I am puzzled.
Evidently I had the wrong commenter yesterday when I notified the winners.
Would the real emcknits please step forward? I owe you some yarn....which I already gave away! But if you're willing to accept a different shade, then I could sleep better again at night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news, please stop by the Mason-Dixon blog if you would. I had no idea what was going on when I wrote my "end of life" post this morning.
ETA: thank you emcknits for writing to me. I am so sorry about the mix-up! (One little letter in an ID was different. My fault for having the wrong name recognition.) I will mail your yarn out tomorrow.
Showing posts with label Donna Druchunas; Ethnic Knitting Exploration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donna Druchunas; Ethnic Knitting Exploration. Show all posts
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
we have a winner!
On this stunningly beautiful day in April 2009, we had a drawing in the backyard. Crafty Girl assisted.
The winner of Ethnic Knitting Exploration and four skeins of Nashua "Julia" is: Melanie! CONGRATULATIONS!!! THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!!
But wait.....what's this??
Could there be a second prize winner? A runner up?
OK so I was feeling generous, alright? These four skeins of purple "Julia" go to: emcknits. I think that's Elaine. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Please send your mailing addresses to karinmaagtanchakATnycapDOTrrDOTcom so I can get these out tomorrow.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the posts, and to comment. I hope you will keep stopping by to say 'hi'.
Now back to our regularly scheduled knitting. :)
The winner of Ethnic Knitting Exploration and four skeins of Nashua "Julia" is: Melanie! CONGRATULATIONS!!! THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!!
But wait.....what's this??
Could there be a second prize winner? A runner up?
OK so I was feeling generous, alright? These four skeins of purple "Julia" go to: emcknits. I think that's Elaine. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Please send your mailing addresses to karinmaagtanchakATnycapDOTrrDOTcom so I can get these out tomorrow.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the posts, and to comment. I hope you will keep stopping by to say 'hi'.
Now back to our regularly scheduled knitting. :)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Interview with Donna Druchunas, part 2
Here is part 2 of the interview with Donna Druchunas. Thank you so much for reading!
DD: Although I love the freedom of being able to design my own projects, I also sometimes like to just follow a pattern instead of thinking about designing something. However, I find that I can never make a project exactly as written -- I always find something I want to change: the armhole shaping or depth, the sleeve cap height, the neckband, changing a pullover to a cardigan. So knowledge about garment construction and knitting design frees me to alter patterns when I do knit from them. Do you ever knit from patterns or do you always work up your own designs? Why?
KMT: I am LOUSY at following directions as written, I always want to change something!! And the few times where I swore to myself that this time I will follow the directions as written, there’d be something wrong with them. Funny enough, I do not always work up my own designs. I should! But when I do, I work things out as I go along, and do not bother to write anything down.
DD: Recently I've been buying crochet books and I'm even working on my first crochet design for publication right now. I don't see crochet ever replacing knitting as my first fiber-arts love, but I do think I'll be making more room for it in the future. Have you ever considered working in crochet?
KMT: I did learn how to crochet as a kid, and my hands know how to do the most basic crochet stitches. While I learned how to read and write English/American knitting patterns very well, the same did not happen for crochet patterns. And believe me, people have tried! I have a number of learn to crochet books, but I just can’t seem to get the hang of the pattern language.There. You found me out. I really only have one talent: knitting.
But you know what? I'll definitely run to the book store and buy your crochet book when it comes out.
DD: It's my obsessions that turn into large projects, like books. A topic grabs hold of me and I can't stop learning more about it. It's not so much inspiration as it is a compulsion to learn everything I can and share the information with other knitters. What drives your creativity?
KMT: Oh my goodness. Call me crazy, but I think in terms of knitting (and these days, dyeing yarn) pretty much everywhere I go. I see string at a hardware store, I wonder what I could make out of it. I see rolling fields, I wonder how I could express that in an afghan and dye the yarn for it just so. I see brick walls such as at MassMoCA, and I want to cover them in giant felted pieces.
Pretty much every skein of yarn I look at, I immediately wonder what it could become. Every stitch pattern I study, my mind goes to making a garment, or something for the home…
One of my dreams is to make more knitted art….either for the human body or environmental art…I have a movie called ‘Rivers and Tides’, about Andy Goldsworthy. I would love to have a whole series of knitted items and garments based on his artwork in that documentary.
But for now, I’ll stick with clothes and items that real people can actually use! There is so much possibility.
DD: Thanks for being part of my blog tour. I'm not sure which is harder in an interview: asking the questions or answering them!
