Write (a blog)

Oh! My very first professional sock pattern, aka “Dream Socks”, aka Carassius Socks, are now available to the public!

You can purchase them via Three Irish Girls, and I hope you will.

They’ve been available for a couple weeks now, but I forgot to blog it. OMG. How did I *forget* that?

I’m back at it, making my On The Town Knitting Bags in my one woman sweat shop. I have a lot of fabric cut and ready to be sewn. 80% of that is brocade and satin.

Once all the brocade and satin has be used up, the brocade bags will be no more. They’re retiring. All good things must come to an end.

I will try to get them ALL made, or at least a lot of them made, and then open the shop. I anticipate that they will go rather quickly as a lot of people have been waiting for more bags to be available. If you want to be notified when the shop opens, go and get on the list. It will be at least a week before the shop opens. Maybe two. The bags take a fair bit of time to make, so please continue to be patient. But if you’re waiting, get on the list now.

Don’t worry, I will continue to make the casual version, the denim & cotton bags. I will also be working on a new all cotton version as well, and some completely new bags.

And a little sneak preview for you blog readers, there will possibly… maybe… be a PDF pattern (and/or kit) in the future so you crafty people can make your own On The Town Knitting Bags. Maybe. Just maybe. Lots of work to do before that’s a go yet, it looks very likely, but don’t hold your breath.

Unless you can hold it for a verrrrrry. loooooong. time.

Yeah. So I haven’t blogged in a while. Things have been busy (that’s the standard excuse.) But since the last blog entry, I went on a trip with my mom to St Louis, Springfield and Chicago. The kids started school again, and perhaps what has been keeping me the most busy, I’m working on my very first contracted sock design to be published by Three Irish Girls. Squee!

A few months ago, Sharon at Three Irish Girls (3IG) contacted me and asked if I would like to design a sock pattern for their sock club. Yeah, she contacted me. *blink* I, of course, said yes yes yes!! It will be an exclusive design for the club for 6 months, then sold on the 3IG website for a minimum of 18 months, and I get royalties. Wee!

When I first accepted, I immediately started trying to come up with a great design. Without much success. This one was too complicated, this one was not fun to knit, this one didn’t look good.. ugh. I was going nuts. Then one night I had a dream. I dreamt that was out with my knitting friends and one of the ladies had gotten up to get coffee and had left a sock that she was designing behind on the table. I picked it up and loved it. I wished that I had thought of that… Then I woke up. And I practically yelled, I DID think of that! And started sketching.

The design is finished, and I’ve knit one sock. It is nearly exactly what I remember in my dream. The pattern is all written and has been delivered to my test knitters. It will be submitted to 3IG in November. I can not wait. It is quite literally a dream. Even if it isn’t a huge hit, I’m so excited to have my first pattern published! (Can you see me doing the happy dance over here?)

I really loved writing that pattern and will be writing more. My head is swimming with ideas. Pierre is in love with the idea of me writing and selling knitting patterns. Because once the work is done, it’s done. And that’s good. Maybe he has visions of grandeur, I don’t think I’ll get rich off this, but I love that he’s so encouraging.

And I love that I can sit on the sofa and knit and honestly say “I’m WORKING here!”

A couple months ago, while at Hanks Yarn & Fiber, one of the owners, Lorena, showed me her Swift knitting bag. Which I loved so much, I bought my own the very next day.

After it got here, I wrote a note to TomBihn.com and told them about Lorena and how she shows her Swift bag to customers and tells them to go buy their own. How she’s selling these bags for them through demonstration and word of mouth alone. The bags are only sold online or in the one Tom Bihn store in Seattle, they’re not available wholesale for shop owners. But I told them that if they ever considered selling them in shops, to please, please consider Hanks Yarn & Fiber.

