NANCY ALDEN, author of Simply Gemstones, Simply Pearls, and Simply Stunning Jewelry:
I apprenticed to a leading American jeweler when I was seventeen years old and worked primarily with sterling silver and gold. I started doing more beadwork after the Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market, and silver went from about $5 to nearly $50 per ounce in a very short period of time. At that time, I was also living in the West Indies, and in that warm weather, it seemed more natural to wear beaded jewelry rather than metals.

STEPHANIE WELLS, author of The Earring Style Book:
I started creating jewelry about eleven years ago, when I was designing and manufacturing yoga clothing. I was also newly engaged, and for a pre-honeymoon, my fiancé (now husband) and I went on vacation to the Sinai Desert in Egypt. We were staying with a Bedouin tribe and were constantly getting hustled by very clever, adorable 8-year-old Bedouin girls, who would challenge us to games of backgammon. If they lost, they would give us a free piece of jewelry they were trying to sell. If we lost, we had to buy one from them. Needless to say, we lost every time and wound up with about five seed bead necklaces.

Back in the U.S., I wore one of the necklaces as a belly necklace while selling my yoga wear, and I immediately sold it for about $45. I realized I could make necklaces similar to the Egyptian ones and sell them along with my clothing. With the money from my first sale, I went to a bead store, where I felt as if I had been transported into a magical land of color, shape, and beauty. I bought some beads, learned about crimp beads and clasps from the woman behind the counter, and have been communicating my ideas through wire and stone ever since.

SCOTT DAVID PLUMLEEM, author of Handcrafting Chain and Bead Jewelry, Chain and Bead Jewelry Geometric Connections, and Chain and Bead Jewelry Creative Connections:
In 1995, I was working on a BFA degree in ceramic pottery at the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Tennessee. After taking an intro course to metal jewelry, I was hooked on sterling silver as a medium and never looked back. When I finally discovered the proper-sized jump ring to assemble a Byzantine chain, I realized that I had stumbled across the perfect mobile craft.

Abandoning the fluorescent lights and hum of the jewelry studio, I would wander into the forest to sit under a tree and enjoy the quiet, meditative process of assembling a chain with a pair of pliers, without any need for electricity, a hot torch, or a structured studio setting.

I dropped out of college and backpacked around the Americas, working on cruise ships and private yachts as a chef, and, with this portable craft, I assembled silver Byzantine chain bracelets to bribe border guards, barter for anchorage fees, and charm a few pretty ladies. I visited every Caribbean and Pacific beach along the way. Swaying in a hammock through the midday heat, looping link upon link, I made bracelets that were often claimed before they were even finished.

LILY CHIN, author of Lily Chin’s Knitting Tips and Tricks and Lily Chin’s Crochet Tips and Tricks:
Educate yourself not only in the specific crafts of knitting and crochet but also in art, color, and visual language. Continuing adult education is so important, and many fashion and art schools have night classes. You can also take valuable classes at conferences such as Stitches or the Knit and Crochet Show.

JIL EATON, author of Jil Eaton’s Knitting School:
The best way to break into designing is to submit designs to all the fabulous knitting magazines we have today. Vogue Knitting, Knit Simple, Interweave Knits and Knitter’s Magazine are the perfect places to start.

SALLY MELVILLE, author of Warm Knits, Cool Gifts and Mother-Daughter Knits:
Knit what you wear or what the people around you are wearing. That often means designing simple garments, but simple garments teach us the skills of drafting, finishing, and writing that serve us well when we move on to more complex stuff.

LORNA MISER, author of The Knitter’s Guide to Hand-Dyed and Variegated Yarn and Faith, Hope, Love, Knitting:
Go to a wholesale trade show, such as TNNA (The National NeedleArts Association) show. There is nothing as inspiring as a trade show with professional designers, publishers, editors, and yarn companies to help you dive into that world.

Publish something in a magazine or book, or through a yarn company. The experience will help you hone your skills and learn how the business, with real tech-editors and test knitters work. It’s important to understand the standards of the “real world.”

