Chiagu Blog

Happy One Year Anniversary!

Posted on April 11, 2013 | 0 Comments

This week I shipped out the April shipment of my Koigu Mini Skeins Club and celebrated because that was the 12th shipment! That means it's the one-year anniversary of my little club!

By my best estimate, I've made about four thousand minis so far. Is that crazy or what!?!?

It's been super fun to make (and play with!) the minis each month and see what you've all made with them. I'm looking forward to going into Year 2 of the club.

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For next year, the club will continue in the same format as for the first year, except that the price is going up. On May 1st, the base price will go up from $20/month to $22/month.

But don't worry! If you're a current member, you're grandfathered into the original price and will continue to pay the same amount you've been paying.

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Have you been considering joining? If so you should do so before the price goes up on May 1st! Lock in last year's price by signing up now.

Posted in Koigu, Yarn

2012: The Year of the Sewing Machine

Posted on January 01, 2013 | 0 Comments

I didn't do much of anything for New Years this year, and so have been up for a few hours already on this crisp New Years Day. Happy 2013 everyone!

As I go through by RSS reader backlog and read many a "what I did in 2012" roundup post, I can't help but think about what I did in 2012. And you know what? It wasn't knit. At least not much.

Ravelry tells me that I completed exactly 7 projects in 2012. SEVEN. That is pathetic. That number isn't correct actually, because I made a bunch of other samples of my Loreley Scarf Pattern to send to shops that are stocking my kits, but really. Those hardly count as projects either.

SEVEN projects.

Pitiful.

Although .  . . they were all original designs, and two of them were even published in major knitting publications (my Pixel Hat & Mittens in Twist, my Professor Jackson's Scarf in Interweave). So they count more, right?

There are two main reasons I didn't knit much in 2012:

1 - Because I learned to quilt.

In 2012 I finished at least 5 quilts and many more small sewn things like bags and tank tops. I guess 2012 really was the year of the sewing machine for me. I even got a fancy new Bernina in 2012! And set up a quilting site under my new brand, Rose Smoke, and started selling finished sewn items and quilting kits. I even did 3 shows this year to show and sell my sewn items . . . . So yeah, the sewing took over.

2 - Much of my knitting time this year has been spent making kits and Koigu Minis.

Making the minis for my Koigu Minis Club takes a long time. So does making kits for my website and for my retailers. If I had been knitting during those hours instead, I would definitely have more FO's, and probably more knitting patterns too!

Looking forward

As I look on to 2013, I have lots of plans, as usual. After spending the majority of 2012 freelancing and structureless, I've realized yet again that I can't do it all. At least, I can't do it all well. I have way more ideas and interests than I have time, and I'm sick of having so many half-finished projects (and not just UFO's, I'm talking half-finished websites, patterns, businesses, etc).

In 2013 I'm going to take my dad's favorite word of advice to heart and I'm going to focus.

I already started this morning by NOT sending an email to someone suggesting a new website I could build for her.

And you know what else I've been doing with the first few hours of 2013?

Garter stitch + cashmere feels good.

Posted in Knitting clubs, Koigu

A Christmas full of Koigu!

Posted on December 25, 2012 | 0 Comments

So last week, I got a Koigu shipment of 40 pounds of KPPPM. Can you picture 40+ pounds of Koigu in my bedroom? No? Well let me help you:

That's what it looks like once I got it all put away neatly (and in color number order!).

Going through the giant pile of Koigu sure felt like a Christmas gift to me, so I thought why not pass the gift on to all of you?

Now through December 26th 2012, use coupon code:

YAYKOIGU

to get 20% off all in-stock Koigu yarn!

I have 38 colorways to choose from right now and I have no qualms about saying that they're all gorgeous. Check them out here.

And Merry Christmas! I don't celebrate the holiday so it's fun for me to partake in it a little bit by giving you this present!

Posted in Koigu, Yarn

Dear Koigu Minis: I <3 you

Posted on December 06, 2012 | 0 Comments

In an effort to move on from The November That Wasn't, I've decided to just pick up and leave all the forgotten stuff behind.

It's the beginning of the month, so you know what that means for me: it's Koigu Minis time! (if you don't know what I'm talking about, I run a monthly Koigu Mini Skeins Club, and yes, signups are open!)

My Koigu shipment arrived on Tuesday and because I'm now working full-time again (ugh, another thing I never told you! I got a "real job" as of two weeks ago, and it's really great!), I'm not able to turn them around as fast as I once would. But this month's shipment will definitely go out this weekend. I'm itching to get my hands on some minis! In the meantime, I've been looking at pictures from the past few month's shipments . . .

Here's a table-full of in-progress shipments, from the September 2012 shipment:

And a pretty picture of June's shipment:

Koigu Minis

This month's shipment will again be all-new colors and some of these are colors I haven't seen from Koigu in YEARS. I went through their color card online and tried to pick unusual (for me) colors . . . I think you'll love them!

After the shipment goes out I promise to post photos so you can drool over them the way I am =)

Posted in Knitting clubs, Koigu

Looking forward to cooler weather . . .

Posted on August 15, 2012 | 0 Comments

Dear Summer of 2012,

I hate you.

Yours,
Ivete

This has been, by far, the worst summer weather I can remember in 10 years in NYC. The last few days it's felt like maybe fall is coming, and I can't wait!

This past weekend I pulled out one of my favorite Koigu colors (P307 if you're curious) and did some math, then started in on a simple stockinette cardigan FOR ME. It's hard to believe but I don't have a simple, neutral cardigan. Total case of the cobbler's shoes.

Of course I couldn't leave it too simple so I added an interesting rib at the hem and am planning a little fabric embellishment for the front. Ever since I fell head over heels in love with quilting (do you read my quilting blog?) I've got a thing for fabric that's just as bad as, if not worse, than my passion for yarn.

The best part about quilting? I'm not an expert at it yet! With knitting I had gotten to a point where very few things really excited me and almost nothing was challenging, but with quilting everything is shiny new and fascinating. And fast! Oh so fast when you're coming to is as a longtime knitter.

But I digress. I was talking about this little cardigan! It's going to have some sort of hexagon embellishment on the lapel in some cute fabric that I haven't yet picked. I'm still working a few days a week at the quilt store and almost every employee has gotten bit by the hexie bug, so it's no surprise I'm planning to do a few of my own! Mine will be considerably different than anyone else's though =)

Posted in Koigu

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