First Post

First Q&A posted today on "Ask The Knitting Goddess".

New Knitting "Advice" Column

Have a question about knitting? Ask it here. Each week new questions will be answered.

Ask The Knitting Goddess

Shawl Club Discount

Love to knit shawls? Then join the Goddess Knits Shawl Club. Be among the first to receive new Goddess Knits patterns when they are released. Every 3 months receive a new, original pattern and enough yarn to make the shawl. Regular price is $28 for US and Canada and $33 for International.

Now until December 31, get $3 off your first club kit, enter the coupon code "goddess" when you check out.

http://www.goddessknits.com

Contest Sock Now Available

Okay, well the sock pattern I wrote for the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Design Contest did not win, so I have the pattern available on my website - Bo Peep's Wool Shop.

Cable Medallion Socks feature cable patterning on the heel as well as the front. Available in regular and PDF formats.

New Shawl Club Pattern

This will be the next Shawl Club pattern to be sent out called "Butterfly Wings". Anyone joining the Shawl Club in January, February or March will receive this kit. Created with JaggerSpun Maine Line.

Sock Idea

Okay, I have a sock pattern idea for this yarn:

I came up with it yesterday, I just need to work out the pattern details to see if it's gonna work. And no, it's not tiger stripes. This is Zephyr 4/14, 65% superwash wool and 35% silk. It makes great socks, I used if for my Cerridwen pattern (and of course I sell it on my website). Check back to see what I come up with!

Socks Are Off!

I sent my sock off to Cherry Tree Hill today for the Supersock Design Contest. The contest ends on Thanksgiving and the winners are scheduled to be announced in December, so wish me luck! This will be the second contest I have entered with them, the first was the Super Maple Design Contest where I won second place. The shawl I designed, Carnival Glass Shawl, is available from shops that carry Cherry Tree Hill patterns.

In case you're wondering what socks I'm talking about, it's the red cable ones posted earlier :)

Bo Peep's Wool Shop

Goddess Knits and Bo Peep's Wool Shop
are now on one site

for Wholesale info on Goddess Knits patterns, visit our Contact Us page and send us your shop information

__________________________

Now available by Special Order:

Lorna's Laces and
Alpaca With A Twist Fino

All colors available to order
Every day prices for these yarns are 10% off retail
Please see individual department for shipping information

Goddess Knits Shawl Club

Be among the first to receive new Goddess Knits patterns when they are released. New shawl patterns are only available to Club Members, in kit form, for the first 3 months. Every 3 months receive a new kit with an original shawl pattern and enough yarn to create the shawl. We ship internationally. If you don't see your country on our list, let us know.

Prices for regular Shawl Club kits are $28 for US and Canada and $33 for other countries.

Sign up now!

Socks Done!

Okay, both socks are done! Now I just need to get the pattern completed so I can send them off to Cherry Tree Hill. I guess this will be my only Socktoberfest pair, I thought I would have time to get another pair done before the end of the month, but I have other projects that need attention so here you go:


You can see more detail in the pic posted below.

MySpace Group

I created a new MySpace group for indie designers. If you have a MySpace page you can join the group: http://groups.myspace.com/indiedesigners. There weren't any other groups I could find for knitwear designers, only fashion designers with no mention of knitwear so I thought we needed a group too.

Socktoberfest - First Pair

Well here is my first Socktoberfest sock, it's for a contest by Cherry Tree Hill using their Supersock Solids. I need to submit the pair so I'm off to make the second one! I'm hoping to have the second one finished to ship by Monday so wish me luck!

Yarn Sale

I am trying to get rid of most of the yarn I have left from the shop, I am sort of re-organizing what I am going to keep selling and what I am going to stop selling. Most everything is on sale at 65% off. Just go to Bo Peep's Wool Shop for more info.

Knit Witch

A friend of mine gave this picture to me to hang up in my shop. Needless to say I didn't get it framed before I closed, but here it is finally. My husband made the frame out of 200-year old barn wood. Pretty cool, huh? The caption says "The Knit Witch". I don't know where she found it but the copyright reads "XRX 2006" so it is probably from XRX Publishing.

Blustery Day

Pretty windy here today, we had our first snow yesterday. Not much, but a little. I told everyone it was going to snow early this year but no one believed me. Oh, well...what're you gonna do? I expect there will be more before the month's end. I was going to take a pic but didn't get a chance before it all melted. Maybe next time.

More New Patterns

Okay, I finally got these patterns ready. Both patterns are available in regular and PDF formats on the Bo Peep's website under Goddess Knits.

Mabon Harvest

Neapolitan Scarf

"One Rainy Day"

It actually has been raining here this afternoon and evening but did you ever have one of those days? One of those days where you just don't want to do anything? I mean anything. Not get out of bed or eat or shower or think. Just sit and stare at the wall. Well, not even that, that's too much to do. And then have to deal with people that expect you to be super-human. You have to be perfect, can't make a mistake or you're nailed to the wall and ripped to shreds. I sometimes wonder if I'm in the right business. I find, quite often, that women don't support each other. I'm not being general about this, I know there are a lot of women out there who are supportive, I know quite a few of them. But some just don't get it. Makes me want to change professions, start selling lawn mower parts to men instead of yarn to women LOL. In my experience, men have been much easier to deal with. I know that a lot of men are difficult and I can't speak for everyone, but this has just been my experience. I don't know, I guess I'm having a "rainy day". Maybe it's the "winter blues" people talk about, even though it's not winter and I never get them. Winter is my second favorite season, I like winter especially if it's cold and snowing. I guess I just have a way of attracting negative people, they make a bee-line for me every time, it's my magnetic personality LOL. Well I just needed to spew this out so thanks to anyone listening.

