knitting school dropout

will you be in rhinebeck this weekend? cecily and i will be signing copies of weekend hats
in the carolina homespun booth at 1pm on saturday. stop by and say hi!

i don't end up with many patterns in magazines, since i almost always forget to write down submission deadlines, and never submit... plus there's that whole pesky full-tiime job thing, eating away at all my knitting time.
but, i do have a sweater in the next issue of knitscene!
the winter 2011 issue will be available around 10/25/2011 and among the many beautiful designs you'll find my tereza pullover (ravelry link)
knit in a bulky yarn at 13 sts to 4", this sweater flies off the needles! it's knit from the top-down, in one piece, so it leaves lots of room for trying on and customizing as you go.

p.s. amazon finally started shipping weekend hats yesterday. pre-order no more! hooray!

Posted by melissa at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I totally forgot to post here, but the patterns from Wool, book one are now available individually on Quince and Co's website. You can view and purchase them here. There are quite a few lovely finished averys popping up on ravelry!

The projects from Weekend Hats are now up on ravelry too. You can see them all here.

I have 3 hat designs in the book:

leaves long beanie (ravelry link) in madelinetosh vintage

greenery beret (ravelry link) in manos silk blend

and welted toque (ravelry link) , which actually has a great cloche-like look, in st-denis nordique

Weekend Hats has already shown up in yarn stores, and is shipping from the interweave store. Amazon should start shipping any day now.

Cecily and I had our first book signing at Purl Diva last weekend. It was a lot of fun. Love those Maine knitters! Ellen snapped this silly picture of us. I was trying to line up my eyebrows with Cecily, so I wouldn't look so short. :)

Are you headed to rhinebeck? i'll be there wearing my avery cowl (and maybe a new sweater, if i can find a moment to finish it). hope to see you there!

Posted by melissa at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

My advance copy of weekend hats
is here! It should be out at the end of next month. I'll start sharing more details between now and then. Yay!

Posted by melissa at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

last night, i went to bed as a 35-year-old, but today, i am 36! enjoy 20% off my self-published accessory patterns today only (3/22) as a way of celebrating.

after a few requests from fellow ravelers, i finally started a ravelry group where folks can discuss my designs: knitting school dropouts!

i am still busy knitting. but, one of the projects that has kept me busy for the last few months has finally popped up on amazon. cecily and i put together a collection of hat designs from 21 different designers, and it'll be available in october. check out weekend hats!

Posted by melissa at 07:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

a nasty little cold has left me housebound for the last few days, so i'm a little late in announcing a few things. but since that same cold has me up at 4:30am and bored, here you go:

- for all of the instant gratification types out there, new england knits is now available as an ebook so you can have the entire book accessible to you on your computer or ipad. you can purchase copies through zinio.

-i shared a knitting story on the never not knitting podcast recently (episode 45), and alana is giving away a copy of new england knits to one reader. deadline for entering is 12/15/10.

-last week i was interviewed via skype for yarn on the house. so, if you're dying to see me talking to my laptop about knitting, that's where you should go. i'm pretty sure that i talked a lot about crunchy wool or something, and i'm extra silly because i was being attacked by my kitten 1/2 the time. anyway, i find it painful to watch myself because i'm so self-critical, but you can. :) there's also a giveaway of new england knits, and a few of my patterns on there too. deadline for entering is sunday 12/12/10, so hurry.

Posted by melissa at 06:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

And the winners are (thanks to the random number generator): comments #81 and #183 sharmie and knittaroo! Thanks everyone! The winners will hear from me later today.

first off, thanks to all who purchased the september circle pattern. your purchases over the last 2 months mean that i'll be able to donate $235.00 to pancan.org this week. thank you so much.

i just spent the whole weekend working on patterns for upcoming designs. 4 down, 3 to go! so, while i spend the rest of the evenings this week finishing up the others, i thought it would be the perfect time for a little book giveaway. i've been meaning to do this for months, but now is as good a time as any, right?

so, if you'd like to win a copy of New England Knits, just leave a comment on this post. (leaving a comment requires you to leave an email address, which is only visible to me, so that's how i'll contact you) i have 2 copies to give away, so your chances are pretty good! if you already have a copy, you can win one for a friend or to donate to your local library!

i will accept comments until midnight on Friday November 12, 2010. I'll announce the winner the next day.

Posted by melissa at 07:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (252)

cecily and i will be bringing the book garments around for a few trunk show / book signings in the not so distant future. here are some definite dates so far, with others to be added as soon as times/details are determined.

