Finished Project & Some Teasing

I'm happy to report that the lovely testers are nearly finished with their Hornpipe Bags! And not only that, they've given me some excellent feedback that I think will give this pattern a bit more ease in the working of it. I need to finish up the photo tutorial for one section. It's in progress but time got away on me with the weather.

Are you melting where you're to? There's nothing worse for a yarn crafter than dealing with high temps and humidity without an air conditioner. I've nearly got my days and nights reversed from trying to stay up to work in the coolest part of the night. 

With all that said, I've finished my sample project for my upcoming mkal (aka mystery knitalong)!

I can say it's a scarf that I've named Practice Makes Perfect. It's knit in worsted or Aran weight yarn in any fiber/blend you choose. My sample was knit in Briggs & Little Tuffy, a wonderful 80% wool/20% nylon blend. It comes out rather long, around 2 metres/6.5 feet, and a bit wide, making it a very warm and practical accessory for anyone you care to keep warm. 

Once I have the final measurements, and check over all the details, I'll be ready to release the Warm Up file! This has all the gauge and yarn information, (plus the list of abbreviations in the standard file) so you don't need to go searching for it as you shop for yarn, whether in person, online, or in your own yarn hoard. The full clue schedule, I call them Steps, is included to, along with other details. You'll be able to get the Warm Up and every pattern update for $5 CDN until the first Step becomes available. At that time the price will go to its regular amount of $6.50 CDN. 

This mkal will have a low vision, and screenreader, accessible file along with the standard one. This means any knitter who wants to knit Practice Makes Perfect, can knit it. I'm really happy to be able to offer both files for the Warm Up and every Step too so that everyone can take part.

Speaking of taking part, I'll be running the mkal on Instagram via my account @knit1dance2. Tag your WIP and finished photos with #PracticeMakesPerfectMKAL (don't forget the camel case so everyone can read the tag 😊). I'll also have a Step specific post each week where knitters can ask questions and/or chat about that Step. I plan to show off participants' posts in my stories too, if that's alright. 

That's all my teasing for now.

Keep your eye out for a similar graphic to the one above, announcing the first Step release date. I'm excited to share this adventure with you!

Turning to my personal projects, I started the granny square cardigan/jacket I've been wanting to make, and it's going well so far. I have the bottom row of squares done for the back. This one off idea has squares of different sizes and color combinations throughout. The back's bottom row is made of 4 four round granny squares, with two colors split diagonally in each; left to right I used royal & orange, purple & yellow, red & dark mint, and hot pink & light blue. This photo shows me crocheting them together using black and slip stitches:

I decided to call this sweater my Rainbow Granny Hug, as it's colorful, granny squares, and it'll be cozy like a hug in worsted weight yarn. Next up is the big 16 round square which will sit above these four. It uses all the colors! 

And that, good fiber folk, is all my crafting news. I go to a doctors appointment tomorrow for one of my ongoing issues. I'm a bit stumped what to take with me to work on. I don't have anything too portable on needles or hook. Maybe I need to start something? ;) What's your favorite waiting room/portable project? 

Yours in yarn and mystery,

Síle

Light Reel Cowl is updated!

Good morning, everyone!

It's re-release day here at Knit Dance Repeat Designs! And I'm happy to say it's the Light Reel Cowl 🔗 (within site link) that's gotten it's refresh!

Once again I worked with the talented Krista of Krista Dani Photography 🔗 (link to Facebook page), and I'm so pleased with the new photos! It was hard to narrow down which to use on pattern pages and for the main photo in the pattern!! Here's a sample:

What else has changed with the re-release?

Most of it is purely cosmetic: new photos, my logo is in place, I fixed up the headings.

The biggest change is to the low vision pdf. I changed from 22 point san serif font to 24 point. I fully justified everything; my page numbers weren't before, sorry about that!! But the biggest change was eliminating abbreviations and making sure the file is screen reader accessible as well as low vision accessible! It took some time to get it right but I hope it opens this pattern up to more knitters. I have tested this capability using VoiceOver, the built-in voice accessibility tool on iPhones and iPads. 

In honor of the re-release, as I mentioned on Saturday, for today (March 14, 2022) only, the Light Reel Cowl can be purchased for 10% off with the coupon code NEWDANCE. 

That makes two patterns of 12 updated. Which one's next? Stay tuned!

Yours in yarn and lightly reeling through the day 😉,

Síle

Whatever Happened to Pattern Updates...

If you read any of my January posts, you might recall my intention to re-release my current patterns with the photos updated and logo in place. Garden Blooms got its update in January. Unfortunately February got away from me.