Time, Time, Time...??!!

Still plugging along getting things put away. My goal was to have everything done by yesterday, but I sort of ran out of steam. Oh well, there's always next week. Just can't seem to find enough time in the day to get everything done. I spent most of last week getting orders shipped from the closing sale, then I had the next Shawl club kits to get ready - wind the yarn, print the patterns, etc. So not much time left for putting away.

I also have another pattern available at Bo Peep's, "Petticoat Shawl":

I have another sock pattern finished as well, but umm, can't seem to find the time to get the pattern ready.

New Pattern Available

The first Shawl Club pattern is now available for sale to the general public, visit Bo Peep's Wool Shop to purchase in regular or PDF format.

Over And Out

Well, it's done. I have everything moved, now I just need to figure out where to put everything. Envy me? I was going to take a picture of the empty shop to post here, but I forgot and now I don't really have time, so you will just have to imagine an empty shop. The whole front of the building is windows, there is tan carpet on the floor and the walls are painted a butterscotch-y gold (took me 2 days to paint it!). And so, life goes on. I will still have the online shop but I will be focusing more on designing now. Maybe I can find more time to knit now that I don't have the retail location. Yeah right! LOL!

Winds of Change

After much deliberation and lack of walk-in business, I have decided to move my shop back to my house. I had it there originally and thought that I would do better in an actual storefront. With the combination of the construction downtown and the small town factor, it is not working out. I will still have my online store and continue to do the Shawl Club but I will no longer have a walk-in location.

This has been a difficult time for me, I really wanted this to work out. Small town Iowa is not the place to have this type of business. I don't do well with change, I fight it tooth and nail. This is change, hopefully it is postive.

Shawl Complete

Finally finished, here she is:

This is the first Bonus kit for the Shawl Club, this pattern will be available to non-members the middle of October.

Shawl Interrupted

This shawl has been kicking my butt! I'm on the last section and I've had to re-work it 3 times! This is the first time I have had any problems figuring out my own instructions! So now it should be correct and, hopefully, this will be finished next week sometime. It will be available to the Shawl Club for the first month, then it will be available to the general public after that.

Out of the "Zone"

No more Twilight Zone, sort of. The street is finally opened and there are actually people walking around! (Excuse my dirty windows, it's been so dusty outside from the construction it's been hard to keep them clean)


This has been a big change for me, I'm a "city girl" and moving to a small town is definately different. I've been here for almost 3 years but I still feel like I'm visiting. When I went to Des Moines for the fair, it almost felt like "home". I wonder if I'll ever get used to it.

New Patterns Available

There are 2 new Goddess Knits patterns available, one sock pattern and a felted bag pattern. Visit the Goddess Knits website for a shop near you or you can order them from the Bo Peep's Wool Shop website.

Cerridwen

sock pattern

Painted Mesa

felted bag pattern

Fair Photos

Here are the photos from the fair. The shawl:

The socks, actually sock:

This is the entry, from another person, that won Best of Show:

I was dissapointed that I didn't win this prize, maybe next year.

Blue Ribbon Winner

I entered my Desert Sun Shawl (Mystery Shawl 4) in the Iowa State Fair and it won first place. I guess you could say I am officially an award-winning designer LOL! I will take photos of it on display on Thursday to post. I also entered a pair of socks that won 4th place.

Twilight Zone?

This is the scene outside my shop. It has been this way for weeks. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone or one of those sci-fi movies where they land on another planet and it used to be inhabited but now there's no one to be found. Where did they go?


They're working on the street to make the downtown look better but it's so weird to see it so barren. It's raining today but usually there is dust blowing down the street which makes it even more eerie. This section is supposed to be finished next week so then there will be more traffic, hopefully it will all be worth it.

Shawl Club

Okay, here is progress. Of course it's not blocked out but you can still see some of the detail. I am much happier with this than the original design. No more photos until it's finished, though.


Also, I've been waiting to find out how I did in the Iowa State Fair. I entered two items - the MS4 and a pair of socks I designed just for the entry. Their website says they're supposed to have results within 24-48 hours and the judging ended last Friday. I emailed them and they told me it would be a few days for the results to be listed. So I must wait anxiously patiently. This is the first time I've entered so we'll see what happens.

Works in Progress

I've been working on this for awhile:

I'm about half way through, it will be a free pattern on the Bo Peep's website. I've had to put it down a few times to work on other projects like MS4 and a pair of socks for the Iowa State Fair. Hoping to have it done soon.

This is going to be a bonus kit pattern for the Shawl Club:

Cascade Indulgence, alpaca/angora blend. It's very nice to work with. This is the first project I have had to start over on. I don't swatch, so when I have a pattern charted I just jump right in. So far I have had good luck with that. But I wasn't quite happy with how this one was working up so I had to change the charts and start over. Progress pics will be up as soon as I decide if it's looking right.

New Blog/First Post

Welcome to my new blog for Goddess Knits patterns. I will be posting info here about new patterns as well as other stuff.