So fast forward to today, when I walked into Hanks and Lorena looks at me and exclaims “I’m so glad you came in today!!” I was surprised.. me? Why me??? She said she had something for me, and came out with a big yellow envelope. She said that a couple weeks ago she got a package from Tom Bihn and thought “What? From Tom Bihn!?!” She said that apparently because I had written to them, they wanted to send a thank you to the shop, and sent them the small clear pen/pencil accessory bag that goes with the Swift bag. They sent one for each of the three shop co-owners, and.. One. For. Me!!

*This is me tripping out a little* Just… Awesomeness.

Lorena got a green one to match her green and brown bag. I got the grey one to match my pink and grey bag.

I didn’t write the letter with any more intention than to let them know about Lorena and Hanks, and to make sure they got on the list if ever they allow outside dealers of their Swift bags. Lorena was so happy and thankful that I wrote the letter. I was happy and thankful that the Tom Bihn company is so awesome. And I’m so happy with my Swift, and new little accessory bag.

Now, go forth, and buy a Swift bag. If you’re not a knitter, buy any other Tom Bihn bag. Because they are made of awesomeness.

I don’t think I’ve ever stalked the UPS man as intently as I did today, because he was bringing me this!

I bought a Strauch Petite with brush attachment. And after spending a few hours playing with it, the love affair has begun. Its a little small, as to be expected with the name “Petite”, but was still a hefty $450, so a bigger one was out of the question. That’s ok, I’m in love, love, love and can’t stop doing the happy dance!

For my very first “practice” batt, I carded some pretty lavender mohair.

That went well so I jumped right into putting together an “art” batt. Which I think is code for whatever-the-hell-I-decide-to-throw-into-it batt. This contains miscellaneous wools, some icicle shiny stuff, and some of the previous lavender mohair.

Fun fun! I have alpaca, silk neps, bamboo, angelina, sari silk, of course wool and more just waiting to be carded. More “art” batts (heh) coming soon!

(By the way, if you’ve been to my equipment gallery page and have seen another drum carder there, it’s true. I have another drum carder. But it was handmade and has never worked just right. But that will change now that I have something to compare it to.)

I’m sorry I haven’t blogged much lately. If you’ve been reading my plurks (there to the right), you’ll see that I’m much more active there because I’m impatient and lazy and it’s quicker and easier to write one plurk, rather than a whole blog post.

Especially when there’s not much going on. Really, life is just trucking along.

But Pierre and I reached the 17 year mark in our marriage last weekend. It still sounds funny saying that we’ve been married that long. We don’t feel that old, we don’t look that old, so I’m fairly certain there was some sort of illegal activity going on when we were wed. And I don’t know where these teenagers came from. The boy will be 18 this year. He can’t be mine.

I’m. Not. This. Old.

Anyway.

In other news, I’ve been knitting, and spinning and spinning and knitting. You’re surprised, no? Have a look-see…

So far, in my spinning career, I think this might be my best work. Superwash merino, Navajo plied. Laceweight, 380 yards. Fiber from DK Knits.

I ended up ripping out the sock, and started over on size 0 needles, and then frogged that too. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this… I really have issues with knitting with my own handspun. Apparently.

Here’s a couple more finished yarns. The first is my own handdyed BFL. The second is a One Night Stand from Sugarbee Studios. These two, are of course, just sitting in a basket. Because I have issues…

In the knitting world, I finished my Dumbledore socks. The yarn is Opal’s Harry Potter line, Dumbledore colorway. The striping is matched up, even through the heel, gusset and cuff. Yes, I’m awesome like that. Squee!

And am currently working on Stricken. Love the yarn (Lorna’s Laces in Clara’s Garden). Love the pattern (Cookie A, hello!) Love the socks.

Too bad this is Florida, where its always 95 degrees, and I hardly ever wear socks.

I’ve started another side hobby, as if I needed another one. But at least this one has the potential to make me some money…

Money… to spend on my other hobbies. Heh heh.

I’m now dying spinning fibers. Hand painted or kettle dyed combed tops and rovings are now available in Silver’s Shop! Go forth, buy stuff and be happy!