Cat Snuggles!

As I mentioned on my previous post, one of the other great things about cold weather are pet snuggles!  I love how when it's cold out, our cat will demand to curl up in our laps or wiggle under the covers with us in bed.  She is definitely a social cat to begin with, but she certainly becomes more snuggly when winter hits.

Here she is lounging in Bret's lap as he is playing Wii.  I'm pretty sure she's thinking, "Why must he taunt me with dangling string (the wii remote handle), yet get angry when I swat at it?"  Poor Izi, she lives a tortured life of not getting to chase after yarn and other strings.  ;op

Warmth

Winter in Texas is like a ride.  It starts off slow, easing your way into the idea of winter.  The hot days turn into cool mornings and warm days, but all of a sudden you're in the middle of it and it's freezing then hot; up and down until spring hits and you're back to warm days.  I wouldn't care as much if it didn't mean for terrible allergies when the plants bloom on all the really nice days.

The nice part about winter, though, are the hot drinks and pet snuggles.  I do love a good tea or hot mulled cider.  Above is a hot ginger tea made from ground ginger root and a splash of lemon juice.  Definitely one of my favorites.  It warms you up when it's cold, and settles your stomach if you're not feeling well.  Because of that, it always feels so comforting to me, even if I'm feeling just fine.  :o)  Do you have a favorite hot drink?  I'd love to hear about them.  I'm always up for trying something new!  

KAL - Consummate V's Hat

I am so excited to announce that I have created a group for people to join on Ravelry for pattern help, see recent releases, test knits I may be running, and KALs!  Please join and get involved!

To kick things off, I'm having a KAL with giveaways for my free Consummate V's Hat!

The rules of this KAL can be found here.  You do have to be a member of Ravelry to join.  If you're not a member of Ravelry, I highly suggest you join!  It's such a great resource for knitters, crocheters, spinners, and ever weavers.  :o)

There will be three prizes:

- One of my self published patterns, winner's choice.
- or enough yarn to make my next self published pattern (which will be published at the end of this knit along!) in either of these two colorways.

I hope you come join in the fun!  I can't wait to see everyone's projects.  :oD

Goals

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions.  I've made some in the past, and forgotten about them within a week.  This year, I plan on making some light suggestions of things I would like to do, and maybe you guys can keep me on target.  ;o)

1)  I just read about someone who tried to self publish a pattern a month.  That sounds like a great goal, but again, potentially too lofty for me this second.  If I fail at it one month, then I can see myself saying it's worthless, and end up not publishing anything else for the whole year.  Instead, I would like to push myself to self publish at least once a season.  A lot less pressure, but still a push towards productivity.

2)  Submit patterns to pattern calls more often.  I have let many submissions go by because I was too nervous to try.  However, what is gained by not trying?  I now have three accepted submissions to date that will come out later this year.  I can't wait to try for more!

3)  Unify my patterns.  I have now looked back at the patterns I've written in the past.  They do not sound like they are from the same designer because I wrote them at so many different times in my life.  As my knitting has improved, so has my ability to write a pattern.  I am currently working to unify my old patterns so that my new patterns will have the same voice.  Once done with my old patterns, I'll start releasing my new ones.  Thus, #1 will start in the spring time.  I also like this for the due date it gives me with revising my old patterns.  :o)

4)  Design at least one sweater.  I have ideas for 3 different sweaters in my head, and yet I still haven't actually tried to create any of them.  This is going to change this year!

Some of these are things that one may read and say, well, all of these are simple or self explanatory... but as a truly new designer (yes, my patterns on ravelry go back as far as 2008, but as far as actually thinking of myself as a real designer and not just someone who likes to create things with knitting...) these are some big ideas for me.  That I hope become second nature and I can expand on these next year.

OctoMitts

My OctoMitts

Pattern:  OctoMitts by SpillyJane
Yarn:  Louet Gems Fingering (blue), Crystal Palace Silky Panda (pink), and StitchJones Titanium Sock (in Celadon).

Notes about the yarn:  I didn't even use up an entire skein of the Gems with these mitts.  And the pink and green were small scraps I had lying around.  These mitts make great leftovers projects!

I am absolutely in love with SpillyJane designs!  They're so cute and quirky.  I wish I could buy them all, but I know that's a bit too much.  As it is, I have 3 of them already, and these were the first that I actually decided to make.  Once I started the pattern, it was quite easy, and now I'm hooked on colorwork.  Enough so that I am working on a couple colorwork designs myself now... ;op

I only have a couple qualms about the pattern, and these are just personal preferences.  The first is the afterthought thumb.  While this is an easy method that doesn't disrupt the pattern of the mitt, I am not in love with how it skews the palm of the mitt to the side when they are being worn.  I would much rather have had a thumb gusset, myself.  The second is also personal preference, but I feel the length of the fingerless version of the mitt is a wee bit short.  They only make it up to our knuckles, and I'm used to them going up just a tiny bit more.  I could have made them longer, but I followed the pattern exactly this time, as it was my first time trying them out.

Below picture shows both sides.  I messed up on the palm a few times, which you may or may not notice.  ;op  I think it just adds character, though.  :o)  Amie seemed to really like them, so that's definitely the more important aspect of this knit!

 All in all, I think this was a successful knit, with a very cute result.  Can't wait to try out another one of SpillyJane's amazing designs.  They're rather addictive... I couldn't stop knitting on these once I started!  :oD  Two thumbs up for a great pattern!

Zug zug

I've been working a lot lately.  Daily job has been getting busier (lots of people coming in makes for a constantly moving day), and when I have some spare time, I have been busy designing knits!

Right now, I'm still slowly trying to get my current designs all finished and converted over to a newer, cleaner look.  Once that is finished, I will have at least two more designs to test and self publish. And, in other exciting news, one of my patters will be published in a group publication around the end of February, and another pattern has been accepted for a yarn club!  I have submitted two more entries to another company, and am awaiting feedback on those.

My mind has been filled with fun ideas, and I can't wait to try them out.  It's hard to get any knitting of my own done with all these swatches to knit and design ideas to sketch!

Windschief

My Windschief

Pattern:  Windschief by Stephen West
Yarn:  KnitPicks Swish Worsted

Ah, Stephen West.  The prolific designer has a ton of great patterns available.  I, honestly, cannot say that I am the biggest fan of his stuff... but I will admit that some of his patterns are hip, yet classic at the same time.  I personally like his older work better, and this is where we find this hat.

This hat was made for my brother (though, modeled by Bret).  He requested a hat for Christmas.  I ended up making him two hats, but (of course) I forgot to take any pictures of the other hat.  He seemed to like both hats a lot.  He wore both of them around while I was there, and his girlfriend made a point of telling me that he loves them.  So, I'm pretty happy here!

The pattern is rather straight forward.  Simple language, and easy to follow.  My only complaint is that the cowl and hat actually have the exact same pattern (CO and everything) until the end.  I would think many people would prefer a looser cowl, if only to get it over your head without messing up your hair and everything.