Archive for the 'press' Category
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YarnCraft podcast interview airs today!
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
Just before I left for CHA, I chatted with Zontee of the YarnCraft podcast. We talked about my take on what the knitting trends will be for 2009.
I am really impressed by the new LB line of Lion Brand Yarns! Have you seen them? They sent me a few samples…I’ll post about them as soon as I can swatch them!
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Hello HGTV Knitty Gritty viewers! You’re just in time for some product reviews!
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
I can tell that my episode just aired, because I have all sorts of nice emails and a bunch of new newsletter subscribers. (Yes, I have a newsletter!)
Please be sure to check the errata for Fitted Knits if you’re new…it’s that link in the upper left sidebar. Also, I’m “Stefanie” on Ravelry, and “Glampyre” on Twitter. Whew!
You are joining us just in time for my first Product Review from spring ’09 TNNA!
I have two things to talk about today (and many, many more to come!)
The first thing I want to talk about is my new Zuma Bag from the Cali Collection of Namaste knitting bags. I love the whole Cali collection, but this one is my favorite of all. It actually looks like a purse. And not just a purse, but a purse that I would CARRY.
When I was talking to “Namaste Kelly” at the booth, we were discussing how I think that these bags are the “status” bags of the knitting world. It’s really true! I find that when I teach away from home, the ‘serious’ knitters usually have some form of Namaste bag on one arm (and a Lexie tote on the other!)
I love the Zuma style in particular, because it’s something I can carry every day. I don’t have to move my knitting stuff in and out of my purse OR try to remember where the heck my wallet and keys have gone to…because I have no need to switch bags!
There is room in here for a sweater or a sweater’s worth of yarn…and you HAVE to see this genius front pocket:
FOR YOUR CIRCULAR NEEDLES! Genius engineering!
This bag gets my highest review points…functional…looks great…love it!!
My next review is of the new Malabrigo Silky Merino yarn. I was lucky enough to come home with a skein of this in a fabulous hot pink / gray / purple color called Vigo.
Can you see how this yarn just sparkles?? It’s so soft and easy on the hands. I’m making a little triangle scarf. I just have the one skein, but want something useful from this yarn NOW.
Tune in next time for a review of the new PolarKnit yarn. I have a special project in mind for this.
I leave tomorrow for CHA…so I might just have time to work out my idea before I get home to post again on Tuesday!
Posted in press, yarn reviews | 2 Comments »
A few TNNA pictures
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
What’s a blog without a little photoessay now and then?
Here are a few TNNA photos…mostly me with people I work with or whose yarns / products I like.
I’ll start doing some reviews after CHA. (Oh yeah, I leave on Saturday for another trade show.) Mazie will probably have many new and amazing skills when I get home. I missed her getting 2 new teeth while I was at TNNA, AND being able to point to her nose, ears, where hats go, belly, etc.. Feeling a little absentee.
ANYWAY…
Here’s me with Antonio and Tobias. I used their yarn in FOUR of the patterns in Glam Knits. They are so nice and (as you know) their yarns are to die for. I brought home a skein of Silky Merino. Yes. It is as good as you’ve heard it is!
I wore one of the projects on Saturday, and they said that people were asking them about the yarn…YAY!
Here is me with Paul Nichols of Mission Falls Yarn (with 2 of my projects.)
Here I am holding my habanero Knit.1 sweater at the SoHo booth:
…and here I am at the FW booth. They made a huge sign with my name on it…quite surreal.
I know it’s kind of dorky to post all these photos of myself … but … I’m doing it anyway. So there.
Posted in Trips, events, press | 4 Comments »
aw! A review of my “Space Shuttle Scarf” kit!
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
Remember those kits I had on Etsy with the dyed bamboo and 3-pattern booklet??
Well. We have the first online review!
To Quote Lenora:
“As promised by the designer, Ms. Japel herself, it truly looks wonderful no matter which side of the pattern one declares to be the “right” side. No wrong side. Gotta respect that.
