Early Bird Pricing Extended for Vogue Knitting Live

Because of the storm called Hurricane Sandy and the spirit of the season overtaking them, the good people who put on Vogue Knitting Live have decided to extend their early bird pricing structure through Dec. 4.

This event takes place Jan 18-20 (that’s 2013, y’all) at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square in New York City.

As usual, it will bring together lots of industry professionals to teach, talk, share ideas and show off the latest in knit fashions. This time around there will be more than 200 classes (!) with 80 new offerings at this installment. Another cool option at this event is the Gala Dinner and Design Awards, which will feature Karen Allen as the keynote speaker. You may know her better as an actress (most notably in the Indiana Jones movies) but she’s owned a knitwear design studio in Massachusetts since 2004.

Early bird pricing allows registrants to save up to $400, depending on the number of classes and events you choose.

I rarely understand why something becomes a trend in crafting. Gnomes and geese are both cute I guess, but I never thought we’d be making them for all seasons. (See, for example, this collection of gnome knitting patterns, or these knit geese.)

Another one I don’t totally understand is sardines or little fish more generally. Sure, they’re cute, and the shape is fun, but I had no idea when I was sharing this pattern for a fish-shaped pouch last year that it would become a hugely popular pattern that people are still searching for on the site. It is pretty cute, though, so if you weren’t around then or don’t remember you should got check it out.

Recently another fishy knitting pattern crossed my monitor: the little knit fish from Classical Songbird Designs.

Just as the name suggests, these fish are little, about 4.5 inches or 11 cm from end to end. They look like little sardines and take about 12 yards of sock yarn to make.

You can even make a two-tone fish and use just 6 yards of each color.

This sounds to me like just about the perfect use for the yarn that’s left over after knitting a pair of socks, or a mini skein or several that have been sitting around unused in your stash.

The fish are knit flat in one piece, which makes it easy to stitch on the eyes with more yarn or embroidery floss before stuffing, and you can stitch up the sides while you stuff (though it’s not a very big piece so you could probably stitch and then stuff, finishing with the end of the tail).

Because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wondering, I measured an Altoids box and as the pattern is written the fish are a little too big to fit in it (the box is about 4 inches/10 cm long). But you could make the fish a little smaller if you want to make a box of them. Or just make a fishy bag to put them in!

You can grab the free pattern for the little knit fish at Classical Songbird Designs.

[Photo: Classical Songbird Designs.]

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