When a Project Takes Longer Than You Thought

I think this is something a lot, dare I say most, designers face. You come up with an idea. You swatch for it, play around with charts. And finally you cast on and begin the sample.

Everything goes smoothly for the first bit and then natural little hiccups happen. A twisted stitch here, a purl where a knit should've been there; easily spotted and fixed blips that happen to all knitters at some point along the way. So you keep working on it, making a few small tweaks and making note of them as you go.

Somewhere a bit passed halfway through, you sometimes start to lose interest in the piece. It looks good, you're still happy with the idea/ yarn/ design itself. But you have another idea you want move on to, or your hands need a break from the current yarn weight and needle size, or ... Any myriad of reasons really. And that item that you were so excited to get started becomes a chore to get through, a seemingly never ending abyss of a project... 

In case you haven't guessed, I'm currently stuck in the slog phase of a design. I started knitting the sample in August, and it's roughly 2/3 finished. And it feels like it will never be over and done with. I've tried giving myself a strict deadline for it to no avail. I've started bribing myself with other projects: "Knit 2 rounds on Neverending, and you can have x amount of time with Fun-thing-designed-by-not-You".

I have other designs I'm resisting casting on even though the patterns are fairly much written because I want to get this one done and into tech-editing before I go on to something else. Even knowing I have fun things coming up once this one is out of the way isn't spurring me on to finish it. It's very frustrating. While I still really like it, I'm starting to loathe it at the same time. 

Do you ever find yourself in like and loathe of the same project at the same time? How do you get yourself through that stage? 

In Jakey news

The little floof is doing excellent, I'm happy to report. He's got a few dissolving stitches that should be gone by the 30th (when his next/final? checkup is). He's running, cuddling, rolling around like normal. If it weren't for his shaved backend and tail, you'd never know he had anything wrong! 

Funny aside: He was so happy when The Cone came off and he could wash everywhere that he started showing me his butt when he'd get on the bed at night. Jakey is a really furry little guy so the sight of his shaved back end and part of his tail looks very strange next to the rest of him, and prompted Auntie (Bad Auntie!) to start calling him "Captain Velvet Butt" whenever he'd do it. The fur is definitely growing back in but it's still such a contrast to the rest of him. Poor guy goes through everything and then gets an ignominious nickname on top of it all! In true Jakey fashion, he just purrs happily because he loves the attention. 

Our fundraising efforts have stalled a bit, (check out my 25% off pattern sale on the Patterns tab at the top of the blog!) so Jakey's Mom (Krista) started a 50/50 to raise the last bit needed. There are 120 squares total going for $10 Canadian each; that'll be $600 to the winner. You can paypal her at PayPal.Me/KristaDani85 adding "50/50 for Jakey" in the comments section.

That's all today!

Yours in Neverending sample knitting, and Jakey snuggles,

Síle

Choices

 I've been thinking about choices and options a lot lately. For example, when I'm finished knitting the current prototype I'm working on which of my ideas should I cast on next? Do I still like the color choices I made for *insert particular project* or should I change them up a bit? Does the OXO cable really suit that positioning or should I use a 4 strand braid? Perhaps offer both but show OXO on the children's size and 4 strand on the adult one? 

Decisions, decisions, decisions! I'm not complaining mind you. These are the types of things I like mulling over. And over. 

I hope your weather is good wherever you happen to be reading this from. It's snowing and blowing here today. Perfect stay in and swatch weather. I have plenty of ideas to play with!

Yours in yarn and needles,

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

New Ways to Find Things

There's been a lot of discussion about how the fiber arts community that can't and/or won't use R*velry can find each other. Here are some ways to find and/or connect with this part of the community.

There are a few websites that have been set up; you'll find a link to the Fiber Indy List in the sidebar (full disclosure: I'm listed there), but also there's the Accessible Patterns Index (I'm also listed there; 11 of my 15 patterns include Low Vision Accessible pdfs) and the Yarn Database.

