Sivia Harding's Millefiore Kit Giveaway

Thank You to everyone who entered!

We have a winner, Suburbanprep, please email me at Sandrasingh@sandrasingh.com to claim your prize!

For this blog giveaway we're going to enjoy the beautifully produced and easy to follow patterns of the exquisitely talented knitwear designer, Sivia Harding of "Sivia Harding Knit Design!" Sivia is an award winning designer whose patterns are notable for their beauty of patterning, fit and texture. Her garments are always a marriage of ornament and wearability. Renown for her beadwork expertise many of her creations capture the play of light with strategically placed beads, you'll get immense pleasure working these designs and of course from wearing them and hearing the compliments!

Sivia Harding

Millefiore

Sivia has just released a trio of patterns, the marvelously decorative yet versatile beaded cowl, wimple and wristlets set: Millefiore, the pattern includes all three designs and this giveaway is for the Kit which includes the pattern and a skein of Serendipitous Ewe Fate Fingering. Like the millefiore, or thousand-flowered beads that originated in Italy, each piece offers the wearer warmth with just the right touch of sparkle. Sivia shares her design inspiration..."Millefiore beads look very mandala-like, and I thought it a very appropriate name for a beautifully beaded garment that is knit entirely in the round."

Millefiore is written and charted and the beads are added by two methods: pre-stringing and the crochet hook add-as-you-go technique. In each piece, the lace pattern begins at the bottom with a scallop, then becomes a charming textured lace pattern that is lightly shaped as it goes up toward the top. The wimple is long enough to gently cover the head and the wristlets can be worn either way: scallops extending over the hand, or toward the elbow.

Knit in a fingering weight yarn, 400 yards, a 100 gram skein, should be enough for a wimple and a pair of wristlets, depending on your gauge and knitting style and Serendipitous Ewe's soft, handpainted Fate Fingering yarn is ideal. If you don't want to wait to see if you win this giveaway order the pattern now, its available as a Pattern only and as a Kit and the pattern is a PDF that can be a downloaded after purchase.

Sivia answered these interview questions for us, lets take a moment to get to know her a little better!

Meet Sivia Harding: As for my own history, I will go back even farther than my knitting life since that has been rather short…I have always been interested in fiber arts, beginning with crochet when I was small. When I was 14, I participated in fiber classes at my local art museum (High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA) which resulted in pieces that were shown in the museum shop. After this introduction, I was never without fiber work in one form or another, but I didn’t find my way to knitting until the year 2000. By that time, I had worked in the graphic design field for several years and had a degree in painting and printmaking under my belt, so it wasn’t a huge stretch to begin designing with my new skill.

After contacting members of the West Coast Knitters’ Guild online, I became a member. One day a large box full of fine undyed yarn was donated to the guild, and since no one seemed to know what to do with it, I offered to handpaint the yarn and make lace shawls to sell as a fund-raiser project for the Guild’s yearly charitable contribution. A discussion arose about whose patterns to use for these shawls, and since copyright was an issue, I offered to design new ones. Several popular lace shawl designs resulted from that guild project.

Knitted lace is my first and enduring love, and when I learned how wonderfully lace combines with beads, I began incorporating beads into most of my designs. Socks and fingerless gloves are other additions to my design repertoire, and I have recently been moving toward designing garments.

Since 2003, I have designed under my own name and also contributed to many other publications and knitting clubs.

1. Every knitter has an interesting story about how & when they learned to knit, what is yours?
I always wanted to learn how to knit, but no one in my family wanted to teach me. My grandmother was the only active knitter but she didn't like it very much, preferring crochet. My mother claimed that she didn't know how, which I disproved when I found a photo of my mother knitting a sock on double pointed needles from the WWII era. However, no begging seemed to help, and I didn't have any success until I moved to Canada. Finding myself with none of my usual art or craft materials, with time on my hands and a library card, I checked out a video and learned the basic stitches. I didn't know any other knitters, so I struggled through the basics on my own. Finally, I found a knitting guild (see bio) which became the source of a wonderful knitting education. I hope I was able to give back to them too. Since those days, I have returned to the guild to teach a few workshops, which is enormously gratifying!

2. How did you get started designing knitwear?
When I was a relatively new knitter, I thought, how hard can it be? So I plunged into the deep end, the same way I approach most things in life. I had no idea that it would become an all-consuming passion, and certainly not a vocation. I had only been knitting for about three years. However, the same year, I started selling my designs.

3. What is your design philosophy?
I don't really have a philosophy. I am regularly inspired by beauty and beautiful things, and I love taking that inspiration and in turn, creating something of beauty that can inspire others.

4. Who or what inspires you the most in your design process?
I find beauty in many places and many things, including nature, the work of skilled artisans of many traditions and cultures, and even simple things like the pattern of sunlight on a wall, subtle things like noticing how many colors there are in a drop of water, or just stopping in the midst of life to truly look, listen, feel and smell.