I brought the scarf to share with the Guild today. Now you must understand that the Guild members are quite accomplished knitters. We have teachers, experts and international brilliance. So, for a pattern to impress this bunch it must be remarkable indeed.
We contemplated the visual effect of both sides – both close up and from afar. Final result? Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.”
AaaaaaAAAaaaAAaaaaaawwwwww! Thank you!
I needed that today! 
Posted in Patterns, etsy, press | No Comments »
knit glam t-shirts and..hey! There’s a new Knitty!
Friday, December 12th, 2008
Hey! There’s a new Knitty!
For the locals, this is that abandoned lodge on 70 just at the top of the hill on the way to White Sands (on the East side of the road.) We’ve driven by it so many times, and I just had to use it in the photo shoot. Here it is looking from the North:
Remember that Therapi yarn that I like so much? I knit a whole sweater out of it! And the great thing about Knitty is that I get to KEEP IT. How long since I’ve been able to knit a sweater for myself and keep it?! And I really do like this yarn. It’s soft and doesn’t pill (or hasn’t yet..even as much as I’ve been wearing this sweater.)
In other news, I’ve been having the worst mail time of my entire life. I’ve been just having the worst luck!! I mean, I’ve got some sort of force field going on that repels mail and other deliveries arriving at my house. And it’s also somehow affecting mail that I SEND.
It all started a month or so ago. I was mailing out a bunch of copies of my newest book for review, and at the same time mailing various knits and other stuff. I was supposed to send a swatch to a test knitter, and I swore up and down that I’d sent it. And then I FOUND it. Here at my house in it’s envelope and with stamps and everything. And then I submitted a form to the University that would have initiated disbursement of a really big really big check. Well. They lost my request form in the mail! I heard this after having waited 5 weeks for the check! So…maybe in another 5 weeks it’ll finally pay out. THEN…I took two sweaters in two separate pre-addressed boxes to the UPS store. These boxes were two different sweaters going to two different places. They both ended up at the SAME PLACE. One was for a deadline and is still in limbo because the guy that has it’s wife just had a baby and he’s out of the office.
Today, though, the cloud of badmailishness seems to have lifted because MY T-SHIRTS CAME!! (and I got 2 checks today!!)
That was the teaser from this morning. A few weeks ago, I ran into (fellow redhead) Petra of Red Squirrel Knits, who is a wonderful graphic designer. She took my sketch:
and made it into this awesome logo:
I am so happy with these shirts! They were printed by Squeegee Printers, Inc. (the same people who print the Ravelry tees.)
I’m listing these on etsy right now…you can see the size information in the listing, but I’ve got just a few in Ladies’ sizes S – 2X.
I’m usually a 12 -14 in tops, and the Large fits me great. Not tight, not loose.
Posted in Patterns, etsy, press | 3 Comments »
New Pattern Alert: habanero!
Friday, November 21st, 2008
So, you may have seen the progress shots that I sneaked into my flickr account…and here’s the finished sweater!
It’s knit in Lorna’s Laces Green Line DK, in the Chagrin colorway. All in one piece from the neck down.
Knit.1 did a story about several bloggers, and so we’re all interviewed and each of us did a pattern for the issue.
Should hit newsstands n a couple of days.
Here’s the cover, so you know what to look for:
Posted in Patterns, press | 2 Comments »
Make One Yarn Studio Retreat!
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
OK, here is the long overdue post about the Canada Trip!
Well, I was invited to teach sort of at the last minute…not really the LAST minute, but after they had already decided who to invite to teach, and the workshop had filled up, they added me later. I have known Amy Sewnson (co-owner of Make One) for YEARS. We were both very early Knitty contributors, and also very early knit bloggers. Amy and I have been reading each others’ blogs for like 10 years. SO…I knew that this would be a great trip.
