What’s new this spring
Hi readers! I am excited to tell you that I have a new page on my website: print patterns! An assortment of my most popular patterns (kind of a random selection actually, based on things like formatting, not just on popularity) are now available in high-quality printed format; you can see them all on that page, where you can link to the pattern info pages to learn more about the patterns, and click over to buy them through MagCloud.
When you buy a print pattern there, you’ll also receive a digital copy of the pattern (not the ravelry digital version in your rav library, just a pdf of the print pattern, but that way you can get started right away!). The pricing of the print patterns there is the same as my print patterns sold in yarn shops; if you want to save on shipping, you can always ask your local yarn shop if they carry my patterns ;)
And speaking of yarn shops, if you happen to own or work at a yarn shop, the other big website update I just completed is my wholesale page. It’s now all up to date, with a current downloadable line sheet, and previews of all available patterns.
So those are my announcements of what’s new right now… as for more exciting new pattern type news, I have been working hard on many things, including this year’s Adventure Knit-a-long!! But you’ll learn more about that very soon (like, next week!) so I won’t say anything else for now. Lots of other things I’ve been working on lately are supersecret, so I don’t have much to show you for now.
I just got this Ikea cart thing (way discounted, woo!) and filled it with my in-progress / soon-to-be-in-progress projects, meaning yarn which has a planned purpose and needs to be knit up asap. I have A LOT of knitting to get done in the next few months! Ah, who am I kidding, the next few months, I have A LOT of knitting to get done like always and forever. So many exciting project ideas, so little time!
So, I’m hard at work on Adventure Knitting. I have a collection in the works, which includes that stripy project in the corner up there, which is not supersecret – I’ve posted some insta peeks at that one (below). That collection was originally meant for a spring release actually, but due to timing issues, and more thinking on it, I decided it’s actually a better fall collection anyway, and I don’t want the Adventure KAL to be so late in the summer like it was last year (when it happened in August). I’d rather push the KAL to earlier in the summer, then release the collection after that, when we’re thinking ahead to cooler weather, so yeah, that collection is something to look forward to a bit later in the year…
And then I’ve been working on several secret things, one in the so-not-leethal yarns pictured below! And another in a secret yarn I can’t show you, but it is fabulous and I can’t wait to show you eventually.
And then there’s a collaboration project in the works which is VERY exciting – I’m working with awesome Portland designers Star Athena and Shannon Squire, local yarn dyer Blue Moon Fiber Arts, and our photographer friend (and sometimes designer) Vivian Aubrey. This is actually the idea for which the seed was planted several year ago between Star, Vivian, and I – I blogged about it briefly here back in 2012 – but it got put on hold for years, and then evolved. We’re really excited to have brought Shannon and Tina of Blue Moon on board, and the ball is officially rolling!! Here is an epic pile of Blue Moon yarns:
As for more personal life update stuff – I was down with a horrid flu for the last few weeks, so things have been slowed down a bit. There were a few days, two weeks ago, when I felt like my body was trying to kill me and I couldn’t even knit, and then I was well enough to knit simple things but not really do anything else, for like a week… and I’ve been kind of slow and blah for about the last week. Yesterday and today I’m finally feeling just about normal, so yay for normal! (I think my furry buddy was a bit worried about me when I was really sick.)
Here in Portland, the weather is turning, the weeds are going crazy, and I’m trying to enjoy the nice bits and not think of the uncomfortably hot days ahead… I got this beautiful poppy plant for the front yard which makes me happy to look at everyday, and I’m growing tomatoes, strawberries, and blueberries in the back yard (and the wild blackberries, which involves mostly cutting them back, and keeping a small-ish patch to harvest). I made granola yesterday for the first time, and it went really well – had my first warm weather season breakfast this morning: yogurt, blueberries (store bought for now), banana slices, and granola, yum! (I’m a very seasonal breakfast eater – oatmeal everyday October-ish, through May-ish, and then cold cereal/yogurt topped with granola, berries, and other yummy things in the warm/hot months, one thing I love about summer!) Anyway, to sum things up, the weather is super nice right now, the yard work needing to be done is overwhelming and awful, but berries are good, and flowers are pretty.
So that’s all for now… you can look forward to Adventure KAL news very soon! Happy springtime!