For the past year or so, I have been steadily increasing my creative endeavours. I have started dyeing my own yarn and fibre, albeit at this point in a mostly experimental fashion. I have resumed spinning on my Lendrum wheel and produced some very happy-making results. I have also started writing knitting patterns. My first was a take on an ankle sock for (and named after) my friend Shireen, and my second is a simple textured sock for my husband, Chase. My third, another sock pattern which is currently being test knit, is my first foray into designing with cables. I have several more designs swimming about in my head, and those will come very soon, I hope.
While writing up the second pattern, Shireen and I talked about whether or not I wanted to stay with crystaldiva, (a name inadvertently given to me almost a decade ago by a client in Florida) or whether I wanted to rebrand to something that had a bit more meaning to me overall.
As most of you know, I am an ex-pat Newfoundlander, and if I am to be truthful, even after 14 years in the Toronto area, my heart still really belongs near the sea. In fact, I grew up some 500 metres from the Atlantic in a tiny town near the capital city of St. John’s, where the town crest boasted “First To See The Sun”.
So today, I am excited to welcome you to First Light Handcrafts!
I am thrilled that the new name and the new look reflect my east coast heritage. Even the iceberg that graces the top of my new blog is courtesy of my dad, Jerry, who is an amazing photographer of Newfoundland scenery. (Go check out his artistry at his Pbase site!)
In honour of my rebranding, today I am releasing the sock pattern created for my husband. It’s called “Petty Harbour”, after another of our favourite towns in the St. John’s area, and it looks great in solid, semi-solid or variegated yarns.
It’s available for free here on Ravelry.
I am also holding a contest – a giveaway of a lovely skein of Sundara Sock yarn in a blue called “Wistful Longing” (anyone sensing a theme here?).
To enter, leave me a comment. Tell me what you would do with the yarn, or what yarn you’d knit Petty Harbour from…or just say hi! If you re-tweet or share this post, leave me a comment telling me that too, and I’ll enter your name more than once! As my friend Carla says…stack the deck in your favour! Contest closes on Friday the 19th. Just make sure that I have some way of contacting you to get your mailing address.
I hope you’ll stick around; it’s shaping up to be a busy time!
First Light Handcrafts 
Congrats my friend. First Light and a first step on a new journey.
Thanks, Jenn! I am pretty happy with the new look. And I am really excited about the new sock release coming in a few weeks 🙂
Congratulations on your re-branding! I love the Petty Harbour pattern – I think maybe it will be this year’s holiday sock pattern for my son. I can’t wait to see the next one, too!
Tweeted and what a great pattern. The layout is pretty and clear.
I love your pattern Petty Harbour and it looks great in the yarn you chose. This is now high on my to do list 🙂
OMG… what a pretty pattern! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
OK so I’m browsing Ravelry with my morning coffee and see these beautiful socks. And the pattern is free. And “needle agnostic” Hah! Thanks for the chuckle!
But seriously the socks are gorgeous and I would use that beautiful blue yarn to make the socks. Thanks for the chance to win! Love the look of your blog and the banner photo is fantastic.
That is a very lovely pattern for your Petty Harbour socks. I am always on the look out for suitable ‘man’ patterns! I’ve got a hank of ‘Dream in Color’ Everlasting Sock in the shade chili which is going to work up beautifully for your pattern, and thank you for the free pattern too.
I love this colorway! It reminds me of Maine. That is the place I am wistfully longing for.
Congratulations on your new venture.
Found out about this through Ravelry, where I am maralu.
What a pretty sock pattern & a great name! Looks like a great unisex pattern that wouldn’t get too tedious to knit for my big footed brother who keeps bugging me for socks (if you knit a brother a pair of socks…).
Headed back to twitter to retweet for you.
SO excited for you friend! I have a “certain” pair of socks to finish then I’ll pick yarn to start Perry Harbour ❤
Great picture by your dad! And The pattern is lovely too. I am in the mood for something non-stripey and not very complicated yet interesting for my next pair of bus socks and this looks like it’ll fit the bill nicely.
Love the new branding, especially that iceberg picture! Those socks are going right in my queue!
