 Drum roll please…
Enrollment for Knit Stars 3.0 is open through midnight (Pacific Time) on November 1. Check out the details at https://knitstars.mykajabi.com/a/4441/qzGWw9gQ. The price is $199 and if you enroll now, you’ll have a chance to purchase the exclusive Knit Stars yarns when they go on sale on November 4.
During this time frame (today through November 1), Knit Stars 1.0 and 2.0 will also be available for purchase. The price is $199/each for Knit Stars 1.0 and 2.0, which can be paid in two installments.
But that’s not all. During this enrollment window you can take advantage of two additional opportunities:
1. On Tuesday, October 30 at 7pm Central Time, you can watch a live “show-and-tell” on the Knit Stars public Facebook page, with past students sharing their Knit Stars experience and the beautiful projects they’ve made since.
2. On Wednesday, October 31 at 7pm Central Time, Knit Stars creator Shelley Brander will host a live Q&A on the public Knit Stars Facebook page, during which she’ll answer any questions folks have about enrolling in Knit Stars.
Knit Stars 3.0 officially starts on November 26, with a new lesson released every other day over the course of three weeks. Those who enroll will be invited to live Q&A sessions with the Stars on Sunday, December 16 and Thursday, December 20th.
Again, visit https://knitstars.mykajabi.com/a/4441/qzGWw9gQ to learn more and enroll for 10 lessons in each Knit Stars program.
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Longest Day Reminder
This is just a friendly reminder that it’s not too late to join Team Ann Budd Knits in a day of knitting on Tuesday, June 19, as part of The Longest Day event sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association.
The Longest Day is a worldwide fundraiser event for Alzheimer’s awareness and research. My own sweet mother (Barbara S Walker) died of complications due to Alzheimer’s in 2016, but she started “disappearing” nine years before that. A day doesn’t pass without my thinking of her and how she supported me throughout my creative endeavors. I have many (too many) friends who have also been affected by this disease–as a patient, family member, care giver, or helpless onlooker.
For my part, I plan to cast on at sunrise and knit until sunset. It’s not the actual longest day of the year (that would be June 21), but it’s pretty close. There will be about 16 hours of daylight during which I’ll have needles in hand (allowing breaks for stretching, of course). I’ll post my hourly progress on Instagram (annbuddknits). I hope to raise $150 each hour I knit–that’s an optimistic goal of $2,400.
If you’re in the area, I invite you to join me at Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins in my hometown of Boulder, Colorado, where I’ll be hosting a knit-a-long from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. You can participate even if you’re not in the area. Simply grab yarn and needles and spend the day, or even just an hour, knitting.
Please join my team, make a donation, and spend a day (or as much of it as you can) knitting something special.
Thank you.
Skirts, Skirts, Skirts, Continued
Due to an error on my part (I forgot to make clear the closing date for the original promotion), I’m extending my offer three of my skirt patterns (Lacy Pleats, Putting On The Pleats, and Take Two Skirt) for a combined discount of $12 (that’s more than 30% off the price of purchasing them separately) until midnight February 2.
I’ve unofficially declared 2017 the year of handknitted skirts. It’s a little-known fact that skirts are much easier to knit than a sweater (one piece, very little shaping, no seams, fewer fit issues) and takes about the same amount of yarn as three pairs of socks.
Each skirt design features an elastic waistband, increases along four “darts” for a fitted silhouette from the waist to the high hip, then “pleats” separated by wedge-shaped “gores” to the hem. Because the skirts are knitted from the top down, it’s easy to adjust the length to your personal preference. For the best fit, choose a size that’s one to two inches smaller than your actual high-hip circumference.
Putting On The Pleats is my first skirt design in which stockinette-stitch pleats are separated by reverse stockinette stitch gores. It’s worked with sock (fingering weight) yarn at a gauge of 7.5 stitches/inch.
Sizes: 33 1/2 (35 1/2, 37 1/4, 39 1/4)” high-hip circumference (allow for 1″ to 2″ of negative ease).
As the name implies, Take-Two Skirt is my second skirt design in which I added a slip-stitch pattern in each of the pleats for a more elongated look. Like Putting On The Pleats, Take-Two is worked with sock (fingering weight) yarn at a gauge of 7.5 stitches/inch.
Sizes: 34 (36, 38, 40)” high-hip circumference (allow for 1″ to 2″ of negative ease).
Lacy Pleats features a simple lace design in each of the pleats, which are separated by reverse stockinette stitch gores. This design is worked with Spirit Trails Fiberworks Brigantia at a gauge of 6 stitches/inch.
Sizes: 33 1/4 (36 3/4, 40, 43 1/4, 46 3/4)” high-hip circumference (allow for 1″ to 2″ of negative ease).
And for the adventurous knitter, I’m teaming up with Jeane DeCoster of Elemental Affects: A U.S. Yarn Company to teach a workshop on designing your own custom-fit skirt at Shuttles, Spindles & Skeins in Boulder, Colorado, February 18, 2017. The workshop fee includes yarn, personal style assessment, custom skirt pattern, an eight-week knit-a-long hosted by yours truly, and a finishing celebration at Shuttles, where you can show off your skirt.