Websites are great for finding designers and patterns, but what about other crafters? There are healthy crafting communities on Instagram and Twitter! And the easiest way to find them is through hashtags. Through polls and discussions this last week or so, Twitter user BirdieToldMe (@kaysaraahsaraah) has helped to add some hashtags we can use to search for other crafters, as well as designers, indy dyers, and notions makers; talk about finding your community! #RavelryAccessibility, which was coined during the first throes of NuRav to enable ease in finding out what was going on when forum threads were being locked and archived almost as soon as they started has been decided to be left to information posts, and these are the decided upon hashtags to use on pertinent community posts: #OffRav , #OffRavDesigners ,  #InclusiveYarnCommunity and on Wednesdays be sure to use #WIPWednesdayOffRav on your progress pics. By following these tags on Instagram and Twitter, you'll quickly find the vibrant communities existing on both social media sites.

You may be wondering why I've capitalized each word in the above hashtags. It makes them readable to screen readers instead of being garbled, and also easier to read by individuals with sight issues and some who are neurodiverse. I find them easier to figure out as a glasses wearer since age 9 ½. Unfortunately, this means typing out the hashtags every time instead of relying on auto fill or the suggestions that pop up. But I think those extra few seconds are worth it to make the hashtags accessible and inclusive. If we want to say we have an #InclusiveYarnCommunity, we can show it by our hashtags.

Some designers have set up new places to house their forums as well. Louise Tilbrook moved her "Everyday Knitters" group off of Facebook earlier this summer to a new home on Mighty Networks. Tania Richter had been using Discord; I'm not sure if she's still using it due to her extra severe migraine and subsequent medical appointments/corrective lenses/minimizing time of any kind of online activity/medications. I've heard others are trying to incorporate fora into their existing sites, but I'm not aware of anyone who has this up and running just yet; if you're aware of anyone who does, please let me know in the comments below so I can boost it. 

I've given my R*velry group members a heads up that the group will be disappearing before the Classic Rav deadline is up. As of this writing, I haven't decided how, or if, to replace the group. It was never as much as a hub as I'd hoped. I'll be hosting test knits via either Fiberly or Yarnpond going forward, which was the main reason for my group's existence, so I don't feel I really need one right now. Something to think of in the future maybe. 

Yours in yarn and hashtags,

Síle

How Not to Knit a Sleeve (aka Read the Pattern)

Last evening I settled in to get more done on the sleeve of my Harvest cardigan. I knit for awhile and thought I was nearing the number of stitches where I would stop the decreases and work straight, so I pulled up the pattern (I do everything on my phone. I mean everything: drafting patterns, writing blogposts, all social media, etc). And as my eyes scanned along I realized something. 

I had skipped a very important line. 

After returning the sleeve stitches to the needles (I'm working the sleeves on double-pointed needles), and before starting the sleeve decreases it reads "Knit straight for x inches."

Um... yeah, that's not what I did. I went straight into working decrease rounds interspersed with x plain rounds. *Facepalm*

I measured how long the sleeve was at that point: 7½ inches (19cm). *Facepalm*

After saying a few choice words, I frogged the sleeve. And then I restarted it. I knit 4 inches, without decreases, before turning in.

I haven't done anything quite so silly in quite awhile so I guess the yarn gods decided to keep me from getting too cocky. I will say it's going smoothly and I'm hoping to keep to my original timeline and be able to wear my new sweater when I go to Town later in the month. 

So that's my tale of knitterly woe. I hope this saves you from doing the same thing.

Yours in yarn and sleeve stitches,

Síle

Treble Jig Legwarmers Update

I'm happy to say, I've added a size to the TJL. The pattern, as written, now covers calf measurements of 9-22"/22.5-55 cm. Just in time for autumn weather! You can find the pattern page here.

Of course it's 29°C (84.2°F) with the humidity here today, so not exactly autumnal. Ma Nature, would ya cool it off a bit?!

You may have noticed a difference at the top of the site. I'll wait while you scroll up ;) I've wanted to add a logo for quite awhile and finally came up with a little something. What do you think? 

That's it for today! I'll be writing a post about Ravelry's latest announcement in a day or two. I'm letting everything sit for a bit rather than flying off the handle; I do that a little too easily sometimes.

