Monday's Musing

"Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours” - Swedish proverb

That pretty much covers it, I think. :) Have a great week!

Happy Friday!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I'm back to work Friday, along with a ton of other people - especially retailers! :) But somehow, I just can't get into calling the Friday after Thanksgiving "Black Friday." It sounds so ominous! I do have a special today, though.

Enter TWIRLIES at checkout on my site and receive 15% off my copper twist pin, el_85!

The offer lasts until midnight EST on Wednesday, December 2nd.

And the contest? Retweet (mentioning this blog post and @RomiDesigns), blog about, comment on Facebook or Ravelry, or plurk about my special with appropriate link to my post here (and please let me know!), and be entered to win a pdf copy of my Verdigris sock pattern! I will choose a winner next Tuesday, December 1st.

Happy Thanksgiving

My very favorite holiday. How can you not love a day set aside to feel thankful and fortunate for all you have? :)

From my home to yours: a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I feel so thankful for you all: my friends and family. Have a wonderful day!

FTW

First of all, congratulations to theindigomuse for winning my little contest! She was chosen randomly from all the people who tweeted, plurked, posted and whatever-elsed about my special. (The special is still good, btw, until midnight EST tonight!) She wins a Dynamique sock pattern!

Around here, fall is lagging behind the east coast, but the leaves are finally turning. The Sycamore leaves in the neighborhood don't turn colors other than brown, but there are other interesting things about them! The tree on our corner has the most gigantic leaves I think I've ever seen on a tree. Here's Dr. Destructo (we didn't call him that for awhile, but it is, once more, very fitting :sigh:) holding a leaf bigger than his head.

Impressive, no?

Off to hammer a few pins and finish up my shawl. I am really looking forward to tomorrow. :)

Monday's Musing

"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” - Albert Einstein

Go! Play! :)

And have a great week.

Special

First, I wanted to thank everyone for your incredibly kind comments! They really mean a lot to me. I'm not able to respond to everyone because I don't have your email addresses, but please know that I love your comments and appreciate the heck out of you all!

And now...

Special! Special!

Enter COPPERSWIRL at checkout on my site and receive 15% off my copper swirl penannular, el_46!

The offer lasts until midnight EST on Wednesday, November 25th.

And the contest? Retweet (mentioning this blog post and @RomiDesigns), blog about, comment on Facebook or Ravelry, or plurk about my special with appropriate link to my post here (and please let me know!), and be entered to win a pdf copy of my Dynamique sock pattern! I will choose a winner next Tuesday, November 24th.

Decisions, decisions

It's still fall here in wine country.

But today I was inside for the most part, perusing my lace books, including my new Susannah Lewis book from Schoolhouse Press. I'm thrilled that Meg was able to reprint this book! It's a great chance for us all to own it without breaking the bank.

I'm trying to decide what to do with some lace weight yarn from elann.com.

I'm leaning towards the grey. What do you think? Grey with beads? The red is actually richer than it looks here, but I'm not feeling red today. The brown is...brown.

Rain is coming tonight.

After the Rain

My friend blogless Sandi was saying what a gorgeous walk she had with her dog this morning. The sky was bright blue and the raindrops were still clinging to everything, like little prisms. So I went exploring with the new camera.

It's amazing what you find in your own yard.

The drops were still clinging to everything.

It didn't seem like a very heavy rain, but it had bent the shrubbery to the ground.

I saw that our roses are blooming.

I think they may be a bit confused. But beautiful nonetheless.

I'm enjoying this camera so much!

I am feeling very thankful right now for many things. But most especially for beauty and graciousness. :)

Through the Glass

First, a big congratulations to jenipherreads, who won my little give away! She re-tweeted my special, and was chosen over at random.org to receive a Queen Wil sock pattern!

Today has been an exciting one here at Chez Romi. After saving for some time, last week I ordered a new camera, a digital body to go with all of my husband's lenses (that I have now appropriated), and it came today! In a previous life as a photographer, DH had amassed a nice collection of camera equipment, but he quit when digital began to take the place of film. Well, I have to tell you, the new camera and lenses make the old and mundane appear beautiful, shiny and new! I give you my swatch for Lacy Ribbons.

