Live Yarn Bombing from the Crafts & Hobbies Convention!

Bored? Listless? Yearning to voyeur? Well then, my friends have I got the thing for you! I'm teaming up with the set designer from Knitty Gritty to yarn bomb a tree that he's sculpted for us. Tune in on Sunday to watch a live feed of me covering all 10 ft of it with knitting pieces of Sheep(ish) yarn.  It'll be kind of like watching those feeds of birds in a nest...but with yarn and convention center lighting. ;-)

I'll be broadcasting using Ustream, so sign up today! You can log on by going to my channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vickie-howell OR, if just go to my Facebook page and click on the Ustream icon in the left-hand column. I'll get started at 10am PT, this Sunday.

I've never actually live streamed before, but I think you'll be able to chat comments while you're watching.

Hope to see you there!

Stitch.Rock.Love,

Vickie

Vogue Knitting Live This Weekend!

If you'll be in Manhattan this weekend, don't forget to stop by Vogue Knitting Live at the Hilton New York Hotel! Along with loads of courses taught by internationally renown teachers, a huge marketplace for your shopping pleasure and workshops run by industry leaders, I'll be there hosting the Beginner Lounge. Bring friends to learn how to knit, or swing by yourself to brush up on your crochet skills. 

Some of you who came to the L.A. show mentioned wanting to learn how to crochet flowers, so this time I'm coming prepared with a take-away pattern for Pretty Easy Petals!

Learn to make these at the Beginner Lounge!

Participants will walk away with a ball of *Sheep(ish) and hopefully, some new skills! Get info about the show here.

Hope to see you there!

Stitch.Rock.Love,

Vickie

P.S. Not going to be there? I'll be tweeting live for the event. Follow me @vickiehowell and look for hashtag #vogueknitlive.

Yarn Bombed Deer!

Sheep(ish) Deer for JoAnn Fabrics

Since November, I've been DYING to share the project that the JoAnn Stores marketing team commissioned me to create. Well, I just got word that it's finally ok to let the cat--or rather the deer--out of the bag. Meet my yarn bombed buck and fawn!

Sheep(ish) fawn. Crocheted in colors: Taupe(is), White(ish) & Pink(ish)

Crocheted flower made with Simply Soft Paints & Sheep(ish).

Sheep(ish) buck. Knitted (by both hand and using the Ultimate Sweater Machine) and crocheted.

Crocheted snowflake (pattern from Robyn Chachula's Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia),
made in color: Robin's Egg(ish).

Finished deer, hanging out in our back yard.

Some of you may remember me tweeting about learning how to use the Ultimate Sweater Machine for a big project. This was it! After I hand crocheted the fawn, I knew I wouldn't have time to do the same for the entire buck. Plus, I wanted knitting to be represented by the dynamic, deer duo--duh! My friend (and USM co-creator) Cari Clement, worked up the first 2 pieces for me which then inspired me to finally, take on the machine myself. I used a combination of hand and machine knitting to create the buck's body.

This was a challenging project, but a lot of fun to work on. It's really, the first time I've done anything like this. I'm also pretty happy that now when I get that inevitable question in interviews, "What's the weirdest thing you've ever knit or crocheted?", that I finally have an answer!

I've admittedly not been that into "yarn bombing" in the past, but now I'm hooked. I can't wait to show you what I'll be working on at the Crafts & Hobbies convention (CHA) later this month! In the meantime though, I'd love to hear about any objects-- straight forward or strange-- that you've covered in yarn!

Stitch.Rock.Love,

Vickie

T: @vickiehowell

FB: facebook.com/vickiehowell

New Sheep(ish) Pattern in Petite Purls!

The lastest issue of Petite Purls went live yesterday, and nestled amongst all of the adorable knit projects are my crocheted wrist warmers for kids!

Model: Clover / Photos: Dave Campbell

As a busy mama, wrist warmers are one of my favorite things to make. They serve the purpose of keeping little hands warm without restricting fingers from coloring, itsy-bitsy spider-ing, or playing on an iPad. They're quick enough to whip-up though, that I can feel a sense of accomplishment from actually finishing something. Anything. The Wristy Business version are crocheted, using front and back-post single crochet stitches to create an interesting texture and adding to the practicality of a button, ribbed cuff. These are sized from toddler to adult so make a pair for your kiddo, then treat yourself (and everyone you know) to a pair, too!

Get the pattern here, and the yarn to make 'em at select JoAnn and Michaels stores.

Stitch.Rock.Love,
Vickie

New Sheep(ish) Pattern: Baby M Blanket!

I originally designed this blanket for my brother's baby-to-be before we knew whether it was a he or a she. I started referring to the little nugget as Baby M (for Montoya, their last name); hence the name of this project. Since then, I've had the delight of becoming an aunt to the cutest baby boy in the entire world that I didn't also give birth to myself: Jacob Yoshio! But I digress.

For Jacob's blanket I went with his parents' preferred shades of calm and calmer, by pairing Sheep(ish) colors Taupe(ish) & White(ish) with just a splash of Turquoise(ish). It would look just as great though, in in a bold magenta & chartreuse or grey & yellow. I'm counting on you people, to work up all kinds of different color variations for me to see--so go nab the pattern today! ;-)

Stitch.Rock.Love,
Vickie