I Won an Award? Two Awards? I accept! :)
| January 14, 2015 | Filled under Featured, In The News |
What a surprise-email I’ve got from Julia Litz, one of the editor of Fave Crafts, that my project Meringue Cowl pattern was one of the most popular craft tutorial on FaveCrafts.com and was included in The Best of the Best: The Top 100 Projects of 2014. Yay, how exciting!! Thank you so much ladies!
And I’ve been nominated for a Liebster Blog Award by the amazing Lin Wibisono at CrochetRockstar! Thank you so much Lin, it is always an honor to receive an award. The Liebster Blog Awards is about people nominating other people so their name get recognized. And sure, here are rules, which are fun and simple:
- Thank and link back to the blogger who presented you with the award (done).
- List 11 random facts about yourself.
- Answer 11 random questions.
- Create 11 random questions for your nominees.
- Present/nominate a Liebster Blog Award to more bloggers!
I’ll post my answers next Wednesday.
P.S.: BTW, did you notice that I’ve back on my “regular” schedule – a weekly posting?! I chose post every Wednesday this time ;o)
A wonderful and lovely day everyone!
2015 Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat| Tacoma, WA
| January 5, 2015 | Filled under Featured |
Madrona Fiber Arts was started by fiber enthusiasts who wanted to bring great teachers to the Northwest. “We love the camaraderie, creative energy, and the sharing that is generated among students and teachers by combining incomparable teaching, small classes and informal settings”, – the founders Suzanne Pedersen and Cornie Taley said.
2015 Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat scheduled February 12-15. Go to the Retreat Class Schedule and Information page and FAQs.
The most exciting news is that my dear friend and beyond talented knitwear designer, author, and a professional teacher Faina Goberstein. She will teach all 4 days plus some mini classes that will announced later. To find Faina’s classes, please go to the Schedule page, and search for “Faina”:
Faina Goberstein learned to knit as a young girl in Russia without the use of patterns. She is the co-author of the bestselling book The Art of Seamless Knitting (Interweave 2013) and the teacher of “Sizing Knitwear Patterns”, one of the most popular classes on Craftsy.com. She collaborates with Interweave Press for a production of teaching webinars and DVDs. Faina loves teaching and took an early retirement from being a math professor to let her long-time passion for knitwear design become her second profession. She is best known for her elegant and well-fitted classic designs showing off textures, cables, brioche and slip stitch techniques. Her designs often appear in Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Twist Collective and various books.
If you will not able to visit this event, I would highly recommend you take Faina’s Crafty Classes online.
The Winners!
| January 2, 2015 | Filled under Giveaway |
Happy New Year! S nice to see you in new 2015! I hope you had amazing and wonderful holidays!!
We’ve enjoined such lovely Christmas evening and New Year celebration with our friends, had so much fun welcoming our all-times-the-best friend Eugene from CA with visit, and were pretty busy with lots of activities and events. Yesterday we had fantastic sunny winter day here in Seattle, and our adorable tiny Chihuahua Pixie took me for a 2 miles walk. One of our traditional conditions is to carry her inside of my coat ;o) Afternoon, we had great and relaxing time at home, and in a evening, we were invited to a little b-day party. And today morning, we had our first 6:30 am workout at Empowered Recreation. I truly love how busy and exciting 2015 is already, to be continued ;o)
OK, but now it’s time to name the winners of our holidays contest.
I would like to thank you all so much for participation and your kind words. It’s just made my week to read all your wonderful and sweet comments. Thank You from bottom of my heart!
…….. and, our winners are……… Ayesha with comment #55 ($50 Visa Gift Card) and DeAnna with comment #18 (surprise package). Congratulations Ladies!! I’ll contact you shortly.
Many thanks again to each off You!! I’m REALLY happy that you enjoy everything and MUCH appreciate all your support and love!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!
Happy New Year everyone!! I wish you the best year ever!!
With lots of love and see you soon ;o)
Yours.
Happy Holidays, Giveaways + MORE!
| December 25, 2014 | Filled under Giveaway, Holidays, Publishing a book |
The snow is falling (somewhere, not in Seattle) and the wonderful season is already here.