KMT: Thank you ever so much for visiting with me. I do hope that some day soon we will meet in person! Since we didn’t talk about your book here, but rather got an insider’s view of your creative process, I would like to mention that this particular series of books is very user friendly for knitters who want to design their own sweaters. I like the different templates you offer, for different learning/reading styles. As soon as I have a minute, I'd like to sit down and design and make an Icelandic sweater....I've never made one of those.
DD: Although I love the freedom of being able to design my own projects, I also sometimes like to just follow a pattern instead of thinking about designing something. However, I find that I can never make a project exactly as written -- I always find something I want to change: the armhole shaping or depth, the sleeve cap height, the neckband, changing a pullover to a cardigan. So knowledge about garment construction and knitting design frees me to alter patterns when I do knit from them. Do you ever knit from patterns or do you always work up your own designs? Why?
KMT: I am LOUSY at following directions as written, I always want to change something!! And the few times where I swore to myself that this time I will follow the directions as written, there’d be something wrong with them. Funny enough, I do not always work up my own designs. I should! But when I do, I work things out as I go along, and do not bother to write anything down.
DD: Recently I've been buying crochet books and I'm even working on my first crochet design for publication right now. I don't see crochet ever replacing knitting as my first fiber-arts love, but I do think I'll be making more room for it in the future. Have you ever considered working in crochet?
KMT: I did learn how to crochet as a kid, and my hands know how to do the most basic crochet stitches. While I learned how to read and write English/American knitting patterns very well, the same did not happen for crochet patterns. And believe me, people have tried! I have a number of learn to crochet books, but I just can’t seem to get the hang of the pattern language.There. You found me out. I really only have one talent: knitting.
But you know what? I'll definitely run to the book store and buy your crochet book when it comes out.
DD: It's my obsessions that turn into large projects, like books. A topic grabs hold of me and I can't stop learning more about it. It's not so much inspiration as it is a compulsion to learn everything I can and share the information with other knitters. What drives your creativity?
KMT: Oh my goodness. Call me crazy, but I think in terms of knitting (and these days, dyeing yarn) pretty much everywhere I go. I see string at a hardware store, I wonder what I could make out of it. I see rolling fields, I wonder how I could express that in an afghan and dye the yarn for it just so. I see brick walls such as at MassMoCA, and I want to cover them in giant felted pieces.
Pretty much every skein of yarn I look at, I immediately wonder what it could become. Every stitch pattern I study, my mind goes to making a garment, or something for the home…
One of my dreams is to make more knitted art….either for the human body or environmental art…I have a movie called ‘Rivers and Tides’, about Andy Goldsworthy. I would love to have a whole series of knitted items and garments based on his artwork in that documentary.
But for now, I’ll stick with clothes and items that real people can actually use! There is so much possibility.
DD: Thanks for being part of my blog tour. I'm not sure which is harder in an interview: asking the questions or answering them!
KMT: Thank you ever so much for visiting with me. I do hope that some day soon we will meet in person! Since we didn’t talk about your book here, but rather got an insider’s view of your creative process, I would like to mention that this particular series of books is very user friendly for knitters who want to design their own sweaters. I like the different templates you offer, for different learning/reading styles. As soon as I have a minute, I'd like to sit down and design and make an Icelandic sweater....I've never made one of those.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Please welcome Donna Druchunas
Here, then, is the first part of an interview with Donna Druchunas.
Notice how Donna says the words "inspired by a pattern stitch"....and "pattern template".
There is a reason for that. YOU can do it too. YOU can design your own sweater! If you can make and measure a swatch, you can design and knit your own pullover or cardigan sweater. I promise.
Read more about the book on this blog tour.
Donna Druchunas: What got you interested in knitting and knitwear design? I learned to knit from my grandmother, but then didn't pick up my needles for years and years. It was a yarn shop full of new, gorgeous yarns -- wool, alpaca, novelty yarns -- that got me itching to knit again in my mid-30s.
Karin Maag-Tanchak: I learned to knit in grade school (growing up in Germany). I simply cannot remember a time when I wasn’t knitting. When I grew up, I knitted everything without a pattern, with lots of trial and error. I remember learning how to make socks without a pattern when I was a teenager. Every time I came to a spot where I didn’t know how to go on, I’d ask my mother, and she told me. I still have my first pair.
DD: I have a very seat-of-the-pants type of design process: I get inspired by a yarn or a pattern stitch or a garment shape, and I just start knitting and make things up as I go, taking a few notes along the way. Then I plug everything into a pattern template when I'm done. It's only when I have a tight deadline and need someone to help with the knitting that I write a pattern before I knit something. What is your process for designing a garment and writing the instructions?
