Not Quite Fall Catch Up and a Sneak Peek

Sorry, it's been a bit since I posted. There's been knitting afoot (not an actual foot, don't worry) and many pieces of graph paper have found their way to the recycle pile after being scribbled upon (Not to self: buy more graph paper).

It's back to school day here on my lovely island. I saw on Facebook that the kids back on the prairies went back the usual 2-3 days before the Long Weekend; still strikes me as nonsensical. I digress. It's the unofficial end of Summer now that they're back to their books and most adults are done with their vacations. Even traffic was quieter this morning when I popped over to the PO before making my way here. Still 16 days before Fall officially gets here but we all know it's creeping ever closer...

Which, of course, brings me to knitting. Because knitting keeps us warm as temperatures dwindle. And knitting is what I do regardless of season/ weather lol.

I'm up to 19 Finished Objects so far this year!!

This year's Ravellenic Games kicked off Aug 5th. The mass cast-on took place at 7:15pm Rio time, which was 7:45pm here; the first time I can recall actually being able to participate in the Mass Cast-on! Although I wasn't online during it; oh well. Maybe in 2 years I can have both. Anywho, I cast on my "Inamorata" and set to work aiming to be finished before Aug 21 and earn medal glory for Team Mine.

Things didn't quite go as planned. First, I completed the bodice on Aug 11, which was excellent. I was well ahead of where I needed to be to finish in time. And then I couldn't find the 4.0mm circular needle I needed to continue the pattern. I went through my needles in the lead up to the Games. I swatched and earmarked the needed needles for the pattern; a 3.75mm for the bodice (twisted sts) and a 4.0mm for the lower part (eyelets). But I could not find the 4.0mm!! It was MIA. My Ravellenics project had to be set aside until the 16th when I could get to Wally World and buy another. (As an aside, after the sweater was done, I was sorting through my circulars and I found 2 24" 4.0mm circulars in the box; Grrrrrrr!) I finished the sweater with 1 day to spare, on Aug 20th. And here it is:

I used Diamond Luxury Collection Fine Merino DK in color 8974, a bluer aqua shade. So I was awarded my medal in the Sweater Triathalon by Bobicus :) I also earned the coveted laurels for cables (the bodice), lace (the eyelets and bottom edging), stash (over 6 months? pooh, this yarn was in my stash more like 5 years!!) and mine (this beauty is mine! all mine! mwahahahah!!). I think I did alright by my team.

My last post, I mentioned a series of patterns my little mind has come up with. The first of the seven is done! And by done, I mean knitting is finished, the picture has been snapped and I have both written and chart forms finished! It's not released yet as I want to have at least half the designs ready so i can have the ebook set up at the same time. Drum-roll, please...

Here it is, the "Light Reel Cowl"!

Moss st and rope cables, in a worsted weight wool (shown in Knit Picks "Wool of the Andes Worsted" color: currant), the Light Reel Cowl is a fairly simple piece to knit. I started knitting it on Aug 20 and cast off on Aug 24; hence FO #19 for 2016!!

I'm calling the series/ ebook "All the Jigs and Reels".  My inspiration is the 7 basic solo dances I learned in Irish dance. I'm going more or less in order of learning, so my first piece is the Light Reel Cowl, the light reel being the first dance learned after, more or less, mastering your 3s and 7s. In the introduction paragraph, I compare 3s and 7s to knit and purls for a dancer; I can be almost poetic at times! The cables are 4sts wide and have a 4rnd repeat; reels are in 4/4 time. And I used 7 repeats of my basic layout to form the cowl circumference; 7s move the dancer from side to side across the practice floor or stage. I might have been stretching with that last one lol.

The second pattern is in the works; I have the knitting roughly half done, as I've been tweaking the rough chart as I knit and making adjustments here and there. It's called the "Light Jig Tam" and features a braid cable (6sts) centered in each of 8 wedges of Moss st; light jigs are in 6/8 time ;) I'm knitting this one top-down in a worsted weight wool and am absolutely in love with both yarn and color (Patons Classic Wool in "royal blue"; very me, very yummy). Unfortunately no pics yet. As soon as I can, I will get a few and share.