The weekend started out at the Make One shop…which is GORGEOUS. It’s a huge space, I would guess that they have about 1500 – 1750 square feet in there. The walls are lined with those cool cubby-type shelves and everything is lit using artist lighting like they have in museums. The colors are just glowing at you when you walk in. They have lots of favorite, well-known yarns, PLUS many yarns that are hand dyed by local fiber artists (likek Sandra and Annie). So it’s a great mix of local and what-everyone’s-talking-about-online. I think that some of the most successful shops are those run by people who spend a lot of time on the internet. Researching brands and knowing what everyone’s buzzing about.
From there, we went on up to the Delta Lodge at Kanakansis. This is a BEAUTIFUL spot. It’s kind of isolated up in the mountains, with lots of pine trees and beautiful valleys all around. I was just in awe of this place. SO many deer along the road, too! Just a really neat place to get to spend some time.
The lodge itself was really interesting, too. There was a big huge fireplace in the lobby with tons of comfy chairs and couches. They had lots of little bars and restaraunts to try out. The vibe of the whole place was COZY. Cozy and Mountain. Like, antlers, stuffed game, that kind of thing.
The food was just outrageously good. Everything was very well-prepared and definitely upscale.
I also thought that the workshop itself was incredibly well-run. There was coffee and snacks at the halfway point of each class, with time to actually mingle. Classes ran on time, and everyone was where they were supposed to be. The classrooms were stocked with the right AV equipment…it was just really really well done.
I was really impressed / flattered/ blown away by the fact that all of my classes were full. I had no less than 21 students the entire weekend! Woah!
It was so worth it to make the trip. I loved being there and meeting the Make One staff and students.
Thank you Make One! I obviously didn’t take enough pictures, so would love to have links to your flickr sets!!
Posted in Trips, events, press | No Comments »
Knitpicks Podcast Interview
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
So a few weeks ago I got a call from Kelley at Knitpicks! I picked up the phone and when she asked for me, and I lied and said I wasn’t home! She has such a professional voice, I assumed it was a sales call! The worst part of the whole thing is that I totally expected the phone call. We had worked out a time and date in advance in everything. She called just as I was getting Mazie to go down for a nap, so that was probably what threw me off. (Mom was supposed to come over and babysit during the call and she forgot…so I was a little bit off my game that morning.)
Anyway, you can hear the whole conversation here. To go along with the interview, Knitpicks is offering you a special deal on the purchase of Glam Knits.
As a thank you, Kelley sent me a whole set of the Harmony Interchangeable needles. I already have the Options metal set and I LOVE it. The cable is so soft and bendy, and the joins are very smooth. I am easily annoyed by slow, dull, or badly constructed needles, and these have passed even MY tests.
I like to knit a LOT and I like to knit FAST. I used the Options set while I was working on my newest project using a cabled bamboo yarn. The yarn didn’t catch at ALL, even though the individual plies are so fine.
PS: The knitting bag in the photo is from Lexie Barnes and can be found here.
(If you’re looking for something to get me for Christmas…which I *know* at least one of my readers IS…hint-hint-wink-wink *ahem*Nathan*hrmm-hrmm*….I would LOVE to have THIS NEW Lexie bag in Pacifica, please!)
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Let’s Knit Interview…PDF posted
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
I recently received a PDF version of my interview with UK Magazine Let’s Knit.
Here’s page 1,
Here’s page 2.
(I also put little low-res images of the pages on Flickr, in case you’re not a Downloader…click the image above to see.)
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Let’s Knit!
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
I recently did an interview with the UK publication Let’s Knit. I got my copy in the mail on Friday. I had honestly not seen this magazine before, but it is so cute! There’s a reason that it’s called the UK’s “Brightest” knitting magazine! They layout is really bright and the patterns are geared towards young knitters. It’s a fun read! And each issue comes with a little surprise. This issue came with a 4mm circular needle!
Here are some images from the spread:
(Note about the last sentence in that photo: my mom does knit now, but she didn’t while I was learning.)
It was really fun to get this in the mail, and it took me a few days to actually read the interview. I get so nervous about sounding pompous or like I’m all that…that I couldn’t even bring myself to read it. I made Nate read it first and tell me if I sounded like a jerk first. (He says I didn’t, and believe me he’d tell me the truth!)