KMT: I think I was still knitting a lot of things without a pattern pretty much until I opened my yarn shop, which I had from 2002 to 2006. Believe me, there were lots of disasters along the way! But when customers came in and asked me how I made a certain scarf or hat, I had to write it down for them. Naturally, I also sold a huge bunch of commercial knitting patterns and books, and help folks through their projects. I learned to speak knitting then, and soon after began to write patterns. I write them just like you. But when I have a certain assignment, I start with swatching and sketching, and then the knitting and writing happens almost simultaneously.
DD: I love exploring complex textures and intricate garment constructions, but sometimes there's nothing better than knitting a garter stitch scarf or shawl out of a luxury yarn on big, wooden needles for relaxation. What types of projects do you prefer to knit? Do you design the same things you personally enjoy knitting?
KMT: That’s a tough one to answer, because I seem to be all over the place with my knitting. Sometimes I wish I could just focus on one thing! But I love it all so much…I’ll start a garter stitch shawl or log cabin squares for an afghan, then I’ll get sidetracked by a gorgeous skein of yarn or a new pattern while surfing the web…or a new knitting magazine will arrive in the mail, and there’s something in there I want to make…I’m hopeless in the face of all that yarn and the books and patterns.
As far as designing, I am relatively new to it....I loved making the the two designs I have in your next book, and would definitely want to wear them, too. (more shameless plug coming up) In the book I am writing, I am including designs for everyone, and yes I am enjoying every single one of them.
Part two of the interview will follow tomorrow.
Notice how Donna says the words "inspired by a pattern stitch"....and "pattern template".
There is a reason for that. YOU can do it too. YOU can design your own sweater! If you can make and measure a swatch, you can design and knit your own pullover or cardigan sweater. I promise.
Read more about the book on this blog tour.
Donna Druchunas: What got you interested in knitting and knitwear design? I learned to knit from my grandmother, but then didn't pick up my needles for years and years. It was a yarn shop full of new, gorgeous yarns -- wool, alpaca, novelty yarns -- that got me itching to knit again in my mid-30s.
Karin Maag-Tanchak: I learned to knit in grade school (growing up in Germany). I simply cannot remember a time when I wasn’t knitting. When I grew up, I knitted everything without a pattern, with lots of trial and error. I remember learning how to make socks without a pattern when I was a teenager. Every time I came to a spot where I didn’t know how to go on, I’d ask my mother, and she told me. I still have my first pair.
DD: I have a very seat-of-the-pants type of design process: I get inspired by a yarn or a pattern stitch or a garment shape, and I just start knitting and make things up as I go, taking a few notes along the way. Then I plug everything into a pattern template when I'm done. It's only when I have a tight deadline and need someone to help with the knitting that I write a pattern before I knit something. What is your process for designing a garment and writing the instructions?
KMT: I think I was still knitting a lot of things without a pattern pretty much until I opened my yarn shop, which I had from 2002 to 2006. Believe me, there were lots of disasters along the way! But when customers came in and asked me how I made a certain scarf or hat, I had to write it down for them. Naturally, I also sold a huge bunch of commercial knitting patterns and books, and help folks through their projects. I learned to speak knitting then, and soon after began to write patterns. I write them just like you. But when I have a certain assignment, I start with swatching and sketching, and then the knitting and writing happens almost simultaneously.
DD: I love exploring complex textures and intricate garment constructions, but sometimes there's nothing better than knitting a garter stitch scarf or shawl out of a luxury yarn on big, wooden needles for relaxation. What types of projects do you prefer to knit? Do you design the same things you personally enjoy knitting?
KMT: That’s a tough one to answer, because I seem to be all over the place with my knitting. Sometimes I wish I could just focus on one thing! But I love it all so much…I’ll start a garter stitch shawl or log cabin squares for an afghan, then I’ll get sidetracked by a gorgeous skein of yarn or a new pattern while surfing the web…or a new knitting magazine will arrive in the mail, and there’s something in there I want to make…I’m hopeless in the face of all that yarn and the books and patterns.
As far as designing, I am relatively new to it....I loved making the the two designs I have in your next book, and would definitely want to wear them, too. (more shameless plug coming up) In the book I am writing, I am including designs for everyone, and yes I am enjoying every single one of them.
Part two of the interview will follow tomorrow.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
ready, set,...
....tomorrow: go!
Friday, April 17th, will bring the first of a two-part interview with Donna Druchunas, author of Ethnic Knitting Exploration: Lithuania, Iceland, and Ireland.
Technically, though, Donna is interviewing me! As we were discussing her new book in connection with the blog tour, we got to talking about designing and why we knit what we do. Donna then asked me some questions, her being the true pro at this.
You can see my answers here tomorrow and Saturday, April 17th and 18th.
Remember to leave a comment for us here. It will give you a chance to win a copy of the book, and enough Nashua "Julia" yarn to make a pair of fingerless mitts with traditional Lithuanian stitch patterns.