I hope that everyone has a very special and awesome holidays!
Been crazy busy last months, I slowly started to realize that one of my dreams is accomplished and I met the goal of 2014 just in a time for holidays! ;o) Yes, you are right—I am talking about my first Imagical Seasons™ crochet books!
I still can’t believe that Spring and Summer books are scheduled for print and the samples should be ready in a middle of January, yay!!!!!! I want to take a moment to thanks once again so many wonderful people for these books, for all your support, inspiration, inestimable advice and encouragement at exact moment when I needed them. I definitely couldn’t have done it without you.
Oh my, I feel already excited for what this new year will bring. Not to mention that I’m on half way with creating my new Spring 2015 collection and a new website for Imagical Seasons™ ;o) More details are coming!
Want a sneak peek of Spring book preview? Below is a “rich” one:
This time of year is the perfect time to reflect and show appreciation. I want to give my love to everyone. I am truly grateful for all of my readers, family, and friends that have and continue to support me in my journey. Honestly, I could never have done it without you all!
And just in time for holidays, I am more than happy to inform you that I have two giveaways for YOU!
1. One lucky one from anywhere in the world will win a Visa Gift Card of $50 value
2. And a second giveaway is for Surprise Gift about of $60-65 value from one of three categories listed below:
- supplies for knitting and crocheting (for example, from amazing Lantern Moon)
- something exciting for home-sweet-home
- beauty and care (from my favorite Moroccan oil for example), makeup products (Bobbi Brown or MAC), or even brushes from fabulous Hakuhodo
TO ENTER THE CONTEST
You can enter the contest in 3 ways:
- Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment on this post. No other action is required otherwise you don’t mind to share which one of this sets you like more ;o)
- Optional Entry # 2: Blog about these giveaways, linking to this post, and leave another comment to this post with a link to your blog post.
- Optional Entry # 3: Share this post on your accounts: at Google+, Facebook, Ravelry, Twitter, Yahoo, etc., leave one more comment on this post (if possible, with your link, but here is no any obligations). You also can just share my original Google+ and Facebook posts. Share on more networks for more entries! (one additional entry per one network).
TERMS
- This contest starts today, December, 25 2014 and will end on January 1, 2015 at 11:59pm PST.
- I’ll select the winners with random.org’s random number generator. Winners will be notified by email on Friday, January 2, 2015.
May this year of 2015 be
a year of health & happiness
a year of wealth & wisdom
a year of peace & prosperity
And also, a year of love, laughter and joy!
All the best to you and your family,
Yours.
Featured Yarn 43 | Omega Isuela. Cotton
| December 17, 2014 | Filled under Yarn |
Looks like I got a new favorite cotton yarn from Omega!! I really have no idea how I “existed” without Omega’s yarn, seriously! ;o)
Isuela is a 100% mercerized cotton, lace weight. Very soft with a high quality feel and subtle shine. Easy to knit and crochet with and perfect for sweaters and baby garments. Each skein is 3.52 oz. 295 yards and is available in 12 colors.
Fiber Content: 100% mercerized cotton
Yardage: 3.52 oz (100 g)/295 yd (270 m)
Gauge: 24 sts = 4” (10 cm) with US #3 (3 mm) knitting needles; D/3 3.25 mm crochet hook
Weight: Thread weight (#0 Lace)
Care: hand washable
where to buy: creative yarn source
The Winners!!
| December 8, 2014 | Filled under Giveaway |
Dear Ladies,
I am so excited to name our Winners…
The Winner of first set is…. Judy Orrego (comment #33)!
And the Winner of second set is… Chinapat (comment #13)!
My CONGRATULATIONS, ladies!! I’ll contact you shortly.
Thank you so much everyone who participated in the contest, your kind of words and such sweet comments!! I’m truly happy that you enjoy everything and MUCH MUCH appreciate all your support and love! You are the Best!!
A wonderful and lovely week everyone!!
Black Friday—Cyber Monday Deals + Two GIVEAWAYS!!
| November 27, 2014 | Filled under Giveaway, Yarn |
It’s a time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, and I have hot ones You won’t believe (see details at the end of this post).
