There has been scheming going on. Scheming and plotting with a bit of nefarious activities on the side. All of it started around February of this year and I have been plugging away at it with my co-conspirators ever since.
A little peek at the shawls.
Have you heard of EarthFaire? It is a lovely online store that has a very tight focus on beaded knitting. The proprietor of EarthFaire is Ellen and I was lucky enough to get to know her when she contacted me regarding Caladan and I was pleased as punch that she wanted to carry the shawl as a kit. Kits are what she specializes in, being a private shopper for you and your knitting. She matches the perfect yarn and the perfect beads with a pattern so that you don’t have to guess what is going to work.
I could take “arty” pictures all day.
After working with her for several years I felt that she might not think I was completely crazy when I approached her with a slightly crazy idea and I was right. She was game and she brought the amazing Kelly from The Unique Sheep in on the plan and we were off like a shot! Using two images that I had earmarked as inspirational for their color palates, Kelly crafted two new and beautiful Gradiance Color-ways to be used in an new shawl pattern.
A slightly different angle gives slightly different hints.
Ellen worked with me to pick the perfect beads and then it was up to me to get the patterning and knitting done. With the help of a wonderful sample knitter to handle one of the shawls I am now at the point where I need to shoot the final photos and put the finishing touches on the pattern. But the reason I am posting this today is that if this idea excites you – you don’t have to wait. EarthFaire has put the kit up for pre-order on her site here! She has tons of info on there that I won’t be all redundant about, but it is worth looking at for details about club exclusives, pre-order discount, and a knit-a-long.
The most revealing shot.
As she mentions, the pattern will be available on Ravelry – but if you want the custom colors you can only get them from EarthFaire. I will be releasing the pattern in September to coincide with the yarn and kits being ready. This gives me a wee bit of time to get all of my ducks in a row. In the meantime, you can be sure that there will be some blog posts about how to put beads on your knitting.
Tumped Duck 