Yours in yarn and fan-blown air,

Síle

Helpers

 Many of us live with helpers. They often have four legs and fur, and aren't quite as helpful as their title implies. I posted this collage a few places this weekend:

I wanted to take a progress picture of my Harvest sweater. Then Silver, the older of my furry nieces, decided this was a good time to be helpful. As you can see, out of nine photos only 1 shows the entire sweater back. (The cardigan is knit topdown in one piece. I find the back view easier to see progress, so usually take my photos from that view.) And even that one is photobombed by a pair of furry gray legs. She's quite a help!

I did get two other photos last night after using the last bit of the first ball of yarn. (I'm knitting with Lion Brand Mandala which has 590yds in a 150g skein! Talk about value!) No Silver help with these ones; sorry ;)

I started working one of the sleeves today so it should go quick. I'm toying with the idea of adding pockets and making it a bit longer than the pattern. It's such a lovely basic sweater that little bits of customization just adds to it. It's from Tin Can Knits if you're not familiar with the pattern.

My goal is to finish it soon and then bring my focus back to my own designs. Normally having a few of my own designs plus a "me" project or two going at once doesn't faze me but this year... I think we can all agree this year is just something else altogether! I have a worrisome health appointment coming next month and I want to wear my new sweater, a kind of talisman that all goes well. While not traditional autumn colors, it'll certainly be a bright spot.

Yours in yarn and glowing colors,

Síle

Fall, Nature & Music

Yesterday was the first day of Fall so working on my Harvest cardigan seems seasonally appropriate. I have the sleeves and body separated now:

This is a very relaxing knit, which is good for a day when a former hurricane is making its presence felt nearby. Around 9:30am NDT today, Teddy made landfall in Nova Scotia. I've seen some video from near Port aux Basques, NL showing the winds and waves they were starting to get about an hour ago. Nature is truly awe inspiring; it can destroy as quickly as it can renew. A sobering reminder of how fragile we are. 

I made some more progress on the Hornpipe Bag yesterday; almost to the halfway mark of the knotwork motif:

My roommate and I were listening to my itunes while I was knitting, which was interesting to say the least. Do you ever do that? Just hit shuffle instead of a specific playlist, I mean. I think it's revealing to hear so many different parts of my personality and/or interests placed next to each other. The Andrews Sisters followed by Bon Jovi followed by a set of slow jigs followed by Allan Sherman, ... You get the idea. I'm more than a little eclectic in my musical tastes, to say the least. Give it a try sometime; you might be surprised by what gems you have hiding in your collection. And you might find some interesting combinations of songs that you otherwise wouldn't have found too.

Yours in yarn and BNL's "Pinch Me" (current song playing),

Síle

Happy International Irish Dance Day!

 Yesterday was the first International Irish Dance Day. About time ;) It was fabulous looking at all the posts on Insta. A nice way to spend the day since I was laid up with a stomach bug. Unfortunately that meant I didn't get to pull out my hardshoes and make a new video to post. I did watch some ancient videos on YouTube of me and my dance pals, which was a fabulous trip down memory lane. It's been 9 and a bit years since I was last onstage. Wow. Time has definitely flown by! Here's a few moments from "the old days":

My last solo on the Irish Pav stage during Regina's Mosaic Festival. June 2011. Screenshot from video by Laura Popoff

Top left: All smiles after a performance on the Irish Pavillion stage. June 2010 (cred to Lindsay Sasseville)

Top right: March 2006, me, Nat, H and Sionan onstage at the Cornwall Centre's center court in our first Prairie Gael outfits (not sure who took this one; probably David Popoff)

Bottom left: August 2005, onstage and mid cut at the Saskatchewan Centennial celebrations held in Regina's Wascana Centre (cred to Alice MacDougall)

Bottom right: Check out my curls! And the kite of my dance costume. Irish Pavillion June 2010 (cred to Lindsay Sasseville)

I started dancing with the Irish Club of Regina Dancers in the fall of 1999. I went on to join the Prairie Gael School of Irish Dance in the summer of 2005 and stayed with them until my cross country move in late February/early March 2012. (Literally: my plane left Regina on Feb 29 and I arrived in St. John's on March 1)

A little dance down memory lane. I wouldn't trade them for all the gold. 