My spinning basket.

My spinning.

My little Thumbelina wheel.

Yarn on a niddy noddy.

My ball winder.

My handspun.

And another shot that I couldn't resist.

More handspun. This one is silk/camel. Mmmmmmmm.

The shawl pattern I'm currently working on.

Verdigris mitts.

Verdigris mitts redux.

Queen Wil, Verdigris and Dynamique socks.

Delta Queen.

And the only red leaves on our Japanese Maple.

I had a wonderful time today. :)

Another Secret Revealed!

The Interweave Knits Winter preview is up! And another of my secret projects is revealed: Lacy Ribbons.


This is my favorite winter secret. :)

Monday's Musing

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.” - Oprah Winfrey

My husband is always saying "Be thankful for what you have, not sorry for what you don't have." :)

I am feeling very very thankful today. Have a lovely week, everyone!

Do the Twist

The exquisite Winter 2009 issue of Twist Collective is up!!! This time they outdid themselves. Well, actually they always do. :) It's a gorgeous issue! And I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of it. My stole, Manderley (those of you who have read Rebecca know that Manderley is the estate in that book) is in a zig zag pattern and knitted out of luxurious silk/cashmere/alpaca yarn from bbknits.


Yum!

The pattern has both charted and written instructions, and is available for $6 from Twist Collective.

Enjoy!

Happy Friday the 13th! + A Weekly Special

My husband, and some other people I know, swear that Friday the 13th is their lucky day. On the other hand, the fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia. Quite a mouthful, eh? Here is some other info on Friday the 13th. It's interesting!

Well, I'm still working away on my yummy mohair and beads, but meanwhile, I have a special for you! Enter KILTISH at checkout on my site and receive 15% off my nickel swirl kilt pin, el_55n!

The offer lasts until midnight EST on Tuesday, November 17th!

And the contest? Retweet (mentioning this blog post and @RomiDesigns), blog about, comment on Facebook, or plurk about my special with appropriate link to my post here (and please let me know!), and be entered to win a pdf copy of my Queen Wil sock pattern! I will choose a winner next Tuesday, November 17th.

You may notice that my site is getting a bit of a long long needed face lift. I had been so busy that I hadn't gotten around to doing it, even though I had been working on others' sites and design projects. But I got to the point that I couldn't stand to look at it any longer! So I took the time to start. It was somewhat painful, but not as bad as I thought it would be! I only had one major screw up, and even that was fixed fairly quickly with the help of site wide global find and replace! :) It's still a work in progress, but thankfully, it doesn't make me squeamish to look at it any longer!

Have a great weekend, everyone! I'm off to a swim meet this weekend. Yes, an outdoor swim meet. Brrrrrrrr. At least I won't be wet like the poor kids!

Many Thanks

It's late in the day, but I hope not too late to give our veterans a heart felt thank you for your service. I so appreciate what you have done and do every day. My husband is a veteran and jokes that he wears his veteran's hat twice a year. Veteran's Day is one of those days, and he has had people thanking him all day for his service. It really means a lot to him to know that he is appreciated.

In other news, I've finished my garter stitch mohair/silk shawl. Here it sits, awaiting blockage:

You'll have to take my word for it that it's pretty. :) And I've started the beaded stockinette version.

I am really loving knitting this thing. The color is luminous! I wish my photography could do it justice. I'm hoping to finish it this weekend at the swim meet in Vallejo. There will be plenty of knitting time! Next week, I'll block them both and post pics.

Also this weekend, the winter issue of Twist Collective is coming out, and I have a design in it! It is due out Sunday, and I can't wait to see it. I really love Twist. The "stories" are inventive, the photography is exquisite, and the designs are high quality. I'm honored to be included!

And the winner is....

SbutterAMfly (Kristen TenDyke) wins a Bluebird pattern! Kristen was chosen by the random number generator at random.org after she retweeted my special and contest. Congratulations, Kristen!

btw, not only is Kristen an amazing designer, she tech edited my book. She's teh awesome. :)

Monday's Musing

"Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer" - William S. Burroughs

I need to remind myself of this often. I've been too stressed lately! I used to do my best work on my bicycle. :) How do you relax?

