What Have I Been Doing?

How has everyone been? I've been extremely busy this past year! First of all, I learned how to dye yarn! Jan, one of my knitting buddies, had a yarn dyeing party at her place, I got hooked. See!

I had some bare skeins and played with the acid dyes available. I think they came out pretty good.  That was the Summer of 2017, and I quickly fell in love with yarn dyeing, so much that I bought more undyed yarn and some acid dyes of my own, and decided to start my own yarn dyeing business! 
I created Country Roads Yarns in April of 2018, almost 1 year ago! Well,  that's when I took a skein to one of my local yarn shops, The Knitting Cottage, in Waynesboro, PA. They bought 1 skein on a trial basis, to gauge interest, and in July quickly bought more! In fact, just earlier this month, I had a trunk show there! My very first!

I had so much fun and I met some awesome people too! Even sold some yarn.
Unfortunately, the day after my trunk show, while taking our dogs out I slipped on the stairs and broke my leg! We have 2 Dachshunds, Mollie & Baxter, and I had Baxter in my arms when I slipped. I fell on my left ankle, broke the fibula and busted the joint. I am now the proud owner of a plate and screws in my ankle. I've had to keep off my feet for the last two weeks, and I'm starting to go stir crazy. Although,  I have a handful of knitting projects to finish, this is NOT how I wanted to finish them!

Needless to say, It's been a very busy year, and it's just going to stay busy!

Have a wonderful day my Lovelies!

Jenn

New Pattern Announcement - The Hiddlestoner Shawl

I am proud to announce that my latest pattern is here! I have been working with 2 awesome test knitters over in the Free Pattern Testers Group for the past 2 months to make sure this pattern is ready. It took a bit of time, and a few hurdles to jump over, but it’s FINALLY DONE!
I want to make everyone aware that from February 9, 2017 to February 16, 2017 every dollar from the sale of this pattern will go to the Hiddlestoners Have Heart fundraiser for UNICEF UK in honor of Tom Hiddleston’s 36th birthday, the namesake of this shawlette! 

AND 

For the entire month of March 2017, there will be a Knit-a-long for this pattern, hosted in my group, Country Roads Designs. For everyone who would like to participate, there will be a coupon code for $2.00 off, starting on February 17. This code will only be available to those participating in the KAL. I’m inviting you to share this information with your friends, both on Ravelry and in real life. I’d love to have a bunch of people participating in the KAL, and I know that this can only happen if we spread the word.
So grab your knitting needles and jump in your stash for this awesome pattern and KAL coming soon!

Have a wonderful day my Lovelies!

Jenn 

Coming Soon! The Hiddlestoner Shawl

I have a brand new pattern that will be released soon! It's a shawl pattern that I'm calling The Hiddlestoner Shawl.

This shawl is an asymmetrical stockinette shawl that is knit in a DK weight with a lace border that is knit in fingering weight in 2 separate pieces. The main body is perfect for those single skeins that were bought because of the uniqueness of the yarn. These skeins are beautiful, but it’s hard to find a pattern that works for just 1 skein. This is the perfect shawl pattern for these, and the lace border is a solid colored yarn to showcase the variegation and color of the main body.
This past June, I had to opportunity to attend the Wizard World Philadelphia ComicCon to see Tom Hiddleston, the actor who portrays the villain Loki in the Marvel Thor and Avengers movies.

He is absolutely adorable and I was very excited to meet him. If you doubt me, just Google him, you won’t be disappointed.

Unfortunately … or fortunately in this case, my Introverted Social Anxiety sometimes requires me to have a project to keep my hands and mind preoccupied. Just so I don’t faint and make a fool of myself … which has happened in the past.

Yes, I was knitting in line for an autograph and photo with Tom Hiddleston.

I had acquired a skein of Dupstep DK in the Supernova colorway from KnittyandColor at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival a month before and thought an asymmetric shawl would be the perfect project to work on, with only simple increases and decreases to worry about. Nothing complex that required stitch markers. 

I was able to almost finish the entire shawl that day, what with the standing in line for hours on end. I bound off the main part of the shawl when I got home and promptly … set it down to work on another project.

It wasn’t until a few months later that I found the shawl and thought to add a lace border to make it larger and fit. I scoured the many knitting stitch patterns available and landed on the Plume Lace, which was a perfect fit for this shawl. It’s only 16 stitches per pattern repeat and the simple decreases and yarnovers create a beautiful and elegant border for wildly colored yarn.

I hope that the next time I meet Tom Hiddleston, I will have the chance to introduce him to his namesake shawl!