But, first of all, let’s have a GIVEAWAY 2 GIVEAWAYS (read 2 Winners) for sets of 10 balls of my favorite luxury cotton yarn!!
GIVEAWAY #1 set includes:
- Millefili Fine (100% Egyptian cotton; 136 yd [125 m]/1.76 oz [50 g]): 6 balls of 167 tangerine.
- Schachenmayr Catania (100% cotton; 136 yd [125 m]/1.76 oz [50 g]): 1 skein of 0208 canary
- Patons Grace (100% cotton; 136 yd [125 m]/1.76 oz [50 g]): 1 skein of 62027 ginger and 2 skeins of 62705 cardinal (not pictured)
Millefili Fine is a fine, basic Egyptian cotton yarn with a tight twist that creates a soft matte sheen. Catania and Grace are also a ultra soft and high-quality summer yarn available in fresh, modern shades that’s perfect for lightweight knit and crochet garments and accessories.
GIVEAWAY #2 set includes:
- Mondial Cotton Soft Speciale Baby (100% pure Egyptian cotton; 198 yd [180 m]/1.76 oz [50 g]): 8 balls of 109 light orange.
- Dale Garn Stork (100% Egyptian cotton; 198 yd [180 m]/1.76 oz [50 g]): 1 ball of 24 turquoise.
- SandnesGarn Norway Mandarin Petit (100% Egyptian cotton; 198 yd [180 m]/1.76 oz [50 g]): 1 ball of 2004 lemon yellow
All this yarn made in high quality Egyptian cotton, fingering weight 100% Egyptian yarn. Made of cotton, it can be machine washed and dried flat, and designed for making baby hats, booties, bibs, sweaters, pullovers, cardigans, blankets as well as cool and comfortable garments for adults.
TO ENTER THE CONTEST
You can enter the contest in 3 ways:
- Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment on this post. No other action is required otherwise you don’t mind to share which one of this sets you like more ;o)
- Optional Entry # 2: Blog about these giveaways, linking to this post, and leave another comment to this post with a link to your blog post.
- Optional Entry # 3: Share this post on your accounts: at Google+, Facebook, Ravelry, Twitter, Yahoo, etc., leave one more comment on this post (if possible, with your link, but here is no any obligations). You also can just share my original Google+ and Facebok posts. Share on more networks for more entries! (one additional entry per one network).
TERMS
- This contest starts today, November, 28 2014 and will end on December 7, 2014 at 11:59pm PST.
- I’ll select the winners with random.org’s random number generator – first time for 1st set, and second time for 2nd set. Winners will be notified by email on Monday, December 8, 2014.
And last, but not least: The Black Friday Sale Starts NOW and Cyber Monday deal is coming! Get ready for my biggest patterns sale of the year!
* These coupons (please take a look at dates) are applicable to myShop and Etsy stores.
Enjoy!
Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours!
| November 26, 2014 | Filled under Holidays |
May the good things of life be yours in abundance not only at Thanksgiving but throughout the coming year!
Wishing you all the Hope, Wonder, and Joy that the Season can bring!
P.S.: Make sure to check my blog November, 28th & December, 1st – for some unbelievable Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, which will wait for you ;o)
My warmest Thanksgiving wishes to all,
Alla
It’s official
| November 17, 2014 | Filled under Life |
Our baby girl just turned 13… can you believe it?! ;o) Kristin is not just a beautiful and lovely teen, she’s the most amazing thirteen year old we have ever seen. Happy Birthday sweetheart!!!
To celebrate 13th Birthday, Kristin with her 8 best friends went to Laser Quest Federal Way (official part). And sure, after that girls had a sleepover fun. Girls had a blast …and Igor and I survived ;o)
Girls liked the picture below the most – who’s legs are under Kristin and Vika (left side of photo)?
Well, I definitely have a “gift” to photography hehe;o)
A lovely and fabulous week everyone!!!
You Made It! | Page Update
| November 12, 2014 | Filled under Commercial |
It has been awhile since I updated You made this! page. I enjoy receiving your pictures and celebrating your great successes with you!!! Please continue sending pictures of your creations to me, whether you used my patterns, or just got inspired in making something new. I will be delighted to place your photos on this page!
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