we have a winner!
I love giving away prizes. :) I particularly love it when I actually recognize the person who has won! It's just so much fun seeing someone you know randomly come up as the winner after also seeing them around on the Ravelry forum and in the club. I'm stalling, right? Suspense is so much fun, isn't it? No?
The winner is Victoria! And when I clicked on her profile, I saw that she is our own terraki from Ravelry! Congratulations Victoria! You have won a skein of Miss Babs Wild Silk in Roasted Pumpkin and the beads to do Fiori Autunnali!
Since I never had time to do this when I returned from shooting the Craftsy class, I'm just going to tell a little about my trip and sessions!
There's a lot of work that goes into the class to begin with, and we started months and months before my shoot date to put together the concept and outline. Stefanie had asked me to do an exclusive project as a basis for my class, and I knew right away that I wanted to do a V-shaped shawl in laceweight yarn, because that's the class request I most often get from knitters (because of Madroña). I wanted it to be a relatively simple knit otherwise, one that would flow off the needles. Fiori di Sole came to mind, as I have heard so many comment that it is much easier than it looks, and that the body pattern is simple to memorize and satisfying to knit. I proposed that I combine elements from those two shawls, Stefanie agreed, and Fiori Autunnali was born!
I set to work on an outline. From my experience teaching and from questions my moderators and I have gotten in my Ravelry forum, I then chose topics to be covered. To me, the most important thing was to let everyone know that anyone can knit lace, and that anyone can knit with laceweight yarn! I wanted to let you all know how I started to knit lace, and how - when I did my first project - I was absolutely clueless about so many things, but by the time I finished, I had so, so many new skills. I know that if I could do it, anyone can. And I wanted to share so many things that I have learned along my journey to where I am today: how different fibers react when knitted into lace, how beads look so different when knitted into a swatch, how lace knitted in laceweight yarn will look absolutely terrible before it's blocked.... And then the special bits of this project: how to begin in the round, how to separate into the V shape, how to keep track of charts, how to block your shawl. I had a pretty involved outline, when I spoke to Stefanie again on the phone. We talked about how to show the techniques, and I realized that I couldn't easily show it on a full sized shawl, so the doll-sized shawl was born and I got back to work!
Fast forward: the Thursday before I flew out to Denver, I had my nails done so they would look all pretty, gathered my clothes together, and looked over everything again to make sure I had all of my materials! My flight was Sunday midday, and I was feeling pretty good that morning until this happened:
It had to happen on Sunday, right? Yikes! Off we went to the airport, stopping along the way to get some nail polish in case nothing else could be done. When I got into Denver, I knew I wasn't in the west any longer.
Tornado Shelter? And you all worry about earthquakes? ;)
Craftsy sent a Towncar to pick me up from the airport and I got to the Magnolia Hotel at about 5:20. The first thing I did was ask about a nail salon! The concierge knew of one, called them, and let them know I was coming. It was only a few blocks away, and so I walked. They were so nice, and they fixed me right up! The stress faded a little at that point, and I grabbed a Jamba Juice on the way back and enjoyed the city evening as I walked back. I loved seeing the pianos along the way, and one of them was actually occupied!
In my room, I enjoyed the view while I tried really really hard to relax. Beautiful!
The next morning, the make-up artist picked us up (there were two other instructors) and we headed on over to the studio. As I was being fixed up pretty, Stefanie walked in and she was - and I kid you not - green. She went home, thankfully, because really. The poor thing was sick. So the crochet producer filled in and we got started! That first day, we set up, did two lessons, moved things around, and knocked off around 6.
Stefanie was back the next day and her usual sparkling and healthy self! Thanks be for 24 hour bugs not lasting any longer than 24 hours. We shot four lessons, and off I went to meet my dear friend Jeanne, who kindly waited for me! No pics here, as we are camera-averse. :)
The next morning we shot the very last lesson and all (the production team) went out for a terrific lunch right next door. The salmon - my litmus stick for any truly great restaurant - was delicious! Back we went to do all the extra shots, from which the editors would choose when putting it all together. It's way better to have too much than too little! Stefanie took this picture of me "doing the diva." Notice the flip-flops. It was hot in that studio!
Stefanie was catching up on her knitting.
We finished a little early and went to visit Fancy Tiger, the local yarn shop.
It's a beautifully curated shop, with a fabric section,
and their own line of wool.
We had coffee and then Stefanie headed back home to her poor sick baby girl (that 24 hour bug moved fast! and caught Stefanie's family) and I went back to my room to relax, have some Pho, and stare out the window at the smoke from all the surrounding fires.
The Towncar picked me up the next morning and whisked me back to the airport. And then this princess turned back into plain old Cinderella and headed back home to her kids and puppies.
It was a grand adventure.
