What's in your earhole this summer?

Pre-S: Next week I am: (1) starting a giveaway for Knit Picks' new collection, No Place Like Home open exclusively to {The Weekly Yarn} subscribers AND (2) conducting a survey to see if you would be interested in a back-to-school KAL/CAL (with prizes of course). So stay tune.

Whether I am at home working or doing chore, going for walk with my buddy Charlie (look how cute he is all dressed up) or at the grocery store (a place I feel I spend ALOT of time and a lot of money with a pre-teen boy in the house), I usually have my earbuds in place listening to something great. It can be a podcast about business development or general entertainment. Regardless, I'm always plugged in. Some are for pure entertainment and laughs while others inspire and help me grow my business.

Here's my top podcasts. Note: These are not all the podcasts I listen, just my top go-to shows that never miss.





Business Podcasts
1) The Fizzle Show
2) Raise Your Hand Say Yes with Tiffany Han
3) Being Boss 
4) Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield
5) Profit. Power. Pursuit. A CreativeLive Podcast with Tara Gentile
6) Heart + Hustle Podcast

General Entertainment
1) Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
2) For Colored Nerds
3) This American Life
4) Sampler
5) A Way with Words
6) Snap Judgement
7) Car Talk
8) Another Round

Crafting
1) Ready Set Knit
2) 90% Knitting
3) Knit1, HeartToo
4) CraftLit
5) TheKnitGirllls

Do you listen to podcast? Any of these on your playlist? I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting show. Share your favorites in the comments below.


BONUSES:
#1: E-Book
In addition to all the podcasts I listen to, I have been hooked on Daniel Steeves Connaughton's A Tale of Two Heroes series. Full disclosure, Daniel is my boo (lol), but if it wasn't really good, I wouldn't be sharing it with you and putting it on my blog for posterity. So, how to describe it? Well, Daniel is writing a bi-weekly newsletter where he is sharing portions of his new book as he writes and allowing readers to vote on story possibilities in order to help with how the story develop.

So, this reminds me of Victorian Serial Novels, but with a modern internet age twist. Do you remember in the old days (not that you were there or anything but might have heard of it, lol), newspapers and magazines printed stories in serial format? Alexander Dumas did this with his Count of Monte Cristo as did Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, and so many others.

In a similar manner, A Tales of Two Heroes is released in parts bi-weekly as the author writes the story. The bonus part that I am super excited about is that Daniel, is allowing you and me, the reader to help him write the story. Crazy, right!

How it works is, at the end of each issue, he puts out a survey with questions about possible turns the story can take. You and me, the readers, vote to decide the direction the story takes. The option with the most votes win. How cool is that?! Check it out and let me know what you think.

Head over to his blog to read about the story here

Sign-up to get each issue straight to your email here

Read Issue #1 and catch up here


#2: Craftsy
Want to learn a new craft or develop your existing crafty talents, Craftsy is the perfect place to get lessons on the topics you want, when you want. I have a few classes that I play all-the-time. PLUS, they are always having a sale!

Until next time...Stitch on!

Tian
*A rising tide lifts all boats*

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Unlock Your Inner Designer: A FREE 6-part mini email course for knit and crochet

Have you always dreamt of writing and publishing your own design ideas? But you are not sure how to get those design ideas out of your head and into a sample and pattern, Unlock Your Inner Designer is a mini-course just for you.

In this 6-part mini-course, I'll walk you step-by-step through key steps of designing knit and crochet patterns through weekly emails straight to your inbox.

Unlock Your Inner Designer is only open to {The Weekly Yarn} subscribers. Click here to subscribe to receive your invitation. Sign-up for Unlock Your Inner Designer ends August 4th, 11:59 pm EST.

You have serious talent. They just need to be unlocked... and you need the confidence to share them.

What you will learn:

• How to figure out where to start ...even if  you are just starting out.
• How to develop a design idea
• how to work out the idea
• How to make a sample 
• How to translate the idea into words
• How to share your design with the knit and crochet community

Some tools you will needed:
Keep it simple. You can put together a top notch professional pattern with simple tools you already own. Check out the guide for Simple Tools to write and publish your patterns here.
Beyond these Simple Tools, you will need a stitch dictionary, yarn, needles/hook, and notions.

In these lessons we will NOT get into the knitty gritty of pattern writing. But don't worry, I've got you covered. If you are interested in writing and publishing your own knit and crochet design at the end of the course, get on the waiting list for Pattern Writing 101 e-Course to be notified when registration opens for the Fall session (space is limited).

Here's what you can expect:
Each Sunday for 6-weeks stating August 7th, you will receive an action pack lesson straight to your inbox with worksheets. These are action packed lessons that you can act on immediately to get that design idea out of your head. By the end of these 6-weeks, if you are following along, you will have a sample piece ready to share with the world.

Follow along each week and be sure to email with questions.

Until next time...Stitch on!

Tian
*A rising tide lifts all boats*

Want a 20% OFF COUPON to my Ravelry Shop 

and subscriber-exclusives?  

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Are you afraid to knit and crochet with lace wieght yarn?

Ok, so I wont lie to you because I can trust you with this. Lace weight yarn freak me out, A LOT. Or at least it use.

In the past, lace was a dirty four letter word. If there was lace weight yarn in a room, I would run the other way as fast I can. Why did I feel so strongly against lace weight yarn?  Simple. For me, skinny yarn equal taking too long to complete a project. I want instant gratification with my knitting and crochet as much as the next gal.  You might be feeling the same way. I get it. High five.

So if I felt that way about lace weight yarn, why the heck would I intentionally proposal a design idea using the yarn? You know what? It came to the point where I needed to overcome that fear. Besides being momentarily insane, I was intrigued by the challenge. I was ready to get out of my own head and out of my own way to try something new.

Sometimes, the inspiration just comes out of nowhere and you just have to go where it leads, even if it's with lace weight yarn, and Crisanta was no different. For this design I wrote about my start with designing and my inspiration for shawl design. Here is a bit about what I wrote on Webs Yarn Store Blog about working with the yarn for the Crisanta Shawl.

Give us a glimpse into your design process, where/how do you find inspiration?

Design inspirations come to me in many different forms and from many sources. I get inspirations on walks with my dog, Charlie, through the snow. It could be the texture of a tree bark or the canopy of trees over head in the woods. Or sometimes, inspiration strikes at weird times such as during Downward Dog at Pilates class while staring at the pattern on the map. Usually the idea comes first, inspired by my surrounding, then I search for the yarn that will best compliment the texture and drape of the design.

What did you love about the Valley Yarn you worked with?
I'm not a huge fan of lace weight yarns, or so I thought. When I proposed this design to Webs, I had resigned myself to the idea and to just grit my teeth as I work through the sample because I loved the design idea so much. After winding the yarn, slowly and carefully, I set off to cast-on for the Crisanta Shawl and immediately fell in love with the yarn, Hatfield. I thought I wouldn't like the lace weight yarn because I don’t work with that weight of yarn often. And I don’t work with that weight of yarn often because I am an impatient knitter. But working up this thin yarn on bigger needles was a match made in heaven. The stitches simple flew off the needles. The yarn now has a special place in my heart. I can see so many more projects in the future.

Read the full post at Webs Yarn Store blog here.

Until next time...Stitch on!

Tian
*A rising tide lifts all boats*

Want a 20% OFF COUPON to my Ravelry Shop 

and subscriber-exclusives?  

Subscribe to

{The Weekly Yarn} from KnitDesigns by Tian

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

I am interested in Crochet and Knit...

• Patterns
• Designing
• Both

Email Format

• html
• text