Falling in love with a new-to-me yarn is one of my favorite parts of knitting. This happened to me when I tried Dragonfly Fiber's gorgeous Djinni Sock yarn recently. A blend of merino, cashmere and nylon gives it a wonderful hand, and the just-right ply makes for delightful knitting. When I was a young, I spent a lot of time in Arizona. I loved nothing more than to ride through the hills, exploring beautiful canyons and desert vistas. It was on one of these rides that I discovered a whole hillside of petroglyphs. Ancient carved rock pictures of snakes and stick figures captured my imagination. No wonder I felt compelled to make the Petroglyph Socks from Anne Podlesak's Western-inspired book, Free Spirit Knits . I modified the Petroglyph pattern by making a rounded toe. If I had it to do over again, I think I'd choose a yarn that is a true solid so the socks' stitch pattern would show up better. That said, I know I'll get a lot of use out of these socks. I like the pattern, and the yarn makes the socks heavenly to wear. I will be reviewing Free Spirit Knits and offering a brand new copy as a giveaway in the coming weeks. - Resources: Dragonfly Fibers offers many weights of yarn, in a staggering array of gorgeous colors. I encourage readers to purchase books through their local yarn shops. Please ask for Free Spirit Knits there. You can check out the patterns in the book on the book's Ravelry page . Anne Podlesak offers many great patterns on Ravelry.

You may remember I've been working on the second level of the TKGA Master Hand Knitting Program . I'm learning to be a stickler for gauge (oh dear, I've become one of those people). In Level 2, we have to write instructions for our swatches, including gauge. A tool that I'm finding to be helpful is the Gaugefy app for Apple devices. It's very easy to calculate gauge, since it lets you enter any measurement for your swatch - you're not stuck with 4" x 4" for example. It then takes the stitches and rows in your swatch and calculates stitches per inch. You can then hit the "Create" button to go to a page that allows you to to use your stitches-per-inch calculation in a number of ways. I like using it to get the 4" gauge to put into the gauge section of my patterns. Or you can you can estimate the measurements that you'll get using a certain number of repeats. Or go the other way and figure out how many repeats you'll get in a given measurement. This handy app has a free version which I use all the time. For $1.99 you can get a version with even more features. It will store your gauges for you for future reference. As a designer, this is really handy. I can have at my fingertips the gauges for yarns I use in design work, or gauges for specific stitch patterns. Gaugefy seems like such a simple little app, yet is very handy! You can check it out for free in iTunes and upgrade to the paid (but still really inexpensive) version if you'd like to be able to save the results of your swatches, including yarn and needle size.

Like a bystander being swept up into the mob surging into a free Black Eyed Peas concert, I'm suddenly surrounded by everything Craftsy . I'm just now discovering what all the excitement's about. Craftsy bills itself as "the fastest-growing online crafting community on the web." It offers online classes, workshops, patterns from indie designers, and an area for sharing photos of finished projects. It includes all manner of crafts, from cake decorating to weaving. My focus is knitting, of course. I can't wait to try out some of the online classes. First, I'll try Gwen Bortner's Entrelac Knitting . I've taken a couple of classes from Gwen, and thoroughly enjoyed them. And I've always wanted to learn entrelac, in a curious-but-intimidated kind of way. So it's a perfect fit. I was delighted to see that Caro Sheridan, the ace photographer who worked on my book, offers a class. It's called Shoot It! A Product Photography Primer . Caro is an absolute genius, and her talent and fun personality make this a class I'd love to take too. I was lucky enough to win a free class of my choice during a TNNA event. I can take any class I want. How fun is that?! I have my eye on subjects ranging from short rows to lace shawl design. Or socks. Or cables. Or.... I'm having a blast getting caught up in the Craftsy phenomenon; now I know what all my crafty friends are talking about!

Reviews Archives - AudKnits

Custom Fit: Fun with Sweaters

Custom Fit: Fun with Sweaters

I am super excited to finally start my first Custom Fit sweater. The brainchild of designer Amy Herzog, the Custom [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T19:52:56-05:00October 12th, 2016|Favorite Things, How to knit, Reviews, Sweaters|0 Comments

Free Spirit Book Review

I love the Southwest. The colors and landscapes have a unique beauty and spirit about them. No wonder I was [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T19:54:51-05:00April 19th, 2016|Book Review, Giveaway, Reviews|3 Comments

Petroglyph Socks

Falling in love with a new-to-me yarn is one of my favorite parts of knitting. This happened to me when [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T19:54:58-05:00March 30th, 2016|Book Review, Projects, Reviews, Socks, Yarn|1 Comment

Giveaway and Book Review: New Lace Knitting

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY - In the knitting world, lace offers a romantic flair. Since it's Valentine's Day, I'm celebrating by giving away [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T19:55:55-05:00February 13th, 2016|Book Review, Giveaway, Reviews|40 Comments

Book Review & Giveaway: Unexpected Cables

In the past year I've gotten to know designer Heather Zoppetti's work through industry trade shows. I admire her patterns and attention [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T19:56:22-05:00December 8th, 2015|Book Review, Giveaway, Reviews|31 Comments

Gaugefy App

You may remember I've been working on the second level of the TKGA Master Hand Knitting Program. I'm learning to [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:01:35-05:00February 27th, 2014|Design Process, Favorite Things, Master Knitters Program, Reviews, Software/Apps|0 Comments

Cast On, Bind Off: 211 Ways to Begin and End Your Knitting

My latest favorite knitting book is Cap Sease's Cast On, Bind Off: 211 Ways to Begin and End Your Knitting. [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:03:13-05:00May 29th, 2013|Book Review, Reviews|5 Comments

Entrelac Online: Part 1 (or, Craftsty – My New Best Friend)

When I heard that Gwen Bortner now teaches her Entrelac Knitting course online, I was excited to check it out. You may [...]

By AudKnits|2012-07-23T10:07:14-04:00July 23rd, 2012|Class & Worshop Reviews, Reviews|0 Comments

Craftsy

Like a bystander being swept up into the mob surging into a free Black Eyed Peas concert, I'm suddenly surrounded by [...]

By AudKnits|2012-07-03T07:26:46-04:00July 3rd, 2012|Reviews|0 Comments