But! Monday I'll be re-releasing another. And this one I've not only got new photos to show off. I've edited the large print/low vision pdf from 22 point font to 24 point font, and also for screen reader compatibility. I have checked this using my phone's VoiceOver accessibility function, which I believe is the same built-in feature on iPads. Hopefully that means it will work with other screen readers as well. It's my intention to do this with all of my patterns that have the large print/low vision pdf included, which means future patterns as well.

Because this is a re-release I'm offering a 10% off code on this pattern, good for Monday (March 14) only. The code is NEWDANCE. This is only good on Monday, for this specific pattern.

Check back Monday to find out which pattern has a new look!

Yours in yarn and dropped hints,

Síle

Low Vision Update

I have a happy announcement to make: I uploaded the low vision pdf for my Treble Jig Legwarmers today on Payhip and Ravelry. This link goes directly to the pattern on Payhip: Treble Jig Legwarmers

That's all my paid patterns, with the exception of Rínce Fada, that now have two pdfs: the standard one with written and charted instructions, and the low vision one. I want knitters to be able to knit my patterns whichever way is best for them. Going forward my patterns will have both pdfs on their release. 

Which brings me back to Rínce Fada. I presented it as charts only after the basic gauge, materials, and note sections; 11 charts make up the pattern for Rínce Fada. I felt it would be too unwieldy to have line by line instructions on top of them. It's the written sections and line by line instructions that I turn into my low vision pdfs. In larger type, Rínce Fada would likely be over a hundred pages. For now I'm going to leave it as it is. That doesn't mean I won't change my mind in the future. 

In blog news, I'm trying to figure out how to set up photo links so that my patterns are available here instead of sending you over to Payhip. I'm not tech savvy at all so this is definitely a learning experience! I used the advice and CSS notes that Sarah from knitting-and.com posted to make my Payhip shop more accessible last evening. I'm so grateful for this sharing of knowledge to improve accessibility. 

We're no longer under a heat warning! Yay, back to comfortably warm temps! I was able to knit a few rounds on the worsted weight wool shawl last night (the purple one in my collage) without melting, so now that I have my existing patterns updated I can get back to new designs. I'm really excited to be able to share new behind the scenes photos again soon. I'm aiming for one, possibly two, new patterns to come out this year.

Til next time,

Síle

I should've done this before

"There are few knitting problems that will not yield to a blend of common sense, ingenuity, and resourcefulness." - Elizabeth Zimmermann "The Opinionated Knitter"

An excellent quote to keep in mind right now as things continue to go unanswered on the R*velry front. The new readability survey is a cruel joke upon those experiencing vision troubles, migraines, 10 reported seizures now, and a case of retinal bleeding! The Epilepsy Foundation has issued a warning about the site, and sent a letter to them. Will it help? Sadly, I can't be positive about it as I once would've been.

As I mentioned before, I have listed my patterns on Payhip and LoveCrafts, while still having them available on R*velry. Unfortunately, they're a leading force in the industry and I'm too small of an entity not to use them. The resources for designers, especially smaller ones, housed in the group pages are a wealth of information.

And it's a page in the Accessible Patterns group that my post title comes from today. I have witnessed a lot of discussions about the needs of knitters with vision difficulties overtime,  and am sad to say, I always put it to the side as "something I'll get around to". That's not good enough. This is me saying I need to do better. I started on Tuesday and so far have 4 patterns with an additional low vision pdf included with them. These are available in my Payhip shop and my R*velry shop (yes, I completely see the irony of having them available on R*v); as near as I can tell you can't have more than one pdf to a pattern on LoveCrafts. I need to see if that means I can have a duplicate pattern page set up for the low vision version. The 4 patterns with the low vision option, so far, are:

• Isadora Duncan
• Garden Blooms 
• Watch the Clock
• Drills

The links above take you directly to the Payhip individual listing for that pattern. The links to my whole portfolio on each platform are in the sidebar. I'm working more or less in publishing order, starting with my older patterns.*

Going forward, my plan is for every Knit Dance Repeat Designs pattern to have a low vision pdf included with the standard one. This meshes well with my previous plan of offering both written out instructions and charts so each knitter is able to choose what suits them best.

What's the difference between my standard pdf and my low vision ones? My standard pdfs have the title and all headings in Pacifico, title in 26pt, headings in 16pt underlined; the low vision pdf has Calibri in 24pt for the title and Calibri in 22pt in bold type for the headings. Standard print of my patterns is Cambria 12pt; for my low vision pdfs I've used Calibri 22pt. I use some italics and underlining for definition in my standard pdfs; I've either used bold type or parentheses for definition in the low vision options. Almost all of my standard patterns include charts and fully written out instructions; I don't include charts in the low vision pdfs. Lastly, my standard pdfs have the page number/title/my name/Knit Dance Repeat Designs on the bottom right side of each page; in my low vision pdfs I have left justified everything including the page number, etc.

Update: ‪The Light Reel Cowl has its low vision pdf now.

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