Goodbye 2018!

This has been one wild and crazy year. There have been some high notes and some tough times. I'm looking forward to having this year behind me, and I'm hoping to have a big positive impact in 2019.

What do I want to knit/crochet? I have about 32 items queued for 2019. I'll be lucky complete half, but it's nice to revisit the list. Here are some of my favorites (and the images are from the designers or publishers):

• Finish Tabular by Maja Moller (completed front and most of the back already :) this is from last year's winter Pom Pom Quarterly)

• Nightshift by Andrea Mowry

• Here We Gnome Again by Sarah Schira

• G'Night Cap by Sarah Schira

• Read Between the Lines by Tammy Canavan-Soldaat (So excited to use a couple of cakes of Whirl from my Christmas presents) - Also, there is a crochet version as well :)

• Layered Waves by Rachele Carmona

There will be new patterns that will pop up to distract me from the list, but I'm excited to have a more focused year on my crafts. Also, due to my pattern/yarn addiction, this will be the year in which I don't purchase anything new...or, at least that's a hope.

I've been swatching. What do you think of these little crochet swatches/starts?

We survived and enjoyed the Christmas holiday. Here are my sons and a sweet little nephew of the cousin crew.

Here is our favorite present, little miss Molly who joined us in October. She is our family's gift.

I finished my Marled Mania Cardigan for Gilly, my sister-in-law, just in time. she was kind enough to let me get a picture of it. You can also see her dog and my nine year old in the background.

Lastly, I found a designer that I wanted to post about. I found her patterns this weekend and just in time for her to slow down on designing:  Leethal Knits, I adore her hat patterns, and each one comes with so many ideas and options. When I get one or two done, I'll post them. An indie-dyer was knitting one this designer's hats, Holm, to showcase her yarn, and I was so excited that I had to find the pattern. Lee Meredith, the designer of the pattern, is a Portlander, and she has over 170 patterns available. She now is focusing her time working for KnitPicks, which is awesome as well.

Happy crafting and have a great start to 2019!

Merry Christmas for 2018!

I hope you're all ready for any Christmas or holiday celebrating in store for you. This post will be a bit shorter than intended due to some last minute knitting and some sick kids (hopefully, it's not my turn to get sick next). On my little jog yesterday I had thought of several things to share. I need to remember to jog regularly for ideas :). Sadly, scratching the surface is as far as I'll get.

Here is a great image of my boys from seeing Santa this year. We've tried to dress up and do other things in the past. I like this image and I'm hopeful both boys will be happy with what will be under the tree.

My Christmas crafting was much smaller this year. I'm working on the last item for my sister-in-law today and tomorrow. I'm hoping to have a Marled Mania Cardigan with that reaches the hip (not the full duster length. I wrapped up the sleeves yesterday and now have lots of ends to hide. My goal is to get about 40 more rows and each row takes 10 - 11 minutes to knit. Wish me luck!!!

I'm excited that Hipster hats for my brother-in-law and nephew are complete along with the cute Sugar Skull Amigurumi for my mother-in-law. Some years I'll have a gift for each of my kids and my father-in-law. I do want to knit some emergency mittens for my husband at some point.

My last yarn purchase for a long time was from Potion Yarns. I'm so excited to play with the different bases and colors.

My carry everywhere project has been a swatch with Yarn Over New York's Times Square sock yarn. Having it in my purse and dragging it around has shown how well the yarn should hold up and I'm very pleased. I'm not anticipating much pilling and for a garment, I should be able to get some decent wear out of it. I want more skeins of the Navy Storm colorway, it's lovely.

Once I'm past Christmas, I can make a solid list of projects I hope complete next year and I'm also hoping to design four knitworthy/crochetworthy patterns. What are you planning to make in 2019?

Whether you celebrate Christmas, the season, or everyday, I wish you happy times and happy holidays. Have a great week.

Planning to Have Four Awesome Designs in 2019!!!

When do you get your creative ideas? Do they just magically appear or do you have to search for inspiration?

When I'm stressed with my day to day job, I suddenly will get a random knitting or crochet design to pop in my head. Having a notepad handy is critical. At the same time, I have to step back and realize there is no time to swatch or get my ideas in a concrete form. Christmas is a looming deadline as well. I've made progress this week on the Christmas projects, but not as much as I had hoped. I made an investment in an expanded version of the design class that I signed up for a few months ago. After this week, I'm hoping to make time 30 minutes a day for designing.

I did start swatching today with yarns I'm hoping to use. What do you think of these indie dyed yarns? The colors aren't intended to be coordinated, but I find they look very pretty together.

Here are the shops in case you want to take a look:

Navy Storm from Yarn Over New York
The Drones Club (Minty teal-like green) from Potion Yarns
Orchids from Enchanted Forest Fiber

I'm starting with stocking knit squares knitted flat. All three yarns are fingering weight and I'm hoping to make some lovely garments that can be warn close to the skin. I started with some mood boards and stitch libraries. With some sketches and this prep work, I'm super excited to get the full ideas down and make them repeatable.

