Tessellation -  the process of creating a two-dimensional plane using the repetition of a geometric shape with no overlaps and no gaps.

aka….

Tiling.

And quilting.

I recently discovered paper piecing. You cut some paper polygons, you fit fabric around them, stitch them together, tear out the paper, and there you go, paper piecing.

While paper piecing can be done for any shape you want, the thing I like the best is repeatable patterns, like tiles on a floor. And that is called Tessellation.

All regular polygons have the same angle at all its vertices, and in tessellation we aim to have 360 degrees (no gaps, no overlaps) at any given vertex.

Hexagons, like the hexipuff mania or the above pictured quilt, are a form of regular tessellation. They use only ONE type of regular polygon (6 triangles or 4 squares or 3 hexagons) – we can fit 6 triangles together into a perfect hexagon on a plane, because each angle is 60 degrees and (6 x 60 = 360). No gaps.

We can fit 4 squares, side by side and make a grid, because (4 x 90 = 360). Or hexagon upon hexagon, at 3 hexagons per vertex (3 x 120 = 360)

The Spring Carnival pillow, my first paper piecing project, is a form of semi-regular tessellation. They use several types of regular polygons. The Spring Carnival Pillow pattern/tutorial (available from I’m A Ginger Monkey’s blog)  relies on semi-regular tessellation. One hexagon = 120 degrees. 1 equilateral triangle = 60 degrees. 2 squares = 180 degrees. All added up to 360 degrees.

Playing with polygons is FUN. So is math.

As a self-employed designer of something that not everyone finds appealing, I’ve read a lot of marketing books. Crappy marketing. Metric marketing. SEO. Keywords. Absolutely useless marketing. Find your voice. The genie inside. The Secret. Blah.

I knew this would be different – I have been following Tara for a long time on Twitter and I was joyous when she got her publishing deal with Cooperative Press. Not only does she write in an engaging way that *makes sense* but I’ve a soft spot for Cooperative Press, since my buddy Shannon is behind it and there’s no doubt they publish quality stuff. I just KNEW this would be different.

A lot has been written about craft marketing, but let me tell you one thing, not a lot of those books/ebooks have made me look at myself differently before. I’ve been told I do good marketing. But I never knew why. I just look at my product, I look at my customers or those consumers I hope to turn into customers and I talk your ear off. I speak to you like I speak to my friends, my family… and I hope it sticks.

Reading Market Yourself I noticed my ocd makes for good branding (cohesive colours across my site and marketing materials), that my lack of knowledge on “Sale Pitching” turns into a good voice (personal touch that ensures your customers know they’re dealing with a real person!) and how my knowledge of what I do and the tidbits I share with you show off my expertise in my field.

Tara teaches us not only how to develop the YOU in your brand, but also how to find who our Right People are, and what they do for us. What do you write in your About page?

I sure know I’m going to change mine now, since I want it to be more compelling – and Market Yourself teaches you how to do that with Worksheets. There’s worksheets left right and centre in each chapter, that will make you analyze what you’re doing and see what you need to be doing.

One point in the book I just love is the Listening Station. It’s a simple equation, really. If you don’t know what people want, you will never know how your product can satisfy that desire. Tara shows you how and where to listen, where to open your mind and seek inspiration (hint: it’s not in the obvious places)

Let me just tell you – this book is HEAVY. It’s full of advice, full of theories and ways to practice them. Full of material to follow – from friendly to professional, from personal to business. This book doesn’t have tons of drawings, tons of diagrams or lots of colours. It’s straight to the point.

And I’m about to implement a lot of it. Let’s just start this thing off with a mistake.

My marketing mistake!!

I’m off with the fairies a bit too often. Market Yourself talks about setting goals and checkpoints in your research, yet when I’m trying to do research I end up looking up what movie featured a particular actor in a holiday sweater. I need to channel the research, plan what I need, when I need it by and stop the distraction. It took me 6 months (yes, SIX) to find… buttons. I was SO obsessed with finding the right type of buttons I may have lost sales in doing so.

Do you want to WIN a copy of Market Yourself by Tara Swiger?

Of course you do, because you want to rock your business the way it was meant to.

So, there are 2 ways you can win:

- Tell me YOUR marketing mistake. The big faux-pas. The thing you wish you knew how to fix. Funny or sad, let us know.