My designs usually take on a life of their own, and that's really how I know I am on the right track. I can think that I am in charge, but I am really not! I like to have a strong starting point, maybe a lace pattern that I have fallen in love with, or a beautiful structure like the Moebius; however, once the design is on the needles, it often takes surprising twists and turns. Interesting things will suggest themselves to me while the work is in progress. My task is to stay open and not think I know it all from the start... which would be so boring! However, my way is not always predictable. Thank goodness I am so obsessive, or many designs would probably never get all the way to completion! Sometimes it is quite a process and I have to allow it to take whatever it takes to get through.

5. What direction do you see yourself heading in as a designer?
I am making forays into garment design now, and I love the additional dimension that this allows. For instance, I am creating a sweater pattern based on Harmonia's Rings, which is a Moebius cowl that is fitted and shaped. In the sweater, the cowl has been re-engineered into a round yoke sweater and is in seven sizes. The sweater is interesting because the yoke is quite drapey while the body is quite fitted. Everyone who has seen or knitted one (I have about 11 test knitters going on it) is loving it! In general, I am excited by continuing to explore form and texture, as I have in my other work, now in the garment arena. And I am continuing to design accessories and lace as well, of course!

The only direction I will probably never go is designing hats. I don't wear them and don't have any desire to design them. Anything else is wide open though!

6. How have the advances in technology and the internet helped you (or hindered) you as a knitwear designer?
Oh, definitely they have helped.. tremendously!!

When I first started, I was selling printed patterns that I printed at home. Yarn shops and individuals would contact me and I would send them patterns. Yarn shops and individuals would contact me and I would send them patterns.

When pdf pattern downloads started, I immediately saw the possibilities and jumped on the bandwagon.. what a great thing! And then Ravelry came into being, which is the boon of every knitter and knitwear designer. Ravelry has made it possible for all knitters to help each other to increase their awareness and skill level.. even if they are not aware they are doing so. This has increased everyone's knowledge base exponentially. Knitters are now quickly going beyond the basics and wanting challenges. I remember when I could not fill a class in anything but very basic techniques. Now, knitters are hungry for all the complicated things and the fine points. More and more knitters are starting to design themselves and need mentors more than teachers now, in my opinion. I feel this has helped my teaching career because that is how I prefer to teach. I think of myself as a knitting mentor.

And of course, digital knitting patterns are making it easier for designers to deliver designs to more knitters faster. I love how things are going, and it is going to keep on developing...it is an incredibly exciting time to be in the knitting world!

I can't think of one way that technology has hindered me as a designer. I know some knitting shops continue to be worried about digital pattern sales taking business away from their shops, but people will always need the guidance they receive in knitting shops, and they will continue to go to their shop for help in choosing and knitting patterns, and for classes to increase their skill levels. Community building is where brick and mortar yarn shops excel, and no online community or shop can really supplant that experience. I encourage everyone to support their LYS.

Thank you Sivia for talking to us, its been a real pleasure!

All Sivia Harding patterns are sold as PDFs that will be emailed to you after purchase with no shipping fees. Please take a moment to enjoy her collections, this is just a small sampling of her work.

Shawls

Belle Nuit

Aphrodite

Scarves, Cowls & Gloves

Heart to Heart

Harmonia's Rings Cowl
Aquitaine

Socks

Journey Cable Socks

Cherry Blossom

Buried Treasure

Jewelry, Bags and Afghans

Beaded Drawstring Purse

Twining Vines Strip-Lace Afghan

Galatea

There will be one winner for this giveaway, prize includes the Millefiore pdf pattern and 1 skein of Serendipitous Ewe Fate Fingering in Autumn Glow, no purchase necessary to enter and the winner will be announced on July 3.

Enter this Giveaway: The more ways you enter, the more chances you have to win and make sure to leave a comment telling what you did to enter. And please make sure to leave your contact information.
1. Tell us why you should win the Millefiore Kit.
2. Tell us which Sivia Harding pattern is your favorite and why.
3. Tell us which colorway of Serendipitous Ewe Fate Fingering is your favorite and why.
4. Blog about this giveaway on your blog and link it, leave a comment under this blogpost with the link back to your blogpost.
5. Join my Ravelry group, Sandrasingh.com and introduce yourself in the "Welcome tell us about yourself..." thread.
6. Announce this giveaway in your Ravelry group, or in a Ravelry group that allows you to announce Blog giveaways.
7. Friend me a Facebook: Sandra Singh and leave a comment under my post about this Giveaway
8. Announce this giveaway, with a link on Facebook
9. Visit my Facebook Page: www.Sandrasingh.com and hit "Like"
10. Follow me on Twitter: Sandrasingh
11. Announce this giveaway with a link on Twitter
12. Friend or Fan me on Plurk: Sandrasinghcom
13. Announce this giveaway with a link on Plurk
14. Sign up for my Newsletter on my Home Page
15. Sign up to "Follow My Blog"
16. Tell your fellow knitters in your knitting circle about this giveaway.
17. No Purchase Necessary to Enter, but are you a Sandrasingh.com customer? Leave a comment about your experience and purchase.