We have a winner!

And that winner is sulander - hooray! I'll be in touch via your contact info and we can sort out getting you the yarn/beads AND the pattern.

Thanks to everyone for playing along!

Ja'ali Stole

When I was seven, my parents moved my brother and I from Deepest, Darkest Cleveland, OH to New Delhi, India. My dad had a Fullbright scholarship, so we spent a year in a far off and very different land. More then thirty years later, I went back for the first time, with my own seven year old (plus her younger sister). In some ways it had changed completely, but in others, it was just as I remembered it: the light was the same, the sounds of the birds in the early morning, the cows wandering through the city streets, and monkeys sitting on fences, waiting for the opportunity to snatch what ever they could right out of your hands.

We went and saw all sorts of sights in the Golden Triangle, and it was an incredible source of inspiration for my designing. The first design that came out of that trip was the Delhi Beanie, with a border inspired by a series of tombs in Delhi. The second one is in Issue 35 of Knit Now - the Ja'ali Stole.

Photo credit Dan Walmsley for Practical Publishing

This pattern grew directly out of my trip to India: one of the almost ubiquitous features of the numerous palaces and tombs that we visited were pierced stone structures called ja'ali. These were basically the Moghul version of window curtains, and served to let in light and air while making it very difficult for anyone outside to see inside.

This picture makes it pretty clear where the stitch pattern came from! I swatched in a number of different yarns, but finally settled on a mohair blend, in two colors to emphasis the eyelets and the solid hexagons.

The perfect finishing touch? A beaded fringe.

The finished stole is a lovely, lightweight wrap that is perfect for summer evenings, or days when you need a bit of extra warmth.

This issue of Knit Now is on sale starting today, Thursday, 29th May, in craft stores, newsagents and supermarkets across the UK. Outside the UK, you can get a paper copy from http://www.moremags.com/knitting/knit-now, or a digital edition from http://www.moremags.com/digital-editions/all-devices/knit-now. You can also get it digitally via Apple Newsstand. 

As a little celebration of the publication of this pattern, I'm going to give away the yarn and beads needed to knit the stole - that includes 5 balls of Wendy Air (70% mohair/30% nylon) in two colors, and approximately 75 faceted glass beads for the fringe. Please leave a comment on this post between now and midnight BST, on Sunday, 8th June, telling me which pattern is your favorite from Knit Now Issue 35*. I'll use a random number generator to pick one lucky winner. Good luck!

* Note: saying that this is your favorite pattern does not increase your chances of winning ;-).

And we have a winner!

Hooray Carroll! The random number generator picked your comment for the copy of American Sock Knitting. I'll PM you on Ravelry and get your mailing address, and I will post out the book to you as soon as I can.

Thanks to all the commenters - I loved your ideas about sock designs. It's been a while since I actually designed a pair of socks, and I think your comments have sparked some ideas!

Have just noticed that pre-orders have been extended to the 25th of July, so apologies to anyone who comes along after this post!

Impending deadlines!

Today is a big day. First off: today is the last day to buy one of my Travelling Hat patterns and have the proceeds go to One Fund Boston - more details here.

Second: today is also the last day to enter my contest to win a copy of American Sock Knitting. All you've got to do is go to this post and leave a comment about your favorite place and/or the kind of sock that would be inspired by your favorite place. So far there are only three entries, so your chances are good - go comment!

Third: not an immediate deadline, but yesterday I finished the second bobbin of Shetland and started the third as Chris Froome annihilated Mount Ventoux.



I am getting very interested in going back to some fiber with color...but have to finish off the third bobbin and get plying - the end of Le Tour is next Sunday!

Goodies

Right, I've culled through the handspun stash to pull out things to send off to Illinois and Texas and DC (but not Maine - sorry Mom!). Here they are all cuddled up with each other.

Aquaphilic is getting some gradient-spun BFL, because Norway is as close to Sweden as I could get. JoAnnaJae is getting some Yarn School Corriedale. Sarah is getting another Yarn School skein, in celebration of when she first started reading the blog - also Corriedale, but dyed by the ever-so-talented Adrian at Hello Yarn, colorway Hooray Sheep! And my poor, neglected mother is getting some not-yet-spun Falkland yarn from a top I won during the Tour de Fleece, from All Spun Up. It will be delivered to her next month when we see them at half-term.

In other news, I've finished the first sock of my club for this month, and have only a few repeats left to go on the sweater - hooray! I'm thinking I'm going to block the sweater pieces before I seam them up, then block again after doing the neck band (although that second block might only be a steaming). It looks a little narrow to me at the moment (as cabled stuff always does), but I'm hoping it will spread out a bit with water and a bit of judicious pinning.

The envelope please

OK folks, here's the results of my little teeny blog contest. I meant to get the girls to help me draw a number, but after an epic teeth brushing-induced meltdown from the eldest, we put them to bed post-haste. So Ironman will have to help me instead.

OK, here we go. Drumroll please....And the winner is....

AQUAPHILIC! Congrats lady - and happy birthday!

But...I feel a bit bad that the other ladies didn't get to win, and aquaphilic knows me in real life, and has already been the beneficiary of some yarny goodies from me. So...seeing as there were only four of you, you all get a prize! Hooray!

Please email me (porpoiseknits@gmail.com) or PM me on Ravelry (porpoise) with your snail mail address, color preferences, yarn weight preferences, and whether or not you'd like handspun. I can't promise to accommodate all those factors, but I'll do my best!

Now let's hope Royal Mail can get their collective heads out of their collective arses and start delivering packages again, m'kay? And thanks for helping to shrink my stash!