OR

- Give me YOUR question, your doubt, your query, the fork in the road you can’t pick from…

Tara will be visiting me soon to answer some of you, so this is your CHANCE to get the answer, draft up a plan and get into action.

She will also pick a winner who can benefit from her book!

What are you waiting for? Share your story with us!!

If you can’t wait to win the copy and just want the book, go get it from the awesome peeps at Cooperative Press here!

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These days outside my window is the sprawling city of Seoul. We’ve been lucky enough to live right in the heart of this always surprising, sometimes perplexing city for two years now.

I love looking out of our lofty apartment windows and seeing all the hustle and bustle in the streets below. Or to look out and see lost balloons floating by, or see a Korean magpie or two swooping past. Or to listen to all the different sounds that filter up – street sellers spruiking melons, tomatoes and mandarins; motorbikes in need of a good tune up; protests (always protests!). It’s really quite an amazing city, especially when you consider that 60 short years ago the whole place was, quite literally, shell shocked.

We also have a great view of the gorgeous oasis that is Namsan (‘South Mountain’). South Korea has very distinct (and extreme) seasons and it’s so wonderful to see them reflected in this little mountain. Snowy white in the depths of Winter; an explosion of colour as the azaleas and blossoms come out in Spring; a gorgeous bright green through the hot and humid Summer months; and burning with yellow, orange and red in Autumn.

Before we came to Seoul the view outside our window was possibly even more spectacular – the Hong Kong skyline. Hong Kong is one of my favourite cities in the world, I could wax lyrical about it for hours and hours. It’s an amazingly vibrant mix of old and new, it’s at once distinctly Chinese and incredibly cosmopolitan. And the food! Oh the food! It’s a city that never fails to inspire me. If you haven’t visited yet, make sure it’s on your list.

Before Hong Kong we had a view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Well, when I say ‘view’ I mean if you stood on your tippy toes in exactly the right spot on our little balcony you could vaguely make out a tiny bit of arched steel. Before that was a different (single) life, with other Sydney views, of gumtrees and terrace houses. And before that it was the Melbourne suburbs.

You see, for the past five years or so ‘home’ has been wherever my husband and two dogs are. And I’ve learnt not to get too settles as the view from our window can change in a flash. As expats, we’ve been given the most amazing opportunity to experience Asia, to live in places we never would be able to if we were doing it on our own.

As much as I miss my friends and family and the other comforts of home (you have no idea what I’d do to get my hands on a lamb cutlet at the moment!), right now I am so happy to have an ever changing view outside my window

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Emily is an Australian blogger, crafter and photographer currently living in Seoul with her husband, two long dogs and as much cheese as she can afford.

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Outside my window there is a canal.

I moved to Amsterdam at the end of December 2011.  I photographed the view outside my window every month, and it helped me adapt to my new home.  These photos I organized like postcards to share with you.

December & January

We chose this apartment because of the view.  The balcony and main windows look out onto a canal and everyone loves to visit it.  Later in January, the canal turned to ice, but not knowing how deep it was, I did not try to walk on it.

February

Cold winds made beautiful patterns on the frozen water.  People from the neighborhood swept the snow to the center of the canal and people skated merrily, had snow fights, and bruised their butts when they fell.

March

What a crazy burst of color!  I bought some bulbs, 3 for 3 EUR to decorate my window.  They bloomed faster than I could have dreamed.  The hyacinths had the most wonderful scent.

April

This month was confusion.  Cold, wet, and rainy, splendid sunny days, clothing ranged from winter coats to shorts.  The grass stayed green, the skies wavered between blue and grey.

May

Big changes are coming. The weather seems to be shifting toward warmth, but the only constant is change.  I’ll be packing and getting ready to move once again…  I hope my next view is as nice as this one.

Adriprints (aka Adri H.) is an illustrator and designer by trade; a knitter, crocheter, and pseudo-seamstress by craft. You can find her work in typo-phile calendars, online knitting magazines, and on random people’s business cards, greeting cards, and advertisements. She currently lives in Amsterdam.  You can follow her latest adventures in making things via her bloghttp://adriprints.blogspot.com.

Filling my head with possibilities, I’ve tons that I want to work on.

Something for me:

- sew my summer trench coat

- conquer my latest commissioned piece (9 pieces and counting!!)

- prep next week’s Grading Class materials

- maybe even cross-stitch a bit?

