Coming Attractions

Whew! Been a bit

The beta/test knit for the Four Hand Reel is wrapping up soon, and it's gone wonderfully well 😊 The knitters chose such different colors to my own bag, and they all look phenomenal. I'll be sharing some of their photos in my Instagram stories leading up to the pattern release.

When will that be?

I'm happy to announce the Four Hand Reel pattern will be released before the end of October 😊 I'm firming up the date ; guess who needs photos ;)

While the generous knitters have been busy with their "totes of many colors", I've been hard at work on the Countess Cathleen design. 

I had the entire thing off the needles (onto a holding thread; no way am I risking 612 stitches to possible ladders!) last week, and captured this photo of it. Thanks to a furry "helper" it's not nicely spread out with the front edges touching, like when I stood up to get the photo... (Way to go, Jade 🙄)

(The fronts actually overlap as the cloak is more than a circle's worth of hand knit fabric)

Right now it's 9 rows shorter than this. I realized after trying it on that I'd started the knotwork motifs too soon 🤦🏼‍♀️ The joys of designing on the needles! 

So this beauty is taking all of my design attention right now. But it shouldn't be too much longer, and I'll have it finished. Then it's finalizing the pattern (and doub... tri... quadruple checking all my math lol), and sending it off to my awesome techeditor. I think this might possibly be in beta/test knitting in the spring, with a fall release date. We'll see! I have a couple other designs nearly done that could sneak in ahead of this one. 

And after that? Don't worry I have some fun designs in the plotting/planning stages. A real mixed bag of everything too! Double-knitting, lace, and (of course) more cables; I even have double-knitting *with* cables in the works 😉 

Hope this finds you enjoying your fall or spring projects, depending where you call home. What's on your needles as we approach the end of 2023?

Yours in yarn and movable deadlines,

Síle

What to Do During the Green Out

I can't be the only one who's thought "It's not easy being green" during the green out

If you've been anywhere near #KnittingTwitter or Instagram, you're probably aware of the green out. The grand logout from Ravelry that was originally March 31st to April 3rd, and is now going until April 6th, to silently(?) protest the continued dismissal of the accessibility issues with NuRav and show solidarity with those who've been hurt, and then gaslit, berated, etc. I logged out late on the 30th for probably the only time ever since acquiring my first smart phone.

Sadly, a lot of people were caught unawares on the 31st when Classic Rav was no-more around 9am Central time. The assumption had been that Classic Rav would go away after the 31st not on it. I sincerely hope no one was severely hurt by that completely petty move. 

I'm making do with the screenshots I took of my last few (I think there were 6 or 7) projects from 2010, and getting those put up on my project notebook blog. I've even started a couple projects lately so now I have an "in progress" tag for those.

I'm actually having fun going through my old projects and photos, and I look forward to going into Ravelry, for the brief amounts of time I can tolerate it, to retrieve more of them. I wish I'd thought of this idea to make a blog notebook sooner, but hindsight is truly 20/20 sometimes.

What are you doing during the green out? Are you finishing WIPs? Casting on new projects from patterns you've had in your library for awhile? Humming along with Kermit? Keeping on as you have been? 

Brief update on Jakey: In case you're wondering about him, my furball nephew is doing really well. Well, other than his latest stunt of trying to get in my bedroom window while still wearing The Cone. Um, yeah, furry nephew landing on me while I was asleep at 7am on a Sunday morning was not how I thought I'd be waking up today. As you can see though, he's none the worse for wear:

Silly boy. He'll be very glad to be rid of The Cone later this week.

A reminder: all of my patterns remain on sale for 25% off with the coupon code Jakey to help Jakey's Mom with his vet bill. You can shop directly from the pattern tab above.

Yours in yarn and sleepy furry nephew purrs,

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