Marly Bird's Blog, page 187

Social Medusa Take Over

Social Medusa Take Over the first time in 2016 today of the Yarn Thing Podcast, USUALLY with Marly Bird. But as she’s away….

Tammy wishes to focus on what’s happening with our sponsors.

XRX publishing, Stitches Expos and Knitters Magazine: Everything is very exciting as they gear up for Stitches West. A lot of the classes are filling up, so click here if you are interested in seeing if there’s anything left, if you’d like to go and spend time with one of the Fabulous Teachers (Marly’s only got one class left with openings!) If you heard Marly’s visit with Barb Demorest from Knitted Knockers a couple of weeks ago, there’s also lots of fun happening with that also, so check it out. Also, if you can possibly make DON’T MISS THE PAJAMA PARTY with Marly.
Speaking of Stitches West, Erin Lane Bags has created a super cute commemorative bag, that will be available in limited quantities. It is available for pre-order at THIS LINK to be picked up at the event. In the meantime, they’ve been super busy creating wonderful new bags, please follow their facebook page. By the way, at Stitches West they will be in Booths: 824,826,923,925.
Creativebug constantly creating new content of subjects we want to learn, Follow their website www.creativebug.com and Facebook page.
Green Mountain Spinnery has been offering a couple of beautiful hats, one was a club that closed a week or so ago, but there is another blog post with another beautiful hat in the last couple of days. Lots of beautiful color in their blog… Their website is www.spinnery.com and you can follow their page in Facebook.
Kristin Omdahl has been busy, she has a couple of trunk shows on her calendar, offering her yarns through Amazon now, a new book due out in March (according to Amazon) and SO MUCH MORE! Hopefully, she can slow down enough to visit Marly soon, but in case that doesn’t happen find her website, www.KristinOmdahl.com or her Facebook page. Don’t forget to sign up for her Newsletter!
Buffalo Wool Co attended a National Bison Conference last weekend, came home in time for their Facebook page to hit 40,000 likes! Congratulations Ron & Theresa! They’ve added a few dates to their calendar, one is that they will be at Edinbugh Yarn Fest. Follow their website www.TheBuffaloWoolCo.com.
Kismet of Lo-Lo by Barmaids has been traveling quite a bit. There were jut a few beautiful posts from Peru last fall and she was on the road yesterday. Perhaps gathering new wonderful ideas and supplies? Her SUPER Cute shop located in downtown Vancouver, Washington, not only features all her lovely products but the handcrafts of local artisans, so I would recommend a stop by their if you are in the Portland, OR/Vancouver area. Her website www.bar-maids.com and her Facebook page. At Stitches West you can find them in Booth: 738
Marly announced last week on the program that she will be filming a new Craftsy Class this week, so I’m not giving anything away by saying that we her fans can’t wait to hear what THAT’S all about. Craftsy gathered all their awesome teachers for an event last weekend you may have noticed lots of wonderful posts from various folks.
Red Heart Yarns, aside from being the smart folks to bring Marly on as their spokesperson, is currently working on a campaign to create blankets to aid the Red Cross in comforting our neighbors during crisis. Marly has created videos for knit and crochet that you can find at her YouTube channel, find their website www.RedHeart.com and Facebook page.

PS. We kinda started to share a list of charity projects as we were talking today so I thought I would post links. (If you know of one, or I missed one, please share that in comments.) I’ve had these on my mind a lot as we prep for Stitches West, that would be Halos of Hope, Knitted Knockers and Mama Bears. You may have heard me suggest that if you are going to the event, fill your suitcase with these things to donate and then you’ll have room to bring your treasures home! Wonderful Nancy in Oklahoma suggested the Ships Project, and we spoke together about the Linus Project, Helmetliners (which I am seeing on Ravelry a statement that the Military no longer accepts. Perhaps your soldier may need them so sharing anyway, plus I knit Jared Flood’s Turn-a-Square FREE PATTERN to use the leftover bits for off duty beanies which my nephew’s squad liked as much as the helmetliners). Beanies and Hats are also appreciated by local NICU, Purple ones raise awareness for Shaken Baby Syndrome. Also, Craft Yarn Council supports Warm Up America. Check with animal shelters, in some areas blankets for cats are comforts, blankets and little sweaters for frightened or chilly pups are helpful. Many areas, including Birmingham, Alabama, are putting scarves and hats in trees for passersby in need of them, so that’s great idea, too! PLEASE CHECK WITH THESE ORGANIZATIONS before you begin as some have fiber requirements.