I wanted to thank everyone for letting me know which famous person they would like to spend some time with. I loved the answers!

Beautiful!

Yesterday, I finally made it back to my Saturday morning knitting group after about a month of swim meets. It was so great to see everyone!

Jamie had some glass that her husband had made recently, and I was ogling one of the pendants. So she forced it upon me. Really. I didn't want to take the most gorgeous one, but she made me do it! :grin:

Isn't it lovely? I really didn't do it justice.

Thank you so much, Jamie! I haven't taken it off since you gave it to me. I love how light it is, and the way it holds the warmth of my body when it's on. I think your hubby needs to set up a shop. Etsy would work. :)

Classic

One of my secret projects is seeing the light of day! I love that I can finally share this with you; it was difficult to keep it under wraps. In the past few months, I've been lucky enough to work with Classic Elite Yarns and designer Tonia Barry on a new holiday shawl kit!

I designed a twist pin to go with Tonia's lovely asymmetrical wrap, Giselle.

The kits are now up on the Classic Elite site, and will be coming to a store near you soon! I had a great time, and enjoyed working with the folks at CEY immensely!

Mohair and Beads (+ a special!)

Well, I've bound off the shawl I was knitting and now I'm about to embark upon the beaded stockinette version! I always save the best for last. :) I've been knitting away at swim practice and I have to tell you that this shawl has been such a great lap warmer, and perfect take-along knitting. The chart is super super easy to memorize. I ended using three balls of Silken Kydd. But you'll see after I block it! Next up: brilliant purple/magenta kidsilk haze (I think it's a discontinued color, unfortunately) with some amazing beads that I found in my bead store travels.

Aren't those beads gorgeous? They're blue with a magenta core. Don't they look incredible with the yarn?

I am swooning over here!

And last but definitely not least is my special. I stopped having weekly specials for a bit, but I'm re-instituting them since they're so much fun! And I love having the little contests with them. Through Monday, November 9th (ends midnight, EST) take 15% off my nickel swirl twist pin (el_85n) when you enter TWISTY at checkout.

This is my current favorite pin. It's so easy to twist in, and so simple! Here it is in use:

And the contest? Retweet (mentioning this blog post and @RomiDesigns), blog about, comment on Facebook, or plurk about my special with appropriate link to my post here (and please let me know!), and be entered to win a pdf copy of my shawl pattern, Bluebird! I will choose a winner next Tuesday, November 10th. May the best lace knitter win!

Monday's Musing

"You can close the windows and darken your room, and you can open the windows and let light in. It is a matter of choice. Your mind is your room. Do you darken it or do you fill it with light?" - Remez Sasson

Have a great week, everyone!

Happy November!

Today, November 1, is the last day to get your signing bonus when you join my Pins & Lace Club! Sign-ups will be open until December 15, but sign up by today and get some extra holiday cheer!

Sterling balls of yarn earrings are back in stock!

Woot!

In other news, the wonderful Sharon, aka Skylark, is hosting a Queen Wil knit-along in my Ravelry Group starting today!


Come on over and join us! :D

My new shawl is progressing really well!

Yesterday, at the swim meet, I got a ton of knitting done while waiting for the boys' events. The lace pattern is super easy to memorize, so it make superb travel knitting. Can I just add that I am so thrilled to be home today?! This was the third swim meet in four weeks, and we were so hoping that #1 Son would choose not to go today. I was all in favor of putting my parental foot down, but DH wanted it to be #1 Son's decision. The Bear didn't want to go back today, so it would have been a split of kids, one parent per kid. Thankfully, though, we didn't have to get to the parental foot since #1 Son was just so tired that he wanted to stay home. So we all went out trick or treating last night in the neighborhood, and ended up at the local firehouse where our Kiwanis Club (DH is a member) puts on an annual costume party with apple bobbing and pinatas. It was so much fun watching the kids! The best part was putting on #1 Son's vampire make-up. When #1 Son went downstairs after his make-up session, DH said he was unrecognizable. The Bear dressed up as a soldier, so we were joking that his only make-up was a piece of charcoal (which it was). It was a wonderful night. :)

Hope you all enjoyed Halloween! Happy November!