Yours in ghillies,

Síle

A Finished Project

 I finished my pillow. I think the i-cord I talked about last post was just the right touch for it. Here's the finished look:

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. 

Now I can get back to the Hornpipe Bag. I made a mistake with the side chart so I've been knitting from my handwritten notes until I redo it. Which works well on my flair up days; I can't process charts as easily on those days. Which is why my patterns almost always have written out instructions for any charts; Rínce Fada being the current exception.

Yours in yarn and words,

Síle

Joining

 I finished knitting the second hexagon for my pillow project last night. Here's how it turned out:

I like that the two charts I chose are different from each other; chart D is predominantly blue, while you can see chart E is predominantly white. 

I've chosen to use an i-cord edge to join the two sides together; I have just over two sections done so a bit more than 1/3 the way around. I'm doing the edge in blue; white on the edges would look gungy too quickly, I think. 

The final two rounds on both sides were knit with white and I'm employing a little trick to keep from having white blips happening, as you can see in the next two photos (one from each side):

What's my secret? Purling the side away from me. 

Ok, so I'm working a 3 stitch i-cord to join two pieces together. The two pieces are on their own holder needles. I cast-on 3 stitches onto the "front side" needle; that is the side facing me. I'm applying the i-cord with the predominantly white side facing me. Using a dpn (double-pointed needle), I knit 2 sts (of the i-cord), then I slip the next st as if to purl. Next I slip the first pillow stitch from the front needle, also purlwise. Now I purl the first stitch from the back needle, pass the slipped pillow stitch over the purled one and off the needle, then pass the i-cord stitch over the purled on and off the needle. There are 3 stitches on the dpn and I slip these back onto the front needle and continue on.

More conventionally written, it looks like this:

*K2, sl 2 pwise from front needle, P1 from back needle, p2sso, transfer 3 sts on dpn back to front needle; rep from *...

Amazing how a little thing like purling a stitch instead of knitting it makes for a cleaner look.

I want to get this joining (and stuffing once 5.5 of the 6 sections are joined) finished this evening, so this is where I'll leave you.

Yours in yarn and i-cord,

Síle

September? Already?

Happy to report all of my current patterns can be found on my pattern tab now. I got the last few set up this morning. I'll be rearranging them a bit (that single column just doesn't use space very well) but they're all ready for browsing. I'm also going to be adding to the yarn information for a few of them; not as consistent as I'd like that information to be, especially with my earlier patterns. 

We're experiencing the lovely sunny warm days of late summer here, mixed in with the cooler and colder nights. Frost warnings made a come back the last few so windows were closed for the first time in quite awhile. Time to start thinking of wool sweaters and possibly hats and mitties. Mmmm, knitting season is on its way! :)

I don't know about you, but fall has become my favourite of seasons. Warm sunny days, cool but not bitter nights. The leaves changing. Fall is a very cozy season. Just cool enough for a shawl or cardigan, usually pretty dry so getting out and enjoying the outdoors is possible. Cooler nights are perfect for curling up with a mug of tea and your knitting, and/or a good book.

This year has seemed to go both too slow and too fast all at the same time. I can be ok with fall lingering a bit. What about you?

Yours in yarn and woolly plans,

Síle

Halfway

I got the first side done last night/the wee hours of this morning. And happily it's a lot more even than my colorwork usually is. *insert image of Kermit the Frog flailing his arms here*

In Knit Dance Repeat news, you'll notice a new tab above. I've got two patterns (hopefully) set up so you can shop right from here if you prefer. Yes, my Payhip shop will still be there and I intend to keep adding to Love Crafts as well. Options are good! I'm making sure those two are working and then I'll get to work adding the rest of my back catalogue. While I continue to work on my sample for the Hornpipe Bag and iron out the details of a special project for someone very dear to me! This summer has been one heck of a learning curve!

Back at it while I wait for the hamburger to thaw; I'm whipping up meatloaf and mashed potatoes for supper. 

Yours in yarn and html code,

Síle

Challenges

 

Today I'm working on a bit of a modification; I'm using a pattern and then diverging from the original. Let me explain.