If you missed getting to hear this when it aired live and are interested in listening to the archived episode it’s available where it aired originally: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2016/01/26/social-medusa-takeover-1-2016 or with a podcast catcher like iTunes or Stitcher Radio.

Laura Patterson of Fiber Dreams

Laura Patterson of Fiber Dreams was our guest today on the Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird, calling from Kelso, Washington.

Laura has visited the podcast before and since then has moved from Southern California. She and her husband, Dave, are enjoying the different climate. Dave has been a big help to Laura with Fiber Dreams Blocking Wires.  Marly uses them and finds them a great tool for her knitting AND crochet.

Blocking wires are so helpful in giving your finished projects a professional look, making the pieces conform to their designed measurements. Many of Laura’s designs include lace and the blocking wires bring out the intricacies of their architecture.

Speaking of Laura’s designs, her most recent design was with Fiberista yarns, a beautiful shawl with a toothy edge called Great White (available only through Fiberista at the moment). Twist Collective also featured a shawl recently from Laura called Spinner. It features a wingspan with options between 39″ to 71″ and delicately beaded in laceweight  yarn. Some of her patterns are self published, such as the recent Mountain Laurel Cardigan, which features a bit longer length, a scoop-neck, 3/4 length sleeves, and and outstandingly beautiful lace pattern in the sleeves and back. It has been a policy with Laura not to reknit any of her designs, but with Lalique she had to make an exception, as it was knit with Sanguine Gryphon yarns who wished to be the official model for the pattern and she is very small. It’s been too popular to go without having a sample of!

Spinner was featured in the Twist Collective Winter 2015

You can keep up with Laura Patterson through her website/blog and FiberDreams.com and for our ease, she’s everywhere else as Fiber Dreams, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Her Designs in Ravelry can be found at THIS LINK.

Laura Patterson previously visited the Yarn Thing podcast in 2011 and 2010, so it’s very nice to get caught up with her since she’s moved to Washington. If you missed hearing THIS live, it is available as an archived episode where it aired originally: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2016/01/21/laura-patterson-fiber-dreams or in your favorite podcast catcher, like iTunes or Stitcher Radio.

No Stopping Me Now Shawl Crochet Chart

The No Stopping Me Now Shawl Crochet Chart is something I’ve wanted to offer those of you who are interested in making the wonderful No Stopping Me Now Shawl that I designed as a free pattern giveaway at the Marly Bird Meet and Greet while attending the Knit and Crochet Show, 2015.

If you remember, I wanted to use a yarn that I love working with in two color-ways that I just KNEW would look great together. After playing around with several stitch patterns I finally decided to use a pattern that I absolutely love. Lo and behold, you can now see the ‘No Stopping Me Now’ Shawl! 

**Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links**

This shawl is super fun, super simple and super addictive! It begins at the center top and increases are worked at the beginning, middle and end to make this fantastic triangle shawl. Using Red Heart, “Boutique Unforgettable” yarn in Bistro and Winery (don’t those names just make your mouth salivate?) I changed colors every two rows making unique.

Using this long color changing yarn and changing colors every two rows really makes the crocheter eager to get to the next repeat to see how the colors will look in the final piece! I’m not lying when I tell you that making this free crochet shawl is addictive.

The finished sample didn’t use the full two balls of yarn so you could make it larger without any problem. You simple continue in pattern until you run out of yarn…but make sure you finish on a row 2 of the pattern. That’s why I named it the ‘No Stopping Me Now‘ shawl because you just don’t want to stop!

 

Shawl Chart

The pattern has been a big hit but nearly everyday I get asked if there is a chart available. The good news is that I did pay for my tech editor to make a chart for me AND I’ve done a video to show you how to read it!

 

To sum it all up, if you are interested in the links, go get the pattern here, then get the chart here, and watch the video here. All that is left after that is to crochet this fun shawl until you run out of yarn!

I hope you enjoy No Stopping Me Now free crochet shawl pattern and now with a CHART! It was super fun to crochet – and fast too! I love when the yarn does half the work for me as it does in this pattern, with just one skein of each color you get a truly unique shawl.

More Shawls From Marly!

