Celebrate Spring and Easter

Children everywhere are getting excited about a visit from the Easter Bunny! Put a little love in their Easter Baskets with one of these adorable knit or crochet plush toys.

Knitters will enjoy creating one of these plush toys for a special little boy or girl. Schaefer's Bunny Love, Lola Kitty Kat, Toby the Turtle, Curly the Pig or Rainbow Fish.

All of these plush designs are knit in Schaefer's Lola yarn which is On Sale. And if you purchase 5 Schaefer Patterns you get a 6th one for FREE, just state which pattern you'd like in the Comments Box during Check Out.

Another special bunny to knit is Ysolda's Sophie. Or perhaps you'll want to knit Ysolda's Elijah the elephant or Otto the polar bear.

All of Ysolda's plush toy designs will knit up quickly in either Karabella's Aurora 8 for only 4.99 a ball, Cascade's 220 Wool also only $4.99 a ball or 220 Superwash for $5.99 ball.

Make Easter fun with these 2 new crocheted Amigurumi designs by Freshstitches. Russ is a chick in an egg while Len is a bunny in an egg.

And another new design by Freshstitches is Travis, Travis gives you a good reason to take up crocheting, not only is he an adorable cow, he's felted, thus hiding your newbie mistakes!

Mother's Day Gift Ideas!

Mother's Day is fast approaching, its on Sunday May 9th this year. Show mom, grandma or a special woman in your life how much you love her by creating one of these lovely shawls for her.

Schaefer's lovely Anne Shoulder Shawl, designed by the talented Chris Carrol, will help mom ward off any chill!

Yarn: 1 skein Anne (60% merino wool superwash, 25% mohair & 15% nylon, 560 yards, 4 ounces)
Needles: size US 7 (4.5mm)

And Schaefer's Anne is On Sale!

Never Not Knittings' Cedar Leaf Shawlette is a tiny crescent shaped shawlette that drapes beautifully around your shoulders and looks absolutely stunning wrapped around your neck as a scarf. This design marries designer Alana Dakos' two favorite things in the whole world, the color green and knitted leaves.

The curved stockinette stitch body is created through the use of short rows, and the beautiful leafy border is knit onto the body of the shawlette after its completed. The construction is easy, no seaming or picked up stitches.

As you can see, the shawlette is quite versatile, it can be successfully worn several different ways.

The Cedar Leaf Shawlette is available for purchase two ways:
PDF Pattern only $5
Kit -- includes PDF Pattern & 3 skeins Malabrigo Silky Merino (50/50 silk & merino wool, 150 yards/50 grams) Retail $9.95 On Sale $7.50, plus $6.99 Shipping. Kit Price $34.49
NOTE: Shipping will be reimbursed if you're purchasing other items.

And if you're looking for the Never Not Knitting Molly Tam Pattern Giveaway its right below this entry!

Introducing Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting! And the Molly Tam Pattern Giveaway!

Sandrasingh.com is pleased to bring you the styling's of Alana Dakos of "Never Not Knitting," this is the same Alana who hosts the Never Not Knitting podcast. Alana specializes in pleasing knit designs for women and children.

For yourself, or a special woman in your life, you'll enjoy creating the Cedar Leaf Shawlette, Amelie socks or her newest design the Cosette wrap.

Cosette will look fantastic knit up in Malabrigo's Merino Worsted. And the Cedar Leaf Shawlette (pictured at the very top) would be beautiful knit in Malabrigo's Silky Merino.
With Summer right around the corner updating your little girl's or granddaughter's wardrobe is on your mind. For that special summer wedding or event Alana's special occasion dress Very Cherry is a must!

For her next play date dress her in Haltermelon or the Spring Garden Tee topped off with the Molly tam. The Molly tam pattern is written for sizes Adult to Children.
This blog post also includes a Giveaway for the Molly tam (pictured above) and 2 skeins of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn to knit it in, details below!
And plan ahead for fall with one of her sweet cardi designs, Chloe, Sheepish or Playful Stripes.
Sheepish is very versatile and would look just as cute on a little boy as on a little girl.

All of Never Not Knittings' Patterns are sold as PDF downloads that are emailed to you after purchase, which means no shipping fee!

