Bountiful Fridays v.3 March 14, 2014

And today, is the perfect day, for a little pay-it-forward…

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Adding a little spice to the sugar, today we invite you on a little trip…

Earlier this year, the lovely Michele Bernstein helped us on our photoshoot of TAURIEL in the forestry magic of Laurelhurst Park and this week wrote about it on her blog.

I had a great time working with Michele – she helped me with a huge reflector and did what I call “dotting the i’s & crossing the t’s”: making sure there were no weird clothing glitches or shadows or other stuff that the photographer has a hard time keeping track of in the middle of the fast paced work!

Chic Knits Tauriel, chic knits knit blog

It was a challenging shoot – the light was soft and atmospheric – very overcast, meaning Nature’s Softbox was helping us get a really pretty diffused look.

But it was also very moist out – actually started raining and that was a “hidden” drawback. In my last two photo shoots, dealing with intermittent rain and heavy humidity has been very challenging. When you shoot outside, there’s usually nowhere to hide and you just have to keep going.

Something new I found that happens is the model blinks much more than when it’s dry out! So next time, I need to take a few more shots to fool Mr. Rain!

Read Michele’s post here at PDXKnitterati where we’re giving away a copy of the pattern. Comment and join the fun!

Friday fun… February 28, 2014

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   Chic Knits ALBY strolling in Laurelhurst Park, Portland, Oregon

Happy Friday!

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…from our last visit to Bountiful Fridays on Chic Knits, February 21, 2014 :
the winner of The Knitter’s Book of Wool from last week:

Leah who writes (and I totally agree): “Give me a smooth, squishy merino yarn and I’m happy.”

Hear hear Leah! :)

Enjoy all the wonderful comments about us & wool from v.2 of Bountiful Fridays – we love it!

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Don’t miss us around the web – join in the fun here:

Bountiful Fridays continue on random Fridays – watch for the announcement in the Chic Knits newsletter…

Hope your weekend is full of knitting and delight –
Bonne Marie

Bountiful Fridays v.2 February 21, 2014

And today, is the perfect day, for a little pay-it-forward…

Chic Knits Knit Blog, bountiful fridays, chic knits, chicknits.com, free book

Something about knitting that is always true: there is always something MORE to learn…

Even though I’ve been knitting for ages now (and designing from Studio Chic Knits for way over 10 years), almost every day, some nugget of info enters the scene, sometimes shaking it up, sometimes helping an idea cross the bridge from a thought to the needle.

I’ve been trying to aid and abet the speed of the shaky times with as much information as I can find – so I have knit encyclopedias, how-to-books, stitch pattern books, etc. in lots of versions, types and publish dates.

But something that I found I needed to truly understand what knitting was all about was not in my sights until this:

Chic Knits Knit Blog Bountiful Fridays

First of all: Clara Parkes.

Known far and wide as the ultimate yarn whisperer, she really put the pedal to the metal on this tome and goes far and wide to give us a wonderful look into the way-back story of wool itself. From sheep breeds to the types of wool they produce to an abundance of project patterns to test your new knowledge (more than 20!), it’s all there.

Secondly: this is a great basic go-to book to have in any knitter’s library. Even if you never set foot on a farm or go to a festival, it is an easy way to catch up on the organic nature and mystery of what’s been living on your needles all this time (and, yes, no mud…) There’s been a great renaissance of small producers here in the U.S. (and around the globe) and this book is perfect to help understand the evolution of some of the fabulous yarns appearing on the scene.

{{So: if you’d like a copy of The Book of Wool, just leave a comment below telling us which type of fibery animal is your favorite and why!}} … Comments closed – stand-by for winner announcement …

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…from our last visit to Bountiful Fridays on Chic Knits: the winner of 2-skeins of ToshDK in the TART colorway is Sharon A. who writes, “I love knitting because it’s always in my heart.” yes.

THANKS SO much to everyone for taking the time to comment and share with us your joy in our beloved craft. I invite everyone to get a nice refreshing cuppa and linger over the comments – they are some wonderful, inspiring reading…

happy weekend & happy knitting,
Bonne Marie