Knit Red Book Giveaway
Knit Red: Stitching for Women’s Heart Health is part of an effort to raise money for the Heart Truth Campaign, which seeks to raise awareness about heart disease in women. I am thrilled to be a part of this wonderful effort spearheaded by Laura Zander of Jimmy Beans Wool.
Not only does Knit Red contribute to this cause, it also contains some wonderful patterns by some pretty wonderful designers. I’m very proud of my design, the Silk and Mohair Cape, which is knit out of Rhapsody Glitter Light and Silk Mohair. A portion of sales of this yarn and color, Rhapsody Glitter Light 244, will be donated toward the Heart Truth campaign.
Aside from my design, there is another pattern in the book that uses Artyarns! It was designed by our European distributor, and the owner of Maschenkunst in Cologne, Germany – Daniela Johannsenova. The Graphic Tunic is knit out of Rhapsody Glitter Light and Beaded Mohair and Sequins. It uses 1 skein each of Rhapsody Light in 4 colors (H11, 244, 300, and 295) and 2 skeins of Beaded Mohair & Sequins in 300 Silver.
The book will be released this month, but we are having a book giveaway for one lucky reader! If you would like to win a copy of this book, please leave a comment below about one thing you do to keep your heart healthy. The winner will be chosen on Wednesday, June 20th.
New Multidirectional Knitting Project
The reason that I love multidirectional knitting is because it tames variegated yarn, making it pattern. For some strange reason, variegated yarn always looks great on the diagonal. Here’s a new design that I created specifically for a new colorway I designed, 1025, inspired by a new Chanel design for Fall 2012. 
I turned this skein of Ensemble Light into this shawl:
The pattern is now available on Ravelry or Craftsy.
The construction of this design is very unusual. It starts with small diagonals, as you can see in this project (color 1026) below on the needles:
Here is how the Diagonal Shawl begins, creating smaller diagonals, and leaving stitches behind. As I knit this new version, I will continue to add photos here.
Here’s another photo of how the short diagonal section stripes the yarn at the beginning of this pattern. 
As you can see, all stitches remain live and are ready to be worked in the mesh lace pattern that follows.
Fabulous Site for Artyarns
It is so exciting to see that every one of the projects from my newest book, One + One: Scarves, Shawls & Shrugs is now available as a kit.
I know that many like to purchase the exact yarn/colors that are used in the original One + One: Scarves, Shawls & Shrugs book projects, to replicate the feel, drape, and look that they see. Well this is your opportunity since they are all available using Artyarns yarn here.
And if you want to make this Mesh Tee
with Ensemble Light in color 2300 (as shown), you can always special order it here.
And of course, you can see all of the huge selection of Artyarns.
To find a local yarn shop that carries Artyarns, please check our store finder.
May Day and 2 Knitalongs
I am starting 2 separate knitalongs in two days, and excited and nervous at the same time. This will be exciting to see how everybody’s projects develop. You can’t imagine how much I love it when the students projects end up even nicer than the teachers. Nervous that there will be typos in my patterns, and hopeful that no one runs out of yarn or gets frustrated. That is why I have knit this design myself so many times.
First came the shawl version here:
This used 1 skein of Ensemble Light (400 yards) and I probably had about 50 or more yards left over….
Then came this version which I turned into a poncho:
But this version used slightly more than 1 skein. So I modified it so it would be simpler to knit, with a knitted cast on that created a slight v neck front here:
And success–made this with exactly 1 skein. Which can be made longer by adding more repeats of the edging at the bottom, but the circumference at the bottom is about 90″ or so, which is plenty wide for nearly everyone.
Now I am perfecting the shawl version, which is available as a small single stranded (see the purple version up top), and as a large double-stranded as shown here:
Designing is never easy but lots of fun for me. If you want to join me on these knitalongs, sign up here:
My knit-along for #15 Cable Panel Shawl is underway. Join to be eligible to win fabulous prizes from Artyarns:
1 Grand Prize: Yarn pack of “Ensemble Light Glitter” and “Beaded Silk and Sequins Light” in the color of their choice, plus a copy of Schreier’s book One + One: Scarves, Shawls & Shrugs.
5 Additional Prizes: PDF of Artyarns’ newest pattern collection, Ensemble Light & Rhapsody Light Collection, to five lucky second-place winners.
Here’s what you do:
1. Create a project page by hitting “Cast On” at the project’s Ravelry page. For guidance or to simply talk about your project, see Schreier’sKnit-along group.
2. Post a photo of your completed shawl. This shawl can be knitted IN ANY YARN.
3. On June 15, 2012, winners will be randomly selected from those who posted photos of their shawls.
