Hey folks, I’ve joined forces again with Lisa Bogart, the author of the book Knit With Love, for her monthly giveaway on her website! Sign up and you could win a $10 gift certificate to my shop, Exchanging Fire. And when throw your name in the hat for the giveaway, you’ll automatically receive a coupon code good for 10 percent off anything in the store this month. Go check out the giveaway and see what you could win!
Click to sign up now:
Since my designs were sent off this morning to the Phat Fiber headquarters I thought I’d share with you everything I’m sending in this month for the Phat Fiber sampler box. The box is a great way to try out indie designers and dyers. This month’s theme is “geekery,” which really speaks to me, and that meant that I had far too many ideas! So since I couldn’t decide, instead of one design, I’ve included what seems like a billionty designs. But they are all framed around one specific geek love of mine – Doctor Who. The first four designs pictured are part of my companion series and the next four are part of my regular Doctor Who series. And yes, everything’s up in the Exchanging Fire shop!
Bigger on the Inside (perfect for knitting the shawl of the same name)
The Only Water in the Forest is the River
Don’t forget, if you purchase anything in my store from February 15 – March 15 you are eligible for the Phat Fiber Superbox Giveaway! To win this month’s Phat Incentive, which includes the contents of the February Video (aka The Superbox) AND A $150 Gift Certificate to one of the participating shops, you need to join the Phat Fiber group on Ravelry and the post what you’ve purchased in the incentive thread.
Here I am in featured right at the beginning of the Phat Fiber video for this month:
Want to know how you can get one of these boxes? For a Phat Fiber community edited guide to snagging a box, visit this thread in the Ravelry group. The cost of the box is $36 including shipping. Good luck!
Enjoy the new designs, which are up in the Exchanging Fire shop!
Sometimes a love note isn’t written in words. Sometimes there are no words needed. When I design a set of stitch markers inspired by a favorite poem or song or even a TV show, I feel like these small, practical bits of jewelry for your needles are my love letters to the things I enjoy.
When I saw these rectangular blue beads with their very geometric mod style I immediately thought of the Tardis – “brand new and ancient and the bluest blue ever.” I knew they had to be turned into Doctor Who stitch markers. In some ways, Doctor Who is one long love story of the art of science fiction. These stitch markers are my love notes back.
Mad Man with a Box
“A daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away. Did I ever tell you that I stole it? Well, I borrowed it. I always meant to take it back. Oh, that box, Amy, you’ll dream about that box. It’ll never leave you. Big and little at the same time. Brand-new and ancient and the bluest blue ever.”
These markers join the rest of my Doctor Who series, which currently contain:
Oswin Oswald
“Rescue me chinboy and show me the stars.”
Time and Relative Dimensions in Space
“Yes, that’s it. Names are funny. I’m the Tardis.”
Bigger on the Inside by Kate Atherley
This month a great indie pattern designer released the most amazing pattern on Knitty. Bigger On The Inside by Kate Atherley is a beautiful ode to Doctor Who and his fabulous blue box of a time machine, the TARDIS. I saw this shawl and knew immediately that I had to make my own. However, there is one important thing you must know about me.
I HATE BLUE. I like blue-green, like aquas, turquoise, and teal, and I enjoy blue-purple, like indigo, midnight and blurple. But plain old royal or cornflower blues? Gag me with a spoon. This could be a problem, of course, when you want to create an ode to a Blue Box. Yes, definitely an issue.
Don’t worry, however. I have already solved this highly traumatizing dilemma. You see, there have been many Doctors. And it is interesting to note that there have been almost as many different TARDIS machines disguised as vintage blue police telephone boxes from the 1960s as there have been actors playing the Doctor. Apparently the props department isn’t that good with continuity. Which works well for me!
You see, I fell in love with the Doctor during his more recent incarnation in the 2000s when I was in grad school, and that Doctor (or Doctors, since it was both 9 and 10) had a box that wasn’t so much as blue as it was a lovely dirty teal color. I believe it started getting this more authentic, dirty blue color in the 80s, and continued that way through the 2000s, when David Tennant had his grand run at playing Doctor Who. Currently the blue box has gone back to being a more shiny, clean bright blue color, but I choose to ignore that fact when watching the show.
My point to all of this backstory is that I have found the MOST PERFECT color of blue to make my own TARDIS shawl! It will be, naturally, an ode to the dirty teal-blue TARDIS I adore, and I think it will look very nice on me. If only I was more of a nerd and had a Comic Con or scifi event I could wear it at. Alas, I am not so once I make this shawl it will be a nice winter scarf to wear with my black pea coat, and only those “in the know” will get my tongue-in-cheek grown-up joke about the Doctor and the TARDIS.
Anyways, now that I’ve tracked down the two skeins I need for the shawl I can reveal the yarn to you, since it is no longer a state secret. I have purchased two skeins of Vampy Karma Sock in Midnight Cowboy, which matches my favorite Doctor’s box PERFECTLY. And I like that the name happens to coincide with 11’s penchant for hats.
Stash image courtesy danirobins on Ravelry
Fibres by Vampy is a lovely little indie dyer from the UK who was a fellow swapper on Ravelry. She no longer dyes, which makes this yarn even harder to come by, so you can only imagine how tickled I was to be able to locate two of the same skeins! I really love her yarns – I have a pair of socks knit out of one of her bases – and so I can’t wait to knit this latest yarn up into a proper TARDIS shawl.
I must confess that since Doctor Who finished up its season last winter, is not on tv right now, and won’t be back until the fall, I’ve been going through a bit of withdrawal. The solution, is not, as you might think, to rewatch old episodes of Doctor Who that you have seen multiple times by now. Oh no, that is a very bad idea, in fact, because it only makes you miss the show more. Much like if you have an addiction to alcohol it is most likely a bad idea to go sit in a bar and watch other people drink it.
Time and Relative Dimensions in Space
So instead, I am feeding my little pining over the Doctor with some new creatively made projects, like the aforementioned shawl. My other project was some new Doctor Who stitch markers, which I really am quite in love with. meet Exchanging Fire‘s brand new Time and Relative Dimensions in Space set, a simple set of iridescent fire-polished glass beads that are reminiscent of the colors of the TARDIS as it must look spinning through the universe and streaking between comets and clouds. If you saw the episode of Doctor Who called “The Doctor’s Wife” you’ll understand the conversation below perfectly:
Idris: Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Yes that’s it. Names are funny. It’s me. I’m the TARDIS.
The Doctor: No you’re not! You’re a bitey mad lady. The TARDIS is up-and-downy stuff in a big blue box.
Idris: Yes, that’s me. A type 40 TARDIS. I was already a museum piece when you were young. And the first time you touched my console, you said—
The Doctor: I said…you were the most beautiful thing I’d ever known.
Idris: Then you stole me. And I stole you.
The Doctor: I borrowed you.
Exchanging Fire 