Meet Alana: Alana Dakos, the writer and photographer behind the Never Not Knitting blog, is a hopelessly obsessed knitter from sunny California. Alana has taken her obsession to the next level in recent years by producing her own knitting related podcast "Never Not Knitting" available through her blog and on iTunes. She has even written a Never Not Knitting "theme song" that perfectly describes her knitting lifestyle. Click here to listen! (link: http://nevernotknitting.blogspot.com/2008/06/never-not-knitting-theme-song.html)

Inspired by her then 2 year old daughter, Alana started her designing business in early 2009 with great success. She offers several children's patterns and is now branching out into adult designs. Her children's collection comes in a large size range, (usually from size 3 months- size 6) and each pattern offers simple, easy to understand instructions. Hate seaming up at the end? You'll be happy to know that all Never Not Knitting designs are knit in one piece either from the top down or bottom up with minimal finishing work.

All of the Never Not Knitting pattern layouts are currently being professionally designed by a graphic artist and contain large full color photos, full sizing schematics, and colorful artwork. They are fun to make, fun to look at, and will make a great addition to your pattern library.

To celebrate the addition of Never Not Knitting to my website I'm having a Molly Tam Giveaway! Enter to win Never Not Knitting's Molly pdf pattern and two skeins of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, one Yellow and one Lime, to knit it in! Leave a comment under this blog post with your contact information and to gain an additional entry follow me on Twitter, I'm Sandrasinghcom, and Tweet, "I entered Never Not Knitting's Molly & Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Giveaway on Knittingwithsandrasingh.blogspot.com. You should enter too!"

There will be one winner selected at random, and the winner will be announced on April 9th.

This Giveaway is now closed! Thank you to everyone who entered. And we have a winner, Debi!

Introducing Crazy 4 Dyeing

I've been getting requests for a hand dyed sock yarn done in unique, vivid nearly solid hues and after intense searching I came across a US hand dyer from Jefferson, Maryland, Ellie Putz of Crazy 4 Dyeing. Ellie has been playing with color for as long as she can remember, her background as a quilter helped develop her natural eye for color.

Ellie specialized her own dye technique called "Pseudo Solid," which is her way of mingling colors in a single skein, either slight variations of the same hue or a delicate mix of complimentary shades. Each hank has subtle color variations that play off one another and look especially lovely knit up in lace or in patterns with lots of texture, allowing you to create a knitted fabric with the nearly solid, or slightly variegated look, you've craved.

LuxeSock in Purple Gala

Ellie has paired this special hand dyeing technique with superior fibers and offers these two lovely yarn lines, introducing LuxeSock and BellaSock. Add a touch of luxury to your next sock or lace project with LuxeSock. This decadently soft yarn is crafted of 10% cashmere with 80% merino wool and 10% nylon. Each generous hank is put up with 400 yards, making this luxurious yarn very affordable.

BellaSock in Smile

And BellaSock is crafted of a soft and bouncy 100% superwash merino wool. It's excellent stitch definition, easy care, plus the 480 yard hank will make your sock or lace knitting projects a dream.

One skein of LuxeSock or BellaSock is enough to knit a shawlette or a pair of socks, making these yarns a great value for your money. Please enjoy a skein today.

Meet Ellie Putz of Crazy 4 Dyeing: This is an excerpt from an interview Ellie did on July 31, 2009 for the Yarn4Socks blog:

How long have you been dying yarn?
I’ve been dyeing yarn for two years now.

How did you get started?
I only started knitting a few years ago, but I have been a quilter for a long, long time. One of the compliments I always got about my quilts was my good color sense, so after buying a few hand painted yarns from Etsy, and being particularly unsatisfied with one skein that I bought that did not have even color through the skein, I thought I could do better, so I gave it a try!

What motivates you?
My grandmother taught me to sew on her old foot treadle sewing machine (which I still have). The first thing I made were some horrible looking pot holders. My grandmother was so proud of me, she made me take the pot holders to our family reunion and I sold them all for $5 a piece to various aunts and cousins (big Italian family). I couldn’t believe someone would actually pay me for something I made, especially when I thought they were ugly. Sometimes I still can’t believe it! The lessons I learned from my grandmother so many years ago about trying new things and that I could do whatever I set my mind to; these are the things that motivate me today, and I think of her every time I pull a new skein from the dyepot. She would be so proud!

Please share with us a zany or interesting thing about you. It does not have to be fiber related.
I had to get advice from my daughter on this one because I just couldn’t think of anything! So she was happy to point out a few things about me:

a) “Mom- you are a complete Trekkie. I am surprised that you haven’t named yarn after the characters on Star Trek!”

b) “You cannot swim! Remember how we always laugh at you trying to dog paddle across the pool.”

c) “You are working on rediscovering your long lost green thumb this summer. Long live zucchini!”

Dream In Color Smooshy has Arrived!

