"Thank you" to everyone who entered our Andrea Rangel Pattern Giveaway! Our 3 winners get to select the pattern they want!
Congratulations to: Quilterbell, Connie K and Emily.
Please email me at Sandrasingh@sandrasingh.com to claim your prize.
I have some great news! Knitwear artist Andrea Rangel has joined Sandrasingh.com. Rangel knows the classics, but she also loves trends and she has a really special way of making the two work together. Her pullover, dress, and tasteful accessory designs all have a fun, updated, yet refined style. There are countless projects you'll fall in love with when looking through her collection, amazing garments you'll want to knit to wear immediately, but what caught my eye were two of her smaller projects the Dinar slippers and Khareef hat.
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| Dinar |
With our holiday gift knitting starting
to pick up I know these will be an instant success, both in the making and
giving.
Dinar are a pair
seamless cabled slippers with a shaped instep and attached I-cord edging, the
sole is worked with yarn doubled for extra comfort and durability.
 |
| Khareef |
Worked in a bulky yarn for a quick knit
the
Khareef
hat is worked top down with graduating stripes; a
very quick, simple, and fashionable design. Do it in stripes or even a
solid, you'll get a lot of mileage for both the guys and gals on your gift list
with this pattern.
Rangel has also teamed up with me to do this Blog Giveaway!
3 Lucky Winners will win an Andrea Rangel Pattern of their choice.
 |
| Andrea Rangel |
Meet
Andrea Rangel:
Like so many others, I was taught to knit by my grandma.
When I went away to college, my multi-talented aunt reminded me how to do it and
I’ve had needles in my hands ever since.
I live in Cowichan Bay in British Columbia, Canada, where I
knit, design, blog, sit in the woods, take pictures, and ride my bike. I like to
make just about anything that can be made out of yarn (wool especially), and I
love to contemplate the intricate interactions of fiber, stitch pattern, shape,
and color.
My patterns have been published in Twist Collective,
Interweave Knits, Knitscene, Knitty, Clotheshorse, and other third-party
publications, as well as independently.
And Rangel also took a moment to answer these questions
for us!
1. Every knitwear artist has an interesting story about
how they began designing. Please tell us about yourself and what got you
interested in knitting and designing knitwear.
Throughout college and my career as a teacher, I was
knitting whenever I could. When I realized that I wanted to knit full-time, I
was fortunate enough to have a very supportive husband and I dove in, working
part time at a coffee shop, at a dye studio, and as a knitting teacher. A couple
of months ago I moved to a tiny village on Vancouver Island in British Columbia
and now my time is almost exclusively dedicated to designing and developing
classes.
2. What is your design philosophy?
I love
a challenge and I always try to create something a little unexpected.
I'm always thinking about functionality so I spend a lot of time solving design
problems to make sure every element of each design has been carefully thought
out and makes good sense. I learn something from every design and really enjoy
that process of building on lessons learned for future work.
3. Who or what inspires you the most in your design
process?
My inspiration comes from everywhere. I might get cold on
a bike ride and think of the perfect cowl to keep me warm, or read a call for
submissions and love their mood board. I spend a lot of time looking at street
fashion and knitwear design as well as natural colors and forms. I'm always
thinking about knitting, so it's not hard to be inspired by the world around me.
4. What direction do you see yourself heading in as a
designer?
I'm working on a menswear book that should be published
early next year, which I'm very excited about because it's something new for me
- both the menswear and the self-publishing a book. I'm also trained as a
teacher and would love to travel more for teaching, especially since I live in a
pretty isolated place at this point.
5. How have the advances in technology and the internet helped you
(or hindered) you as a knitwear designer?
Technology
allows me to do what I do. Ravelry has changed everything for how I can market
and sell my designs, and since I publish independently so much, the software I
use both for design and layout are invaluable to me. I also use my tablet for
sketching and as my communication when I'm in the road. It's also amazing to
have online resources like the blogs of other designers to look to when I have
questions. I love my tech!
Thank you Andrea for taking the time
to speak with us, we've enjoyed getting to know you better.
Enjoy the rest of Rangel's collection. All of Rangel's patterns are sold as PDF downloads and you just follow the links after purchase to download the PDF.
The Harrow Collection was
designed with Victorian- era style in mind, so it’s got a touch of the costume
feeling about it. The eBook includes the three patterns:
Whittingham Wrap, Issa's Bloomers and the
Zarzamora Socks. Its a collection of patterns you might knit and
wear in a drafty old house while reading Whuthering Heights in front of
a sputtering fire. And the Whittingham Wrap is sold separately.
The 3 winners will be announced on Dec. 4th. The patterns will be emailed
to the winners as a PDFs.
Enter this Giveaway: The more ways you enter, the more
chances you have to win. Make sure to leave a comment(s) under this blog
post telling what you did to enter. And please make sure to leave your
contact information.
1.
Tell us which Andrea Rangel pattern is your favorite and why.
2. Blog about this giveaway on your blog & link it,
leave a comment under this blogpost with a link back to your blogpost.
3. Join my Ravelry group, Sandrasingh.com and introduce
yourself in the "Welcome tell us about yourself..." thread.
4. Announce this giveaway in your Ravelry group, or in
a Ravelry group that allows you to announce blog giveaways.
5. Friend me a Facebook: Sandra Singh and write a
comment on my Wall about this giveaway.
6. Announce & link this giveaway on your Facebook Wall.
7. "Like" my Facebook Page, Sandrasingh.com
8. Follow me on Twitter: Sandrasinghcom
9. Announce this giveaway with a link on your Twitter
page.
10. Follow this blog.
11. Sign up for my Newsletter on my
Home Page.
12. Pin and link your favorite Andrea Rangel pattern on
your Pinerest page.
