Oh, hi there... again!

So... I'm still here. I didn't realize it had been this long since I'd done any blogging. Looks like I need to update a bunch of things around here...

First of all, my girls are now 13, 10 and almost 8. We're still homeschooling, and loving it. We still live in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota, but we're trying to have a good attitude about it.

I still knit, though I didn't knit as much last year as I had in previous years. I'm back at it, and I've decided to knit at least 12 pairs of socks this year. So far, I'm off to a great start...

January Socks for my sister

Slippers for Princess - February Socks

Slippers for Kitty - February Socks

Slippers for Angel - February Socks

I've also finished two baby blankets of my own design: 

For my sister's baby (no name yet)

William Alexander

I'm no longer focusing on weight loss. I started lifting weights at the gym in August, and now I'm more focused on what my body can do than on how it looks. As a result of bulking, I put on fifteen pounds. Most of it was muscle, but some wasn't. Even so, I'm pretty happy with my new muscles, and not so concerned about the added fat.

Blankets for Baby

I've been working on a little project recently. If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that I have quite a few patterns published on Knit Picks. I decided to combine all five of my baby blanket patterns into an e-book. And then I designed another baby blanket, which I self-published on Nimblestix. And I decided to include it in the book as well.

Harmony is not pictured on the cover, but is inside.

Blankets for Baby is available for purchase on Nimblestix, for $12. If you were to purchase each pattern separately, you'd pay just under $14, so it's a savings of about $2. The e-book is 22 pages long, and includes: 

Posy Patch 

Sydney Claire

Evellyn Anne

Willow Carroldine

Sisterhood 

and 

Harmony.

I believe you don't have to be a member of Nimblestix to download the e-book, but I'm not certain. And anyway, you should become a member if you're not. Nimblestix is a great site! It's like Facebook for fiber artists, but better. :)

Harmony Preemie Blanket

My Harmony Preemie Blanket pattern is available for purchase! This little blanket is great for using up washable sock yarn leftovers. It's knit in the round, from the center out. It could easily be customized; you could use any weight of yarn, and you could add more repeats of the lace pattern to make it bigger.

The pattern is available on Nimblestix, for $2.00. Feel free to make as many as you like, for gifts or donations, but please do not sell the pattern, or the finished product of it.

Malabrigo Sock Yarn "Velvet Grapes"

Knit Picks Stroll Tonal "Pearlescent"

Miss Babs Yummy Sock Yarn "Chocolate Roses"

A Tiny FO

I'm participating in a service project, making tiny handknit baby blankets to donate to a NICU for micro-preemies and stillborn babies. I was going to use my Evellyn Anne pattern, but then I decided to design something new.

This blanket is 15 inches square, knit with Malabrigo Sock yarn - Velvet Grapes colorway. The pattern (when it's finished) will be called Harmony, after the baby my mother miscarried when I was a little girl. I'm planning on making a whole stack of these to donate, with sock yarn that's leftover from other projects. 

New Patterns!

I've already talked about these patterns, so I'll make this a short post. 

Willow Carroldine is available on Knit Picks for $2.99.

 Cathie is also on Knit Picks, for $1.99.

Enjoy!

Willow Carroldine

I finally finished my Knit Picks sample of Willow Carroldine! It's named after my brand-new niece, whom I haven't met yet, but hope to later today or tomorrow.

I'm writing up the pattern now, hoping to get it submitted before the girls and I head to Kansas to visit my family. We're leaving this weekend, and we're very excited. ☺

Sydney

Yes, I know, it's been weeks since I posted anything. That's partly because I took a few days off from knitting to do laundry and gardening and housework. And it's partly because my progress has been slow on the projects I have been working on. But I finally have an in-progress picture of my latest: Sydney Claire!  It's about 18 inches long, and I'm planning on making it about 40-45, so I've got a long way to go.

 It's a baby blanket for my newest niece, and it bears her name.  I'm using KP Brava (100% acrylic), which is better than most acrylics I've tried, but still acrylic. Which means it's not among my favorite yarns to work with. But since Sydney's mommy is not a knitter and probably won't have the time for special care fibers, since she has a special needs baby, I decided washability was more important.  Sydney was born almost 7 weeks ago, and just went home from the hospital right before Mother's Day.  She was diagnosed with Down's Syndrome.  She'll have a lot of challenges ahead of her, but she's a fighter. And isn't she adorable??