That blue is gorgeous! I live on the South Shore of Nova Scotia and it looks just like the water on a summer day. If I was knitting from my stash though, I think I’d use the CaribouBaa that just arrived in my from Indigodragonfly. It’s colour name is “Ooo….Shiny….” and it’s an icy silver-grey tonal.
should read “in my mailbox” not just “in my”
Love the pattern! Having made too many striped socks? I am ready for a bunch of solid colored socks, and that blue is ideal.
blue is my favorite color! love the pattern, too!
laureen227@Ravelry
Just retweeted!
Congrats! The sock and the yarn are both gorgeous. Blue is my kryptonite – I can never resist a blue skein of squishiness.
And just retweeted! 🙂
I think Petty Harbor would be perfect for this yarn, of course.
The design and photography of your blog are so beautiful that even someone who couldn’t reas that you were an artist would know you were.
The Sundara blue really speaks of the sea. I would use it and some companions for a striped shawl or a Breton jumper.
Thank you for the free pattern!
Shared! Woo Hoo! This is so awesome!
So happy to find your blog via Ravelry. I’m new to knitting socks and would love to try this pattern.
I have a skein of Tanis in Spearmint that I totally think would work for this pattern. Congrats on the new site and the new pattern–looks good!!!
Hi Rayna! Awesome! Love the name, First Light, too!! I’d knit socks for myself out of that Wistful Longing blue skein of loveliness!
Hi Rayna! Sounds like you have been busy. Congrats on your new sock pattern; I really love it! Love the blog name, too. I did know you were an East Coaster, too (I am in NB)
This is a beautiful new look to your blog, the header photo is really stunning. So much beauty in the world. Lovely pattern, I added it to my queue already! I have two skeins of Holiday Yarn FlockSock in my stash in Lochness and Sea Glass that would look fabulous with this pattern and also a skein of Lobster Pot Yarns Lobster Socks in Cape Sky! You might say I’m sticking to the theme!
wow, this pattern and yarn are making me Wist(fully) Longing for the beautiful blue of the ocean at start of sunset. I think I would make these socks with the yarn, they scream out to be used together. Gorgeous! P.S. Love your site, Im a new follower!!
retweeted and shared!
The yarn is gorgeous and so is the pattern! Congratulations and off to favorite on Ravelry!
Pingback: Off to the Press! | The Blue Brick | Photography and Handcrafts by Shireen Nadir
Congratulations my friend, I would knit your sock pattern with the yarn and will share on Facebook as well.
Ooh, such a pretty pattern, and hurrah for needle agnosticism. I’ll probably turn the pattern upside down because of still being new to making socks and having large feet so toe up suits me better. I’m planning on making them in a squooshy MCN from Maine, in the colourway Skerry, which apparently means small rocky island, and thus couldn’t be any more apropos for a pattern named after a Newfoundland town.
Congrats Rayna! Pattern #2 yay. Love it and love the rebranding. Off to share on Facebook.
Retweeted! I’m thrilled to see lots of love for your new pattern!
I knit and crochet and also do historical reenactment – that color would make a gorgeous cowl or knitted shawl – but would also rock for a modern hat or scarf as well
Love the new look!
I’d use the yarn to make a lacey shawl.
Love the sock pattern “Petty Harbor”. Thank you. I look forward to making these. Best of luck with the new endeavors. I like the clear simple logo.
Shared and retweeted!
I’d use that beautiful yarn to make a shawl. The Pretty Harbor sock pattern is really nice.
Lmecoll on Ravelry
That’s a very pretty sock pattern and a gorgeous skein of yarn! I’d certainly love to knit the pattern in that colorway. Given my sizeable sock yarn collection, I would even consider knitting a couple more pairs in different colors as well!
The pattern is beautiful — perfect for socks for my husband!
Love the new website and logo (your dad’s photography is amazing). Can’t wait to knit the new pattern!
Came across this post/blog from Facebook! Love how fun and yet simple these socks are…I’m wondering how they would look in a self striping yarn 🙂
Just popping by to say HI! from Shireen’s blog. Love the look of your blog and now I’m off to see the pattern that everyone is raving about. Just have to say that I too would be missing the sea. I moved from Guelph and I now live on the dry prairies of Alberta where water is scarce and what little there is comes from the glaciers so I really miss it. I long to be able to just go for a swim in a warm lake and any type of water has my full attention. So I sort of understand – :0)
Oooh! Pretty! I would make socks, because as I write this my toes are frozen….
tvanidour@hotmail.com
Love the pattern and the gorgeous watery blue color – looks like summer days on the shore of the lake. The first thing I ever knit was a pair of socks, and I have just rediscovered an interest in sock-knitting. Your new pattern will be my first for the magic-loop technique.
