Review: New Lamp For The Home -  OttLite Revive LED FLoorlamp

Introducing from XRX and Shibaguyz Designz
The Limited Edition Crochet and Knit Collection stitchips

We're Going To Camp Again!  This Time In Our Neck Of The Woods

UPDATE: This event has ended. Sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss our next big event!
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Success feels glorious, so thank you both! Tina - Camp STITCHES San Antonio

Class was awesome! I attended to get some pointers on fit and designing garments for myself and left with dreams of "designer" in my head!
Cyndi - Camp STITCHES San Antonio

Crochet & Knit Garment Design Online Class!

We are very excited to announce the launch of our newest online Garment Design class from Interweave and Craft University. Yup… in this eight week course, Shannon is going to share the skills we've used here at Shibaguyz Designz for our over 300 published designs and 9 books. Whether you are a designer looking to up your skills or if you have always wanted to be a crochet and knitwear designer, you'll want to take this course. Even if you never want to publish your designs but want to make FAB garments for yourself, this is a course you don't want to miss out on! Yes, the focus in the class is on crochet BUT it's all just stitches and rows, folks. And, whether you make those stitches and rows with hooks or sticks (or both), all of the handouts, worksheets, and course material applies equally to both crafts.

Win a Free Class with The Shibaguyz and a three-day marketplace pass at Vogue Knitting Live in Pasadena.

Vogue Knitting Live Pasadena 2016 - Classes with The Shibaguyz

Friday, May 13, 2016

Fashion Fit Form & Function: May 13th 9am-5pm

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Design It!: May 14th 9am-5pm

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Couture Finishing for Knitters: May 15th 9am-12pm

​Beginning Crochet: May 15th 2pm-5pm

Week 2 Giveaway: Craftsy Class, Ottlite, and Eucalan Wash

Crochet Toolkit from Craftsy.com

Folks who follow our escapades on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram know Shannon took a little trip to Denver, Colorado back in December. If you were watching closely, you even noticed him posting a photo like this.  Yup… that's Shannon on set in front of THE Craftsy logo! (Note the inclusion of garments from our last two books… hehehe…)

Ottlite Mini LED Flip Light

Gift Set from Eucalan

How to Enter The Week 2 Giveaway!

GRAND PRIZE RULES

Come see Shibaguyz LIVE classes at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival
​and Creative Arts Festival
March 4-6, 2016

Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Show
Classes with The Shibaguyz
March 4-6, 2016

Friday, March 4, 2016 Classes

Saturday, March 5, 2016 Classes

Sunday, March 6, 2016 Class

Dallas Fort Worth Fiber Festival
​Classes With The Shibaguyz
April 1-3, 2016

Friday, April 1, 2016

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Crochet and Knit Garment Design Classes with Shannon & Jason Mullett-Bowlsby at the 2015 New York State Sheep and Wool Festival

Designing crochet and knit garments takes an in-depth knowledge of yarn content and construction, textile design, stitching techniques, and garment construction. There is a certain level of "design eye" that a person must have as well in order to create garments that people want to make and wear. While we can't fit all of this into a three or even a six hour class, we do have a unique opportunity to present a big chunk of the skills it takes to design crochet and knit garments at the upcoming New York State Sheep and Wool Festival.

Click here to register for this class!

We'll kick off things on Thursday, October 15, 2015 with Fashion, Fit, Form & Function. This all-day class is designed to help you alter existing crochet and knit patterns to fit your body and your style. Whether the pattern needs a little better fit or you like the silhouette of the garment but want to use a different yarn and a different stitch pattern, we'll give you the tools you need to make good choices and then alter patterns to better fit YOU… in every way. Proper body measurements, stitch patterns, yarn choices, and garment functionality are all covered in this six-hour class.

Then, on Friday, October 16, 2015, we'll dive into our Design It! class. This all-day class covers everything from body measurements through fabric design and making a pattern schematic. You will leave with a working knowledge of crochet and knit garment design and will have the tools you need to delve into your own design work. Whether you are designing just for yourself and your friends and family or if you have always thought you had some of that "design eye" it takes to be a professional designer, this class is the place to start.

Click here to register for this class!

For more information and our fun intro video about our classes at the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, jump on over to our page by clicking this link: Classes with the Shibaguyz at New York State Sheep and Wool Festival 2015 And make sure you get registered today to reserve your seat. Space is limited! And we'll see YOU in the classroom! Stich On! S&J

Join us for an exciting full-day workshop at
So Much Yarn in Seattle!