… and something for  you:

- an outline for a long-term idea.

- a plan for yet another huge project with a good friend.

- a new pattern for Wednesday (ah.. que sera, sera!)

And hopefully catch up on some really required R&R. Since getting back from Canada we’ve been filling up hours bumper to bumper! When I took on new clients as a Technical Editor, I didn’t expect the demand – I’m thrilled to be working with new designers who love input on formatting and instructions as well as seasoned designers (and one of my own editors!) who  seem to appreciate my writing/editing skills enough to want my input in their work. Filled with joy I am, I tell you!!

The Mystery Sock KAL is going so well too… We’ve a chatty bunch of people, a weekly marathon for those who are keeping up with clues, prizes from wonderful friends for the grand finale – Babylonglegs, Knitsch, Nicsknots, One Geek To Craft Them All and The Mulberry Dyer, and the thing I love the most is how many sock-virgins joined! I love knitters who take new challenges and trust their skills, the pattern and the support of the group to make it through their first pair of socks.

If that sounds like you and you didn’t get a chance to join in, you can do so here – Mystery Sock!

Enjoy your weekend, remember that on Sunday we have a new series of Blogstars topic, Outside My Window – a very good blogger and super talented buddy of mine is up this Sunday. Keep those mystery socks on the needles, and your eyes open for the new pattern coming up!

I mentioned somewhere that March was the month of socks for me. I needed travel projects, I knew I was doing a mystery sock KAL (which is going fantastically well and I couldn’t have imagined how good it’s been so far)… and I knew I was part of a kick ass project.

(drumroll)

The Solid Socks Club, run by Elly from Magpielly.co.uk !!!

Right around the time when the whole KAL/ACM badly run club news were coming out, Elly asked on twitter how people felt about sock clubs, and I got in touch to say I would love to be involved in a well-run club with transparent operations and clever people.

Turns out many people are not content with the one-option-only sock club – feeling obliged to use the combination of yarn/pattern, not feeling the colour of the month, not knowing what to do with it, and others feel that variegated socks detract from patterns. Elly, Sam, Rachel and myself teamed up to create a collection of 4 sock patterns (toe ups, top downs, cables, lace, textures… ) to satisfy every knitter’s solid sock dreams.

Running over 4 months starting mid-June, you will get a pattern and your choice of yarn colour every month.  The biggest kick of all? You can even choose your preferred colours!

Wildfoote by Brown Sheep is a wonderfully rocking sock yarn. It reminds me of Opal, the one I make all my supersocks with (the one that Brian prefers too!) – it’s skinny, well defined and very long lasting.

You have 3 options depending on your location

- UK, 1 payment of £75 or 2 of £38

- Europe, 1 payment of £79 or 2 of £40

- ROW, 1 payment of £83 or 2 of £42

Seriously, see that price? Go sign up. Now, I tell you!!!

Want to know more about my sock? What could I say that doesn’t give it all away… It’s made in Wildfoote Lightening Lemon shade, it’s textured, it’s got techniques to rock your world, surprising finishing details and it’s definitely not your average sock!

We put too much love in this project for you, why don’t you take the chance and join us for a summer of solid socks?

If you want to know more…

- 3 sizes – Small and Large Ladies, Large Men

- Textured

- Structured

- Perfect for solid, semis or variegated

- Good for beginners – No lace, no supercable patterns, clear instructions for your feet!

- Prizes!!!! Win Knitsch and Mulberry Dyer vouchers, Babylonglegs yarn, a Nicknots bag or a set of One Geek To Craft Them All stitch markers!

- Weekly marathon prizes – one free pattern for the first finisher of each clue!

- Cakes!!!

(one of the above may be only imaginary)

Go on, join us! For the price of a latte you get a month of lots of fun and prizes, PLUS a sock at the end!

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Knitting or crocheting is a wonderful way to experiment and play with colour, particularly in smaller projects such as accessories. But look closely at your past projects – it’s far too easy to get into a colour rut. Even if you have a drawer full of garments in beautiful shades, perhaps they are all of the same colour value – maybe deep dark shades such as plum, navy and maroon? I challenge you to expand your horizons and take a leap into unexplored territory!

1. Stitch something BRIGHT! It doesn’t have to be neon, but if it isn’t in the citrus spectrum (think lime-lemon-orange!) then make sure it is a strongly saturated shade. Royal blue or scarlet would be good places to start. If bright socks aren’t something you’d be happy wearing to the office, what about a one skein shawl or scarf in a splash of bright colour?

