We are post Thanksgiving now - which means it is officially winter in my book! And winter means cold, chilly days and frosty nights. What better way to warm up your space than with some cozy, cushy, ultra soft & warm home decor??

The Round Rug has been a customer favorite for years and now it's joined by two new cozy decor patterns. The Rainbow Rug - which lends a modern flair to any room & the Cozy Flora pillow- a three foot wide floor pillow! All three are crochet patterns worked up with super bulky yarn & huge hooks! 

The Rainbow Rug is super plush and SUPER quick to make. You will seriously be amazed at how quickly this giant rug will be ready to spread out on the floor! And of course you can customize your color palette to anything you like - or even all one color (you rebel!).

A three foot diameter floor pillow that is approx. a foot tall? Um, yes please! And it also looks like a giant flower?? Swoon! Or maybe you don't need a floor pillow - you can customize this pillow to ANY SIZE you like! Some sewing skills are needed to make the actual pillow - but it's basic stuff!  

So snuggle on down into the couch, pull that blanket up and go check out the new Anaid Patterns at Ravelry!

Round Rug: click here

Rainbow Rug: click here

Cozy Flora Floor Pillow: click here

Effortless style is the trend for 2016, and Brindille delivers! With it's flowing design and tons of ease on the body, you'll love how you look AND feel in Brindille. 

Designed with an abundance of stockinette and a touch of broken rib trim, Brindille works up quickly on US size 8 needles. Knitted in one piece with only small seams needed at the sides from hem to underarm. 

Pattern gives instructions for XS, S, M, L, & XL sizes.

Brindille is the perfect project for you to showcase that special yarn you've been waiting to knit. With the large fields of stockinette - your yarn will be the star of this sweater. 

The pattern for Brindille is available:

HERE on anaiddesigns.com
HERE on Ravelry
HERE on Etsy


​Enjoy! xoxo

My husband has an amazing job. He gets to travel all over the world and see amazing places. He also works very, very hard and I do not envy the amount of work that he has to perform. BUTTTTTT I am envious of all the amazing places he gets to go and all the things he gets to see and do. He is now up to 47 countries that he has visited. I haven't even been to 47 STATES. Bummer. 

However, the hubs is very understanding of my envy and goes above and beyond to include me as much as possible in his travels. He really is a keeper. 

This trip in particular was very exciting to me. He went to Italy! Along with 7 other countries. But ITALY! I would love to visit there! As an artist, the culture, history, art, and architecture make me swoon. I am fairly certain that I may never want to leave if I ever manage to get there! 

The above photo is in Venice. While there, hubs dragged all of his traveling companions many blocks out of the way to visit a lovely yarn shop. I told you, he's a keeper!

My husband was so impressed with Lellabella. The owner was a lovely lady that helped him find some great yarn for me. Housed in a gorgeous, quaint building (well I guess that's a 'normal' building for Venice) Lellabella is a small little shop. But don't let that fool you! She has just ONE skein of each color on display. SO what looks like a packed shop is REALLY REALLY packed!  

And finally (drumroll please), here is the yarn that he picked out for me:

Look at those colors! I'm so excited to work this up and see how it stitches! This yarn is ULTRA soft and squishy, plus has an amazing stretch to it. But it's all 100% Superwash Merino. I only have 3 balls (approx 400 yds total) so I have to very carefully decide what to make with this one! ;)

So next time you are in Venice (you lucky dog!) you MUST stop in at Lellabella. I'm sure that it will be a memorable yarn experience for you! 

Meet the Round Rug. It's one of my crochet patterns. And it's been around for awhile. But last Tuesday it was featured in an Etsy email. And people, that is like winning the designer lottery! Seriously. Suddenly your views go up by thousands. Orders start pouring in (relatively speaking) and it is better than Christmas morning! I was ecstatic! 

It was a good day. Now let's fast forward to this Tuesday. Yesterday. Around noon, the Round Rug starts to blow up AGAIN. Views are climbing dramatically, orders are coming in, favorites are skyrocketing. I'm thinking "Geez, did Etsy feature me AGAIN just a week later?" (which totally could happen, I've just never been a part of that particular 'lucky designer' group).

So I searched and searched through Etsy. I see no features. I see no popular treasuries. I know it's coming from Etsy as my stats tell me so, but I have NO IDEA how so many people are seeing my pattern. I am ETERNALLY grateful for this... but mystified. By the end of the day, I had nearly double the views that I had gotten from the Etsy email feature. Which is insane, to say the least. So what magical thing happened to get that many lovely people checking out my listing?? Any ideas?? Maybe one of you is an Etsy guru that knows about such things? 

You can go check it out and see what all the hoopla is about for yourself right here. Or if you are a Raveler and would like to purchase for your library, go here.

I know most of you are knitters. Which is cool. But you can do this rug pattern. Even if you are a brand new crocheter, this pattern is so easy and fast. Holding two strands of bulky weight yarn and working with a giant Q hook, the rug is so satisfying to work. Each stitch is making INCHES on the project. Pretty fun stuff that! :) 

Join the BULKY KNIT (or crochet!) home trend and check out the Round Rug. Work it in any size you want - 2 feet to 6 feet - or even bigger if you get crazy with it! You'll be glad you did! ​

My newest pattern is now published! The Fireside Pullover is a modern, relaxed sweater with all the style you could want!  Fitted in all the right places and roomy everywhere you'd like a little extra comfort. The Fireside can go from day to night and to any event you could imagine! Dress it up or dress it down. 

