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

It's Been a Hot (& Humid) Minute

Where does time get to? Too much summer relaxing that's the culprit ;)

Not really! I've been hard at work here knitting samples and working new ideas into clearer pictures of what I want to do next.

And checking in with the three absolutely fantastic test knitters on Yarnpond who're flying through my Hornpipe Bag pattern. I'm majorly impressed with both their knitting skills and speed, and their feedback about the pattern. This was definitely a good decision on my part to check out Yarnpond for running my test knits. I'm so pleased with things so far.

And that means the Hornpipe Bag pattern will be out sometime in August; exact date not fully determined just yet. Absolutely certain on August though, so be sure to pop back here or turn on notifications for my account on Twitter and/or Instagram (links in the sidebar) to get the news as soon as it's ready!

Ok, I confess to this year's North American Irish Dance Championships (affectionately known as NANs and/or NAIDC) stealing my attention away from my yarny pursuits earlier this month; July 1st to 5th. Held in lovely Montréal this year, they showcased the top talent in the CLRG's North American region. My Instagram feed ranneth over with so many fantastic photos and video clips! *insert starry-eyed emoji here* I do not envy the judges their task to pick the absolute pinnacles amongst such talented dancers! And the outfits! The bling! Love love love seeing all the color everywhere! Orange and red seemed particularly popular; particularly appropriate for the summer heat. Congratulations to every dancer that qualified to dance in Montréal and the absolute best of luck to those who qualified for Worlds next Spring.

Alright let's come full circle and come back to yarny things, like my patterns ;) One of the samples I've been working diligently on (well when the yarn hasn't been physically sticking to my hands; I dislike humidity.) is that for my mkal!

And I can say it's coming along very nicely, as is the pattern writing portion of the job. Quite honestly, I should have the sample done later this week or early next week. 

What can I tell you about the mkal? 

It's for an accessory that is suitable for anyone, roughly teenage and older, especially those that experience colder temperatures; think under -10°C/14°F. I live in Canada; I know those temps are coming back in the Fall. 

I can tell you the pattern uses worsted or Aran weight yarn. The sample I'm working on now is being knit with a wool and nylon blend (80% wool, 20% nylon) yarn. The one I plan to knit along with everyone during the mkal will be knit using a 100% acrylic yarn. I'm pretty certain any fiber or blend of fibers will work with this pattern. I'm not fully sure of the yardage just yet. I have my swatch result number and will soon have my actual yardage used number. I like to compare the two before I give an amount to anyone. Same with the gauge and finished measurements. My version of "measure twice, cut once". I think that's some good starting information for you to start thinking about an mkal with a late Summer/early Fall start date. 

Furry nephew Jakey is starting to walk on me, so that tells me I've been typing for what he considers too long. Aren't cats fun to live with? :D I got this photo of him next to me while I was knitting yesterday:

Sleeping like a furry angel. I can report his health has been perfect the last quite awhile, which is a relief to his humans and his sisfur Silver. 

So that's all my news! Unfortunately I haven't been working on any personal projects enough to show you anything today. Hopefully next post!

Hope you're staying cool and enjoying the summer, or winter depending where you live. Are you working on any interesting projects? I'd love to hear about them!

Yours in yarn and cat fur,

Síle

Accepting Testers!

What a happy day! My Hornpipe Bag pattern is ready for preview knitters!

What is preview knitting? Usually called test knitting, preview knitting is when a designer has had their pattern techedited but would like there to be more than their own sample project associated with a pattern they want to release. It's also a chance to see if your instructions are really as clear as you and your techeditor think they are. As always, the Hornpipe Bag pattern was techedited by the wonderful Heather Folkner of Crafty Ferret Techediting.

As I've mentioned before, I'm running this on the Yarnpond site, which is a new experience for me! I've heard good things about Yarnpond so I'm hopeful this will be a good match for me and my patterns. You can find the test for the Hornpipe Bag by following this link: Yarnpond Hornpipe Bag test

If you have double-knitting experience, enjoy testknitting, and/or want to knit the bag pictured here, be sure to apply!

At some point this spring/summer the weather is going to cooperate so that I can get proper photos of my Hornpipe Bag by my brilliant photographer, Krista of KristaDani Photography. Until then I've got the above photo and another one. I snapped both using my phone in bad indoor lighting. 

In other Knit Dance Repeat Designs news, I've received the first couple prizes for my upcoming mystery knitalong (mkal)! I will share photos when the mkal is officially announced and on sale. Until then I'll just say these are suitable items for knitters and crocheters, and one is very pretty. Like I want to get at least one for myself kind of pretty. Aren't I a dickens dropping hints like this? ;)

And that's everything on this Thursday morning! Mid-June already! Where does time get to?

Yours in yarn, and sample knits,

Síle