The Sweatshop of Love Blog

50% Off!

I know I’m not the only one who is SUPER PUMPED about the fact that Etsy offers automatic downloads for PDFs now. The internet has been blowing up about it for days now! It’s just so nice to be able to set it and forget it instead of having to email each pattern purchaser individually. Not to mention the fact that this should eliminate those (pretty stupid) people who think they are purchasing actual hand knit items for only a couple dollars, and get super pissed when you email them a PDF.

I’m so pumped that I’m offering up every pattern in my Etsy shop for 50% off with coupon code ‘ITSABOUTTIME’! So get over there and snag your favorites on the cheap this week. Offer expires Saturday!

Knit Notes – Explore, Design, Create

I’m so happy to have gotten my hands on a copy of Knit Notes, a new designers notebook created by Nadine Curtis of Be Sweet. I’ve seen this floating around the internet for a few months but didn’t really get what the notebook was all about until it landed on my doorstep last week.

Inside Project Page

Knit Notes is a spiral bound, hardcover notebook full of pages just like the above, where you can sketch, chart stitch patterns out on graph paper, even punch holes and attach your swatches. Knit Notes is clearly designed by a knitwear designer so it’s got spots for everything you’d need to write down – fiber content, yardage, gauge. All those pesky things you sometimes find that you forgot to write down when you finally sit down to type up the pattern!

Confused? Nadine Helps!

After my first quick flip through of Knit Notes I didn’t really know where to start! But Nadine provides a lot of help at the start of the book to help you get the most out of Knit Notes. So whether you are a beginner designer looking to get started, or a seasoned veteran, you can easily get a lot out of having this notebook at hand.

Finished?! Awesome!

And at the end of all that hardcore designing you’ve got to have a celebration moment! Nadine leaves a spot at the end of your design section for a picture of your finished design.

There is a lot of really helpful stuff in here as well – a printed ruler! Common abbreviations, a rundown of different types of sweaters with measurements, notes about taking measurements as well as a complete list of standard measurements for women, men, children, and babies, and even heads and feet. Nadine also puts an example pattern at the back, so if you’ve got any questions about layout or wording, you can reference this provided pattern.

Knit Notes, $13.45 on Amazon right now and $14.95 at Be Sweet, is an amazing notebook for any knitwear designer. And there are 30 design templates, so it will keep you busy for years. And snag a few for your knitwear designer friends! They will be crazy jealous when they see you using your copy!

A huge thank you to Nadine for sending me a copy!

Thanks so much for your enthusiasm about my new pattern El Matador! I love it too, guys!

Congrats Claudia!

Congratulations Claudia of Proper Tension! I’m going to shoot you a copy of my pattern right now. And I’m really excited to see this reflective cycling cape idea of yours!

YarnCon is a super fun yarn-focused craft show that brings a ton of talented spinners and dyers to Chicago. From the YarnCon site:

YarnCon is Chicago’s homegrown yarn-centric exhibition — a place to promote, sell, and celebrate the yarny arts. Started in 2007, YarnCon aims to be the premier market for independent producers of yarn, knitted/crocheted objects, fiber for spinning, tools, gadgets, books, patterns, instructions, and gifts related to spinning, knitting, crochet, and weaving.

Fun right?! If you’ve never been, this year is the year because it’s got a new home at the Chicago Journeymen Plumber’s Union Hall in the West Loop, and it’s TWO DAYS of awesome yarny fun!

And I’ll be teaching a couple classes throughout the weekend:

Crochet for Knitters: Saturday 2-3pm and Sunday 1-2pm. Do you knit but haven’t made the jump into the world of crochet? Learn how to use your knitting skills to help you learn to crochet with Crochet For Knitters. Students should bring a medium sized crochet hook, some midsized needles, and worsted weight yarn.

Basic Cable Workshop: Saturday 1-2pm and Sunday 3-4pm. Sure, they look a little scary, but after this workshop you will be cabling you heart out in no time! Cables work with any needles and any yarn, so bring whatever you have laying around. In one hour you will want to add cables to every project you knit from now on!

Sound fun? Sign up here. And check out the full list of classes at YarnCon!

See you there!

A HUGE thank you to all that were excited about winning a copy of my Vintage Inspired Baseball Knits!

The winner is Kim!

Congratulations Kim! I’ve emailed you and will have your book out to you soon. Thanks again everybody!