Photographing in Natural Window Light For Great Shots
- a guest post by Jason Mullett-Bowlsby, owner of Shibaguyz Photography

Natural light has made a comeback, not only for amateurs but for pros as well. I love it.  It’s warm, it’s easy to manipulate, and it’s free!  Natural light is the new look for portraits of newborns to seniors, and it’s popping up more and more in fashion photography. With minimal equipment anyone with a basic camera (even a camera phone) can take exceptional indoor images utilizing nothing more than a window. So, how do you nail it? The key to great fiber photography with window light is as simple as  using your eyes. Look at what’s in front of you, decide if you like it. If not adjust it to suit your taste. It’s that easy!  Let's do it.

The direction of it does not matter. Many photographers insist on having a northern or eastern exposure, but I find any direction will work. The trick is you have to wait for the moment when the light is right.  You should have bright light without direct light hitting your subject.  For my living room shots, this generally happens between 11:00am and 3:00pm.  Because I live in Seattle where we have a lot of cloudy days, my shooting schedule can be augmented depending on if the clouds keep the sun in check.  One important note… I recommend you turn off all interior lights if possible. They may cause a color balance shift making your garment’s color look off.

This Cabled Top from Designer Crochet was photographed in my living room directly in front of a large window. See how it's slightly angled allowing some shadows to fall?

It should be obvious, but I’ll say it nonetheless, you can’t move the window, so you’ll need to move your subject to control where the light hits. Positioning your subject directly in front of the window will give you’ll get flat, even light with little shadow, but you can run into problems if the shadow from you or your camera falls on the subject, and sometimes because the light is flat you lose texture. A better option is to position your subject so that the window is just to one side of it on an angle.  This is called Side Lighting

Bringing the dress form closer to the window increased the highlights in this lace helping it to stand out more.

Moving your subject closer to or further away from the window is going to change the “contrast” in the lighting.  Contrast is the difference between the dark and light portions of your photo. Being closer to the window increases contrast, thus increasing the difference between the lit side and the shadow side of the subject. Moving it away is going to reduce the effect.  Be careful here. If you move too far away there is a chance your subject will look dull and flat. The sweet spot is usually a couple feet away depending on how bright it is outside.

NOTE: Pay attention to the sun. Just because we’re inside doesn’t mean we can ignore it. Remember as the sun moves the positive effects of window light will go down the tubes if harsh sunlight starts pouring in. You want light, but not at a direct angle. If the sun is raging in you’re going to have over-exposed highlights and hard ugly shadows on your subject. It’s easy to see when that occurs. If that happens, you have three options: 1. Place a soft curtain or otherwise gauzy piece of fabric over the window to lessen the effect of the hard light (this is called diffusing). Diffusers are placed between the light and the subject to help scatter harsh direct light into softer light with reduced shadows. Think of how sheer curtains in a window soften hard light scattering it. 2. Wait for the hard light to move out of the window. 3. Go to another window that faces another direction. The sun can’t be on all four sides of the house at once!

I used a simple curtain to block the worst of the harsh summer afternoon light coming in this window. It allowed softer light to wrap around the dress form and made a nice background too!

Focus on your subject and adjust the exposure and focus on the garment.  Placing yourself so the window is in your photo will sometimes over-expose that part of the photo, which is a justifiable style choice. I recommend you move around taking your photo from different placements.  If you don’t like the composition, move yourself again or move your subject until it looks perfect.  Be sure to check your photos in your camera and on a computer before you break down your set.

In the Classroom With the Shibaguyz

New York State Sheep and Wool Festival
October 15-18, 2015

Rhinebeck BAY-BEEEE!!

Shibaguyz Designz is proud to announce we will be teaching at the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY, October 15–18, 2015. WOOHOO!! Rhinebeck BAY-BEEEE!! (We're thinking about getting t-shirts with that printed on them… too much??)

There's a lot of good things happening at Shibaguyz Designz and we're looking for folks to partner with to build our community and share in the fun!

Right now we are working on events for the release of our NEW book, Designer Crochet, coming out in April from Sterling Publishing. WOOHOO!! For our book release, we're going to be looking for book reviewers (bloggers, podcasters, makers… that's YOU!) and folks to work on a FAB sponsored giveaway we are doing around the pre-release of the book. We are also setting up workshops based on Designer Crochet, as well as book signings, and trunk shows.