WENDY D. JOHNSON, author of Wendy Knits Lace, Socks from the Toe Up, and Toe-Up Socks for Every Body:
Open your mind—you never know what might inspire a new design. Some of my designs are the results of simply doodling on graph paper, while others are created because I perceive a need. I derive inspiration from many sources: nature, people-watching, music, and even tangles of wires under my desk. View the world as a source of potential knitting patterns and you’ll be surprised how many jump out at you from everyday life.

CLARA PARKES, author of The Knitter’s Book of Socks, The Knitter’s Book of Wool, and The Knitter’s Book of Yarn:
Cultivate swatching as a daily meditation. Pick a different yarn every morning and take it for a stroll through your favorite stitch dictionaries. Clear your mind of any preconceived notions about what you should do with the yarn, and by all means let go of any pressure to produce a brilliant design right off the bat. Give yourself permission to relax and doodle for a while. The more you do this, the happier and more confident a designer you’ll become.

Consulting the rune stones is like reading tarot cards. Several traditional systems advise you how to reach in, how to cast the stone or stones, and how to interpret them. People draw out one, three, nine, or a handful; experts disagree about whether the set of some two dozen should include one blank stone.

To inspire letter artists, Margaret Shepherd created the set of rune stones shown in the third chapter of her new book, Learn World Calligraphy. The steps given here show how to make your own stones.

Materials:
• Clay, gingerbread dough, or polymer clay
• Blunt scriber, such as a fork tine or an old ball-point pen
• Cloth at least 8” x 20” (10 cm x 50 cm)
• Drawstring cord at least 20” (50 cm)
• Optional: thinline paint marker

Rune stones:

• Roll out a slab about ½“ thick. Cut it into little rectangular tiles about 1” x 1 ½” (3 x 4 cm, or about as big as the end of your thumb).
• Scribe each tile with a different character from the chart given here.
• If you want extra contrast, press a tiny thread of clay into the groove before baking.
• Bake the tiles or let them harden. If you want more contrast after baking, darken or lighten the groove with paint. A thin-line paint marker lets you add a solid color or gold.

Bag:

• Use a piece of soft material at least 8” x 16”. (20 x 40 cm)
• Double it inside out and sew along two of the three two open sides.
• Fold over 1” (2.5 cm) along the last open edge and sew it down to make a channel for the drawstring, finishing by hand to leave an opening for the drawstring. (diagram)

Put the rune stones in the bag, draw out one, three, or seven, and see your future more clearly. The chart above provides some simple interpretations to start you off.

-Margaret Shepherd

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jill Browning/Clarkson Potter Publicity

212-572-6182/jibrowning@randomhouse.com

 “Decoration can be life-enhancing. It can make dinner parties more fun, kids happier, relaxing easier, talks more intimate, guests at ease. And to think decorating is often considered frivolous. Making a charmed and happy home is a noble endeavor!” —Deborah Needleman, from the Introduction

THE PERFECTLY IMPERFECT HOME

How to Decorate & Live Well

By Deborah Needleman

Illustrations by Virginia Johnson

Deborah Needleman, editor in chief of WSJ. Magazine and founding editor and creative mastermind behind domino magazine, is a renowned expert on style and design. She has seen all kinds of homes—from the grandest to the coziest—and believes that the most stylish ones are just as comfortable as they are beautiful.

Now, in THE PERFECTLY IMPERFECT HOME: How to Decorate & Live Well (Clarkson Potter; on sale November 1, 2011), Deborah highlights the 80 essentials everyone needs to create a well-loved, truly lived-in home. Deborah’s unique approach focuses not on the things themselves or what they look like, but on how they contribute to our happiness. And the good news: it only takes a few well-considered items to change the feel of a space. All of the essentials are brought to vibrant life through Deborah’s witty, informative descriptions and through famed illustrator and textile designer Virginia Johnson’s gorgeous and playful watercolor images—commissioned just for this book.

Featuring a mix of inspiring spaces from world-famous tastemakers (Yves Saint Laurent, Brooke Astor, Kate and Andy Spade) and interior designers and friends (Jacques Grange, John Stefanidis, Albert Hadley, Rita Konig, Miles Redd, David Netto), THE PERFECTLY IMPERFECT HOME shows how to add style, expression, and beauty to your home, and to make everyone in it feel glamorous, relaxed, and well-cared for.

