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Burnaby Designer Wins Award




Debbie Bliss is one of the leading knitwear designer for babies and children who lives in the UK. (Since I'm in baby-knitting mode it isn't hard to figure out how I found her.)  With a list of more than 40 pattern books and several bestselling titles to her name, she regularly tours the U.S., Canada and other countries, giving lectures and doing workshops.  More recently she has developed her own Debbie Bliss branded yarn which is sold worldwide.  You can check out her latest yarn and designs here.

Her company sponsors awards for up-and-coming designers.  In the Fall-Winter 2012 issue of her magazine, Debbie Bliss Knitting Design, a call went out for a unique baby blanket.  In this year's Fall-Winter issue the winner was announced, Aruna Neela, from right here of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.   Her "Sweet Dreams Russian Doll Baby Blanket" was made with the help of my LYS, Black Sheep Yarns.  This is from their website:  

Aruna came into Black Sheep Yarns many months ago with her design and we had the pleasure of helping her choose colours.  Aruna started knitting 10 years ago and in 2011 established Haberdash Couture Co., teaching and selling her original, nontraditional knitwear designs. She has a very creative approach to knitting as she has worked with a multitude of art mediums in the past.

Hard to find a great photo not in the magazine

Aruna with the winning blanket
It is so wonderful to be able to brag about all the knitting talent right here in my hometown.  Port Moody is the City of Arts, and it is people like Aruna and the great help from people at Black Sheep Yarn, that make my hometown an inspirational and creative place to live.
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  1. Unknown29 October 2013 at 23:21

    Dear Jan:
    It was so nice meeting you and chatting with you at the Knit City Trade Show this past weekend. Wasn't it so amazing to be in that vast spanse of glorious yarn???!! A definite highlight was meeting so many lovely like-minded fibre lovers with a genuine interest and mutual support for each other.

    Thank you for writing about me in your blog! What a lovely surprise! You did say it best....it IS wonderful that there are so many talented knitters right here in our hometown! Yay local! It always makes me smile when I see such amazing creations & accomplishments coming from right here in the Lower Mainland.

    Keep up the great work on your blog! Interesting and entertaining writing!

    Kindly,
    Aruna

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