Have a wonderful day my Lovelies!

Jenn

Helen's Lace Mitts

I am pleased to announce that I have published a new knitting pattern today. 

Helen's Lace Mitts

I had been asked by my grandmother, Helen, to make her a pair of mittens for this past Christmas. 

I scoured the Internet and Ravelry for the perfect stitch pattern to no avail. 
I had almost given up hope until I found this wonderful website called Knitting Fool. 

I stumbled upon this lovely stitch pattern called the Japanese Feather Lace and realized it was absolutely perfect. 

I have since converted it to be knit in the round and these fingerless mitts were born.

I'm in the process of knitting the smallest size right now and plan on personally testing each size to make sure everything is correct.

I'm also planning on testing different weight yarns, like a worsted and a sock weight.

As of right now, it is only available in DK weight, but I expect to be finished testing the other weights by the end of next week maybe.

So, maybe go check it out. See if it tickles your fancy. Inspires you to find those old knitting needles and try again. 

Have a wonderful day my Lovelies!
Jenn

Errata for the Autumn Splendor Cowl

Well ... it has been brought to my attention by a lovely fellow knitter (btw - Thank you very much) that there is a missing stitch!
(Not exactly sure where it ran off to ... probably ran away to join the circus.)
Here's the solution. You can either:

1. Forget about the ssk at the end of the first row. It's simply there to hide the slip knot and make weaving in that tail easier. (It's not terribly important ... kinda like your appendix.) 
2. Cast on 23 stitches, still adding the ssk at the end of row (Yes, I know ... it's so hard to go back and add an extra stitch. :P)

It was also mentioned that the instructions are a little vague about the yarn being doubled. Sorry about that. It is, and you'll change your color every right side row. (Or you can be a rebel and change every other row. Don't worry, I won't tell.)

I hope this helps those who has any questions. If you have any others, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. I promise I'm very nice.

Have a wonderful day my Lovelies!

Jenn

The Autumn Splendor Cowl

GUESS WHAT?!?

I have a published pattern!! That’s right! I’m officially a published designer!
This is my VERY FIRST pattern and it’s published through Knit Picks, in their Under 100 Collection!
My pattern is called The Autumn Splendor Cowl and it’s pretty splendiferous if I must say. However, I am biased, but all of the patterns in the book are pretty awesome!

I had been thinking about designing for a few years, but never got the nerve up to actually submit anything. Well, that all changed when I submitted a little cowl pattern to Knit Picks, never really expecting it to amount to anything. Surprise, surprise, surprise! They actually liked my pattern and wanted to publish it! I was so excited and couldn't believe my good luck! 

I have to admit, I’ve been greatly blessed. God has given me a talent and a passion for knitting and yarn and a family that is always impressed with my creations.

Have a wonderful day my Lovelies!

Jenn

Okay ... Let's try this ... AGAIN!!!

Well, maybe I'll actually REMEMBER to post THIS time around. Someone out there in Blog-land, please remind me.

Okay, I'm done beating myself up now. 
Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Jenn and this is my ... third (I think) try at blogging. The first few time didn't exactly work out. :\ I'm actually (indeed!) kinda bad about remembering to post.

I'm hoping to blog about my knitting, pattern designs and just life in general. 

With that being said, I come to my first topic - Knitting! :D

My mother first taught me how to knit when I was 12. I can remember her sitting me down and trying to show me how it was done. I did okay for a first-timer with the knit stitch. Then she tried to show me the purl stitch. Try being the operative word here. For the life of me, I could not figure it out. 'What do you mean, the yarn is in the front?!?' 'Well, that's just weird.' It took me another 12 years to FINALLY figure it out. I was watching a knitting show on HGTV called 'Knitty Gritty' hosted by Vickie Howell. It changed my life. I learned something about myself that day that I had never realized before. I am a visual learner. If someone shows me how to do it, I'm paying attention and they're a good teacher (Sorry Mom!), chances are pretty good that I'll pick it up. 
That was sometime in 2006 or 2007. However, I didn't truly become obsessed with knitting until I stumbled upon a little site called Ravelry. It changed my life. I quickly found a group of people who meet up every Thursday evening. But the real kicker is - THEY MEET WHERE I WORK!!! I work at a local grocery store and they meet at the coffee shop area!!! I clearly remember thinking "How did I not know this!?" Well, I certainly didn't waste any time in meeting everyone and joining in. That was July of 2009 and I haven't looked back since! :D

Goodnight everyone! Have a wonderful day my Lovelies!

Jenn