The stitch pattern is really a joy to work. Lots of impact but not a lot of 'fuss' while stitching. Perfect! And a big expanse of stockinette stitch really makes this knit fly off your needles. 

* Worked from the top down in the round
* Raglan style sleeves for a comfortable look
* Sleeves are worked on double pointed needles from the underarm to the wrist
​* Seamless construction

As always, you can find the Fireside Pullover pattern:

Right here on www.anaiddesigns.com

On Ravelry

On Etsy

Anaid Designs hit 300 subscribers yesterday! 

AND this site is officially 1 year old! (as of Jan 7th).

I am thrilled with 300 subscribers in just one year! It's hard to spread the word and get some traffic going. I'm honored that 300 people have decided that Anaid Designs is worth following! WOW! Thanks! New goal....How cool would it be if we could hit 1000 by this time next year?!? Help me out! If you haven't subscribed- join up! If you have subscribed, help spread the word to your other crafty friends! 

A big THANK YOU to all of my lovely subscribers! It means so much to me that you are part of the Anaid family! I have said this before, but this work is so special to me. I am incredibly lucky and you all are the ones that make it all possible. THANKS! 

In honor of Anaid's 1 year and 300 subscribers - 
Enter code 300STRONG at Ravelry checkout for 30% off your entire order! 
offer good thru Jan. 15th @ midnight

​Here's to another great year in 2016! 

We lost our power! With the bad winter storms tearing across the country, we knew it was only a matter of time. When my power goes out my first thought is "OH NO, I can't knit in the dark!" Probably a sure sign of addiction! 

The above photo was taken at about 4:30 pm yesterday. Not dark yet, but I was trying to get in as many rows as possible before the light left me completely. I was lucky. The power came back on around 7 pm. Whew... didn't have to use my little Ott light. ;) And was able to finish the sweater last night too! Double Win!

My next sweater is the Lodge Sweater. Here is a sneak peak just for you! :) I am finishing writing the pattern and then it will be going into testing. Hoping to have this pattern ready for release around Feb. 15th. 

And finally, I finished that sweater mentioned up top last night. It's a children's sweater - my sample is made for girls size 6. The photo shows the bottom of the sweater body. Sweet little hearts! And the pattern is repeated on the sleeves also. I will start the blocking, pattern, photos, etc today. Hoping to have this one available for release also around Feb. 15th.

So there you go! Now you are all up to date with the goings on here at Anaid! ;) And I'll be jumping right into my next sweater design tonight. After all, I have light now and I WILL be knitting! :)

​Happy Holidays to you all!

The Fireside Pullover is complete! But I need YOUR help! I would like to enlist the help of 5 of you lovelies to each test knit one of the sizes for this fun sweater. 

The Fireside Pullover is fairly simple and straight forward in it's construction. There's no shaping through the body, basic tapered sleeve decreases and a straight funnel neck. The fun comes in with the great stitch pattern. But since it's broken up with a substantial amount of stockinette stitch, the sweater works up really quickly! 

I designed this sweater to be the 'go to' sweater for the winter wardrobe. SO comfortable to wear, lovely softness and warmth from the wool yarn, and a classic shape that will work for weekend, workday, daytime, nighttime, anytime!

I need testers for sizes XS, S, M, L, XL finished bust size for these are: 32", 36", 40", 44" and 48".  I am wearing it in the photos with 3" of positive ease. 

Here are the particulars for the test:
*Please be an experienced knitter. No beginners.
*Skills needed: working in the round from the top down. Working with double pointed needles for the arms. 
*Test knit to be completed with finished photos and a Ravelry project page done by Jan. 15, 2016
*You may use ANY sport weight yarn you would like to work with. However, please choose a smooth yarn to showcase the stitch pattern.
*Needles needed: US size 3 dpn, and circulars in 16" and 24" lengths. US size 5 dpn, and circulars in 16" and 24" lengths. (or sizes needed to obtain gauge)
*If you would like to sign up to test knit, please email me at [email protected] I would love for you to include your Ravelry username if possible so I can check out your past work! ;) 
*Once chosen to be a test knitter, I will send you the pattern to your email.
*When the test knit is finished, photos taken, and project page posted on Ravelry, I will send you a code for another free Anaid Pattern. 
*If you do not complete the test knit by Jan. 15, 2016 there will be no code sent to you. Nor will you be allowed to test knit for Anaid in the future.

I am opening this test knit to my subscribers first... but if I don't have the test knit full by Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 then I will open it up to Ravelry users. If you'd like to get it in on this... don't wait! :) I am hoping to build a great group of test knitters from within my own following. I appreciate you subscribing to my site and want to give back to you all as much as possible! 

To sign up for the test knit or to ask me ANY questions - feel free to email me at [email protected]. Or you can always post in the comments below if you have general questions. 

Anaid is having a lovely little Thanksgiving Sale on Ravelry! WooHOO! For TWO WHOLE days you can get a BOGO deal on my patterns. ALL patterns are buy one get one FREE! Yippee! 

It's a great time to stock up on patterns - or if you are REALLY motivated make some items for Christmas gifting! Either way, with a BOGO deal you can hardly go wrong! ;)

This little sale is from Midnight tonight until Midnight at the END of Black Friday - so all day Thursday and all day Friday! Just place TWO patterns (or more) into your cart and you will get $5.50 discounted off of your order! No matter which two patterns you choose - $5.50 off! 

Visit Anaid Designs on Ravelry for this great deal! 

​Happy Thanksgiving everyone!