The drawing will be on Sunday, April 19th, sometime in the afternoon.
Stay tuned! Leave a comment! Win a book and yarn.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Easter was:
So we're back home, I am at the computer, uploading all kinds of pictures from a project I finished, and the trip.
What do I find but pictures of all four (!) eggs we dyed for Easter. Hey there were only the three of us, Crafty Girl, Dear Husband, and I, that morning, and four eggs made a nice egg salad after church and before we hit the road.
Crafty Girl took my camera and took a few pictures of the eggs. The lovely background is our yellow formica countertop.
Remember, your comment will put you in the drawing for the book Ethnic Knitting Exploration, and enough yarn to make some 2-color Lithuanian fingerless mitts.
What do I find but pictures of all four (!) eggs we dyed for Easter. Hey there were only the three of us, Crafty Girl, Dear Husband, and I, that morning, and four eggs made a nice egg salad after church and before we hit the road.
Crafty Girl took my camera and took a few pictures of the eggs. The lovely background is our yellow formica countertop.
Remember, your comment will put you in the drawing for the book Ethnic Knitting Exploration, and enough yarn to make some 2-color Lithuanian fingerless mitts.
PS: to Melanie from the comments: yes all the yarn shops were closed. But I am NOT looking for more yarn. I'm not. Believe it.
PPS: to answer Pat's question from the comments: we started with brown eggs, and we always leave the eggs in the dye for a long time. Some of these are dyed twice, like the green/teal one, which Crafty Girl did, and used a rubber band to get the stripe.
These make me want to dye yarn really badly.....
Friday, April 10, 2009
watch this space! leave a comment! win a book!
Donna Druchunas is one of today's most prolific knitting book authors. I don't know how she does it, but she simply cranks out one volume after another. I am sure you have heard of Arctic Lace? Or how about Kitty Knits, a fun book she said she had to write to take a break from all the research-heavy ethnic knitting books she was writing.
Out right now is the second in a series of three books on ethnic knitting. Exploration was preceded by Ethnic Knitting Discovery, which of course I also own. Each of these volumes covers three countries and their distinct sweater styles.
Donna has organized a blog tour of the book, and I want to strongly encourage you to check it out. All the links to the various blogs are on Donna's site, Sheep to Shawl.
Next Saturday, April 18th, the blog tour will stop by here! Donna and I will be talking about our design approaches, what things we like to design and knit for ourselves, and all kinds of other good stuff.
So watch this space! Leave a comment! And win a copy of this very book:
Here's how it works:
- Leave a comment here on this blog and give me your name, or at least some initials.
- You may leave one comment per day all the way until Sunday, April 19th, 12 noon EST.
- Since I get to moderate the comments first, I can also delete them. No spamming, no rudeness. Be nice, please, and leave a comment for Donna, will ya?
- I will enter your name into the lottery as many times as you leave a comment, which means more chances for you!
On Sunday, April 19th, after I have had a lie-down and a cup of tea, I will literally put all the entries into a hat and have Crafty Girl draw a winner.
The name/identifying initials of the winner will be announced right here on the blog, that same day, if the creek don't rise. At which time I will ask the winner to email me his/her address. I might also throw in a skein of yarn or two to sweeten the deal. Who knows!
Ready, set, comment! I don't care where you live. I'll send the book to Australia, if I have to!
Out right now is the second in a series of three books on ethnic knitting. Exploration was preceded by Ethnic Knitting Discovery, which of course I also own. Each of these volumes covers three countries and their distinct sweater styles.
Donna has organized a blog tour of the book, and I want to strongly encourage you to check it out. All the links to the various blogs are on Donna's site, Sheep to Shawl.
Next Saturday, April 18th, the blog tour will stop by here! Donna and I will be talking about our design approaches, what things we like to design and knit for ourselves, and all kinds of other good stuff.
So watch this space! Leave a comment! And win a copy of this very book:
Here's how it works:- Leave a comment here on this blog and give me your name, or at least some initials.
- You may leave one comment per day all the way until Sunday, April 19th, 12 noon EST.
- Since I get to moderate the comments first, I can also delete them. No spamming, no rudeness. Be nice, please, and leave a comment for Donna, will ya?
- I will enter your name into the lottery as many times as you leave a comment, which means more chances for you!
On Sunday, April 19th, after I have had a lie-down and a cup of tea, I will literally put all the entries into a hat and have Crafty Girl draw a winner.
The name/identifying initials of the winner will be announced right here on the blog, that same day, if the creek don't rise. At which time I will ask the winner to email me his/her address. I might also throw in a skein of yarn or two to sweeten the deal. Who knows!
Ready, set, comment! I don't care where you live. I'll send the book to Australia, if I have to!
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