The Heliopath Vest KAL - Prize Announcements

There's no doubt we all love to knit. But to knit and get FREE STUFF?! Heck yeah!

When GhostFaceKnitter and I announced the Heliopath Vest KAL coming up on March 1st we told you there would be a prize from the Black Market Wool shop. And here it is... Rijel calls it Just. Perfect. And it sure is. I love the colors in the yarn. I'm kinda sad I'm not eligible to win this...

But I have more good news! We have ANOTHER prize for you. A yarny prize. A yarny-patterny-goodness prize. Heather over at Ewe Ewe Yarns has offered us 2 skeins of her Wooly Worsted in Saffron and a copy of her Angel Food Cake Cowl to go along with it. For. Serious.

Our Heliopath Vest KAL starts this coming Saturday March 1st. Trust me when I say you want to get in on this. And if you've already planned to join us, keep us apprised of your work by using #heliopathkal, following us on Instagram (@SoCalMeaghan and @GhostFaceKnitter) or posting along with us in our Ravelry discussion board. 

Keep in mind, to be eligible for a prize you need to finish your Vest (and post images... not blocked is ok, but ends woven in) by 11:59pm PST on Saturday, April 12th (that's the night before Easter). Use the tags above or post the image on Instagram to be entered. 

We can't wait to have you join us!

New Pattern: The Hubband Sock

The day has arrived... I'm finally going out on a limb and officially publishing a pattern for anyone and everyone to criticize knit and love and crave more of.

I've been struggling to find the nerve to publish a pattern for a couple of months now and figured it's time to just bite the bullet and make it happen. Whats the worst that can happen? No one knits it? Sure, that'd be pretty lame. There are errors? Bah... big deal. There's errata on some of the best pattern writers' patterns. So, mostly it was me getting in my own way.

But before I tell you more about this, I need to give a huge shout out to Heather over at Ewe Ewe Yarns. Beyond my husband, for whom these socks are named, Heather was a huge supporter of my desire to become a designer (and even proof read this pattern for me). So, go buy her yarns, her patterns, and give her all the love you've got 'cuz she deserves it.

Alright, alright... the SOCKS!

I love homemade socks and have finished 7 pairs already... this year. And through it all, my husband, Alan, who I lovingly call "Hubband", as he calls me Wif (read: "whiff", like "sniff"), has been my main supporter both emotionally and financially as I progress towards knitting Rock-dom. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she? Anyway, he's watched me fight to learn new things, cheered me on as I develop a new short row pattern (forth coming) and patiently looked at every bit of yarn I've knit up into swatches, socks, sweaters, hats, etc. The man is patient and funny and has even taken the time to put some interest into my hobby. He can differentiate a knit stitch from a purl stitch and just last night we lay on the floor for 20 minutes as I showed him how to cast on a top down, 2aat sock. Good man.

So, at the very least, he deserves a pair of socks he can wear and wash (the first pair I made him were an alpaca blend and he felted them... hilarious!).

I'm going to host this pattern on Ravelry where you can find me (SoCalMeaghan) and would love for you to knit these up. If you find errors, please let me know ASAP and I'll help you get them sorted out (but I think the pattern is error free). *fingers crossed*

Umm... yeah. Go. Get the FREE pattern. Knit them up. Tag me on Instagram with #hubbandsock and connect with me there too: @SoCalMeaghan.

You can get the pattern here: The Hubband Sock

And here's what these babies look like:

Heliopath Vest KAL - Coming Soon!

I am SO excited to announce that I'm going to be hosting another fun KAL. This time I'm hosting with my Instagram friend @GhostFaceKnitter. And this time I'm hosting it here on my blog instead of on the Ewe Ewe Yarns blog. Not that hers' isn't awesome.  It totally rocks but I thought I'd do it on my own page. You'll find that GhostFaceKnitter will have det's on her blog too.

So, what are the these "det's" I mention? Well let's get to it, shall we?

First of all, this is what we're making:

Image courtesy of KnittingDaily.com

The Heliopath Vest from The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits Magazine

Is that not the cutest vest you've ever seen? I'm not normally a vest girl but I can't wait to wear this. If I can find a polka dot blouse to go with it I'd be even happier.

I'm going to use Ewe Ewe Yarns Wooly Worsted yarn in the  Saffron colorway. Why use that and not the wool the pattern calls for? Because I like to throw everything in the washing machine and you can do that with Ewe Ewe's superwashed yarns. And because I like to support Local and Ewe Ewe just so happens to live up the street from me. :)

Just looking at this picture makes me want to start swatching now but I'll resist and wait until March 1st. Why March 1st? Well because...