My brother Steve and his wife Mandy are so happy to finally have their little bear cub(they're huge Chicago Bears fans) home! I've got to get this blanket done pronto, so I can go meet her!

New Pattern!

My newest pattern is up! This is Sisterhood. It's my tribute to the Bunker Babes. I love y'all, ladies!

 The pattern is available here for $2.99.  

This is my most challenging pattern to date; it is definitely not a "beginner" level pattern.  

Finished baby blanket!

Here's my second completed project for 2012!

I apologize for the bad photo; I'll take some pics outside later if the sun ever decides to come out.

I had to use a contrast color for the edging, because I ran out of the purple.  Fortunately, I had one skein of the same yarn in a lovely cream color, and it turned out to be just enough.  So I used four skeins of Paton's Classic Wool (3 in "That's Purple" and 1 in "Winter White").  The needles were size US8.  And I think I've decided on the name for this design: Sisterhood Baby Blanket.  This one is for my dear friend and Bunker sister Monica.  We're sisters despite the fact that we haven't met...yet!  Now that we're only about eight hours apart, we're going to have to meet soon. ☻

Editing the post to add this better picture.  You can see the cables much more clearly here.

Evellyn Anne is up!

My Evellyn Anne baby blanket pattern is finally up on Knit Picks!

And here's the link to the pattern:  http://www.knitpicks.com/patterns/Evellyn_Anne_Baby_Blanket___D10911220.html

Knitting and exercise and gardening, oh my!

I finished the waist cables on my BBSweKniMo project!  Hooray!  I decided to only do 7 repeats, instead of 8, because I have a short waist(along with the rest of me).  So now I'm doing stockinette, except for the rope cables at the front edges. ☺ I've come to the conclusion that I won't get this project done by the end of the month, so my goal is to get the body done.  I have to do a few inches in stockinette, and an inch or so of garter stitch, and then add a crochet border and buttons and buttonholes.  I'll do the sleeves next month, I guess.  I'll be glad to get this sweater done, even though I won't be able to wear it until fall.  I started designing it so long ago that I'm just ready to have it done.

I've been thinking about socks.  Socks are nice, quick projects.  And I have a gazillion sock patterns printed, and lots of sock yarn to go with them.  So I think I'm going to set another goal, of knitting one pair of socks per month.  That way, I'll have plenty of them when cold weather comes back.  I loved wearing my handknit socks this past winter, but I only have three pairs, and none of them are superwash wool, so I have to wash them by hand.  I think I'll start a KAL with my friends in the Bunker, if any of them are interested.  I love our KALs!  I'll bring up the idea tonight, when we meet in the chat room for our virtual Knit Night. ☺

Oh, my goodness, I totally forgot to post this yesterday!  I got an email from Stacey at Knit Picks: they like my Julia Lynne cardigan!  So I'll be knitting another one of those as soon as the yarn support arrives.  I can't wait!  I'm still waiting to see the pics from their photo shoot of my Evellyn Anne blanket; I'm not sure whether they'll want me to replace my pics in the pattern with theirs, or just use them for the "additional pictures" on the site.  If it's the latter, that pattern might be up on the site tomorrow; if it's the former, it'll probably be another week.

I went to the gym this morning.  I didn't want to.  When I got there, I didn't want to exercise.  While I was exercising I wanted to stop and go home...until I reached the 15-minute mark on the bike.  When I was done, I was glad I was done.  I have yardwork and knitting and laundry and cleaning to do.  Haha.

Speaking of gardening...we were speaking of gardening, weren't we?  I peeked at my sprouts again, and saw that I have cantaloupe and pumpkins and cucumbers sprouting too!  Nothing yet with the lavender, but that usually takes longer.  I started my tomatoes yesterday: Big Boy and Red Cherry and some seeds I saved from really yummy yellow tomatoes.  And I started my Texas Bluebonnets too.  I love Bluebonnets, but since it's the State Flower, it's illegal to pick them where they grow wild.  This way, I'll be able to pick them and bring them inside.  I haven't started digging yet; I'm waiting on the utility people to come mark the underground cables and such, to make sure that I don't cut anything. 

Evellyn Anne!

I finished my Evellyn Anne blanket!  It's blocking on my family room floor at this very moment...