...and you can get 25% off the result with this linky. :)
The winner is Victoria! And when I clicked on her profile, I saw that she is our own terraki from Ravelry! Congratulations Victoria! You have won a skein of Miss Babs Wild Silk in Roasted Pumpkin and the beads to do Fiori Autunnali!
Since I never had time to do this when I returned from shooting the Craftsy class, I'm just going to tell a little about my trip and sessions!
There's a lot of work that goes into the class to begin with, and we started months and months before my shoot date to put together the concept and outline. Stefanie had asked me to do an exclusive project as a basis for my class, and I knew right away that I wanted to do a V-shaped shawl in laceweight yarn, because that's the class request I most often get from knitters (because of Madroña). I wanted it to be a relatively simple knit otherwise, one that would flow off the needles. Fiori di Sole came to mind, as I have heard so many comment that it is much easier than it looks, and that the body pattern is simple to memorize and satisfying to knit. I proposed that I combine elements from those two shawls, Stefanie agreed, and Fiori Autunnali was born!
I set to work on an outline. From my experience teaching and from questions my moderators and I have gotten in my Ravelry forum, I then chose topics to be covered. To me, the most important thing was to let everyone know that anyone can knit lace, and that anyone can knit with laceweight yarn! I wanted to let you all know how I started to knit lace, and how - when I did my first project - I was absolutely clueless about so many things, but by the time I finished, I had so, so many new skills. I know that if I could do it, anyone can. And I wanted to share so many things that I have learned along my journey to where I am today: how different fibers react when knitted into lace, how beads look so different when knitted into a swatch, how lace knitted in laceweight yarn will look absolutely terrible before it's blocked.... And then the special bits of this project: how to begin in the round, how to separate into the V shape, how to keep track of charts, how to block your shawl. I had a pretty involved outline, when I spoke to Stefanie again on the phone. We talked about how to show the techniques, and I realized that I couldn't easily show it on a full sized shawl, so the doll-sized shawl was born and I got back to work!
Fast forward: the Thursday before I flew out to Denver, I had my nails done so they would look all pretty, gathered my clothes together, and looked over everything again to make sure I had all of my materials! My flight was Sunday midday, and I was feeling pretty good that morning until this happened:
It had to happen on Sunday, right? Yikes! Off we went to the airport, stopping along the way to get some nail polish in case nothing else could be done. When I got into Denver, I knew I wasn't in the west any longer.
Tornado Shelter? And you all worry about earthquakes? ;)
Craftsy sent a Towncar to pick me up from the airport and I got to the Magnolia Hotel at about 5:20. The first thing I did was ask about a nail salon! The concierge knew of one, called them, and let them know I was coming. It was only a few blocks away, and so I walked. They were so nice, and they fixed me right up! The stress faded a little at that point, and I grabbed a Jamba Juice on the way back and enjoyed the city evening as I walked back. I loved seeing the pianos along the way, and one of them was actually occupied!
In my room, I enjoyed the view while I tried really really hard to relax. Beautiful!
The next morning, the make-up artist picked us up (there were two other instructors) and we headed on over to the studio. As I was being fixed up pretty, Stefanie walked in and she was - and I kid you not - green. She went home, thankfully, because really. The poor thing was sick. So the crochet producer filled in and we got started! That first day, we set up, did two lessons, moved things around, and knocked off around 6.
Stefanie was back the next day and her usual sparkling and healthy self! Thanks be for 24 hour bugs not lasting any longer than 24 hours. We shot four lessons, and off I went to meet my dear friend Jeanne, who kindly waited for me! No pics here, as we are camera-averse. :)
The next morning we shot the very last lesson and all (the production team) went out for a terrific lunch right next door. The salmon - my litmus stick for any truly great restaurant - was delicious! Back we went to do all the extra shots, from which the editors would choose when putting it all together. It's way better to have too much than too little! Stefanie took this picture of me "doing the diva." Notice the flip-flops. It was hot in that studio!
Stefanie was catching up on her knitting.
We finished a little early and went to visit Fancy Tiger, the local yarn shop.
It's a beautifully curated shop, with a fabric section,
and their own line of wool.
We had coffee and then Stefanie headed back home to her poor sick baby girl (that 24 hour bug moved fast! and caught Stefanie's family) and I went back to my room to relax, have some Pho, and stare out the window at the smoke from all the surrounding fires.
The Towncar picked me up the next morning and whisked me back to the airport. And then this princess turned back into plain old Cinderella and headed back home to her kids and puppies.
It was a grand adventure.
...and you can get 25% off the result with this linky. :)
Labels: craftsy
posted by Romi at 1:40 PM
3 Comments:
Congratulations Victoria!!! So jealous! And thank you for the write up of your trip Romi.
Camera-averse?
Hard to believe .
I loved the account of your taping! How fabulous!
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