If you are looking for more GREAT Shawls to crochet please check out my Creativebug workshop. for only $4.99 a month you can take ANY class available at Creativebug, including the Crochet Shawl Workshop. Learn more about it here or watch the video below.

Written pattern copyright Marly Bird 2015, all rights reserved. Please do not reprint or repost this pattern, but please do link to this page to share this pattern with others. To print this pattern for personal use, please use Print Friendly button at the bottom of the pattern. Thank you to Red Heart Yarns for providing the yarn for this pattern!

Sandi Rosner TELLS ALL

Sandi Rosner Tells ALL on today’s episode of Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird for which we are grateful, as it was short notice and she really has a lot to share with us.

Sandi says she learned to knit at age 18, when magazines (considered women’s publications) included a design with full instructions to knit. She wanted a vest she saw in the magazine, found the exact yarns and created. Her mother had crocheted and taught her much earlier, so she followed the instructions without fear, and then began experimenting. One summer, in her twenties she explored Barbara Walker’s stitch dictionaries and making swatches that looked interesting. In 1999, at a point in her career in financial services, when her son was very little, she quit that work and opened a yarn store, quite a leap having never worked in retail. After 8 years, closed the yarn store and focused on designing, teaching, editor. (She mentioned editing for the Twist Collective, she’s worked behind the scenes at the Knit and Crochet Now! show.)

Sandi began in the autumn of 2014 as Creative Director of Premier Yarns. Premier has been a topic of conversation on the Yarn Thing before, especially when Deborah Norville made time to share her yarns with us. They are also busy with the Isaac Mizrahi yarns, Universal Yarns and the new Downton Abbey. Just in the Premier collection are 30 brands of yarns! They work with in-house designers, she designs on occasion, too, and finding names for designs or colorways on occasion can be a big challenge.

Marly asked a question that we may have all wondered, does she get star-struck when a celebrity works with her on a yarn line. She admits she hasn’t met Isaac Mizrahi yet as that’s all handled through others for the fashion line, but with Deborah Norville, who is very hands on (as we heard in 2014 and 2013) in the yarn lines with her name on them. Even Sandi’s mother was excited that Sandi got to meet Deborah Norville. But when Premier Yarns was approached about offering a Downton Abbey line, Sandi broke out her happy dance around the office!

The Downton Abbey yarns include four lines named after Matthew, Lady Mary, Lady Sybil and Branson. The collection also offers patterns that are available as FREE Downloads, that includes afghans, a cardigan, vest, shrug, shawls, collars, hats with matching mitts. The Ravelry group is currently doing a Knit a Long/Crochet a Long (KAL/CAL) at THIS LINK. There is a twice-a-week newsletter from Premier yarns available in your e-mail and while the show is airing the new episode will feature that and offer the yarn packs for the various designs…

Please click on one of these graphics to be taken to the website the links will let premier know who sent you!

We can follow Sandi Rosner at her designer page in Ravelry. Premier Yarns is much more visible, recommend following all they are up to at the website www.premieryarns.com/yarnthing, also the Ravelry Group, Facebook, Pinterest and they have a YouTube channel.

If you missed hearing this live, you can still listen to the archived episode where it aired originally: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2016/01/19/sandi-rosner-tells-all or with your favorite podcast catcher like iTunes or Stitcher Radio.

 

Portuguese Knitting Teacher Andrea Wong

Portuguese Knitting Teacher Andrea Wong made time out of her busy schedule to visit the Yarn Thing Podcast with Marly Bird. Her first visit to the show makes our HAPPY FRIDAY!

Born and raised in Brazil, Andrea learned to crochet from her mother at age 7. Later a neighbor taught both of them to knit, and the neighbor had been taught to knit from someone from Portugal. In Portugal, both knitters and crocheters carry their working yarn around their neck, but as they already crocheted they only knit that way. Later when she worked in a yarn shop, it was amazing to see her knit this way. She learned about knitting continental (holding the yarn in the left hand, picking up stitches) and the English (working yarn held in right hand, stitches are thrown on the needle), because in order to teach Portuguese Knitting, she had to learn both. Portuguese Knitting is controlling the tension by keeping yarn around the neck. It’s considered very ergonomic, reducing the strain on the index fingers. It’s not just knitters in Portugal that knit that way, but many cultures knit this way, Peruvian, Greek, Bulgarian, Italian… it’s considered to be the oldest way of holding the working yarn.