I have such exciting news! Knitters world wide have been asking me to add the soft, superwash yarn Smooshy from Dream In Color to my website and my first shipment of this gorgeous yarn just arrived. Lots of beautiful colors are now in stock just in time for your spring and summer knitting!

Inspired by the play of light in nature, Dream In Color's "Veil Dyeing" process brings depth and life to color, giving garments a subtle, dramatic shimmer and shine. While Veil Dyed yarn has all the unique character of other hand-dyed yarns, it will not “landscape” or “pool.” The result? A magnificent, flattering garment every time!

Smooshy is Dream In Color's soft, fingering weight yarn that is crafted of 100% Superfine Australian Merino superwash wool and spun and hand dyed in the USA. Put up in generous 450 yard/4 ounce hanks it can be machine washed and tumbled dried low, making it ideal for socks, baby garments and your favorite knit and crocheted garments and accessories.

Meet Lydia Kendrick of Kendrick Kreations

Quite often knitters and crocheters are multi talented and they cross craft into sewing, quilting, spinning, hand dyeing yarn and even weaving. If your knitting circle is anything like mine, and I know through conversations on Ravelry it is, than you are and also know many of these multi-crafters.

Lydia Kendrick, of Kendrick Kreations, is one of these multi talented fiber artists. Lydia hand knits and crochets, she's also proficient with knitting machines, but knitting is just the beginning of her passion for fiber, she also spins roving into yarn, hand dyes and her first love is weaving. She works on several different looms ranging in size from the portable Cricket, to a triangular loom for shawls and her not so portable floor loom.

She sells her finished shawls, scarves and home decor at Old Oaks Fiber Ranch in Wimberly, TX.

But Lydia has taken her fiber endeavors one step further and has turned her creative energies to designing. I’m pleased to announce I’ve just added two of her patterns to my website.

The first is a knitting pattern for her wonderfully textured Turkish Scarf.
But Lydia’s second pattern is a FIRST for my website! I’m happy to now offer a weaving pattern, the Simple Woven Mug Rugs.
If you’re been wanting to explore weaving take a look at this beautiful and practical design.

Meet Lydia Kendrick:
Lydia Kendrick was born in Munich, Germany in 1960 and came to the United States in 1964. Her mother was a professional seamstress and taught her to knit, crochet, and do needlework as a young child.

Widowed in 1997, she needed something to do with herself and renewed her interest in knitting, including working with knitting machines, learned to spin in 2008, and later in 2009, bought a loom and took some weaving lessons. The Kendrick living room has evolved into a looming room, with two floor looms and a triangular loom as well.

In 2009, she started her business, Kendrick Kreations, and sells her patterns and finished woven and knitted wares online and through consignment shops.

Lydia is a member of the Lonestar State Knitters, KOZY Knitters in New Braunfels, Handweavers Guild of America and the Coneheads weaving study group in Wimberley, Texas.

Her other interests include playing tennis, gardening and square dancing.

She can’t imagine life without her dogs and is “mom” to two labs, Maizie and Melba, who also seem to enjoy all the fiber around the house, occasionally getting into a bit of mischief with a favorite ball of yarn! Maybe it’s just a hint to knit them a blanket?

Lydia is known as Kendrick43 on Ravelry and has her own Ravelry group, Kendrick Kreations. You can slo enjoy her blog at Kendrick Kreations Blog

March 2010 Newsletter

Though March 20th is the first day of Spring most of the country is still getting hit with blizzards! So I'll round out this Spring Newsletter with stunning garments and accessories that will breath life back into your wardrobe and help you bridge the gap between this brutally cold winter and the promise of spring.

In This Issue: New Shipping Rates / Introducing Malabrigo Twist / The Versatile Vest / Hamamelis / Hats & Gloves / Socks /

New Shipping Rates
But first good news about my shipping rates, I've lowered them! Order $25 or less & shipping is now only $4.99. This means when you purchase paper patterns or magazines you're only paying $4.99 to ship. And Orders over $25 are still only $6.99. There is never any shipping charges for patterns emailed to you as PDF downloads.

Introducing Malabrigo Twist
I'm excited to announce I've added Malabrigo's new bulky weight yarn Twist to my website. Twist is an eight ply yarn crafted of 100% baby merino wool and its very versatile. It will knit up smooth on a larger needle and give you a slight thick & thin look on a smaller needle, making it ideal for your next hat, cowl or pullover project. And Twist is on sale until March 4th, I'm taking Pre-Orders for it and it will take 6-12 weeks to arrive but you'll save 20% on Skein(s) and 25% on dyeloted Bags of 10 Skeins.

