Mid-Year... Wait! What??

Sad but true. 2024 is more than half gone. You'd think someone were throwing clocks, time is flying by so fast lol 😂 

When last I popped in and wrote, I was restarting my sample of Cherish the Ladies. It was going quite well too. Until the circular needle's cable snapped that is.

I confess: I cried over this one. Fortunately, I was able to act quickly and I didn't lose any stitches. Or beads. 

But I'm afraid this little mishap has impacted my work knitting a lot. I'm trying to track down a longer circular needle in the required size. The one that the cable snapped on was a 32 inch/80cm length. To prevent another snapped cable I want to locate at least one of a 40 inch length; I'd prefer longer but anything longer than 32 inches should distribute the weight better, preventing another snapped cable.

My issue isn't actually *finding* a longer needle. At least online. But shipping costs are an absolute nightmare. A circular needle isn't exactly the heaviest item, and most shipping is equal to the price of the needle itself, if not more! That's just not feasible for someone on a limited budget.

That said, I will be in Town Friday to Sunday, so maybe I'll luck into finding something suitable. If it doesn't interfere with your crafting, cross your fingers for me and/or send along some needle finding vibes, please.

Here's the photo I took not long before my circular needle gave up:

It was looking so good! Hopefully I'll be back at it soon!

With this little hitch in my plans, plus an unhealthy dose of brain fog preventing me from writing up the instructions for my Countess Cathleen cloak, I've had to focus my energies into a personal project... or 2.

I finished my second Harvest cardigan (pattern by Tin Can Knits🔗; this link goes to the pattern page on their website) last evening! For this one I used 9 colors of yarn, and my shiny math rocks. To say it's colorful feels like a large understatement! And very random considering each stripe was chosen by rolling a D10 (for the color) and a D8 (for the number of ridges on the body, and number of rounds on the sleeves). Roomie got 2 photos of me modelling the finished sweater; one of the front and one of the back:

Of course I blinked right as she snapped the first one 😆 I love how cozy it feels, and how colorful it is. It's definitely one of a kind!

So yay! A large finished project in the books for me!

I may have mentioned it before but I had decided that 2024 was going to be my Year of Going For It in regards to my knitting, both personal and designing. Bringing some of those large and/or potentially over the top projects out of my head (where, I confess, my mind likes to tell me these big ideas are "too much" or "too loud" or "no one but you will ever want this thing"), and into reality. My multicolored Harvest was a jumping off point. So is my Cherish the Ladies wrap; I had talked myself out of using the beads. But then I remembered the advice someone gave me on Discord. It can be summed up as: You'll never know if there are like-minded knitters out there if you don't show off the projects that will attract them. Which makes a lot of sense, and it's not like I'm at a loss for big ideas! My design list has 24 ideas in the planning stages, and 3 more besides Countess Cathleen and Cherish the Ladies in the sample/writing stage. (Plus a dozen or so titles without firm enough ideas to really flesh them out just yet.) Of those, 7 definitely fit my idea of over-the-top/larger than life designs. 

When I look at my personal projects, I've got a couple... ok, there are several. Including one I started just the other day. 

As some of you may remember, I love double-knitting. And because I have a love of reading fantasy books, leaning towards urban fantasy (Oh! Author plug! Are you familiar with Seanan McGuire? Her October Daye series is awesome! If you're voting for the Hugos, and don't know what to pick for Best Series: vote for October Daye/Seanan McGuire!!! You won't regret it! She also writes the Incryptid series (on my tbr list, the Wayward Children series (super good!!), and a few others I'm blanking on. She is phenomenally prolific, and talented. Check her out if you haven't!), and like shiny things like math rocks, I discovered the designs of Tania Richter, aka AetherFang. In 2017, she introduced us to a Yarn Quest, a DnD style knitting experience. One of the patterns is for a blanket. A 20 square/chapter adventure involving double-knitting the charts that correspond to the dice rolls you make while reading through the tale she wrote for us. 