Andrea finds that new knitters enjoy purling with Portuguese Knitting, because the yarn is held in front of the work. It also reduces ‘rowing’ which is where there is an inconsistency between knitted rows and purled. When Andrea teaches at local yarn stores, knitting guilds or knitting events, like the upcoming Stitches West, she find about half convert to Portuguese Knitting, for the rest it’s always a good thing to have an understanding of. 

Craftsy (Awesome Yarn Thing Podcast Sponsor) has created a class featuring Andrea Wong teaching this method, called Knit Faster with Portuguese Knitting which offers another way of learning than books or in live class. Andrea appreciates the camera angles that were achieved in filming which may not be something a student may get in a class or a book. She believes most people like to see how to do it, as we all have learned to knit or crochet — sitting next to a friend and watching their hands.

The experience of making the class for Andrea has been very different than her earlier methods. She had gone to Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp and Meg approached her to see how she knit, because it was unique. Meg even suggested she make a video and share this. Andrea went home and worked toward self-publishing her videos and books. In the knit shop, the saying was often heard that there is no right way or wrong way, that there is even a WONG way! Andrea took that pun and titled her publications ‘The Wong Way’ which received negative response. Andrea went back to Meg and said she did it wrong, Meg’s response was that sometimes the cutesy titles don’t go over very well. Good lesson for us all!

Next up, Andrea is working on a CRUISE to Portugal! Imagine exploring crafts in May 2017 with Andrea. Very Exciting! You can follow Andrea at her website: www.AndreaWongKnits.com, she is also on Facebook, Twitter and patterns listed in Ravelry.

If you missed getting to hear this live, you can still listen to the archived episode where it aired originally: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2016/01/15/portuguese-knitting-teacher-andrea-wong or in iTunes, Stitcher Radio or with your favorite podcatcher service.

Rae Blackledge author of 25 Stylish Knitted Slippers

Rae Blackledge, Author of 25 Stylish Knitted Slippers was the guest on this morning’s Yarn Thing with Marly Bird episode.

You may know Rae Blackledge for the work she has done for Willow Yarns. Really, that has been immense, if you peek at her designs listed in Ravelry many of the 285 designs currently listed are for Willow Yarns.

Rae says she came from a long line of women on her mother’s side who made a living sewing. Her mom and aunts did crafts shows with Cabbage Patch Dolls and Barbies. Her Grandmother on her father’s side came to visit and got her knitting. That first project was intended to be a potholder but she didn’t learn to bind off so it became a scarf… In college, she picked up knitting again. She was working in technical theater: costume designs, lighting, set design and knitting fit with her life really well.

Rae and her mom were having lunch when the idea to open a yarn store. Rae’s Yarn Boutique in Lansing, Michigan became a thing four months later. Rae said she began designing, yarn dying among other things.

Now, Rae is in Charlotte, North Carolina, and really rockin’ Willow Yarns. CLICK HERE to view the Spring 2016 Catalog. (You can sign up to receive it in the mail and promotions by e-mail.) Marly has recently designed for Willow Yarns, take a look at Butterfly Top  and Holly Spring Shawl (both are crochet patterns). Rae’s title is Design Coordinator, which is huge as you can see as you stroll through the catalog, a lot of it is featuring designs that work well with the yarns.

Marly wondered to Rae how she found time to do this book, 25 Stylish Knitted Slippers, and Rae admits it was a lot of evenings and weekends. She wanted them to be more than just slipper socks, she wanted them to be many different methods of construction and fit well. Each of them began as a blank slate. The book came about because Stackpole Books had asked Rae’s friend Amy Gunderson about a slipper book, who recommended Rae. Rae began with shopping trends in fashion and added her favorite ideas, like Foxes, classic Bunny Slippers. She was also concerned that any experience knitter, beginner or more technical could do something from the book. Rae was pretty smart about them too, in that she would knit the first one and the second one was knitted by someone in her knitting circle, which avoided ‘Second-Sock-itis’ but also accomplished a bit of tech editing.

Willow Yarns website is www.WillowYarns.com and you can follow them on Facebook and Pinterest.  Rae Blackledge’s designs can be found in Ravelry. I’m sure she’s lurking in other social media as she continues her work for Willow Yarns.

