A Quick Post Before Adventure

An early post usually means, we're off to an adventure. Newport is our next stop and I'm super excited to experience 60 degree temperatures during our current heat wave in Oregon. After driving around my younger son to the dentist yesterday during the heat of the day...I'm ready for a cool off.

I started testing a pi shawl and I didn't like how the how the lace was knitting  up, so I started on a dk weight yarn and then used smaller needles for the lace weight yarn. The test is using Yarn Pond, so I get to track my progress differently. If you're ever considering a test...here are all the different platforms I've used to test for others:

• Ravelry
• Facebook
• Slack
• Yarnpond
• Messenger

I've enjoyed each of the platforms for different reasons. Yarnpond is brand new to me, but I'm tempted to try it to run a test for my own pattern ideas. There are fees to run tests on this site.

Lastly, I wanted to highlight a beautiful set of patterns: Jana Huck's Dots Collection.

I'm not a a shawl believer, yet I still make them. The textures in this collection are great. In addition to the dots, there are stripes and a lovely use color.

I'll update once I have some good pictures, check back in on Sunday. Have fun :).

Christmas in July!

Now that we're in the second half of July...I'm reminded of the Christmas in July sales. This fun idea to encourage summer spending is a great reminder to get the holiday crafting moving. By holiday crafting I mean holiday decorations and birthday/Christmas gifts for the second half of the year.

This is an awesome time highlight some fun holiday patterns that I want to make before Halloween and Christmas.

I'm hoping to make these lovely doilies for my mother-in-law in time for her birthday in October. I don't have any orange crochet thread...hmm...

First is Boo! by Marsha Glassner

Second is Jack-in-the-Web also by Marsha Glassner

For Christmas...there are so many fun decorations. I'm hoping to have the wall hanging granny tree and a Santa doily completed. There are tons of candy cane covers and neat wine holders too.

Here is Dawn's Vintage Granny Square Christmas Tree

Another cool event is that the pattern that I tested for one of my favorite designers is live this week. It's a great mindless knit that can have a great impact. The luxurious pattern yarn with mink in it so lovely and light. Check out Sophrosyne by Francois Danoy. The image below is my test knit. The images above are the lovely pictures from the designers.

Aside from this crafting fun. My older son turned 9 years old this week while at Cub Scout camp. My babies are getting so big. We kicked back into gear with ice skating this weekend and my little kiddo actually skated on his own. Soon they will be all grown up and I won't know where the time went.

It's going to be a hot week in Portland. I hope you stay cool this week. Happy crafting.

Caravanserai is live!

This will be a quick post. A pattern I tested has gone live this week and it's so lovely. Check out Caravanserai.

Have a great week and happy crafting.

The Enchanted Forest Fibre Yarn Arrived!!!

Although it was last Sunday, I had to post about the lovely visit from Karen of Enchanted Forest Fibre. She is an indie yarn dyer in Norway, who was in Portland. She personally delivered my belated mother's day treat to my Meetup Tigo Knitting Group.

This is about 700 grams of yarn (enough for 7 pairs of socks). Karen knit with us and I had a blast.

I've already started playing with the beautiful yarn. I'm working on a last minute doily as a centerpiece for my table tomorrow. I'm doing my best to write down the pattern. Would anyone be interested in testing the pattern? You don't have to use fingering weight yarn or a D/3 (3.25 mm) hook. Larger or smaller would be fine. There are matching coasters that go with the central design and the coasters mimic snowflakes so there is some opportunity to use this as a winter decoration as well.






I'm hoping the lovely new yarn will be great inspiration.




Work is going to be pretty busy for the next few weeks, so I'm trying to take a breather this weekend. Cleaning and keeping the little kiddo busy seems to have taken up most of the time, but it's been fun :).














For this week I'm so hopeful that I'll be able to make some progress on my Karoo Vintage square. Three sections have been released and I haven't made it through the first one yet. In my defense, two were out when I started, but I'd like to catch up so that I'm not so far behind when the fourth section is released.

Lastly, I finished another test today and am happy to take a break from testing as well. This is the Unicorn Shawl by Kayla Powell. I love the chevron stitch pattern.

Happy crafting and have a great week.

Crafting Goodies and Goodbye June

This is just a quick post. It's been a busy week as always. I'm excited to have wrapped up this beautiful test knit. One shawl and 15 tassels later and I have this beauty. Thank you #kellywhitedesigns and your design Caravansei. I'll post when the pattern is live. It worked up beautifully and I loved playing with color.

I'm also excited about the release of the Walter Blanket from Allison O'Mahony. I didn't catch the testing window in time to work on it. Color blocking and triangles equal one beautiful blanket.