Next up will be a project, as yet undecided, inspired by the Single Jig and following that (and rounding out the soft-shoes dances) will be the "Slip Jig Shawl". I'm looking forward to that one!! I love shawls and the slip jig has always been my favorite dance :) I'll round out the series with the three hardshoe basics: treble reel, treble jig and hornpipe. I'm introducing each pattern with a short bit about the dance it gets its name from. I'm hoping to have both functional, knittable designs and educate people on my second love: Irish dance. I think it's a perfect pairing for Knit, Dance, Repeat Designs.

And that, my friends, is all the knitterly (and dancerly) news I have to share with you :) Hope you have lots of wonderful knits ready for the cooler weather!

TTFN

Can You Be Over-Inspired?

I have a feeling I might be. I had an idea that I thought would result in a new pattern. But after looking at how complicated that would be with all I want to do, I split that into 3 design ideas... which then became four...

Long story short: I'm in the midst of 7 new patterns!! One is all ready to be knit and photographed. The others are at various stages.

This is the first time I've had such a cohesive idea and I've decided that besides being available individually, they will also be available as my first e-book, all through my shop on Ravelry; Knit, Dance, Repeat Designs.

I'm kind of hyped up about this, to be honest. It's one of those things that just came together and blasted all the cobwebs out of my head.

I can tell you that the first pattern is for a cabled cowl, knit in worsted weight wool. That's all I'm saying for now.

In other knitting news, the Ravellenic Games are off and running, and I'm hard at work on my "Inamorata" (Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark; Knitty.com) for Team Mine (team of the Selfish Knitters and Crocheters group). I lost 5 days waiting to be able to buy a 4.0mm/US6 circular needle; I swore I had one before the Games started! But, of course, when I come to the point when the knitting moves from the 3.75 to the 4.0, I can't find one! I digress. A new 4.0mm is happily knitting away with some of the lovely Diamond Luxury Collection Fine Merino Superwash DK that's been in my stash since... well it was already deep stash when I moved here almost 4 1/2 years ago, lol. It's color 8974, a greener shade of aqua. Here's my progress pic from Aug 12. Sorry; it's the only one I have so far.

And that, my friends, is where I'm at in everything yarn and knitting :)

TTFN

I promised a project round-up...

And here it is :) I'll start with my FO's for 2016 (so far) and go from there.

First project finished this year was my "January Amusement". This was a reknit of Jordana Paige's "Amused" (Knitty, Winter 2008) since I was unable to finish the other one I started. I used 980 yds of Red Heart Comfort, color Jade. Love how this turned out :) It's very cozy. I did modify it slightly in that I made the front opening a bit deeper so it wasn't at the widest point of my bust and I also added an inch's worth of sts into the sides, under the arms, to allow a little more ease for the girls as well. Started January 6 and finished the 14th! As I said, love how this turned out :)

Next up was my "Hap-Hazard" (my head; not available until I get a few bugs worked out). I used 879 yds of Bernat Satin Sparkle in Amethyst for this one. I like how it turned out for the most part but it needs a few tweaks here and there. And a reknit in a blockable fiber! I think that's the main thing with this one. I finished it on February 2.

I decided to give myself a wee challenge on this next one. My "Gansey Style Bunnyhug" ("East Neuk Hoodie" by Kristin Orme, Knit Scene Fall 2014) took 1700 yds of Bernat Satin in Lavender. This one I modified right from the get go. First, the hood wasn't happening. And since the back was plain, I moved the patterns from the back of the hood to the back of the sweater. This one took me a little longer (started February 6, finished March 7) but was well worth the wait :) This has quickly become my favorite thing to pull on if I feel a little chill at home or want an extra layer under my jacket when I head out.