Congrats on rebranding! I queued your pattern today even before I knew about your blog, it’s really nice!
With the yarn I would probably knit this: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wasserschildkrote
Meaning sea turtle in English. Your pattern would probably be in some Regia Neon yarn.
I love your Petty Harbour pattern. I’m always on the lookout for something that works with variegated yarns and is patterned in a way to keep my interest. I’d probably knit the pattern in a variegated yarn from Blue Moon Fibers, Socks that Rock Lightweight.
I’d save the Sundara yarn for a heavily textured or stranded pattern that doesn’t play nicely with variegated yarns.
I love the new name, and the contest yarn is lovely. If I won, I would knit socks with it. Perhaps Hermoine’s Everyday, or perhaps Petty Harbor, which would only be fitting.
The socks are gorgeous! The yarn might inspire me to make a first pair of socks!
If I got the yarn, I would make the socks! I love the socks and I think I have some Blueberry Pie Studio that would be just right!
Congratulations! I just saw your pattern on Ravelry, but I had no idea that it was you! If I had the sundara yarn, I’d knit your socks! 🙂
-J
I’d use that yarn to make my husband a pair of your socks. Love the colour and your pattern.
The blue socks have a lovely texture, thank you I have downloaded the pattern to my ravelry library, maybe one day…it looks like a nice, easy, impressive but not mad travel project.
That skein of yarn looks great, I would LOVE to win it, sadly, if you really want to know what I would do with the yarn – most likely it would end up in the ‘too precious’ corner of my stash and stay there for a long long long time. OK, if I promise to knit it up into pretty cably-lacy socks within one year of receiving it, can I get a ticket in the draw pretty please?
I love this pattern! I have shared this with my knitting group! If I won this yarn I would definitely use this pattern for it! Great job!
Love the pattern, love the blue yarn and LOVE the SEA! I am a Maritimer too, living in NB, right on the Atlantic Ocean, there’s no smell so sweet as the salt water and no sound so soothing as the wave crashing against the shore. I will share your contest on my facebook page.
Happy Knitting!
Alli
Shared on Facebook Rayna and am now hunting to find the right needles and yarn to cast on Petty Harbour!
Rayna – love the pattern, thank you. Love the new blog! If i were to score the yarn – I think a pair of your socks might be in order. My daughter would adore them.
Thanks for the free pattern! I would make Petty Harbour socks with this yarn for sure!
benji9 on ravelry
I would absolutely knit your Petty Harbor pattern.
I love your Petty Harbor pattern and would knit it with the Sundara yarn. Although I plan to knit your pattern anyway.
I love your sock pattern and would like to knit them with the skein of blue yarn, and wish you many success
What a fabulous new journey with your knitting! Congrats on the pattern and the wonderful blog, and much success with your designs and patterns. You are an amazing and very talented daughter-in-law! xx
Congratulations and Thanks for the free pattern
Love the colour of the yarn as well
Love your new name! It’s awesome when you can keep a part of your heritage close.
Lovely sock pattern – I’m tempted to knit it in a sunny yellow variegated yarn I picked up on a whim. But that blue is lovely too.
Lovely yarn and the pattern is enticing. The blue suits it perfectly. Congratulations.
Gorgeous! I’d love to knit the Petty Harbour socks in that yarn – such a good pairing.
I love Petty Harbour; it’s already added to my favorites! I would definitely use that beautiful Sundara for socks!
I can understand why Pouch Cove and Petty Harbour would remain in your heart! This blue looks like the ocean when it’s rolling in on a sunny day! It would be perfect for the Petty Harbour socks if I was the lucky winner! Congrats on the rebranding (and your Dad’s photography is stunning!)
Your yarn looks lovely but I’m thinking of making it with this yarn for my dad for christmas – Hot Socks Mala http://www.ravelry.com/people/LaurieIsabel/stash/hot-socks-mala in an uneven striping brown/beige/grey/black – looks like a nice pattern for men who aren’t keen on anything “girly” so that is what I’ll be doing if I win!
Thank you for the free pattern. I would use the Sundara yarn to knit your sock pattern.
Finally making my over here to see the new look. LOVE it!!!!
