Third Episode of the Bag Bliss Podcast...and Give Away!!!

New Combo Top with Whispering Island Shawl

Hello, Everyone and thank you for joining me today! Episode 3 of the Bag Bliss Podcast,  "A Rolling Stone Gathers no Moss", is now live and you can either link from the MariaElenaBliss FB page or you can click here. In Episode 3, I wax on poetically about the Indigo/Shibori Class at the Knitting Pipeline Retreat, which Karen Grover of Sevensistersarts held for us. She had two sessions in which she so patiently guided us through the history of this fun new art and helped us decide what "design" or "relief" we would like to use to dye our silk scarves. I cannot wait to wear mine and after a final rinse which Karen explained mine is ready to wear! If you would like to see pictures of the dyeing process use the #kpmaine and you can see those along with general pictures of the fun which was had at this wonderful retreat! You can see my Indigo Dyed Silk Scarf on the FB page.

Thank you to Needlesbythemarsh, one of my Project Bag Club customers and winner of the Third Prize in the Where in the World Is MariaElenaBliss Contest on IG, for coming to the vendor fair and meeting us! It was a true pleasure to meet you in person! The contest continues, so if you have a MariaElenaBliss Project Bag, make sure you post a picture of the bag and yourself or you latest knitting project on IG with the hashtag wwismariaelenabliss (#wwismariaelenabliss) for your chance to win a project bag from the shop on December 31, 2015! The person who posts the most pictures, wins!!! It's that easy!

Knitting Needle Notes: Off the needles is my MKAL Summertide Shawl by Helen Stewart. There are so many gorgeous shawl pictures of the MKAL Ravelry spoiler thread and I encourage you to take a look at those and if you would rather not have your shawl be a mystery the pattern is for sale and you can purchase and start knitting your shawl with a picture of the end result. There will be several Give-Aways for this MKAL and MariaElenaBliss will be providing a Bliss Bag in the Tokyo Train Ride Fabric for one lucky winner! 

Off my needles is the Whispering Island Shawl also by Helen Stewart. After a long hunt for just the correct yarn I found my skeins of 100% Cormo DK in Portland Main at Port Fiber. A picture of the Shawl is the first in the show notes along side my "Combo Top" and I can hardly wait to wear both to the Knitting Pipeline Cornerstone Retreat in Washington, Illinois on the 21st of October! And yes, folks this is why I feel like a Rolling Stone! Not only is the shop super busy filling orders from the 2015 Project Bag Clubs, orders from the Maine Retreat, Etsy Orders, but I am also getting ready for yet another wonderful Knitting Pipeline Retreat! YEAH! I will be knitting the Whispering Island Shawl again, it was such an enjoyable knit! And soon gorgeous! Be sure to knit this one in a DK Weight yarn to get the results shown.

On my Sewing Needles: The 2015 4th Shipment of the Project Bag Clubs are being created this weekend along with all the extras! Thank you so much to my very patient club members for allowing me to take my time to get this shipment to you! 

Off my Sewing Needles: Are the orders from the Knitting Pipeline Maine Retreat vending, some super large orders from the Etsy Shop and my "Combo Top". I am so excited and proud to have been able to create this top, which fits so nicely and here is what I did:

I was originally going to make the Tunic Top from Anna Graham's new book Homemade Style, but after some thought, I decided to make the Tunic Top so I could wear as a dress instead of a tunic, and did not have enough of the fabric I purchased to add length. What I loved most about the Tunic, besides the placket front were the sleeves. I used two patterns to create the top shown above. 

I had a FREE pattern for the Sorbetto Top from Colette.com patterns which I had already made in a voile fabric and loved the fit of this top. Soo...I put on my brave hat and laid the two patterns one on top of the other matching waists and shoulders and viola, a Combo Top! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the results. Now, when I was matching, I was careful to match the two pattern at the waist and shoulders, the neck was a bit higher on the Tunic Top, but that was exactly the way I wanted the top. If you would like more instructions on how I got this done, let me know (email:mariaelenabliss@gmail.com) and I will post pictures of how I did this on my next blog!

The fabric I used for the Combo Top is Helen Luckett Bakers' Double Gauze in the Plus Dots in Plum color and I purchased this from Stashfabrics.com.  In the meantime download the Sorbetto Top with its lovely front placket and get started sewing! You can see many pictures of the Sorbetto Top on the web! 

The Give-Away!!! Thank you, so much to Karen of Sevensistersarts for this lovely skein of fingering weight yarn in her Meridian base and her NEW Cripple Creek color way (click here for picture of her three new yarn colors)for one lucky blog comment to win! Simply post a comment on this show note and I will randomly choose a winner once I return from the Knitting Pipeline Cornerstone Retreat at the end of October. That gives you plenty of time for your comment and lots of time to check out Karen's other beautiful skeins. Either introduce yourself and let me know how you are enjoying the podcast, share any pattern you might make with this lovely yarn, or let everyone know if you have used Karen's yarn before. But most important, please, please leave me information on how I can contact you if you win! Best of Luck!!!!

I will be sending out a Bliss Bulletin early next week! Please sign up for the Newsletter to receive a 10% code good in MariaElenaBliss Etsy shop. Be sure to forward the Bliss Bulletin to your BFFS (Best Fiber Friends) and share the fun! 

Follow me on IG, FB and don't forget to join the Bag Bliss Group on Ravelry.

You can contact me at: mariaelenabliss@gmail.com

Happy Knitting and Happy Sewing and as Always, Thank you for finding my Bliss!