"My Preciousss"  started in September as my entry for that month's Rominette's KAL, the goal being to knit with some yarn you'd been saving/hoarding for whatever reason. I chose the skein that Lindsay hand-dyed for my birthday a few years back. Originally, I cast on Romi's "Alcyone", a lovely pattern that was getting lost in the color changes. *sigh* Then I cast on Romi's "Diane"; much better :) I have no idea what the yardage of the yarn was though. I knit more wedges (13 instead of the pattern stated 9) and used 58g of the 101g skein. That says to me I had a lot more than the assumed 410-420yds in the skein! Maybe it was a finer weight than I thought? Anyway, it looks marvelous and I finished it on March 30 :)

I completed my "2015-16 CrackerHabs" ("Crackerjack" by Stacey Simpson Duke, Ravelry download) scarf on April 10, the day after the Canadiens' final game of the season. Unfortunately, no playoffs for the Boys this season :( That kind of bummed me out, after the way the season started. I digress. After knitting the last game rnds, I did a single black purl ridge. Keeping the black as my background color and adding in red for the pattern, I knit in the words "Habs 2015-16", followed by a single ridge of black and ended it with the same border I used to start the piece (working flat): 2 rows of each color: red, white, blue, white, red.

Have I quit knitting since April? No, I've knit a few gifty things that I won't get into in case certain parties are reading ;) And I've been trying to get a bag (tentatively called "Watch the Clock") and a sweater (por moi, s'il vous plait lol) out of my wee little head and onto the needles/ pages of my design notebook. Also have been getting in a few rows on my "Kinelea Lace" as mentioned in my last post.

So that's how my 2016 has been shaping up in the knitting world. Hope your's is going along well, too :)

TTFN

New Year and new things happening!!

Happy 2015, everyone :) Hope the new year is treating everyone well.

So today's my first day off of the new year and I figured it's high time I got my patterns more exposure. I've been thinking on this for quite a while to be honest. And in December I started having some major doubts, thanks in no small part to the VATMOSS deal happening in the EU. It's not a great time to be thinking about jumping into designing patterns for sale, especially since the... he individuals who put this mess in place didn't have the foggiest clue they were potentially harming microbusinesses around the globe. I digress. We'll leave it at: the whole confused and quite frankly scares me a bit.

But I have 3 lovely patterns available already. All of them free, so not in any danger from VATMOSS or Darth Vader or whatever other baddie might be lurking. And they're on the blog here, linked to pattern pages on Ravelry and that's all good. But, and isn't that a word of great meaning for only being 3 letters long?, what of the wonderful piece I came up with this past summer that has yet to see the light of day? And the other little nuggets in my head?

I put a simple query out to the twitterverse this morning: what app(s) do you recommend for turning patterns into PDFs? I was answered fairly quickly but the lovely @plutoniummuffin :) And after a bit of fiddling and tweaking, I had Anchors and Ropes into a PDF and into my "store" on Ravelry. Both MVP and Pyewacket followed suit. My whole collection is available to the Ravelry masses.

I admit, I used a copy, cut and paste method with these three. The text is a bit wonky from page to page, I admit. But everything is there that should be and I included pictures.

Today I launched Knit-Dance-Repeat designs :) And I hope once things have become clearer with regards to VATMESS, I'll be adding to the collection!

2015 is going to be a year of changes. They're already starting :)

TTFN
Síle

My Precious

I did it! As of just before 10am (NDT), I completed my totally awesome new design :)

So now I need to knit one from my notes in a non-discontinued yarn to test the pattern.

This is one of those times I wish my laptop weren't on the fritz. I have no way to turn the pattern into a pdf to submit it to anyone. sigh

She's done but for a test knit and hopefully I can get this available to people soon as I think it'll catch some attention.

That's all from my little corner of the Rock on this sunny Wednesday morning :)

TTFN

So Much for Spring

Big storm hit last night and still nasty winds today. Thank goodness it's my weekend; I've stayed inside with cups of tea and my knitting.

And my knitting has turned back to designing. I got inspired when I saw that someone knit my "Pyewacket" on Ravelry :) I've had this piece in progress since not long after I moved here. Time to breathe some life into it. And it's going well too. It's a bit quirky and I'm thinking of submitting it to Knitty. Actually it's going so well, I just composed the pattern blurb and designer profile a la Knitty lol Feeling optimistic in the face of not losing power last night I guess!

In kitty life, we're celebrating Charlie's 11month birthday today :) He's turned into such a distinguished looking cat! Maureen's doing well here in her new home, I'm happy to report. And Jake is a bundle of fluffy, energetic kitten cuteness. First pic is Maureen and Jake on my bed. Second is Charlie on yhe back of the couch :)

That sums up the day. I'm off to brew another cup of David's Tea 'Toasted Walnut' and get back to this piece of lace ;)

TTFN