Meet rock+purl

Have y'all* met Ruth? Because if you haven't, you really should... Ruth Garcia-Alcantud is the super-talented designer behind rock+purl, and tech editor extraordinaire for such luminaries as Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark, Pom Pom Quarterly and Knit Now magazine. She also teaches classes, blogs and Tweets, and is a generally fabulous person.

When Allison and I discussed local designers to approach for donations for the GLYC after-party, Ruth was the first person I thought of. So I was thrilled when we got her return email full of enthusiasm and support! Although she sadly won't be able to join us on the day, Ruth is generously donating pattern codes for the goody bags - you can check out her long list of designs on her website or on her Ravelry designer page.

In addition, she has donated two prizes for the after-party: two lucky Crawlers will receive her newly-revamped Spiralized Slouch Hat pattern (the version shown on the Ravelry page was knitted by one of our other sponsors, Countess Ablaze!), and a skein of gorgeous yarn (Artesano British Wool Chunky in Mushroom or Grey) to use for the project.

From her email: "The hat is a slouchy beret with plenty of room for heads full of hair and big ideas! The lacy pattern is a girly touch and you can close up the hat with buttons of your choice. The patterns will include the Ravelry download code for the winners to place it in their library."

Many thanks to Ruth for her enthusiastic support, and we hope to see her at future yarn crawls!

* Little American-isms like this (particularly from the South) are a sure sign that the blog post you're reading was written by Rachel, and not by The Toronto Connection, aka Allison.