a particular colour and associate freely from the colour to pick the theme of a design. That said, I do love when knitters substitute yarn colours in the design, because it really impacts the finished look of the shawl.

Roxanne: Do you enjoy designing other things along with shawls? If so, what else do you like to design?

Anna: Yes.  I like all sorts of things actually.  In the past year, I've been on a bit of a fingerless mittens spree, just because they are nice, small projects that can be used to explore a variety of techniques and textures.  I love lace and cables, colours and textures, and anything that allows me to play with those is fun.  And that would be all knitting.

Roxanne: And lastly, do you have any other books coming over the horizon?

Anna: I have a couple of designs coming in the Fresh Design Series published by Cooperative Press, in both Shawls and Mittens.  And I'm also working on another book focused on lace and colour, which will be published during the summer of 2012.

If you haven't already, make sure to support Anna and her designs and drop by and purchase her new Shaping Shawls book - you will not be disappointed! If you'd like to read other reviews of Anna's book, make sure to drop by her blog as she's hosting a blog tour for her book.

CONTEST:  Win a free e-book copy of Shaping Shawls by leaving one comment per person to this post with your Ravelry ID name and also a short comment telling us what shawl shape you prefer knitting. If you haven't knit shawls yet, tell us what your favourite thing is to knit. I will have a random drawing for the winner on Saturday, September 24th so the deadline to submit a comment is midnight EST, Friday, September 23rd. Good luck!

WINNER: Our winner, chosen by the Random Number Generator, is RubyFox - congrats!

The Joy of Sox.

Isn't that just the cutest title ever for a sock book? Just released and now in the store, The Joy of Sox by Linda Kopp contains over 30+ must-knit sock pattern designs including a pattern featuring Zen Yarn Garden yarn.

Look for the Sole Mates pattern in this book which Linda intros as follows:

While he's embracing you, let these ribbed lovelies hug your feet. 
Soft, subtle and with a killer diamond design up the back,
these socks will have you feeling fresh and clean.

Written and created by Alyson Johnson, Sole Mates is a lovely sock pattern that's sure to be a pleasure to knit. May we suggest Serenity Sock as an option for Sole Mates? We are having visions of bed socks with just a touch of cashmere to make your socks ultra-soft to the touch!

In celebration of the release of this book, we are happy to extend a 10% discount code on the pattern book as well as on all sock yarns in the store. With over 30+ patterns in this book, you're sure to find something fantastic to knit. Use discount code "SOX" when checking out to receive your savings. Yay socks and sock knitting!

Sock Club: Join the Knitting Adventure.

Don't you just love the title of this post? That's the title that will grace a new book that's now available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will feature 3 designs using Zen Yarn Garden yarns! I'm so excited. It's a bit surreal to see ZYG yarns in print so I'm beyond anxious to actually see the book when it is released.

And how did this come about? It was about this time last year that I got an email from Beth Parrott (co-author of The Little Box of Socks) saying her and Charlene Schurch were planning on writing a book that would include patterns and yarns from the various sock clubs they had been reading about. Beth said she had read many great reviews about ZYG sock clubs (particularly ART WALK) online and was very interested in having ZYG include a contribution (or two) to her new book! After I did a little jump of joy, things went into motion very quickly. Beth and I had a lovely chat on the telephone about her and Charlene's idea for the book and I sent in 3 different pattern designs by Alyson Johnson from 3 different ZYG sock clubs. 

Alyson and I waited with bated breath for the review of the submissions and after a bit of time, Beth emailed to let us know that it was quite possible and most likely that 2 designs would make it into the book. Alyson and I were both ecstatic! What great news this was! Congrats to Alyson who was the creative genius behind the patterns! They both fit very well into the idea of sock club patterns being a knitting adventure.

Not long after the wonderful news that 2 of Alyson's designs would be in the book, Beth emailed again to advise that another design from one of Woolgirl's sock clubs was going to be included and this pattern also featured yarn from ZYG. What a great day that was for ZYG! It seems so long ago now but I was bouncing off the walls with joy when I heard. Lucky #3 pattern is the lovely red/pink socks! Yay!

So, run on over and pre-order the book! There are a lot of really great designs in it and we are planning on having the book available here at Zen Yarn Garden when it does make it to print. Along with the book will be yarns to compliment the patterns featured and quite possibly some yarn/book combos and perhaps a book giveaway! Stay tuned!