Congrats!!!
Jen
Pingback: Busy Weekend | First Light Handcrafts
Love the new sock. I recommended it to a friend in one of the Ravelry threads because she is a new sock knitter and I thought the way you structure your patterns would help her. She thanked me and said she would be using it as her resource for all future socks. Score!
I think I will be doing my Petty Harbours in a red, possibly my skein from a local dyer, or maybe one of my Hazel Knit reds. Or maybe the indigodragonfly merino nylon in Triplets & vampire s’mores because, well, Halloween is coming so it might be too perfectly timed!
Oh, and I did retweet too, because hey everyone should see it!
Best of luck with your patterns and your new brand!
Honestly, I’m just gonna squeeeeeeeeze that yarn. 🙂 Oh, and maybe make some of those lovely socks!
Thank you so much for the free pattern. Such lovely socks. i have yet to make a pair of socks and I think the pretty Petty Harbour may just be my starting pattern. Thank you also for the very generous giveaway of such beautiful yarn.
I love those spectacular icebergs! Although I admire sock patterns, I don’t knit them as I’m just too rough on socks … I can go thru a storebought tube sock in just 4 or 5 wearings. But I do prefer sock yarn for my caps, as here in SF we seldom need anything heavier, and it’s easy to stuff into a pocket when you take it off. That blue is exactly the shade that gets my heart longing for the water. Thanks for the giveaway. KittenWhiplash on Rav.
I love your new name AND the sock pattern, thank you so much! I visited St. John a few years ago and the wondrous Reversing Rapids. You are so lucky to live in such a beautiful area! Thank you for the yarn giveaway, it’s so gorgeous!!! “knittylucia” on Ravelry
Love the new pattern. I would probably knit a shawlette with the beautiful blue yarn to go with my eyes.
Love the new name and Newfoundland is a place I would love to see someday. The iceberg photo is amazing!
skywater on Ravelry
I need to make a bunch of socks for Christmas this year. This yarn works up beautifully! (asimplehomestd on Rav)
I would knit a lovely blue cowl.
Don’t know what I would make, but thanks for having this giveaway.
I would make socks of course.
I would knit beautiful Petty Harbor socks!
I love the look of and the sentiment behind your blog. I would knit your Petty Harbor socks with this yarn; the blue reminds me of a clear winter sky in the mountains of Colorado (which I miss).
What a great pattern and lovely blog post! These would be great socks for my husband as well 🙂 Adding to the holiday queue. Thank you! As for the Sundara yarn, they would look lovely in anything, but I’m on a shawl spree at the moment so I would definitely find something from my current list of favorites..this is one of them: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/marin
I shared this post on facebook too 🙂 Not afraid to stack the deck! :p
I’m from Nova Scotia- miss the Maritimes every day. Love the color. And yes, I’m sharing!
Congratulations! I’m not sure what I would knit with all that lovely blue, but I have been thinking of Christmas presents lately, so maybe a slouchy hat for my daughter.
What a beautiful pattern! I also really like your new name! I would most likely knit a pair of these lovely socks out of the yarn! Thanks for the giveaway-mamagiff on ravelry.
I would definitely make a pair of cabled socks with that skein – it has beautiful stitch definition and would make the cables sing. Now, the hard part would be choosing the best cabled sock pattern from the many in my Ravelry queue!
I love the new name!
I am not really a sock knitter (even though the pattern is beautiful and I will share it with fellow Ravlers) but I would use this skein to knit a stranded hat and some matching mitts.
I shared this on Ravelry where I am rainbowscuba.
I was looking for a nice sock pattern. I found it! I think I will use some skein queen sock wool to knit these socks… and the blue sundara yarn might look nice on a pair of socks as well!
Having just finished my first pair of socks, I would love for this to be my next project! Congratulations!
Best of luck on your new adventure! Love the sock pattern and hope we will see more designs from you. I love the Sundara yarn and think I might try making a cowl out of it. So soft!!
Love the socks! I’m always amazed by people that can write patterns. You chose such a beautiful blue yarn. It’s one of my favorite colors.
Congratulations! That is a beautiful blue! Thanks for the fun.
Yhime407 on Ravelry
Thanks for sharing your creativity. The socks look great, I would love to make them in the Sundara yarn.
Pingback: We’ve Moved! | First Light Handcrafts