Today, we bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor, Kelbourne Woolens. In Maura's words:
"Kelbourne Woolens is the distributor of The Fibre Company handknitting yarns. We create unique blends of yarns with the softest fibers that are then kettle-dyed to achieve deeply saturated colors with subtle variation in depth of shade. Gearing up for winter, we've been making ourselves lots of quick knits using Tundra, our bulky weight blend of baby alpaca, merino wool and silk.
You can read all about our projects and the lovely ways that other designers have used our yarn on our blog. Our office manager, Maura, blogs about all of her projects over at The Projectory."
SouleMama: How do you come up with new designs and ideas?
Maura: Like the cobbler's children, we spend much time knitting with few handknit garments to wear! Last winter, I began knitting a sweater for myself, a pullover out of Tundra with an oversized cowlneck. I began thinking about the "elements" of sweaters and how by using a basic shape, you could change the neckline and colors to make a completely different garment. I spent a night sketching and then the next three months knitting seven more sweaters, each from a basic raglan shape. The choose-your-own-sweater adventure came into fruition and the sweater that was intended to be my own gained a higher calling as a sample garment.
SouleMama: How do you keep yourself motivated, and avoid burnout?Maura: At one time, knitting was a hobby for all of us. Over the last five years, we've been lucky enough to make a living at it, creating beautiful yarns, designing patterns and working with a fantastic array of yarn shop stockists internationally. While we still love knitting and knit for pleasure whenever we can, we've all found additional creative outlets to keep things interesting and bring us inspiration from unexpected sources. Kate has become an avid sewer, Courtney can turn a bag of groceries into a gourmet meal, and I take classes and perform as a trapeze artist.
SouleMama: Is there a special place that inspires you?
Maura: Anywhere but here! Running a small business and managing family life can be a precarious balance that largely relies on the predictability of a schedule, but inspiration is slower to strike when the scenery doesn't change. We do our best to support each other in ways to prevent ruts. During the workday, we'll take mental breaks to talk about interesting things we're heard or seen recently, and lunch is understood to be a sacrosanct time to take a walk or sit out on the porch. There is always work to be done, but weekends away and the occasional day off are imperative to keep moving forward. As an office, we recently took a road trip up to Rhinebeck, NY for the NY Sheep and Wool Festival. Between the parade of sheep we pet, the knitters we spent our time with and gorgeous yarns we saw, we came home with countless seedlings of ideas to germinate the next year's projects!
For today's giveaway, Kelbourne Woolens is generously offering the following gift to THREE winners:
To enter today's giveaway, please leave a comment (one entry per person, please) in today's post. I'll close comments by 8 am EST on Monday, and announce the winners, chosen via Random Number Generator, shortly after. Comments closed! The winners are...
This is brilliant!!!!!
Posted by: ashley
Ooh, I love those sweaters! Great functional and funky style!!
Posted by: Fern Hollow Mama
That is a super fun pattern!
Posted by: Tara
Thank you, Kelbourne Woolens!