2. Stripes. A simple step up from knitting with one colour, stripes are easily worked flat or in the round, so lend themselves to almost all projects. Experiment with different numbers of colours and thickness of stripes and you will find something that works for you.

Extra credit: pick a colour you really dislike, for instance, orange. Now find a colour wheel and find that colour’s complement (the one straight across the wheel). In this case, it’s blue. I’m betting you like that colour. Now go and make a project using those colours, and learn to love that shade! Use your favourite shade as the main colour, and add one row stripes of the hated shade for every 5-8 rows of the lovely shade. Just knit a hat or some wrist-warmers, something quick! I promise it will look amazing, and you may just learn to love that nemesis shade!

3. Try mosaic or tapestry. Yes, we’re still talking about knitting and crocheting! Barbara Walker has designed clever slip stitch patterns that allows the knitter to work with only one strand of yarn at a time, and Carol Ventura has developed the tapestry crochet technique to give different effects and uses for crocheters.

4. Stranded colourwork If you are intimidated by the beautifully shaded traditional knitting of the Fair Isles (and don’t be, just jump in – there are many kits and patterns available so you don’t have to worry about picking the ‘right’ five shades of pink!), there are also many Scandinavian patterns that use just two colours (traditionally in natural shades) – which can easily be ‘coloured in’, for example, by using a bright main colour with a white pattern stitch (or again, two complementary shades).

5. Learn to spin. I think spinning is the fibre fiend’s version of an artist mixing paints on the palette. Colour is of course affected by the surrounding shades, but it is also affected by it’s base – not only the fibre content (those stunning shimmering silks vs the dense matt of alpaca), but the number of plies – the less plies a yarn has the brighter it will seem as more of the fibre will be bouncing light straight back to your eyes.

Some resources for exploring and expanding your go-to colour palette and work-bag of techniques:

Carol Ventura’s Tapestry Crochet site with patterns, background and extensive tutorials for both left and right-handers :http://www.tapestrycrochet.com/

Barbara Walker’s Mosaic Knitting book available from Schoolhouse Press in the US http://www.schoolhousepress.com/stitchpatts.htm

Elizabth Lovick’s Fair Isles Work book (pdf download) http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/fair-isle-workbook

ColorWorks: The Crafter’s Guide to Colour by Deb Menz

The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques by Margaret Radcliffe

www.colourlovers.com

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Elly is currently knitting lime green socks to help combat a drawer full of knitted tops that are plum navy or maroon. Next up just may be a vest top in a rich purple with orange accents. She sells Brown Sheep yarn in the UK at her website http://magpielly.co.uk, so she no longer has any excuse not to step outside of her well trodden colourways. No matter how hard she tries, she is always defeated by the blog monster, and is more likely to be found hanging out on twitter, so pop by and say hi @magpielly.

May I introduce you to my friend Ali?

I met Ali some years ago, at the iKnit Day in London, along with tons of other new-to-me friends. She and her pal Chantelle kept me very included, and I was happy to see her again at regular Socktopus meetings. We came very close due to personal similarities, even if we couldn’t look more different to each other!

Ali is meticulous. She puts effort into every stitch. She says she’s slow, I say she wins in quality – her stitches are damn near perfect, so even and beautiful. Due to her so-called “slow” knitting, Ali was an accessories knitter from the start.  She kept thinking “well if it takes me X amount of time to finish one sock, who am I kidding thinking I can knit an entire sweater?”

Which is why when she said she’d make Montview, my design for Knitscene, her first sweater… well, of course I encouraged it. It’s an honour for a friend to think your design is worth making, and to have that knitting be the first ever in any category is quite impressive in my mind.

With some help to modify length and decreases et al, Ali got going. And going. And going. And she had a body.

“There’s no turning back now, you know that, right?” I said to her. “Yes, I know” was her response.

One sleeve…. 2 sleeves later – “now if I made my body this much longer, am I right thinking I should add these many stitches to the buttonband??”

Yes, my dear. You were right. You not only conquered your garment but you also managed to think it through for your body, calculate how to adapt that area and made it work.

So if I have to nominate a hero, it’s her. Because of her enthusiasm and continuous belief in me. And because of those damn perfect stitches.

Go give her some love