All Malabrigo Yarns are 20-25% Off until March 4th, Chunky, Merino Worsted, Silky Merino, Sock andLace Baby Merino.

The Versatile Vest
A fast way to round out your wardrobe for this unpredictable weather is to layer with a smart vest. A deep scoop neckline gives a feminine edge to the lushly cabled Wood Hollow by Kirsten Kapur of Through The Loops Designs. Knit it up in your favorite bright color, its knit in Cascade 220 Heathers so you have lots of color options, and dress it up or down depending on your style.

For a different take on a vest knit Karabella's Open Stitch Long Tunic, it's knit in Karabella's Aurora Bulky and this stylish design will take you comfortably from work to play. Another new design from Karabella is the Capelet Sweater knit in their cashmere merino blend yarn Margritte.

Or if a more traditional style suits your taste, Lorna's Laces Furrowed is knit in their 100% superwash wool yarn Shepherd Bulky, Malabrigo Twist would work beautifully too, and is a simple pullover design with a deep V-neckline and Katya Frankel's Bracken is a casual waist coat with clean lines.

Order any In Stock Schaefer Elaine yarn and you'll receive one of these quick knit vest patterns FREE, the Elaine Scoop Neck Vest, Girl's Zipper Vest or the V-Neck Button, just tell me which pattern you want in the Comments Box during checkout.

Hamamelis
Wrap a beautiful shawl around your shoulders, or wear it around your neck like a scarf, and you've just introduced a little Spring to your Winter attire. Hamamelis is the namesake of witch-hazel which is one of the earliest shrubs to bloom in designer's Kirsten Kapur's garden. These hopeful little flowers bring a smile to her face and remind her that despite bitter winds and snow, spring will be on its way. Worked in a leaf pattern on a background of garter stitch, Hamameils knits up quickly and showcases beautiful fingering weight yarns such as Cherry Tree Hill's Supersock Merino.

LANG Yarns' timeless Feather Light Shawl is a classic design you'll wear for years. Work it in your favorite mohair, silk blend yarn to give it a soft halo for Fall & Winter or in a plied yarn for a smoother look you can wear year round.

Charlene Schurch uses the lightness and fluidity of cashmere silk blends and an unusual construction to create a richly patterned stole with warmth and movement. Knit in the round from the outer edge in to a grafted center her Frost Flowers Stole looks intricate but used just two motifs.

Hats & Gloves
You long to shed your winter coat but its still not warm enough, add a little spring to your outerwear with one of these hat or glove designs. A lightweight cap will do the trick and Kristin Roach's Blue Filigree is perfect. And using just the knit and purl stitch Faina Goberstein's Patchwork Hat combines four different patterns for a patchwork look. While closely set bobbles create the nubbly look of Cathy Carron's Berry Bobble Hat.


You still need gloves this time of year but the big wooly pair you knit in December are too warm, create one of these creative solutions! Crochet Knotsewcute's Ladies Fingerless Mitts or knit LANG YarnsJoke Hand Warmers, which are knit with only 1 ball of LANG Yarns' Joke yarn, and you'll be ready for any temperature or event. For a more sophisticated look knit the Helix Gauntlets, Caroline Bautista adds beautiful tailoring and graceful wraparound cables that seem to grow organically around your hand.

Socks
And of course you can always take advantage of these cold temperatures and snuggle warm inside knitting your faithful fall back project, a pair of socks! The Flying Trapeze are the perfect pair, designer Chrissy Gardiner mixes and matches heel, open eyelet and closed increase for socks that are easy to customize. The pattern is written for sizes toddler to men's large and will knit up splendidly in Serendipitous Ewe's Fate Fingering.

And the Aran Isle Slippers by Jennifer Lang make big use of a small canvas. A cable panel adorned upper, seed stitch surround and stockinette stitch sole add up to slippers to live in all winter. While Cathy Carron turns simple ribs into plush, striking texture with a chunky yarn such as Malabrigo's new Twist, in the Ribby Slipper Socks. Cozy and comfortable, a clever easy construction makes the socks easy to knit in five sizes from toddler to adult.

With all these inspiring projects and beautiful yarns I hope you'll be able to brave the cold and hang on until Spring! Please call or email with any fiber art need. And if you're on Ravelry please stop by and join my group, Sandrasingh.com our KALs are going strong. Friend me on Facebook, Sandra Singh and tweet at me on Twitter, Sandrasinghcom