The first day of summer is near and making your knitting as easy as a Summer breeze is what Sandrasingh.com is all about. My June Special Offer is still in effect: Spend $25 or more on yarn, knitting needles & notions, paper patterns or magazines (any order charged shipping) and you'll receive a Complementary Skein of Yarn! Yarn will be selected for you while supplies last.
And one of these light weight lace projects is the perfect for relaxing with family and friends.
Schaefer Audrey
Buds in the Breeze Stole
Buds in the Breeze Stole
Nelkin Designs' EventideFor more project ideas with Audrey try one of these patterns by Nelkin Designs. The beaded Eventide scarf is one of designer Laura Nelkins favorite scarves ever! Eventide is based an incredibly easy 6 stitch "cross stitch" pattern and its made by working double yarnovers that add length to your stitches so they float and appear to be woven not knitted. Beads are used on each end of the scarf creating an arrow of bling.
Aventina is another sumptuous beaded scarf, its oversized so that you may wrap it around yourself more than once and still have fabric to hang down. Its worked in two halves and grafted at the middle.
Nelkin Designs' Eventide
Winterlude
A Touch of Beaded Class Scarf
Peek A Bead Scarf
Liliiflora
Liliiflora
Ilga Leja wearing her very own In The Piazza from her "City Collection."
Bermuda
Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 in EQMeet Ilga Leja: Knitting has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I was about 5 years old, I learned to knit from a neighbour friend. My mother, seeing me struggle with thick yarns and needles far too thin and the English style of knitting, took pity on me, gave me better tools, and showed me the Continental style. I have worked with both styles of knitting ever since and use them interchangeably.
I have had a busy life, balancing career and family. Yet knitting has been the continuing thread through every phase. It has given me solace during troubled times, pleasure in quiet times and joy in happy times. It inspires and challenges me with new ideas for creativity at every turn.
One of my other passions has been photography. I have been taking pictures since I was a child with a Brownie camera. I see photo subjects everywhere I go and these often translate into knitting designs later. By beginning to publish my designs, I have been able to bring these two loves together.
As you can see from my designs, I love to work with pattern and colour. My designs reflect my current interests, whether it is handpainted yarns, working with lace, or experimenting with textures. Yet always I am looking to create timeless designs, ones that will give pleasure for many years to come.1. Please tell us about yourself and what got you interested in knitting and designing knitwear.
I have always loved to knit, from the very first time I took up the needles and learned. That was in childhood and I can still remember vividly my excitement in learning how to knit from the teenager next door. The fact that it was a teenager (and not a family relative) who taught me may have contributed to my excitement at the time.
2. What is your design philosophy?
I don’t think of having a “philosophy” as such. I do what I love. When I am swatching up a design idea and I don’t like it, or it isn’t pleasant to do, then I abandon it. I believe that if I am not enjoying knitting a piece, then I assume others wouldn’t enjoy it either. In the end, it is all about following the heart.
3. Who or what inspires you the most in your design process?
Although there is much that inspires me, it is the beauty of nature that captures me the most. It is what makes me stop and look in awe.
4. What direction do you see yourself heading in as a designer?
I have started experimenting with making tapestries, essentially knitting pictures. This uses all my skills and I get to play with lots and lots of colours and different yarns. It would be a move away from designing patterns—which is how I make my living now. But it is a direction that fascinates and challenges me.
5. How have the advances in technology and the internet helped you (or hindered) you as a knitwear designer?
The Internet has helped me enormously. In fact, I would not have been able to build my business without it. It continues to offer up more opportunities with social networking, different delivery methods, etc. So I just see the technology as enhancing our industry, giving us many different approaches in how we can share all things related to knitting.
Thank you Ilga for speaking with us.
Visit all of Ilga Leja's collections, her patterns are sold as PDFs with no shipping fees.
Ancient Bark Moebius
Sea UrchinThere will be one winner for this giveaway, prize includes the Bermuda pdf pattern and 2 skeins of Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 in EQ, no purchase necessary to enter and the winner will be announced on June 12.
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 Bermuda Kit.
2. Tell us which Ilga Leja pattern is your favorite and why.
3. Tell us which colorway of Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 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.
Sit back and relax this Summer and let self striping Kauni Effektgarn do all the work!
And my special offer for June: Every time you spend $25 or more on yarn, knitting needles & notions, paper patterns or magazines, any order which requires shipping, you'll receive a Free Skein of Yarn!
In This Issue: Colorful Summer Knitting
Effektgarn in EA
Effektgarn in EQ
Earth MaidenWrapped in the colors of the earth, Earth Maiden walks the woods. Her wrap is a long, rectangular stole, laced along one side. Knit from the long edge, the pattern grows organically, highlighting the random coloration of Effektgarn.
Earth Maiden can be worn in a myriad of ways: as a shawl, poncho or wrap, with or without an I-cord closure at the front, at the back, or to the side. The pattern contains instructions for two versions: a full-length and a shorter version.
Morroco Shawl
Morroco Scarf
Lake of the Woods
Lady of the Forest
Kauni Messenger Bag
Large enough to carry a laptop or your library books, without being oversized. And learn a new technique while working this bag, Effektgarn is held tripled using the Navajo Triple-Ply Technique.
Bermuda
Bermuda