Some featured chapters include:

• PLACES FOR CHATTING: Here Deborah explains how to choose furniture—from cozy armchairs and upright chairs to inviting sofas and stools and benches—that will make everyone feel relaxed and welcome.
• A BIT OF QUIRK: All homes need a little quirkiness to show that you don’t take decorating (or yourself!) too seriously. This chapter covers irreverent and unexpected decorating items like accidental furniture and pictures by children.
• COZIFICATIONS: Deborah highlights the need for rugs, textiles, pattern, even a bit of ugly color—all of which add dimension to a room and contribute to a cozy, warm, and welcoming living space!
• A DOTED-ON BEDROOM: The bedroom should be the most comfortable, welcoming, and indulgent room in the house. A big bed, excellent linens, pillows, and a bedside command table are all integral to a doted-on bedroom.
• A SENSE OF HISTORY: In this chapter, Deborah discusses decorating with sentimental objects from your life and treasures from diverse cultures, traditions, and periods, such as ethnic textiles, pottery, crafts, antiques, and faded rugs.

Styling tips and simple how-tos help you put these pieces together, from creating vignettes on a side table to arranging furniture to mixing textile patterns, and an extensive resource list reveals Deborah’s favorite sources for items large and small.

According to Deborah, the point of decorating is to create the background for the best life you can have. And the key is to understand that every home is a work in progress—and that imperfection is not only liberating, but essential for real style and a well-loved home.

# # #

DEBORAH NEEDLEMAN is the editor in chief of WSJ. Magazine and creator of the Off Duty section of the Wall Street Journal. She was the founding editor in chief of domino magazine and coauthored domino: the book of decorating. Deborah was named a “Top Talent to Watch” by Women’s Wear Daily, and her writing has appeared in the New York Times and Slate.

VIRGINIA JOHNSON’s illustrations have appeared in a series of books by Kate Spade and on her own textiles carried in more than 100 stores, including Anthropologie, Barneys, Liberty of London, and Net-A-Porter.

ABOUT THE BOOK

THE PERFECTLY IMPERFECT HOME: How to Decorate & Live Well

By Deborah Needleman; Illustrations by Virginia Johnson 

Clarkson Potter/Publishers

On Sale November 1, 2011 • ISBN 978-0-307-72013-9 • Price: $30

For more information on the book, please contact:

Jill Browning, Clarkson Potter Publicity, at 212-572-6182 or jibrowning@randomhouse.com.

Make sure to visit the events’ individual websites for more up-to-date details, and if we missed your favorite winter craft show or other events, please let us know in the comments section!

January:
1/28: Winter Indie Wed, Chicago, IL
1/27–29: Sugarloaf Crafts Festival, Chantilly, VA

February:
2/4: Knit Michigan, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2/10–12: Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, Mars, PA
2/11: Retro Indie Market, Boynton Beach, FL
2/16–19: Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat, Tacoma, WA
2/23–26: Stitches West, Santa Clara, CA
2/24–26: New England Textile Arts Network’s Spa Knit & Spin, Freeport, ME
2/24-26: Sheep in the City Getaway, Oak Creek, WI
2/25–26: TNNA Nashville Needlework Market, Cool Springs, TN

March:
3/1–3: Sewing & Stitchery Expo, Puyallup, WA
3/4–6: Portland Yarn Crawl, Portland, OR
3/7–18: Style X, Austin, TX
3/8–10: Original Sewing & Quilt Expo, Duluth, GA
3/9: Alaska Fiber Festival, Anchorage, AK
3/9–11: Sugarloaf Crafts Festival, Somerset, NJ
3/10: Green With Indie Craft Show, Webster Groves, MO
3/11–13: Yarn Market News Smart Business Conference, Boston MA
3/12–13: Virginia Classic Llama and Alpaca Show, Lexington VA
3/16–17: Smoky Mountain Fiber Arts Festival, Townsend, TN

Most exciting was the time spent chatting and schmoozing with famous designers and authors, watching the fashion shows, and browsing the incredible work of fiber artists in the gallery.

