Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year from Irvine, CA! We are down here in SoCal ringing in the New Year. Took the kids to Disneyland yesterday and hung out in the hotel today just relaxing and spending some quality time together. I crocheted a couple of hats for my nephews on the drive down and am knitting a dishcloth for a friend today. Making plans to attend TNNA and Stitches West next month. Looking forward I'm also making big plans and NewYear resolutions that involve designing. ;) What are some of your resolutions? I'd love to hear your plans!

A Proud Announcement!

First of all I want to appologize for not blogging lately. School is back in session and I have taken on a mini day job while my kids are at school. Once they come home there's homework and dinner to tend to. But amongst all the chaos I have still managed to continue working on my designs. This brings me to my "Proud Announcement". Three of my designs have been accepted by Love of Knitting magazine and will be published next year! I'm so excited! My first design will be included in their summer issue which will be available in May 2013. The other 2 designs will be featured in their Fall issue. I just received my first package of yarn, which is by Prism Yarns. And I got permission to share some sneak peeks with you along the way. ;) This is the yarn I will be knitting up for my Summer design. Isn't it yummy? Symphony Layers is 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere and 10% Nylon. I received the Indigo and Violetta colors just the other day. Stay tuned for a few more sneak peeks... Coming soon...

And The Winner Is...

My contest for the "Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders" book ended at midnight on Sept. 30th. I counted all of the entries and numbered each and every one according to how many entries they were entitled to. I then used the True Random Number Generator at Random.org. Thanks to everyone that participated! If you didn't win this time around, I will be holding another contest very soon!
And the winner is... Drum roll please...

FlyKytten ! She earned 5 entries for commenting, retweeting about the contest, sharing it with her friends on Facebook, following my blog, and she shared/+1ed me on Google+! Congrats FlyKytten!!! I will be contacting you soon to get your mailing address!  :)

Contest Update

My contest for the "Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders" book is now officially closed! I will be announcing the winner by Tuesday and will contact them to get their mailing address. Thanks to everyone that participated! I will be holding another contest very soon!

My Contest and some Testing going on...

We are now less than 48 hours away from my contest deadline. If you haven't yet entered to win the pattern book giveaway, you have until midnight Sunday, Sept. 30th (Pacific time) to do so! The book that is up for grabs is titled "Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders". You'll find the original post below dated Sunday, September 16, 2012. You need to go there and comment on that post to be eligible to win.

I ran across this image on facebook today. We can all use more fiber! Can't we? ;)

On to the testing going on. I have found a group of wonderful test knitters that have been kind enough to give my patterns a test run. This process has actually humbled me... as I have found out I am far from perfect! And now I understand the importance of having patterns tested BEFORE actually listing them to sell! No matter how confident a designer is in their ability to knit and write patterns, testing should be a top priority. It gives you the chance to see your patterns through the eyes of another. It has sure opened my eyes! I will be re-writing 2 of the 3 hat patterns being tested so far. Once they have been fine tuned I will be re-listing them and will be posting errata on my website. The feedback I've received from my testers has proved to be invaluable! Thanks a million to these gracious ladies! You've been life savers! I will definitely continue to have each and every new pattern tested before hand from now on.

My Knitting Contest is well Underway

I'm so excited! The contest is finally picking up! I only had 5 entries this morning and now there are several more! We still have 10 days to go, so keep the comments coming in. You'll find the official contest in my previous post. So you need to leave your comment on that post in order to enter. Here's the direct link to the contest: A One-Skein Wonder Book Giveaway
I'm receiving lots of feedback on what you like to knit. You see, I'm in the process of creating a collection of knitwear designs that I plan to self-publish in book form early next year. So I'm asking everyone to tell me what your favorite knitting patterns are. Your opinions will help to create my book! I want to designs items that you'll want to knit! It's as simple as that! So... head on over to the contest below and tell me what you would like to see in the collection! Your thoughts and opinions mean everything to me! And please do share the link to my Giveaway if you haven't done so already. Even blogging about it will earn you an extra entry. Thank you in advance!

A One-Skein Wonder Book Giveaway

So... I mentioned last week that I was going to be having a contest. After reviewing my knitting book library, I have finally made my decision on which book is going up for grabs first. Please read through to the bottom of this post to see how you can earn extra entries and have a greater chance of winning!
This month's book is titled "Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders". This is a wonderful book for knitting up some small indulgences. Lustrous alpaca is one of my favorite fibers to work with and this book has patterns for that! It also includes patterns for using such luxury yarns as organic cotton, bamboo, cashmere, silk, eco-friendly soy, corn, angora, and mohair, to the exquisite qiviut. Now you can knit small treasures using yarns you've been dreaming of. So go ahead and indulge yourself!
Contributors include designers, yarn manufacturers, and well-known knitting and crocheting teachers. There are also a few crochet patterns for the diverse fiber artists among us.

This contest will end at midnight Pacific time on Sept. 30th. That gives you 2 full weeks to help me out! How are you going to help me out you ask? All you need to do is leave a comment below and tell me what your favorite knitting patterns are. Do you enjoy knitting socks, scarves, sweaters, etc...? As you know, I'm in the process of designing a collection of knitwear for my own book. So your opinions count! What are you interested in knitting?! I want to create wearable items that you will want to knit!
Now for the extracurricular methods of earning extra entries. Each of these activities will count as one extra entry. Blog about this contest on your blog! Tweet about this contest and follow me on twitter @BayAreaKnitter (counts as one entry). Share this post with your friends on facebook, "Like" me on facebook here http://www.facebook.com/KnittingwithChristine, and/or join this site and follow me on Google friend connect (Click the "join this site" button on my sidebar). If you do all of these things you'll earn 6 entries. Please be sure to link back to this blog post when sharing on your blog, twitter and facebook. Also tell me in your comment which methods you used to enter as well as provide links to your posts and tweets. Also be sure to leave an email address or your Twitter or Ravelry screen name so I can contact you if you are the winner!
Winner will be announced on October 1st.
Comments will be pending until I can approve them. So don't worry if your comment takes a few hours or even a day to show up. I do this to make sure I don't miss any comments. I get an email notification when you submit.  ;)
This contest is open Internationally to anyone anywhere! I don't want to leave anyone out.  
So what are you waiting for? On your mark, get set, Go!  ;)