I've started drafting some marketing materials about my design aesthetic and my intentions of making designing more than just a hobby.

After wrapping up this post, I'll keep working on my sister-in-law's sweater. I was able to get one sleeve mostly done and I'm hoping that after a few hours tonight and tomorrow that I'll feel good about the last of the present making.

I'm hoping to hop onto a crochet along with Cypress Textiles to help support her recent book :). I guess I need to finish the current knit along I'm doing first...patience :).

Happy crafting and happy holidays.

Have a great week!

Holiday Crafting Progress and Using Dark Yarn...spooky!

Progress...The Christmas crafting continues. I was able to get a Hipster beanie knitted up for my brother-in-law. The ends need to be hidden. My mother-in-law's Sugar Skull figure is done (as of last night). I'd love to add the rosettes and leaves to the top, but I'm worried about time. What do you think of this cutie? It was fun to make, but putting the final parts together was not quite as fun. I wish the last parts were sewn instead of crocheted. Check out Spin a Yarn Crochet's blog post for the free pattern.

How do you feel about knitting or crocheting with dark yarn? Three of my Christmas gift projects are in either a midnight blue or black. When I'm using a simple pattern of stocking knit and don't need to look at it...the dark colors aren't a problem. If there are cables or even crochet, it's harder to see the stitches. At least that's how I feel. Neutral colors are so wearable, and I wear black all the time.

Last week, I discussed that I bought a couple of skeins of Blackbird from Yarn Over New York. These skeins are a nice solid black. I hope to incorporate them in a sweater design. While dealing with a cold this weekend, I've tried to brainstorm what I'd like to do with design collection for 2019. What's amusing is that I'm thinking how to incorporate rainbows. How that fits into a neutral as black is that I want to make things that are very wearable.  Rainbows can be tricky in highly wearable garments from a practical standpoint. I think I can do it.

I was inspired by a Flax Light sweater that had a lovely muted rainbow in the yoke and I think that more color in garments always better. When I wear a LBD, I'm always trying to add color with accessories.

Here is Tin Can Knit's image of the lovely sweater inspiration:

As I'm feeling under the weather, I'm keeping this post shorter. Please leave a comment or shoot me a note :).

Happy crafting!

Pattern Releases and Holiday Crafting Madness

After another busy week I have lots of fun ideas to share. A couple of patterns I've tested were released and holiday crafting is in full swing.

Before hopping into releases I wanted to talk about Cyber Monday. Did you do any yarn or pattern shopping this week for all of the sales? I have to confess that I partook and here is what I found. Some of the designers below are part of the Indie Designer GAL.

I ordered four skeins of yarn from Yarn Over New York. She had a 20% off sale and I had been eyeing these colorways for months. Andrea Mowrey had a day that if you purchased patterns that the profits would go to the fire victims in California, so I purchase that I had contemplated sometime. Several other designers have had sales, so I've partaken here and there. Here is list. Most of the sales have ended, but you might enjoy the inspiration:

Yarn Over New York (I've included some of Jessie's images of the colorways for your enjoyment)

Queen Bee Yarn

Blackbird

Traffic Cone

Andrea Mowrey (Drea Renee Designs)
The Shift
The Throwback
Nightshift

Carina Spenser Designs
Orla's Vine
Calliope Cowlette

Jessie Ksanznack Designs (Yarn Over New York)
Baburuti Hat

Sarah Schira
Here We Gnome Again
G'night Cap

The first pattern release I wanted to share is  the W.A.L.K. Hat by Becca Hulme was released this week. It's a great simple, squishy hat. I made a couple of hats using the recommended striping scheme. It's a quick stash buster with a lovely wide range of sizes. The inspiration comes from having to spell "walk" to not have your puppy triggered to excitement.

Second, the Red Cliff Mittens from Alison O'Mahoney of Kniterations were released. These are beautiful two toned mittens that I love. The colorwork patter in interesting and the thumb colowork is clever. You definitely need to pay attention in the set up and keep track of rows. I tested the children's size and I loved the results. What do you think of the deep teal and buttery yellow?

What I'm Making (now) - After all the busy times of testing and shopping I'm frantically making Christmas...here are the items I'm working on:

Hipster - Hat for my brother-in-law (farthest along...likely to complete)
Marled Mania Cardigan - for my sister-in-law (will start working on sleeves and will cast of edge based on timing.
Sugar Skull Amigurumi - stuffed animal for my mother-in-law (front panel completed)
Elton's Newsies Hat - my father-in-law (and nephew...time willing) - (received idea yesterday...need to begin)
Kahurangi Cowl - for a current KAL (started on Saturday)

There are so many awesome patterns and things I want to work on...but maybe five projects at once should  be enough. I hope that if you have any holiday craft projects that you're done well in advance of your gifting holiday.

Happy crafting and have a great week!