Check out our slideshow of all the great goings-on. Here you’ll find hotel pillars covered in gorgeous yarn bombings, a fashion show of this spring’s most inventive knitted and crocheted styles, and tons fiber fans gone wild!

The next Vogue Knitting Live takes place in Chicago from October 26-28, so mark your calendar!

This week, we are pleased to share the Belle Epoque Thigh Highs and Kneesocks from Toe-Up Socks for Every Body. Fight the cold in style with this cabaret-inspired pattern from acclaimed knitter Wendy D. Johnson.

Learn more about the Belle Epoque Thigh Highs and Kneesocks. For more from Wendy D. Johnson, visit Wendyknits.net.

First, as promised, we are sharing photos from the wedding of our in-house, DIY bride! In the six weeks leading up to her wedding, Emily shared a series of wedding crafts that she created for her big day. We now have Emily’s photos, and you will have an opportunity to see how gorgeous these budget-friendly handmade crafts can look on your big day!

Second, in honor of the 18 percent of couples who were engaged in December, we are giving away a copy of The Bride-to-Be Book, designed for brides who want to preserve all the magic and excitement leading up to and including the big day.

To win, share a few details of your proposal, or the proposal of a bride-to-be that you know, in the comment section below.

CrafterNews: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Melissa! What’s the story behind your newest book?

Melissa Leapman: Stashbuster Knits came about out of necessity. Since I work for the yarn industry, gathering a huge stash is an occupational hazard. Living in a New York City apartment means I must have a way to keep my stash organized so I can easily find what’s there when I design something new.

CN: Do you have a favorite project from the book?

ML: I love the Puzzle Play afghan. It’s a great stashbuster because each section of color uses approximately 8 yards of yarn! Who doesn’t have 8-yard lengths of this or that to use up?

CN: One of the projects we like the most is Tamara’s shawl. Even though you use 11 different yarn colors, the linen stitch pattern keeps it all so elegant. What’s your best tip for making a multi-colored stashbusting project look cohesive?

ML: Knitters have two options: either choose colors that are all part of a color story (such as all autumnal tones, Mardi Gras brights, or cool tones) or else choose the colors completely randomly (and I mean utterly, unequivocally without rhyme or reason). Using one main color throughout can help tie the look together.

CN: Do you have a favorite color combination?

ML: Probably analogous colors, hues that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel (for instance a red, red-violet, and violet). There’s something harmonious about them. In fact, it’s the way colors most often present themselves to us in nature. Just look at the blues of the sky and the greens of foliage, for instance.

CN: We hear you’re a connoisseur of classic music! When you’re working, which composers help inspire you?

ML: Yes, I studied classical music most of my life and I continue the journey today. I enjoy many composers, including (of course) Beethoven, Prokofiev, and Glass. I recently re-discovered Hummel, whose piano sonatas I played as a kid. His orchestral stuff, especially the piano concerti, is amazing.

CN: If you weren’t a knitting author/designer/teacher, what would you want to be doing?

ML: I guess being a crochet author/designer/teacher doesn’t count? I’d probably be somewhere in academia, writing about material more esoteric than knitting. I’m a great lover of reading and of learning. And there’s so much to explore!

CN: So what’s next on your plate?

ML: I’m enjoying my travels to knitting events, meeting knitters from all over. I plan to continue that while working on my next book project. Everyone knows I get more knitting design work done on the road than I do here in the office. After all, there are so many wonderful distractions here in New York.

Learn more about Stashbuster Knits and download the free Boho Bangles project to get a head start on whittling down your own yarn stash.

Since we all know how hard it is to stick to a resolution, we’re giving away five beginner-friendly books to help you on your crafting adventure! To enter, just leave a comment below telling us what new craft you want to learn this year. We’ll pick one winner for each of these categories:

Photos above are from the prize books: Sweet Stitches from the Heart, The Art of Resin Clay, Sew What You Love, Crochet Adorned, and Jil Eaton’s Knitting School