We're going to cast-on on March 1st. And yes, there's a plan of attack. And YES, THERE'S A PRIZE! Also, and maybe most important, it's after the Olympics and if you're partaking in the Ravellenics your needles will be bare and you'll be wandering aimlessly looking for something to knit come March 1st.

As a former wedding planner (I know... who CHOOSES that as a job, right?! Crazy people, that's who) I am a still planner at heart so I like to have short term goals to work towards to make a new project seem less daunting. So here's what we're aiming for:

• March 1 (Sat): Knit swatch and measure gauge.
• March 7: Cast on and work 2" of rib (per pattern)
• March 14: Begin working Cable and Lace Chart for 7"
• March 21: Continue working Cable and Lace Chart for 7" more (to the split for the armholes
• March 28: Shape Armholes and neck.
• April 5: Finishing and armbands and buttonhole row

I'm going to host posts here each weekend for each step of the KAL so we can all stay on track and not get stuck on anything that will impede our progress.  And between now and then I'm going post about swatching and gauge so we all end up with vests that fit us. I HATE working so hard on a project only to have it not fit. 

Ok, ok, the prize? A 100g skein of sock weight yarn from Black Market Wool. If you haven't seen this amazing work yet, please go check it out. I have skein upon skein upon skein of this stuff just waiting to be knit up (and almost always have at least one project on the go with it on my needles). You'll absolutely love it! Oh, and she's Local too. My sphere of "Local" is pretty much anyone in California and she's just "up the road" in Sacramento. And I FINALLY get to meet her in August and I'm dying of excitement. 

Ok, Meaghan, digress much? Yep. 

We'll be posting updates on Instagram using #heliopathkal and would love to see your stuff up there too. We'll also be posting on Ravelry in our Instagram-Along-Ers discussion topic: Heliopath Vest KAL. Please join us in both places to see everyone's progress and to ask questions. Or you can ask questions here. Or send smoke signals... but those will be harder for me to answer since we've got a major drought here in San Diego and I don't want to get in trouble.

Seriously. Do it. You'll love it. And we'll have fun. Can't wait to knit with you!

Snap Chat!

No, not the app, though I've heard it's fun.

I'm here to talk about pictures. Or rather my pictures. And maybe other peoples' pictures but only generally. I don't like to point fingers at people unless I have their permission. Pfft... right.

Before I was a consultant, and a knitting fiend, I was a Wedding Planner. And before you get the urge to ask, it's NOTHING like the movie. No pencil skirts and high heels for wedding planners. I kid you not, I have waved goodbye to the FOB (that's Father of the Bride in wedding lingo) who literally had his "thingie" in his hands as he peed in the bush and said "See ya soon". I have blown a flower girls nose with the hem of my blazer. I have unplugged toilets. By hand. With no gloves. That shit is real.

Anyway, being in the wedding industry I believe I became somewhat of a photo snob. I spent a lot of time talking to photographers, looking at their work, and learning why a) they charge what they do and b) why just a fancy camera doesn't make a person a good photographer. There's no doubt that quality equipment will give you a better quality of image but that's only if the operator is as good as their equipment.

I am NOT a good photographer. Am I better than the Hubbs? Yes. Times infinity. But am I "good"? Nope. Noperoonie. I'm adequate. 9 times out of ten I can get an image that isn't blurry. I can usually zoom in close enough with the iPhone so that the details I want to focus on are in focus. But that's about where the skills end. So, to give myself a leg up in the blogging world I decided to invest in a few little gizmos. I had the guy that pays for this party (aka.: my husband) build me a simple white box. I wouldn't call it a light box specifically since no light shines through the side but I'll call it a white "reflective" box. The sun bounces around in it fairly nicely to the naked eye and thus I feel better about potential to take a quality shot.

I also got a tripod and dug out my old point-and-shoot so not everything is on my iPhone (who's storage is about at max capacity) and so I can make some decent edits. Google much? Yep... that's my favorite place to go to learn something new, too.

So here are a couple before and afters that made me go "ooooOOOOOOoooooh".

I like what I'm seeing. Don't kid yourself. These images aren't because I'm a good photographer. It's 'cuz I'm a Photoshop hack. :) Thankfully, though, one can't fake good knitting. So, the images you see henceforth might be doctored, but the knitting will be legit. Promise.

Ok, that's it. Just had to share 'cuz I feel like a bit of a rockstar. Have a great weekend and enjoy your Superbowl watching. I'll be camped out with my Socks on a Plane because they WILL be a FO this weekend...