Want to review one of our online classes or webinars? We have those opportunities as well related to our Craftsy and Interweave classes. We also have a few events where we are conducting workshops that offer some unique sponsorship opportunities and we would love to chat with your company about getting involved.

This is no GAME! Don't let your spring be STARK because you were DRAGON and didn't start your crochet and knitting project early enough!

How To Weave In the Ends Of Yarn Tails On Your Knitting Projects

What is it? At the end of projects and anywhere a new length of yarn is joined, there is a tail of yarn remaining that must woven in. This instruction is often at the end of a pattern written as: Weave in ends. Weaving in the end of a tail of yarn secures the yarn tail so it does not come unraveled and hides the tail so it cannot be seen.

Four Techniques for How To Block Your Crochet and Knit Fabrics

What is it? Blocking is the process of introducing moisture into a fabric in order to finish that fabric. Blocking allow fabric fibers to bloom and wake up lending their true nature to the finished fabric. Blocking also allows the finished fabric to be shaped and sized according the finished dimensions of a pattern or in order to open up and set a stitch pattern.

Trying to think of something special to make for THAT guy? We have a few suggestions for you.

If you maintain a website of any sort and have analytics software hooked up to it, you know there is a section in that analysis that tells you what words someone put into a search engine that lead them to your site. We see the usual search terms like…

Answers To Your Top 3 Questions About the Technique Tuesday Crochet & Knitting Tutorials

We've been going strong for a few months now with our Technique Tuesday crochet and knitting tutorials and, naturally, y'all have had some questions. Most of the questions have been answerable via a quick email but a few others have stood out as needing a little more attention. In the interest of helping Build Your Skillz, we've picked the three questions asked most often or that provided the best opportunity for teaching a more specific detail of our tutorials. Here is our first ever, Knit & Crochet Q&A!

Women's Ribbed Edge Knit Vest knitting pattern by Shibaguyz Designz

It's been a while since we've released a new knitting pattern into the wild so we thought we'd send this little beauty along to y'all. We love the striking looks and cozy feel of this vest and we designed it with YOU, the wearer, in mind. Here are a few details about what went on in the making of this design and the pattern.

Class Details and Registration Information for Shibaguyz Designz Classes at Knit Fit 2014

Motif Madness! (Crochet) Teachers: Shannon & Jason Mullett-Bowlsby (Saturday AM) From hexes to circles to granny squares… motifs make us happy with all of their colors and textures and versatility. They can be anything from couture garments to a cozy afghan to a funky vest or skirt or a car cover for your sedan, or rugs or hats or jackets or sweaters or… There’s hardly anything the enduring and endearing motif can’t do. We will start with a basic chain circle and work our way outward to granny glory, beginning with basic color changes then get a little funky with in-line color changes and maybe even delve into the mysterious spiral!  We will also learn three ways of starting your motifs for ultimate versatility, and three ways to join your motifs together. Skill level: All Homework: None Materials Fee: None Student-supplied materials: • Crochet kit with various hook sizes • Light-colored, non-variegated, smooth, worsted weight yarn (no kitchen cottons or similar types of cotton yarns)

Fashion, Fit, Form & Function: Designing Garments for Everyone (Crochet & Knitting) Teachers: Shannon & Jason Mullett-Bowlsby  (Sunday PM) There are a million patterns in the naked city… and wouldn’t it be nice if just ONE of them fit?! We will teach you the basics of fit, form and function that we use daily as fashion designers so you can see a garment and make it for yourself or someone else. You will create a template that you will be able to use for every garment you ever want to make… EVER. No matter whom you are making for, no matter what the body type, you will be able to create a garment that anyone would be thrilled to wear. We will start with measurements and form – what measurements do I take from where and how do I apply them to my template? Then we’ll talk about fit – how do I make a garment that fits a certain style or body type? Then we’ll move to function – whom am I making this for and where will they wear it? Finally… fabrics – how to take your swatch and convert that into a pattern. Skill level: All Homework: None Materials Fee: $5 for Master Pattern template, sizing chart, and calculation formulas. Student-supplied materials: • Soft (non-metal) measuring tape • Notebook • Pencil • Calculator