{ Sunfest }

kelly without a net designs has published their first e-book!  Sunfest is a 6-piece collection of baby and children’s garments and accessories put together in collaboration with the spectacular malabrigo yarns. 

I worked with some pretty awesome people to put this book together, and I really need to take a minute to thank my tech editor, Kate Vanover, my photographer, Natasha Sioss, and my graphic designers, Anne & Phil Harvey.  This book wouldn’t be much of anything (well, it would be sort of a mess) without each of them, and I cannot thank them enough for their help and support.

If you’re not a knitter, you can take a look at the 6 designs by visiting my Ravelry designer page (open to the public). 

Whew!  What a rush that project was! 

Something big. Huge.

On Friday I have a pretty big project being released. As an independent, self-published designer, it’s the first project of this size that I’ve ever thought to undertake. For me, it’s huge.

I’m equal parts of nervous and excited, which I suppose is only natural when you’ve committed the greater part of a year to something. Mostly, I’m proud of myself. I undertook items and designs that were out of my comfort zone, and I was afraid a time of two (or daily) that I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. But I did.

Friday is almost here! Here’s a sneak peek!

A history of my world in 100 objects #28

I made this when I was a little girl. I remember my dad taking my sister and I to a craft store, where we got to pick out the materials, paints, glue, and everything we needed. Kiki gave hers to Nanee and Poppy, and mine went to Grandma and Granddaddy.

For as long as I can remember, this hung in their kitchen. As I got older, I remember thinking it was so absurd. I forgot to paint the mouths on some of the bears. It wasn’t perfect. It didn’t go with anything.

It was also a reminder of the argument Kiki and I had at the time, over who’d give which one to which set of grandparents. We’d both wanted to give ours to Nanee and Poppy. I’m not even sure why. As kids, maybe we saw them as the “fun” grandparents. We had to be quieter at grandma and granddaddy’s house. We didn’t get to watch as much tv. There was no air conditioning (the horrors!).

In the end, I simply gave mine to Grandma and Grandaddy. It didn’t really mean anything to me, anyway.

But it meant something to my grandparents. I had done it. Me, one of 15 grandchildren, had made it for them. And they didn’t take it down until Marcus and I bought our first home and they gave it to us.

Now, I can’t imagine my house without it. Time has taught me so much. About love. Faith. Family.

My Grandma died on Thursday. She’s meeting my grandfather in heaven, of that I’m sure. And they’re so very, very welcome there.

But she…they…are missed more than I can ever put into words. There are no favorites anymore. There is only love.

Knit on (and on and on and on…)

I go through periods in my life when I get a little obsessed with things, for one reason or another.  Writing.  Knitting.  Reading.  Running.  Cleaning…ha…fooled you. 

Right now I’m in a period of knitting.  More specifically, it’s the season of knitwear design in my house.  I feel very pleased and flattered that my knitting design business has really come into it’s own in the past year, and I am even more excited about the projects that I have upcoming for 2012. 

As a result of this growth of kelly without a net designs, I’ve started a FB fan page for those of you who are social networking lovers like I am.  Please take the time to check it out and become a fan yourself, if you’re so inclined.  Don’t just wait and watch–jump in and share, too!  There is nothing I love more than a satisfied knitter, so please, share your pictures and ask questions, too!

And get excited…I have never been as excited for a design as I am for some of these upcoming releases.  August can’t get her soon enough! 

Family Project: Summer Reading Contest

Today is the first day of summer vacation! On a whim, I told the girls we should start a reading contest. It has suddenly ballooned into a major family project, and we are so excited about it!

First of all, I want to give credit where credit is due. This project is modeled on a classroom reading project my daughter’s kindergarten teacher did this year. I’ve made some modifications to suit a family, but the ideas behind the project are hers. So Mrs. Koontz–thank you for this inspiration.

I was also inspired by a teacher friend’s middle school house cup contest–thank you too, Cap!

Teams: We are working in teams. As a family, we chose parents against kids, which we hope will help our daughters feel closer to one another instead of competing with one another. Depending on your family, you may want to team up as boys vs girls or mixed teams. The key is what works for your family.

Points: My daughters are still young and reading short chapter books, early readers, or picture books. We decided that every book (without chapters) or every chapter earns one point.

My older daughter is starting to read silently, and my younger daughter primarily reads aloud. So that we can guarantee that they’re actually reading everything they say, we alternate between asking them to re-read a page to us, asking them questions about each book or chapter, or simply asking them to tell us about what they read. If they’re so inclined, they can ask us to do the same.

Reading Journals: Though this is team contest, we are tracking books individually, too. We first created a large chart for the wall so that everyone could record their books. I very quickly found that this would be impractical, and we modified our program to include individual reading logs instead. Everyone has their own, we decorated our covers (even dad did his!) and there are lined pages inside for recording books or chapters.

Team Tallies: Daily, or several times a day, you should record everyone’s progress on a large team tally board. Make a big deal out of this family time–cheer for every participant and count up the tally marks (math lesson!).

Prizes: Our project is going to last for 8 weeks (we think). The grand prize is a trip to Chuck E Cheese (if the kids win) and Cheeseburger in Paradise (if we win). I’m also planning smaller “pop prizes” for the first team to 50 books, first team to 100 books, first person to 50 books, most books read in the first week, etc. Some of these pop prizes will be team prizes and some will be individual.

I think that’s it, so far! I’m sure I’ll modify as I go and we see what works and what doesn’t. My biggest concern is the length, so I’m hoping we can
keep the kids motivated for the entire 8 weeks.

If you and your family want to join us, please do! I’d love to hear about how your family does their summer reading project, so please use the #summerreadingproject tag!

Start reading!

A history of my world in 100 objects #27

Yesterday my family and I attended a BBQ not far from the beach house my grandparents owned when I was a child. On a whim, we drove a little bit out of the way to see the old house.

I was so surprised to see it, and all of the changes that had taken place there over the years. Gone is the wraparound screened-in porch, there’s a large second story where there was once none. It’s yellow. It’s all wrong.

I snapped a picture and we drive away. Marcus asked me what was wrong, and I burst into tears. Everything. Everything was wrong. The house wasn’t right. My grandparents, both older now and in declining health, aren’t right. The passing of time felt wrong. Nothing was right.

My parents, divorced now but both with hundreds, thousands, of memories of the house at Breezy Point were quick not reminisce, pointing out all the wonderful things that happened there. Those should be the focus. They’re right.

But I still look at this picture and everything seems wrong. Object 27 is this house…but moreso, it’s the lifetime of family memories that took place in this house. And that isn’t wrong. It was, it is, so very right.

A history of my world in 100 objects #26

I know, I know.  I’m behind.  I’m super behind.  I’m sorry.  I love this project and my goal is to get it back on track and finish it long before the year’s end. 

I’m incredibly embarrassed by this object, but it’s the truth and it wouldn’t be a true history if I didn’t tell the truth.  It also seems incredibly fitting time-wise based on a recent IPO.  My object #26 is Facebook.  Facebook has been a big part of my life.  I joined in the biggest social network in October 2007, which means I’ve been an active participant for almost 5 years now.  Five years.  It doesn’t seem possible.  While Facebook has been a bit of a curse for me (I’m easily addicted, as you know) it’s also been just as much of a blessing.  It allows me to nurture my inner social butterfly while I’m a stay-at-home mom, and I have found that that small amount of online socialization is invaluable to me and my mental health. 

Not to mention, I like keeping up with what family and friends are doing.  I like sharing my work with other writers (and reading what they’re writing, too).  I like relaying a funny story and sharing pics of the kids. I like Facebook and everything it affords me.