If you missed getting to hear this live it is still available as an archived episode where it aired originally http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2016/01/12/rae-blackledge-author-of-25-stylish-knitted-slippers or in your podcatcher like iTunes or Stitcher Radio.

 

Barb Demorest of Knitted Knockers

Barb Demorest of Knitted Knockers was our FIRST GUEST of 2016 on the Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird, and really started our year off with a KA-POW!

Barb’s story begins with being what she calls ‘a casual knitter’ not plugged into the knitting community till about 2009, when she found a knit group at her local yarn shop.

In 2011, Barb was diagnosed with breast cancer. Of course, fears set in that she would lose her hair or have to have a mastectomy. It turned out she did have to have the mastectomy, but hoped for immediate reconstruction while still under sedation. She woke from that and found that reconstruction did not happen. Barb, in her shock, tried to find solutions so she could get right back to her life, work, normalcy, only to hear she could not use anything with that wound for weeks. Her doctor suggested she learn to knit and make herself a Knitted Knocker.

Barb went home and called her best friend Phyllis, who went online and got to work. Barb meanwhile stayed at home for that first week, but admits stuffing her bra with a sock and going to church. There Phyllis sent her a Victoria’s Secret bag with a Knitted Knocker in it, Barb immediately replaced the sock with it and says the change in her life was immediate. Her confidence returned.

Barb’s first thought was to go back to that doctor to ask if he wished to have some for his patients. He did and she wondered how many were needed. He stated that in her county (She lives in Bellingham, north of Seattle, Whatcom County) of those diagnosed, between 50 and 100 would cover single and double mastectomies each year, but there was a need to help those that have in years past had that procedure. Also those who have had lumpectomies and other less radical procedures could also use a less full option Knitted Knocker.

In the meantime, KnittedKnockers.org received recognition from other organizations like Susan G Komen as being an organization providing comfort to those fighting this battle. Barb worked with the website as it needed work so that requests could be made easier, that patterns could be found and downloaded with ease along with video tutorials for knitters and crocheters, that supplying and accepting donations needed simplified. The Seattle Seahawks (this is a link to the YouTube video, pretty awesome ~ PLEASE CLICK LIKE!) also shared Knitted Knockers in October for which a special NFL themed knocker was created, also Knitted Knockers were a featured vendor at the Seattle Mariner’s Stitch & Pitch, held in July.

Barb’s local yarn shop, Apple Yarns has organized a weekly group for stuffing donated Knitted Knockers. Barb shared how special the ladies are that show up regularly, like Anne. Phyllis is still knitting knockers and has created over 400 since that first one for Barb. In fact a funny story, Phyllis did a really wild pair, purple with green ‘hair’ that ended up with a woman who enjoys ‘whipping it out’ and showing it off. Mostly though, recipients prefer neutral flesh toned Knitted Knockers.

Skacel, which is based in Seattle, and it’s own Chuck Wilmesher (who was on the Yarn Thing podcast with us exactly a year ago), contacted Barb to share the organization in their publication, and has also contacted Benjamin Levisay, CEO of XRX and Stitches Events (also one of our beloved Sponsors), to also turn up the volume. Together they are turning the upcoming #STITCHESWest event in February into a Knitted Knocker event. This includes a design contest, a special Pajama Party/Knitted Knocker Stuffing (yes, hosted by Marly!) and a raffle of a package to attend another Stitches event elsewhere! Skacel is offering a kit, through their shop Maker’s Mercantile, CLICK HERE for more information about that.

The Knitted Knockers website has a ton of information, find them at knittedknockers.org, they are also on Facebook, and have a group in Ravelry. If you wish to mail an unstuffed Knocker once you’ve completed it and cannot be at STITCHESWest, they can be sent to:

Knitted Knockers Support Foundation, 1780 Iowa St, Bellingham, WA 98229

OR to be included in the Great Stuffing Event at STITCHESWest during the Pajama Party, they can be mailed to:

Knitted Knockers, c/o XRX, Inc. 2704 West 3rd Street (for non-post office delivery)

PO Box 965, Sioux Falls SD 57101

Also, keep in mind and spread the word, monetary donations are much appreciated, so that shipping those Knitted Knockers requested to a neighbor in need can be done at no cost.

