fall knitty!

One of my dearest friends, Laura, is a knitwear designer (loladesigns) . She is currently the design director of Schaefer Yarn Company and is always coming up with incredible new pieces. I love seeing whatever she has on her needles, knowing it's destined to be some incredible new sock pattern or a gorgeous sweater I didn't even know I needed to have. She's prolific and even though we see each other a couple of times a week, I rarely catch her knitting the same thing twice! There are many (knitting) perks related to being Laura's close friend: late night calls when I get stuck with a pattern, hearing the latest news in the fiber world, being nudged to join Ravelry (even if I'm a bit overwhelmed by it's vastness), and most recently playing a little role in one of her successes. Her patterns are popping up everywhere and currently she has one featured in the Fall Knitty! It's this cozy sweater vest, the Abrazo.


We are each others cheerleaders, so Laura is fully aware of my current love with photography. She put her faith in me, and gave me an opportunity to practice my camera skills, by hiring me to do the Knitty photo shoot! It was a beautiful setting...


and we had a wonderful woman (Ms. Baxter) modeling. Here are a couple of the photos that didn't make the cut, but I still love.



Maybe you are a knitter and not familiar with Knitty... please, go grab a cup of something good and spend some time perusing their free patterns and wonderful articles. Not familiar with Ravelry? You'll need to sign up to receive an invitation, but once you're in... an entire knitting and crochet universe reveals itself. You'll need to bring a huge pot of tea or coffee before you sit down to check it out.

My knitting needles have been gathering dust for months, but this nippy weather (and Laura inspiring me) has my fingers itching to cast on. By the end of the week, I should be well into a new knitting project. I'm going public with this goal, so you can all be my witnesses.

On another note, I want to thank all of the friends that have been writing in to tell me that they've been enjoying using my tutorials. I'm thrilled to hear from you! I love creating them, but they can be time consuming...hearing that you've given them a try and seeing photos really makes it all worth while! I recently started a flickr group for you to share your photos of things you've created via maya*made. Please consider adding you photos to the pool...the more the merrier! You can also find the link in the sidebar.

Have a great start to your week!