Sneak peek of a swatch for my arrows scarf design in the knitted version. The plan is to have 50% of any proceeds to go to the same charity as the crocheted version:  Oregon Foster Youth Connection. The drive to make patterns with the plan to donate 50% of the net proceeds is what I'm hoping will help me to get publishing. If the patterns are simple, I might be able to publish every two or so months.

As June draws to an end...one last reflection on Pride Month. My hubby and I would love our time living just off of Broadway in Seattle. Pride was greatly celebrated in our neighborhood and we'd watch the parade every year. Living and loving in a way that is true to one's self is what we should hope for everyone. I'm so thankful for the advances made, but will always hope for more (especially in the current political climate). Going beyond tolerance to acceptance is what I dream of.

Here is some lovely yarn with a rainbow speckle :).

I hope you're looking forward to the first week of July. Happy crafting.

The Beach!

Each year my family makes a point to visit Lincoln City. It's a nice coastal town here in Oregon and we always like to stay at the same place. It's a little spot along Siletz Bay. There is a little grocery store, lots of restaurants, little shops, and the beach all in one great spot in the Taft neighborhood. It's an inexpensive place that fills up quickly in the summer.

It was a lovely trip and my kiddos enjoyed the sand. The weather is never a sure thing, especially in June. We were lucky enough to have a sunny and fairly warm weekend.

One little shop had all kinds of neat bohemian goodies. I have eyed the shop for some time and finally had a moment to go inside without my kids.At the Into the Mystique I picked up three stones to share with my older kiddo. I remember collecting rocks as a kid.

I'm hoping to use them as inspiration for patterns in addition to be additional inspiration and tools for meditation.

I jotted down an idea from the Septarian Nodule and I'm excited to put it to paper. I've written down the concept for both knitted and crocheted versions. The owner of the shop talked me into this very interesting stone. It's a remnant of the Cretaceous period.

The stone is the brown and cream round you see on the right, and is essentially an ancient mud ball. The Ammonite is the fossil and the Kyanite is the blue crystal that you see pictured with my almost 9 year old.




I'm continuing to make progress on Kelly White's Design Caranvanserai. Since taking the photo, I'm now over halfway through the last section. The finishing and tassel making are driving me to get this done quickly.

In addition, I've continued working on the Vibrant Vintage Crochet Along and I'm going to start working on a 4th color now that we're in week 5. This is a lot of fun and I can't say enough good things about all the lovely patterns that Cypress Textiles is publishing. Check out her blog. There are so many lovely free patterns...I want to make them all. I might take some crochet thread and use the designs for a lovely table setting or table cloth (ambitious!). Take a look at her Etsy Shop too.

I found another pattern to test, but in the crochet realm. I love chevrons, so this should be fun and quick :).

The last pattern treat that I'm excited to share is the Karoo Vintage Mystery CAL. The best $2 I've spent in a long time :). It started last month, so I'm now trying to catch up. A new section is released every two weeks and two sections are out currently. there are some helpful videos that go through sections of the pattern. I'm using odds and ends from the other CAL I'm doing along with extra colors. Another fun adventure :).

Here is my start with five rows completed. I'm hoping to do more tonight.

Off topic...We had a Feng Shui class at my office. Keeping fresh flowers was recommended, so I treated myself to these lovelies. The yellow, green, red, and peach tones are wonderful.

My hubby's birthday is Monday and our anniversary is next weekend. I can't believe we've spent a third of our lives married to each other. Time flies.

I hope you all have a great week. Happy crafting.

An early post...

We have a mini family trip this weekend and I wanted to promote a pattern release, so here is an early post after my late post for last week.

So...I quickly broke my vow not to buy anything. Last weekend was Worldwide Knit in Public Day and I was hoping to attend the event at Scrap PDX. I didn't see much happening so I simply indulged in the yarn that they sell :). I bought a good hunk of crochet thread and spent less than $5. I didn't end up knitting in public that day, but I did get going on some lovely knitting.

I had offered to test a lovely shawl pattern last weekend and I get so excited when a designer let's me test their pattern. I take it very seriously and care a great deal about making a positive difference in their journey. Then, I wonder why I choose to make things with deadlines.

I'm forced to reflect and question why I don't put more of my designs and ideas to paper. Would you make them?

I'm still enjoying the Vibrant Vintage Crochet Along. With week 3 done and the arrival of week 4...so excited!!! You should really check out the designer's blog. She has so many great crochet ideas and I've put so many of her blankets in my queue...not just the free ones!

The pattern that is going to be released on Friday is the Orchids Yoga Socks, which is a fun and easy knit. I was able to whip them up quickly and I still love the results. The pattern will be free for the first 24 hours and I'd love any of you who follow my posts to head to Ravelry and support the designer. There was a recent tragedy for the designer and her family. Please show her some love. The pattern is live in less than 15 minutes from publishing this post :).