I'm so glad I got it done!  I'm ready to focus on other projects.  And I'm glad because I'll be able to have my niece model the blankie for the pattern pics.  A blankie pattern is always more appealing with a cute baby in the pic. ☺ I'm going to visit my family in Kansas next week, so this is perfect timing.  The girls are very excited about visiting with their cousins.  I'm excited too.  I really miss my family.  I sometimes wonder why I didn't visit more often when it was only a three hour drive.  Now it's twelve hours, so three seems like nothing.

♥

I went to the gym this morning, and worked my legs and back.  My right leg still hurts from when I put my foot through the neighbors' kitchen ceiling back in August.  I must have injured it worse than I thought.  I think all this exercise is the reason it's hurting more now than it was before I started working out.  So I worked my legs.  Hoping it'll help, like working my back makes my back feel better.  And I did 20 minutes on the bike and 15 on the stair-stepper.  It's getting easier, so I might be ready to try level 2 on those machines.  I think I'll give it a try tomorrow.

Knitting and exercising and organizing, oh my!

I made some progress on Evellyn Anne yesterday.  I'm on the twelfth repeat of the lace pattern, of fourteen.  And after that, the ruffle.  I might be able to get it done by the end of the week, which would be nice.  I want to get it blocked before I go visit family in Kansas; my parents have almost no carpet in their house, so I wouldn't be able to block it there very easily.  And I want to have my little niece Evie be my model for the pattern pictures, since the pattern is named after her.

♥

I went to the gym this morning and worked my back.  Did 20 minutes on the bike and 15 on the stair-stepper.  It was a good workout.

♥

Today we're starting to get the Christmas decorations put away; Hubby's dad just left a little while ago, so now we can access the attic where the boxes are stored.  I'll be glad to get it all put away; I'm ready to get on with the new year!

Now that Upstream and Avonlea are done...

...and out of my hands...

I spent yesterday writing up another design proposal.  I finished this baby blanket back in September, but forgot to submit it for consideration...probably because I gave it to my niece right away.

 The name is "Evellyn Anne", after the recipient of the blanket.  I'll never forget the way she grabbed it and laid claim to it, before her mom (my sister) could say a word!

So I sent the design proposal to Knit Picks yesterday.  I explained that the reason I did stripes was because I didn't have enough of either yarn to make the whole blanket, and that I think it would look better in one solid color.  I hope they like it.  I think it has a good chance; there aren't a lot of patterns out there for lacy baby blankets knit in-the-round.

Knitting up a storm...

Okay, I've finally got time to blog about my recent knitting projects! While on vacation I completed this baby blanket:

Here's a closeup of the lace pattern. I showed the blanket to my sister, asking whether she liked it, and her baby Evellyn grabbed it and claimed it as her own before Sara could say a word! I hadn't been able to decide on a name for this pattern before then, so its name is Evellyn Anne, after my little niece.
And here is Angel, modeling a shawl I made on vacation. She doesn't yet know that it's for her. I'm giving it to her for her birthday on Monday. She'll be nine years old.

And since we got home from vacation, I made these mitts! These are the samples I'll be sending to Knit Picks, as soon as I get some good pictures of them on someone's arms. The blue ones fit me, but I won't be modeling them because I have no fingernails right now(thanks to my nervousness over flying). I think I'll ask my neighbor to model them. Angel will model the red ones, once I get a chance to paint her nails.

And here is the beginning of my new Upstream scarf. The picture was taken a couple days ago. I've completed five repeats of the cable pattern now. The photo doesn't do the colors justice. There's much more variation in the blues, and a hint of green; it's a gorgeous colorway. This is also a sample for Knit Picks. I am very excited about the prospect of having two more patterns published.

Posy Patch!

My Posy Patch blanket pattern is up on the Knit Picks website! It's available to download for $1.99.

http://www.knitpicks.com/patterns/Posy_Patch_Baby_Blanket__D10472220.html

I'm so excited I'm practically speechless. ☺

Finishing and Starting

I finished my Posy Patch blanket I was making as a sample to send to Knit Picks! It's blocking on the floor in my family room at this moment. I took a couple pictures, but I can't post them. Sorry about that. I've got the pattern almost ready; just need to get some good pictures with the blanket; I'm going to try taking it out into my back yard and see if I can get any good shots out there. But right now it's too humid; everything is wet. Maybe this afternoon or evening, if the sunshine finally dries everything out. It's been raining off and on, pretty much every day for the past two weeks. And not getting enough sunshine in between showers to dry. So everything is really soggy.

