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December 24th Delivery for $10
Friday, December 17th, 2010Sketching
Monday, December 6th, 2010
My mind is swarming with new ideas for the next Jordana Paige product…an accessory…a bag…I don’t know, my mind is in all places. I don’t have a research and development team here, it’s just me sketching away on scraps of paper and then transferring it into Illustrator. What I do have that is even better than an R&D team is YOU! Picking your brain for what you’d like is the best way I can research. So tell me, what type of accessory case would you like for your knitting bag? What should it hold, how big should it be, what tool are you always loosing? For me it’s those darn darning needles. I’ve bought so many of them and can never find one…part of that might just be remembering to return it to my knitting bag. Anyway, share your thoughts here or over on Facebook.
Shop Small and Get $25 Back
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
As an entrepreneur who started her business at 18 years old on a shoestring, I’m very pro small business. The ability to start one’s own business is the American Dream and is one of the things that makes this country great. Over the past 8 years I’ve had the pleasure of working with hundreds of yarn shop owners. They’re inspiring people with big ideas and who love their community.
You’ve heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Now it’s time for Small Business Saturday. It’s not about boycotting big business, but rather making a conscious decision to support the small businesses in our communities. According to the Small Business Association, small businesses represent 99.7% of all employer firms, employ half of all private sector employees and have generated 60-80% of new jobs over the last decade.
Several advocacy, public and private organizations are joining American Express OPEN to declare the Saturday after Thanksgiving Small Business Saturday. When you register your American Express card and shop at any local small business on Saturday, November 27th, you’re eligible to earn a $25 statement credit on any purchase of at least $25. (Terms here).
While we do accept American Express and are a small business, the $25 statement credit cannot be earned at JordanaPaige.com, as we’re considered an online company for processing orders. That’s okay! I tell you all of this to encourage you to shop at your local yarn shop. If we didn’t receive a single online sale in the next few days because everyone chose to purchase their Jordana Paige handbag from their local yarn shop this Saturday, I’d be a very happy gal.
Brave New Knits
Monday, August 30th, 2010
As long as you haven’t been living under a rock for the past 10 years, you know that the internet has done incredible things for knitting. It’s taken the craft from it’s small, local, communal form and connected knitters into a worldwide family. Blogs, Ravelry and social networking have enhanced some of the greatest things about knitting; sharing, learning and inspiration. And, it’s made it possible for some to take their personal designs and turn them into a collection, recognized by knitters worldwide.
Brave New Knits by Julie Turjoman is a look at how 26 knitwear designers (including yours truly) launched their careers, how they use the internet to grow their businesses and what inspires them. Plus, each designer has included an original design.
I received my copy a few weeks ago and of course quickly flipped to the pages with my interview. I held my breathe as I read through it, hoping the information I’d shared with Julie was presented as I had intended it. I was so thrilled with how she captured my story. Now I’m about half-way through the book (I’m taking my time to process each one) and am enjoying learning about each designer. I’ve never read a knitting book like this; one that has patterns but also tells you the designer’s story. It really connects you to the designs and helps you understand the designer’s point of view. Even if there’s not a single pattern in this book that interests you to make (honestly, I don’t know how that could be), I recommend this book simply for learning about each designer.
Photographed by Jared Flood, here’s a look at what I designed for the book, Delysia Camisole. When I designed this camisole I was very inspired by the 1920s. I wanted something soft and feminine, but with the curve-less silhouette of the twenties. Delysia is very simple, worked mostly in Stockinette stitch. The lace-work straps are entertaining to make and attached separately by weaving yarn through eyelets. I used Alpaca & Silk yarn by Blue Sky Alpacas, which gives it an oh so luscious hand and drape.
Brave New Knits is available August 31. Add it to your queue!
Color Counselor
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
I’m always fascinated by color psychology; how color can effect our emotions or mood. Unintentionally, whenever I’m in a blah mood, I tend to wear blah colors. When I’m full of energy, the brightly colored garments in my closet call my name. Apparently, one’s response to color can also tell someone where his or her talents lie and which careers to pursue. Now I’ve wasted plenty of time taking silly quizzes, but unlike finding out which Pride and Prejudice character one most closely resembles, this Color Career Counselor test is actually really useful. Sometimes with career tests one can sway the results, but with this test, you’re just picking colors, so you can’t predict the outcome. I was surprised by how accurate it was for me; Creator and Organizer. How accurate was it for you?
Pin ItThe Weekend
Monday, June 7th, 2010
This weekend I drove up to Lake Tahoe with my family. We didn’t do much of anything, which meant plenty of relaxing and knitting. I ran out of yarn for the sweater I’m designing. I was actually happy about this. It let me put down my work and knit for fun.
I made lots of progress on Annie, which I’m making for my mom. My mom got started on Emmery and made huge progress. She tends to knit in bursts, so she likes simple patterns that you can set down, pick up weeks later and get right back to it without any confusion. Emmery is exactly that type of pattern. It’s actually my easiest design–very basic, minimal shaping, worked in St st and top-down so you can try it on as you go. If you’ve never made a sweater before, this would be an ideal pattern to welcome you into the world of knitting garments.
We’re warming ourselves in the sun at Squaw Valley. We’re smiling because this is our view.
This is where I did the photo shoot for Emmery last fall. Same location, but such a different palette of colors.
JP Loves Moms! Free Shipping
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
Jordana Paige loves moms! From now until May 5th, 2010* receive free shipping to anywhere in the contiguous USA. We’ll ship it for arrival on May 7th.Jordana Paige bags are a thoughtful gift your mom will love. Pick one out for your mom today, or treat yourself to that bag you’ve been wanting for so long.
Don’t know which style or color to get your mom? Purchase a gift card and let her decide.
*Orders must be placed by May 5th, 2010 at 3:00 PM PST.
New Blog Feed
Thursday, March 11th, 2010We’ve moved our blog feed. If you read our blog at JordanaPaige.com/blog, you don’t need to do anything. But, if you use a feed reader, like Bloglines or Google Reader, please update our feed to http://feeds.feedburner.com/jordanapaige/blog/ so you don’t lose us.
Intwined Pattern Studio
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
A couple weeks ago Heatherly of Intwined Pattern Studio sent me a link to download her stitch pattern software. It’s as if she had sensed my need. I have stitch pattern software that I use for creating charts for my patterns, which I had been happy with until I realized I couldn’t add color. I needed to be able to add color to the chart for Shane.
I installed it and got to work. So nice! I don’t like reading documentation for software. I prefer learning by just clicking on things. It is very user-friendly. It took me a few tries to figure out how to write out certain instructions. For example, something like “slip 3 wyib” has to be written as “slip wyib3″. Once I got the hang of it, entering the pattern moved right along. I wasn’t able to figure out how to enter an instruction that is worked for a multiple of times; (k2, p2) 3 times has to be typed out as k2, p2, k2, p2, k2, p2. This is a bit cumbersome, but maybe I just need to actually read the help.
Aside from being able to add color, some of my favorite features are the document tab for entering notes, switching between flat, round and skipping rows with ease and being able to rotate, flip and mirror parts of a chart. But my absolutely favorite part, which made me geek out a bit, is the ability to add stitches to the stitch library. There always seems to be at least one rare stitch that I need in a chart, but there isn’t a symbol for it in the program. Intwined Pattern Studio lets you import symbols, add a description and abbreviation. Fabulous!