I've had the pattern "Friesland" by Jenise Reid in my pattern library for a bit. [Aside: She's the designer of the gorgeous "Persian Dreams" blanket that many of us have admired/drooled over.] And it's sat in my library because I am not a stranded colorwork knitter. Quite frankly, I stink at it. 

Now, I've read all kinds of tips and hints, and been given more of the same from other well-meaning knitters. I don't need or want any more. Just as some knitters find lace an incomprehensible tangle, and others fear cables, stranded colorwork and I just aren't ever going to be pals. And that's ok! There's so much knitting inspiration out there! Do what you love doing, be it fancy Fair Isles in 40 colors, or intricate cables in cream coloured wool. That's the beauty of knitting, there's something for each of us.

But, and isn't there always a but that gives us pause and makes us reconsider something? But then a challenge appeared in a crafting group I belong to. And that challenge was to take a virtual trip to Holland, centering on the lovely Rijks Museum, and craft something inspired by your trip. 

I have Dutch ancestry; Belgian ancestry from the Walloon region [Aside: I go through life with an Irish first name and a Belgian/Dutch last name; I am the bane of English pronunciations hee hee!] to be more accurate. And the first thing that came to mind was the lovely blanket pattern in my library that is so reminiscent of Delft tiles and ceramics. And of course the Rijks Museum has some stunning examples of that. I made a collage of some of the pieces found there:

Beautiful aren't they? The detail in each example is absolutely breathtaking. I never could have imagined a Delft violin and yet suddenly there was one in front me! And the birdcage! And...

I know I don't have the skills to knit the entire blanket, especially within the timeframe, but I thought I could try to capture a bit of the feel by knitting two of the hexagons and making them into a pillow. What you see in my top photo is my progress using chart D; I'm on rnd 20 of 39. The other side of the pillow will be chart E. 

And this is why today finds me with stranded colorwork on my needles in blue and white. A little challenge to myself to tackle something different. And get some points for my team in the process.

Also currently being worked on are my Hornpipe Bag and a summer sweater called "Twillingate" by fellow Newfoundland designer Jennifer Beale. Here's a peak at the progress on the Hornpipe Bag:

It looks a bit odd squished up on the needle but you can see the sides are growing. I'm quite happy with it, I have to say.

Yours in yarn and wooden shoes,

Síle

Wednesday

Have you ever felt that Wednesday is sort of a day unto itself? Saturday and Sunday are "The Weekend". Monday, and Tuesday to a lesser extent, is the all important "Start of the Work Week". Similarly Friday, lesser extent to Thursday, is the "End of the Work Week/Beginning of the Weekend". But Wednesday just sort of sits there. It's also the day least impacted by long weekends/bank holidays. Just something I thought of while sitting on hold this morning.

I'm happy to report I'm onto the sides of the Hornpipe Bag sample. I'll need to refine the wording on how to transition from the base section to the sides but the actual doing of it went pretty smooth; I only restarted it twice! Third time really was the charm! Shouldn't take too long to work up, although double-knitting naturally takes longer to complete. You're working twice the amount of stitches after all, so it makes sense. But if you're like me you look at the measurements of something and say to yourself "This should take me about x hours.", and then sort of kick yourself when that timeframe comes and goes. You'd think I'd learn but no. *insert image of me laughing at myself here*

I'll leave you with this picture of my furry nephew, Jakey. I've mentioned hockey being played in August this year and my mum sent him a little something to help me and my roommate (aka Jakey's mum) cheer for our team. Doesn't he look cute?? And this could be the last game of the season for my guys tonight, so all the more reason to share a little Canadiens' love.

Yours in yarn and hockey fandom,

Síle

Double Trouble?

 

I'm working on the Hornpipe Bag today and it got me thinking: how do other knitters keep their yarns from tangling while double-knitting?

You can see my solution in the photo. For the record, I knit English/American/right-handed style, carrying both colors with my right hand. I like to keep the background color on my right side and the contrast color on my left side. Yes, that means I switch them around at the start of every row. I find it works best for me, but what works for me isn't necessarily going to work for you! 

I've read some different ways knitters handle their yarns, so I thought I'd ask you to share your favourite way(s) of tangle taming while double-knitting. 