If you missed getting to hear this live, we hope you can make time to hear it and share with your firends, it is available as an archive where it aired originally: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2016/01/07/barb-demorest-of-knitted-knockers or in other podcatchers like iTunes and Stitcher Radio.

SPECIAL Deborah Newton

SPECIAL Deborah Newton episode is the way we choose to close out the 2015 year of the Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird.

Deborah called us from Providence, Rhode Island, to make our Wednesday episode special. This is the first time she’s been our guest. She said she knitted garter-stitch potholders for the first ten years of her knitting experience, having learned from her mother as a child. ‘Purling seemed superfluous’ she says. Even when she discovered Elizabeth Zimmerman books on the shelves in college, knitting in the round meant that she could still put it off mostly, then Barbara G Walker’s books, and discovering a love of swatching changed everything.

Her first sweater was a drop-shoulder Lopi pullover. At the time, working in theater, not really following a pattern, seeing designs in magazines, she thought she would give it a try. She submitted her first design to McCalls and saw her design photographed backwards! Her husband was trying to pursue a writing career, and she wanted to be a freelance designer, so, she continued on. Her mother-in-law had purchased for her some of her favorite yarn, so she created her first design with it to submit that first time, she describes it as a sampler of stitches. She has designed fabrics for Seventh Avenue, designed for many companies and become an author. Her love of fabrics, watching the trends and garment shapes, she sees herself as a garment maker.

In her new book, Good Measure: Knit a Perfect Fit Every Time, she thinks the working for the measurement of a body is more important than the body’s shape is a priority. We learned more about that as she continued to chat with us.

Deborah says when she designs she creates the body before the edges. Marly referenced her earlier book ‘Designing Knitwear‘, Deborah says there is no right way, she was self-taught, basically sitting down and figuring it out for yourself. It came about that Deborah went to visit Trisha Malcolm at Sixth & Spring with a book proposal. Trisha said we’re really not interested in her idea but rather a book about fit. This challenged Deborah to present it in a way that others would understand. Deborah actually countered with a book about finishing, an idea which everyone in the back liked. She also says sometimes it’s as simple as looking at what’s in your own closet.

‘Nothing works unless you test it first’ must be the reason Deborah swatches with fondness. Taking the pattern stitches she wants to work with, finding how the stitch patterns work together, starting with smaller swatches, working with larger swatches to combine the things found with the smaller swatches. ‘Swatching is totally my success story’, she says, ‘You can’t guess how something is going to work out.’ Working out how design elements work out, looking for beautiful, declining what’s not exciting enough. She says the swatch never lies, that sometimes we let our brain misinterpret what the swatch tells us. It’s about being inspired, not necessarily about gauge, and it’s a safety net.

Some design elements, like a drawstring or a pleat. She knows what her gauge is, she will work up a schematic drawing, to help visualize how deep the detail should be. Swatching still helps to work out the details. And still, after years of designing, she experiences designer troubles. Always looking to make things complicated for herself, she thought up a long cardigan, with a fine gauge yarn, the over 300 stitches and it was wrong… due yesterday. ‘I could do this ahead of time and I wouldn’t want to kill myself.’ Do we learn from her example? Must Swatch!

Deborah does mention something unusual, in that she doesn’t block unless it’s a lace shawl that needs stretched. She says that not blocking helps the fabric keep it’s bounce, that the seams and edges set the shape, sometimes a yarn may need a little steam to fluff it up (check the ball band from the skein) but the finishing is really what sets the garment. She advises, ‘Life’s to short to block’.

She people-watches for new ideas, or will see something in a movie or on tv that inspires her. Every season she says there’s a new raglan, she likes to see what new thing has been done with it. She says she doesn’t crochet, but like a lot of us, would like to combine knitting and crochet in a single design.

The new book, Good Measure, she says is her gift to the knitting community. Encouraging the use of schematics and their simple and necessary, knowing how to measure correctly and learning how they work with the design. Understanding ease, silhouette and fabric and how it affects the garment. Alterations in the pattern within the stitch, like cables and lace, can help to fit. Really, she is telling us we can be designers.

You can follow Deborah Newton in Ravelry at her designer page. I don’t find a website or Ravelry Group, which probably leaves her free to design more interesting garments for us!

If you missed hearing this LIVE it is still available as an archived episode: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2015/12/16/special-deborah-newton or in iTunes.