I'm going to have a very warm and colorful blanket to remember my character's Quest when I get it done :) I'm using the remnants from my super colorful Harvest cardi to start with. Chapter 1 is underway in red and black. You can find Tania's designs in her Payhip shop, Knit1 Roll20🔗. And as a teaser, here is the result of my first 2 dice rolls:

I'll keep you updated as I knit along the Yarn Quest. 

On a side note, I'll be teaching a basics of double-knitting workshop to an online group of friends in August. I'll be updating, and adding to, my double-knitting resources here in preparation for that. 

And that, my fiber friends, is everything I have to tell you about today! I'm looking forward to the trip to Town tomorrow, and my friend's wedding on Saturday.

Until next time, I remain

Yours in yarn,

Síle 

All the News That's Fit to Print

 Well, maybe not quite, but there's a bit to talk about.

First let me draw your attention upwards, to the blog header. Notice anything different? (hint hint wink wink) I played around and tried a few different things and I really like this one. It's much simpler than some of the others I came up with, which I'll let you in on:

Oh the fun of picture editing apps! 

As you know if you've been reading along, (and if you haven't, you can catch up here, here, here, and here) R*velry hasn't been very responsive about their redesign fiasco. Unfortunately, that's causing a lot of issues for at least one designer I know. Tania has been suffering greatly during this mess and R*velry's response to her request for an alternative way to pay her bill is absolutely despicable! You can find it here on her Twitter and Instagram accounts. The vast majority of designers don't have staff they can give access to in the manner suggested. And giving access to a trusted friend or relative puts the designer at risk for going against GDPR regulations in EU countries, as well as the UK! At the very least the suggestion is unuseful to recommend something that could cost a designer that has already lost her a good portion of her earnings this year. Or was it more sinister and the suggestion was meant to make said designer disappear, along with her nagging requests for accommodation. And yes, I may be a bit over the top with that suggestion, but considering the gaslighting done by persons at R*velry is it really a stretch to consider that possibility? 

Here's some good news! A number of designers are banding together to put together an event similar to the Indie Gift-A-Long, but Off R*velry. Kathleen of WIP Insanity and Rachy of Rachy Newin Designs are our intrepid organizers for the Fasten Off Yarn Along! There will be a pattern sale period, followed by the Along part of the fun. There's a Discord forum set up for chatter, pre-event as well as during. You can find the official Twitter and Instagram accounts for the Fasten Off Yarn Along by following the links I've given. I'm excited to be participating in this new event! I'll post more as we get closer!

On the knitting front, I'm splitting time between the Hornpipe Bag and a blanket for my furry nephew. Here's the latest pic of the HB:

For Jakey's blanket, I've knit a dishcloth (Cat with paw print by Susan Mrenna. I had this in my R*velry library; I don't know if it's available elsewhere), and then picked up stitches around the edge, and I'll be working the rest according to Louise Tilbrook's Fuss Free Baby Blanket recipe; sadly, it's no longer available, a casualty of removing her patterns from R*velry this summer. (You can find her other designs either on her site or in her Payhip shop.) Fairly simple and makes excellent use of some odds and ends I have. Jakey always liked snuggling with Maureen's blankie, which I've put up since her passing in 2018, so I think he should have his own. Little cuddler that he is. How can I not when he gets under my fleece like this:

Isn't he precious? He'll be 7 in a week! Seems like yesterday he was 10 weeks old and uncertain about everything to do with his new home.

And that brings this post back around to me. You may remember I was in St. John's last month for a medical appointment. I had a phone appointment with my doctor last week to hear the results. There were abnormal cells. I'm being referred to a specialist; thankfully, there's a couple here and I won't need to travel. So that's where that is. Injury recovery has taken a bit of a backseat this last while. I manage my passive stretches a couple times a week. I just don't have much energy for more than that. I'd like to burrow under the covers and hibernate it that's not a feasible option with so much on the go. I digress.

What are your crafting plans looking like? Thinking of joining in on the fun of the Fasten Off Yarn Along? ;) Or maybe you're under a pile of mittens for the family before winter truly takes hold. I'd love to hear what's on your needles!

Yours in yarn and cat fur (Jakey is supervising his blankie construction),

Síle