Yours in yarn and trebles,

Síle

Processing

Today is a day for processing things. For one thing, it's hot and humid again, and not being overly active means not breaking into a sweat too often. For another, thinking can be done while I knit.

The letter signed by nearly 400 current and former Ravelry designers was delivered to them on Tuesday, and a response came back less than 24 hours later. Considering the track record of response times during this situation, that was near miraculous.

Sadly, while many of us hoped for better results, their answer was unsurprising. I screenshot the Instagram post by Sarah, who was one of the main organizers of the letter. (Kudos to her for that! It was no small undertaking.) So here you go:



Because the post is too long to fit in an alt text caption, I have typed it here:

"sarahmgoodwindesigns Wednesday update for the Designer's Open Letter on Ravelry Accessibility. Do you want to know the good news or the bad news first? Let's do the good news: we got a response from Mary Heather late yesterday afternoon (sorry, too wiped out to update last night!)
yarn ball emoji

So the bad news: (quoting response in full because it pertains to everyone who participated) "Thank you for writing with your concerns and care. I shared your letter with Jessica and we discussed it this morning. We hope that Jessica's letter last week addressed these concerns and helped share our thoughts behind our decisions and our next steps. We will be following up with continued updates on our blog and look forward to continuing this work. Best regards, Mary Heather (and Jessica)."

yarn ball emoji

I know many of you poured your hearts into this and I don't want to tell you how to feel about it. I thought I'd check in here with everyone before deciding if a follow up would be at all productive? Tell me what you think? Also, tell THEM what you think (email: contact-us@ravelry.com)

yarn ball emoji 

Personally, I find that laughably dismissive & willfully obtuse. For one thing, it's still unclear whether they believe the people who have had neurological symptoms (migraines, seizures, etc) due to the website (or tilting towards super problematic claims of mass hysteria). They've apologized for causing "anxiety" and "issues", but are committed to keeping a website which has triggered seizures for multiple users as the default. That's... not really something you can successfully put a positive spin on.

yarn ball emoji"

Basically, "We gave at the office, now go away." Several of us have commented that there's really no point in a follow up letter. Willful obtuseness won't respond any differently. No amount of beating our collective head against a wall can change that.

For myself, I feel my removal of my patterns from sale on Ravelry is more than justified. I was wondering if I'd done the right thing. Yeah, no. No more wondering in that direction. I'm maintaining my account to have control of my pattern listings and to participate in one group in particular where I play a fair sized role. And even that is a lot less checking in than I used to do. This is to say if anyone messages me there about my patterns, or anything else, I will answer you, just not as quickly as I would've before.

Today as I knit, I'm processing what was, what could've been, what is, and what will come. Some of that is very different than what I pictured in early June. I may be processing for awhile.

Til next time,

Síle

August & Hockey: does not compute

This year is definitely one for the history books. Saturday night, August the 1st mind you, I watched a hockey game. A pro, NHL, game. In August. If that's not a sign that things are off kilter, I really don't what is.

It's 27℃, 32℃ with the humidity factored in, and I'm pondering my next cast ons. I want to restart my next design, the Hornpipe Bag, and I'm debating a top for myself. Debating between two patterns and color palettes that is. One is a gorgeous summer top but the only yarn I have in the right weight and quantity is a bright red. Bright red and my already tomato-esque cheeks lead to no where flattering. The other is a sweater, written with ¾ length sleeves that I will be making shorter, with (for my size) four textured bands of different colors, that I've chosen from teal and green shades of stash, at the yoke and then a very straightforward plain body. I have a really nice (neutral! No one faint!) charcoal shade for the main color.

You can tell which one I'm leaning towards, can't you?

You're more interested in the Hornpipe Bag? Of course I'd love to tell you about it!

I'm not sure if you know this, but the most common time signature for hornpipes is 2/4. Another odd one! So I decided that since the slip jig pattern became lace to denote its difference from the "normal" jigs, the hornpipe design could definitely be something other than cables too. 2/4? 2/4? What if the 2 were two colors? I confess, I'm not very good at stranded colorwork. But I am fairly competent at double-knitting (see my pattern Rínce Fada; it even has cables!). And more importantly, I really enjoy it. 

