Episode Four - The Fold Line and Knitting Pipeline Recap

Episode Four of the Bag Bliss Podcast and other announcement....

Episode 4 of the Bag Bliss Podcast - click here

Recap of the Knitting Pipeline Cornerstone- 

The Weather in Washington Ill was seasonally warm but cool in the mornings and nights. What a charming little town! We mainly congregated in the Washington Room which was part of the Cornerstone Inn. We ate our included dinners in the Washington Room and had one group dinner at a local restaurant who accommodated the entire group and had amazing chicken and pasta dishes.

One of our "break out" classes was learning the Knit Companion app which is available on the iTunes App store for your iPhone and iPad. The KnitCompanion Class was led by, Debbie, debr57 on Ravelry, but other retreat attendees all joined in offering their knowledge of this great knitting app which helped all who participated. There is a free version of the app as well as a paid for version with loads more options. The paid for version is 9.99 for a year subscription. I can confirm the Knit Companion App works in Airplane mode on your iPhone or iPad making it very useful to access your patterns while you are traveling. 

First ever Vendor Market with two project bag vendors - Prairie Bag Works and MariaElenabliss, as well as some wonderful raffle prizes which included a much coveted fall color way gradient yarn set from Karen Grover of Sevensistersarts. Karen also graciously gifted each of us a small sample skein of her yarn. Thank you so much Karen. And while we are on the subject, please leave a comment on the Third Episode of the Bag Bliss show notes to win a full skein of Sevensistersarts yarn in her NEW color way in her Meridian base fingering yarn in the Cripple Creek color.

Also, part of the retreat, was a much anticipated lunch at Paula's beautiful home! I know Paula sometimes describes the area where she lives and her back yard full of nature, on her podcast, but truly nothing can compare with being there. Fall was at its peak off her lovely deck and we were able to see the chickadees and other birds which visit her bird feeders as well as a fox which came to visit us. Our lunch was so yummy and included some special deserts which had us guiltily going back for seconds. We brought our knitting and were able to see shawls which Paula had knit or designed. We also had a demonstration of the iron Paula had mentioned in one of her podcasts the Euro Iron 1000W which was amazing. Some of us took turns being interviewed by Paula for her podcast, so if you would like to get a flavor of the day....you can click here! 

A few of us who attended had joined and finished our Summertide MKAL Shawls by Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade. Many others had joined the MKAL and were in the process of knitting their shawls but had not finished. The finished shawls were inspirational and Summertide Shawl in particular by Isewfor4dance (on Ravelry), inspired the purchase of a special skein of speckled yarn during our Yarn Hop at the Cornerstone Retreat! I will be using my skein to make the Elowen Shawl by Judy Marples .

The other announcement concerning the MKAL Summertide is it will close tomorrow, October 31st and there are some great prizes to be won. So if you haven’t yet finished, I hope you will be motivated by the skeins of yarn from of Skein and Meadow yarn, The Bliss Bag from my Etsy shop in the Tokyo Train Ride fabric. Link to MKAL Sponsors!

Knitting: 

2. Third Whispering Island Shawl in SevenSistersarts Atlas worsted weight 100% Corridale yarn in the Platinum color way. Karen Grover's lovely yarn is on SALE!!! So please follow the links on this blog to get some of your very own! I am making this one out of worsted to get the biggest shawl possible and this one is for me. I have already gifted my first Whispering Island and will gift the second Whispering Island in Arcadia yarn for the Holidays.

1. Also on the needles, it the Oak Flat Road Shawl  by Romi Hill in her new book  New Lace Knitting , Designs for Wide Open Spaces, in Quince and Co Tern. I have chosen to knit mine in two colors..I am knitting the neck or border of this shawl in a darker tern…Wampum and the body of the shawl in Dusk. The original shawl is made from Q & Co Tern in the Kelp color way which is a rich gold. The instructions and chart for Romi’s patterns are amazing and clear and once you finish one of her shawls you will be impressed with not only the shawl itself, but your knitting ability and yet, step by step it is interesting and relatively easy to knit..I promise..I highly recommend this book which promises hours of great knitting and beautiful projects.
2. Continuing on the needles- I made good progress in the Ravi Jr. I am making for my youngest granddaughter, Mia. Ravi Jr. is a pattern by Carol Feller, of Stolen Stitches. I have knit the Ravi sweater for myself and my Mom and now knitting the child version for my granddaughter out of Q & Co Tern in the Wampum and Dusk color ways. making it two colors. 

Sewing:  There were lots of compliments at the retreat for my new Combo Top- from the Handmade Style Book by Anna Graham and the Sorbetto FREE sleeveless top pattern by Collette. I also entered this with my first Whispering Island Shawl as an ensemble in the Curious Handmade Wardrobe Challenge. And hope you have joined this event on Ravelry. The Handmade Wardrobe Challenge was discussed at the KP Cornerstone retreat and many who attended entered and posted their fO’s in the thread and spoke about being inspired to start sewing or dust off their sewing machines and begin sewing again…thank you Helen…you truly are inspirational The Curious Handmade Wardrobe Challenge will also end tomorrow October 31st, so if you haven’t posted your pictures of your challenge be sure to do this on the Finished Object Thread on the Curious Handmade Group in Ravelry. Also, Helen is offering her annual Knitvent Collection for pre purchase right now, at a discount for this wonderful Collection of six patterns including two Shawls.

The biggest news in Sewing is the creation of a "Ravelry like" community Sewing site called TheFold Line. Make sure you join the community and get your fold line ID as soon as possible. I am also mariaeb on TheFoldLine. So think of Ravelry when it first started, but for sewing. There will be free patterns. So sign up to socialize, keep up to date with sewing news and make friends. 

If you love podcasts I highly recommend a new Sewing podcast called Seamwork Radio. There are currently three episodes on iTunes and they are wonderful interviews with various sewists. There is also a blog and a Seamwork magazine for you to subscribe to.  

So, to recap: 1. Curious handmade challenges, Summertide MKAL and Handmade Wardrobe Challenge both closing tomorrow, so post your Finished Objects

2. Check out the KnitCompanion App for a wonderful way to follow your knitting projects and stay on task.

3. The new book by Romi Hill is a great addition to your knitting library, this book is by Interweave Press

4. Register for TheFoldLine to keep current on sewing news and patterns as well as make new friends

5. Leave comments on the show notes for Episode 3 of the Bag Bliss Podcast for your chance to win a skein of SevenSistersArts Meridian base yarn in the CrippleCreek color way. I will keep this open for another week to give others a chance to leave a comment and will randomly draw for this skein and announce on the 5th episode of the Bag Bliss podcast. 

6. Remember to sign up for the Bliss Bulletin my Newsletter, join the Bag Bliss group on Ravelry, Like the FB page to keep up with specials and news from my Etsy shop and follow the MariaElenaBliss IG posts and subscribe to the podcast. 

Have a wonderful weekend, a great new start to November and happy sewing and knitting!  

Music for the show “Springish"was provided by artist Andi Gillicuddy with his permission from freemusicarchive.org site. Andi is a young guitar artist and lives in Germany. If you love his music check out his site: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/gillicuddy/Plays_Guitar/