Sunday Bonus Indy Designer and Charity Outpost together!

As I was in search of a great designer for today's blog I came across both a great designer AND a great curated blog who featured the designer's work on her blog. So I decided why not use both in today's blog!  Fantastic stuff!   

If you are anything like me you have a lot of small odds and ends of yarn sitting around waiting for the perfect project.  Enter Esther Sandrof! She's a Ravelry designer with a knack of taking left over bits of yarn and turning it into something fantastic.  She's the creator of the "Blarf" blanket + scarf :)  I think that's great!  So The point of Esther Sandrof's Designs is to use up scraps of yarn BUT avoiding the "usual" stash busting project.  These stash buster's have interest and a purpose.  Hailing from New Jersey she knows the bite of winter cold and the chill of a Spring evening in New York.  So she has designed shawls and an adorable cardigan.  Her "Modular Cardigan" is a "hip" little boxy cardigan that is light and airy for Spring and summer.  The pattern for the cardigan is more of a recipe with a schematic.  Experienced crocheters should have no problem.   

The "Blarf" and shawl patterns are pretty straightforward and give a crocheter something fun to create while also making a project that would be GREAT for a number of settings including nursing homes and Chemotherapy treatment centers. I happen to LOVE the the "Summer Evening Blarf".  Its very pretty.  Esther Sandrof makes the pattern easy to customize!  No one size fits all  :)  The "Pop Scarf" looks like a lot of fun and depending on the yarn one could make this a very dressy piece or a very comfortable "funky" addition to a Fall outfit.  This isn't exactly a pattern either it is again a bit of a recipe which is also customizable.  I like this scarf/shawl very much.  Done in a rustic brown it would be a perfect addition to a light jacket, or done in a metallic yarn it would look great draped around a prom/evening dress.  Check out Esther Sandrof's Ravelry page here.

I found In The Loop Knitting while researching Esther Sandorf on Google.  (yes I double check my sources to make sure I have my information right)  In the Loop Knitting is strictly a knitting site.  What I would call a curated blog on all things knitted.  Terry Matz is the lovely and talented proprietress of In The Loop Knitting.   Its very much like the blog I hope to be doing.  In The Loop Knitting has a HUGE variety of patterns.  Terry Matz is a very talented lady!  Her blog reads: "Terry is a knitting late-bloomer, learning to knit as an adult from Internet tutorials, because she wanted a craft that was useful, fun, and portable. Knitting hats for cancer patients inspired her to design her own patterns—available for free at her blog, intheloopknitting.com. Terry met her husband Ken at a science fiction convention and moved to the Kansas City area to be with him more than 30 years ago. Terry supports her yarn stash by creating websites and other digital media. Terry firmly believes in Knitting in Public—it's a great conversation starter!"   I so agree with Terry!  Knitting for charity in public is a fantastic conversation starter.  Many knitters say to me that they have projects knitted for charity but do not know where to send them.  I'm happy Terry Matz has so many lovely projects to share at local hospitals, nursing homes, Veteran's hospitals, crisis pregnancy centers and cancer treatment centers. 

I encourage you to take a look at the In the Loop Knitting Facebook page also Terry Matz shares great ideas with her readers here:  Its very much worth a look!  Right now, top of the page is "Star Wars" themed projects!   Very good idea for Children's Hospitals and cancer patients.  There are a number of fun hats and toys listed!  There's some super cute themed projects from TV and Movies.  Check out the Minion themed projects. 

Well as we are getting a thunderstorm here in the Northern Adirondacks, I hope you all will enjoy the designers I've shared today.  Terry Matz and Esther Sandrof have put a lot of time into their designs.  I hope you will take a few minutes to check out their work and drop them a note.  Thank you all for reading the blog today!  

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