Veronika and Danny from YOTH

Veronika and Danny from YOTH (Yarn on the House) the brother and sister team visited the Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird today. I believe this is the first set of siblings as guests Marly has hosted, which exciting but YOTH yarns have been so HOT everyone is talking about them.

Marly saw their booth at Stitches West, loved their booth and saw they were running out of yarn! They are a modern thinking, family run company that really makes watching them fun. Check out this video from ONE DAY at Stitches Texas that they created.

Veronika is Big Sister and Danny is Little Brother. Their family immigrated here from the Czech-Republic before Danny was born. A couple of years ago, Veronika, who had been a billing manager in Corporate America, approached Danny and asked if he would come to work with her company either as an employee with a little paycheck or as a co-owner with no paycheck. Of course he took the second option! The business is really based on Veronika’s passion for knitting, but everyone in their family helps out. Dad made the display pieces for the booth, Veronika’s husband helps out with graphics and web developement, Danny’s girlfriend helps out, Veronika’s daughter models occasional and all of this is still based out of her house.

In fact the company began by dying yarns in Veronika’s kitchen and then the garage (they shared that sometimes there was dye production going on and sometimes craft beer brewing by Veronika’s husband was happening on the gas burners out there). Their color pallette being more unisex, is subtle and muted, Veronika says is not anything new. Even though they don’t dye themselves anymore, working with the folks who does it for them they are able to maintain their love of hand-dyed and offering it to their customers.

Their yarn lines are Big Sister (DK weight) and Little Brother (Fingering weight) are a Merino Cashmere Nylon blend, and recent additions Father and Mother (a Worsted and DK weight rambouillet or French Merino yarns) but all American grown. They have high standards for what they want to work with and provide to their customers.

YOTH yarns are sorted into palettes, Raw, Fresh and Juicy, and when you find colors in the palettes you like, you can choose from the different lines mentioned above. There are a few shops that have begun to offer the yarns as part of their inventory, click here to see if any are near you, and come back to see if new shops are added.

Veronika has a few designs she’s created and listed in Ravelry, and Ravelry Group you may wish to check that out as well.  You can follow YOTH via their website www.YOTHyarns.com and their blog, they are also on Pinterest and Instagram.

If you missed getting to hear this live, you can still catch the episode as an archive:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2015/12/15/veronika-and-danny-from-yoth or in iTunes.

Author Maggie Sefton

Author Maggie Sefton was the guest today on the Yarn Thing with Marly Bird! They live in the same region so it was nice to hear from these near neighbors.

We always ask the fiber history of our guest, and Maggie says hers began in Virginia, specifically handwork like quilting, sewing, embroidery, etc. She knew people in college that knit, and admired them. But it wasn’t until after she wrote historical fiction and a career as an Certified Public Accountant, that she found in her research that people found comfort in knitting, and was referred to Lambspun of Colorado. Maggie refers to Faith Popcorn who was a trend spotter in the early 90’s, as saying that things that feel good to touch would become popular, which probably also inspired Maggie to write.

The Knitting Mystery Series, also know as the Kelly Flynn Series (now at #13) began with Kelly losing her Aunt, who’s property was adjacent to a coffee shop and knit shop which had been her Aunt’s support group and next to a golf course. Something was not quite right with her Aunt’s death and that began Kelly’s mysterious adventures in Ft Collins, Colorado. What Maggie herself found when visiting Lambspun she was able to capture and put into the book, the beautiful colors, the feel of the fiber and yarns, the feelings of learning to knit and she caught on, the comfort she’d heard about before. She uses the language of those who love yarn to tell the stories and makes it a very popular series which can be classified as knitting literature or knit lit.

Taking her knitting story ideas to her publishers sounds like an adventure, too. It was not a straight path. Having had success previously, her publisher was surprised, of course, and referred to this new idea as a ‘cozy’ novel. Maggie, having written many different murders, couldn’t imagine her writing as ‘cozy’ but clearly the combination of yarn and murder works for her! Plus, publishers LOVE series as Maggie says this sold faster than anything else she’s written.

Maggie has also written a trilogy of Political Suspense called the Molly Malone series. She also blogs as part of the Cozy Chicks. You can follow Maggie Sefton at her website, www.maggiesefton.com on Facebook and Twitter.

If you missed hearing this live it is available to hear as an archived episode where it aired originally: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2015/12/10/author-maggie-sefton or in iTunes.