A Stitch in Time
July 15, 6:00-8:00pm
Bethel, CT

Purl Diva
July 25, 1:00-3:00pm
Brunswick, ME

WEBS
July 29, 6:00-8:00pm
Northampton, MA
registration is free, but sign-ups are required. please contact customer service at 413-584-2225 or customerservice@yarn.com to register.

Hub Mills
August 14, 1:00-3:00pm
Lowell, MA

A Loom With a View
September 11, 2010
Newburyport, MA (where the book was photographed!)
time tbd

come say hi and see the sweaters in person!

Posted by melissa at 08:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

there are some new england knits giveaways happening right this second!

hurry, hurry!

the one at craftgossip.com ends tomorrow.

and the one at the kelbourne woolens blog started today! (kw is also giving away the yarn to make the whale watch hat!)

good luck!

i have a much longer post in the works, complete with photos from my recent trip to harrisville, but i'm too tired to write about my good time tonight. :)

Posted by melissa at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

the garments from the book arrived here today so we can bring them with us when we visit shops. i'm reunited with my o-wool hoodie. yay. and some of the projects have been added to ravelry. i'll blog about each of mine soon.

Posted by melissa at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

did you know that in only 10 days (july 1st), new england knits will be officially released? i am definitely might be freaking out a lot bit. i am a pretty mellow person. i do not know how to handle excitement. at all. luckily, i've had lots to distract me lately.

i'm trying to wait patiently for quince and co to officially launch. i've had the pleasure of sampling all of their yarns now, and i am in love. the colors, the stitch definition. swoon. see, now you can't wait either!

i never did finish my cardigan for tnna. i finished the body and 1 sleeve by the 1st day, but only just finished the other sleeve. then i thought the ruffles were a bit too ruffle-y and big, so i made them smaller, which was a lot of ripping. i have re-knit all but 1 ruffle and the edging. maybe 2 hours of knitting left, then i'm done. i spent some time writing the pattern up too, so it should be available soon. it's a top-down, open front cardigan with a little ruffled edge and 1/2 sleeves. i wear a ton of open-front cardigans as a layer of protection from the air-conditioning that seems to be turned up to 11 everywhere i go. here's a peek:

i also wear cropped short-sleeve cardigans a lot over tanks and dresses this time of year, so of course i was super excited for the release of cecily's new design. i was extra excited when she let me take the photos for the pattern while we were in ohio. details on her blog.

oh yeah, i went to ohio again! as expected, it was lots of fun to see friends from far away, eat amazing ice cream and show people the book.

i've been back for a few days, but i'm still kind of catching up on sleep and trying to keep myself busy while i wait for the book to finally be out.

xo

melissa

Posted by melissa at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

i knew it was coming... but really how prepared can you really be for the first time you see your book?

it came in a rush.

wrapped in wrapping paper, even. i heart interweave

and then, there it was, all real and stuff. :) did i ever tell you that i was mildly obsessed with our book being square? i've always loved my little collection of square interweave books. when we first got our book deal, i kept saying "we're going to have a cute little square interweave book!".

and now we really do. i feel like crying and hugging someone and crying some more. i wish i didn't have to only virtually high-five and hug cecily today. i guess i'll just hug my book until i can visit her again.

the book still won't be out for a couple months, this is just an advance copy. but still, joy! next time i post, i think there will be a peek inside!

Posted by melissa at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (47)

Our book is available for pre-order on amazon.com. it's funny how some things make it seem so much more real.

i'm still catching up after a toothache that turned into last-minute oral surgery last week. honestly, the toothache was worse than losing the molar, and right now, the only bother is a diet that lacks crunchy things. i will survive. i will return emails. i will be saving indefinitely for a dental implant :)

Posted by melissa at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (41)

last weekend cecily and i traveled to newburyport, mass to witness 2 days of the photoshoot for our book. it was a beautiful place.

while blue skies and beaches are lovely, i was especially thrilled with the two farms we shot at, one of which offered your standard friendly old dog, and the other, overrun with piglets. piglets! they ran around throughout the shoot, and i'm hoping they make their way into some of the final photographs.

it was really amazing to see how much work goes into photographing just one garment. i think when i witnessed that work revolving around a garment that i had knit just a few months ago, the book finally became real to me.

so, now it's really real. when cecily and i said goodbye to tricia and liz from interweave sunday night, i think we were both hit with a sudden wave of sadness. the big part is over, and the wait has begun. spring 2010.

pictures cross-posted over on our knitting daily blog

Posted by melissa at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)