♥

To make up for not being able to post pictures of my finished blanket, here's a picture of my newest project.

I started this one last night. I know, I have a gazillion projects on my needles, but after the marathon knitting sessions I've had to get the previously-mentioned blanket done, I wanted something new to work on. I tried to distract myself from that urge by working on Angel's shawl, but it was excruciating. From now on, I'm going to listen to my urges, because if I had, my new project would be further-along, and I could focus better on that shawl...or the cabled scarf that's on the table in front of me...or the shawl that's in a bag across the room from me...or the white lace that's in another bag a few feet away from me...Oh, sorry...focus issues, like I said.

♥

Anyway, this new project is also going to be a baby blanket, but with a different design. As you can see, I started it in the center, and it will have four identical triangular panels making up the square. It's going to be "diamond lace all over", and should be a simple, mindless knit. I almost didn't have to think at all while I made up the chart for this one. ;) The great thing about knitting a square in-the-round is that I don't ever have to purl! Well, until I reach the border anyway. I haven't thought that far ahead yet. I'm just going to let the yarn tell me what to do with it. It's Paton's Bamboo Baby(luxurious, silky-soft bamboo/acrylic), and I have the colorway you see in the picture, and a solid light peachy-pink to go with it. I'm planning on doing stripes with the two yarns. I found the yarn on clearance, and I just bought up all they had, so I have to make it work somehow. I hope it's enough for a decent-sized baby blanket. If it doesn't appear to be, I suppose I could go look for some other coordinating color in the same type of yarn....

♥

Back to knitting

I took a little time today to work on some of my WIPs(works in progress). Here's my white lace:

It still doesn't have a name, but I'm narrowing down my ideas.

And here's a very brightly colored "Cathie" scarf. I'm planning on giving it as a Christmas gift; I don't know yet who it's for.

And in this bag is my latest Posy Patch.

It's about 4/5 done. But I still have to keep it hidden, until the new colors are released. It's a very pretty color, and that's all I'm saying for now. ☺

♥

About the dryer balls in my previous post: they really do work. I've been doing a lot of laundry in the past two days, and not using dryer sheets, just the balls. My laundry is fluffy and static-free! I think I'll just use the dryer balls from now on, and save the dryer sheets for keeping mosquitoes away when I'm working in the yard.

Blankets done!

I finished the blue blanket! And that's not all.....

(Excuse the sideways picture; I don't know why it uploaded that way.)

These two blankets are a baby shower gift for my friend Sarah, who is expecting twins; a boy and a girl. Hence the blue and the pink. Anyway, this is one of my designs, and I'm attempting to have it published by someone other than myself. Yesterday, I sent my design proposal to Knit Picks. If they like it, I'll send the actual pattern, and knit another blanket for them to see in person and photograph for the pattern. If they publish the pattern, it will be my first pattern published for sale, rather than free. I am very hopeful. I'm sure I'll be on pins and needles until I hear from them. I got the standard thanks-for-submitting-a-pattern email last night. But it could be up to 3 weeks before I hear whether they like my design.

♥

In other knitting news, I'm back to working on Adamas, which is not my own design. ☺I have finished 12 repeats of the lace chart, so I need to do two more repeats, and it'll be ready for the border. Once I finish that, I have another design ready to cast on, in white merino laceweight. It doesn't have a name yet; I've got a few ideas, but haven't picked which one works the best. Maybe after I've gotten a little work done on the project, I'll know for sure. I have a few other projects that I want to start; a couple pairs of socks, and another baby blanket idea, but I need to finish some projects first. Two of my current projects are gifts, and I intended to have them done a while ago.

"Posy Patch" one down, one to go.

I finished the pink blanket I was working on! I'll be casting on soon for the blue one to match. I hope my friend likes them. I hope Knit Picks likes them.
This was a fun, easy, quick knit. It turned out exactly how I had pictured it in my mind. I love when that happens. And I know I said it before, but I love Knit Picks Swish DK. This yarn is so soft and comfy. And I discovered when I soaked and blocked it, that it blooms beautifully.

♥

In other news, we have to wait another week for a fence. Ugh. Oh, well. What's one more week of chasing cows out of the yard? And now I'm going to go watch Terminator movies, and cast on for another "Posy Patch". ☺