I had decided fairly early on the hornpipe design would be a bag. I got the idea of a bag for one's ghillies, or perhaps small projects, into my head. A drawstring bag seemed the right thing. How to make it though? Knit in the round, insert eyelets near the top to thread the drawstrings through, seam the bottom, done? Or some way else? You'll have to wait and see! I can tell you, I'm constructing it in such a way that it will be completely reversible in keeping with the double-knitting.

And there will be at least one new technique for you to learn! I'll be including a photo tutorial section at the end of the pattern to guide you through three techniques I use, two that you've probably come across before but the other I sort of unvented and then looked to see if anyone else had used it. I didn't find it anywhere. So I'm fairly sure you won't have seen it/tried it before. 

I hope this Monday is treating you well. Are you starting the week off with a new project? Getting close to finishing one? I'd love to hear about your project(s).

Yours in yarn and trebles,

Síle

Community Matters

Where to even begin?! These last two days have been an absolute rollercoaster. I believe it was in "Alice in Wonderland" (Disney cartoon/movie, not the book) that someone said: "Start at the beginning and when you come to the end, well, stop." Here goes!

Yesterday afternoon, I saw KatieBea* tweet a screenshot of an email that they'd received from Cassidy. I then saw someone else tweet a screenshot of a very similar email from Cassidy. Needless to say these created a lot of buzz, and for quite good reason! Telling people who've contacted you with feedback on accessibility that they need to consider sources before spreading lies is a mighty big load of bullshit. I quote retweeted the first person's tweet with my own take on this, and yes, I did use the word bullshit to describe it. But here, read it yourself: 

Now this afternoon, Jessica, aka Ravelry's other cofounder, made a new blogpost. And not from an only-accessible-if-you-can-log-into-Rav channel! She actually addressed yesterday's emails from Cassidy and several other points. Some are hoping this spells a new more communicative response. Others have said it's a case of "too little, too late", which for the record I don't blame them for saying. It's been 6 weeks and this is the first real point of actual communication we've seen. 

And at least one person who received an email yesterday has gotten an apology today. I, for one, want to see a public apology made to KatieBea for the targeted bullshit she's been on the receiving end of since this all broke open. 

Where does this leave us? I'm glad to see an actual response instead of another pompom waving for one thing. But there are still issues with the migraines/seizures/screenreaders not able to access the site not being afforded more, or even equal, weight with people not liking the twee icons (And for the record, one can be on both sides of that comparison very easily waves both hands in the air). Quite honestly, I don't know where this leaves us. I had planned to close my Ravelry shop today after seeing the portion of Cassidy's letter to KatieBea. Jessica's blogpost is gave me a brief pause. All of my patterns are in my Payhip shop, including my 3 free ones. Love Crafts has all of my paid patterns and one of my free ones. I had set Ravelry to only be hosting my paid patterns a week or so ago. Now they're listed in the database but they aren't open to Ravelry sales. I just can't with everything. 

I will continue to work on getting my patterns integrated with this blog and I will continue with my designs. Ravelry may have afforded me the chance to start designing and getting my patterns seen but I control how and if I continue. And I really want to continue. This blog serves as my hub; links to any social media I use and any platform where my patterns are found will remain here, although they might move to a different setup than being in the sidebar.

My hope is that this post explains what has been happening and where my decisions are coming from. I like being honest with people. As always, you can respond by comment or email if you prefer; I value your input.

I'm really hoping my next post will be a fun one!

Til next time,

Síle

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Fake Poutine and Other Rainy Day Musings

I peeled and cut up a good amount of potatoes this evening. A late supper of fries, mozzarella, and gravy, aka fake poutine, is in the works (Proper poutine has cheese curds so that's why I call it fake poutine). Yummy!

In Ravelry news, there's an open letter from current, and former, designers that have/have had patterns available on the site to Cassidy, Jess, et al. 

Don't be surprised if you notice things changing here on the blog or other pages. I'm trying to make sure things are accessible for everyone, and making adjustments with things. If you have any suggestions, comment below or email me at the address in the right top corner. Blogger's contact form doesn't work properly; I never received any of the test messages so I removed it, and posted my email instead. 

Til next time,

Síle