Space is limited. Call Shuttles at 303-494-1071 to secure your spot.
Happy 2016
At the dawning of 2016, I want to take the opportunity to express my gratitude for all of you knitters who make my life of knitting possible. Through buying my books, patterns, and on-line Craftsy classes, you’ve allowed me to make a living out of teaching and designing. Through attending my workshops, you’ve allowed me to travel throughout the country and beyond.
To celebrate the new year, I’ve taken liberty with lyrics to Auld Lang Syne (my apologies to Robert Burns):
Should old UFOs be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Or should the scoundrels be ripped out,
And knitted one more time?
For every stitch’s sake, my dear,
For every stitch’s sake.
We’ll start another project yet,
For every stitch’s sake.
And surely as ye’ll drop a stitch,
So surely I’ll drop mine!
Let’s learn to fix our own mistakes
For every stitch’s sake.
For every stitch’s sake, my dear,
For every stitch’s sake.
We’ll start another project yet,
For every stitch’s sake.
At last I’ll have a nice warm hat,
And a pair of socks for ye.
We snuggle up in woolen wear,
To last the whole new year!
For every stitch’s sake, my dear,
For every stitch’s sake.
We’ll start another project yet,
For every stitch’s sake.
Here’s hoping that 2016 brings you comfort and joy in knitting as well as all other aspects of life. Like all new beginnings, a new year brings endless possibilities for growth and enlightenment. I’m looking forward to new knitting adventures—the places I’ll see, the people I’ll meet, and the new events and projects to come.
May your gauge be true, your yarn have no knots, and your stitches behave.
Bon Voyage
In a couple days I’ll board a plane for Australia, where I’ll teach for Morris & Sons and Knitters’ Guild NSW, followed by a week of sightseeing. Then I’ll be home for a day before I leave to teach at the Salida Fiber Arts Festival in Salida, Colorado, come home for a day, then head to Portland, Maine, for a couple of weeks of private teaching and relaxing. I counted it up — in a 44-day period, I’ll be home only 2 days.
There won’t be time to do more than a couple of loads of laundry and repack when I’m home so I’ve spent the last few days trying to get organized. That means boxes of important things I don’t want to forget on my home office floor and stacks of necessary clothes on an empty bed.
I’ll try to post some blogs while I’m away, but I won’t always have WiFi service. I will, however, post Instagram blurbs of my adventures– follow me at annbuddknits.
Instagram Winner
I can hardly believe that I’ve passed the 100-follower mark on Instagram. The lucky winner is teetwo56.
Please check out my Ravelry patterns (under Ann Budd) for your choices, then contact me at annbudd@annbuddknits.com to claim your prize.
Instead of waiting for special numbers, in the future, I’m just going to award prizes willy-nilly as I feel like it.
Take-Two Skirt Winner
The winner of the Take-Two Skirt pattern is Shing who wrote:
This skirt looks so wonderful on you that I am motivated to knit it! Hope you are recovering well and that your trip (did you already return?) went well.
Congratulations Shing. I returned late yesterday after 27 hours in transit. I’m still reeling.
For the rest of you, you can still purchase the pattern for hip sizes of 34, 36, 38, and 40″ (keep in mind that you want at least 1″ of negative ease for a flattering fit) on Ravelry for a mere $6.50. Help me out — I have twins in college.
PS: The yardage for the skirt is mislabeled on the Ravelry page and I haven’t figured out how to correct it. It should be three skeins at 574 yd for all sizes. The smallest size will use just a bit of the third skein while the largest size will use more.
A Beautiful Sight
Like a lot of the country, it’s been cold and snowy here (with another 8″ predicted tomorrow). But here in Colorado, the storms are usually interrupted by a sunny day or two. Even though the temps have maxed out at 20 degrees since the last storm, the sun has helped to keep the roads manageable (along with snowplows and sanders, of course).
And, it’s helped to melt the snow that’s already fallen. I wanted to share the beautiful sight outside my home office window.
My husband claims that the ice sickles are an indication of leaky gutters. But I think they are just lovely and prefer to think that they’re a harbinger of brighter days to come.
Wishing your brighter days, too.
Enough Already
What’s with all the snow this year?!
I know I shouldn’t complain because Colorado isn’t nearly as bad as the East Coast. We got about 10″ on Sunday, but had a few sunny days since then and a lot melted. But our backyard went from this at 3pm yesterday:
To this when I got up this morning:
That’s another healthy 10″. And I have to drive through it to a physical therapy session in 20 minutes.
Still, I have the good sense to be thankful that I don’t live on the East Coast. One of my brothers lives in Boston, which has recorded a record 7 feet of snow in 3 weeks. It’s all he can do to keep a path to the front door.
His mother-in-law lives a few blocks away, and it looks even worse there.
My friend Lori, who also lives in Boston sent the following photo proving that hell has frozen over:
Wishing you lots of warm woolies wherever you are!