Just Because It Doesn't Make Sense Doesn't Mean It Shouldn't Be Done.

The rabbit hole that is Pinterest has claimed me in ways that are both inspirational and unhealthy. Because our house is on the market, and every house we are looking at is significantly smaller than the one we're currently in, I have found it to be invaluable in helping me sort rooms and contents, find design and storage ideas that appeal to me, and so forth. I even have a board for recipes and things, although I am trying to keep that under control. The other day, however, Pinterest veered me right into and then through the wall that is sanity. I saw, thanks to one Grace Hernandez, a link to a blog wherein a Peep Wreath had been constructed. Yes, you heard me, a Peep Wreath. Not since *Tacky Tree has anything so captivated the scarier side of my brain. I became obsessed with the idea of making and owning my own Peep Decor. I mentioned this on Facebook and it turned into a Peep-a-Long, with multiple players in their homes across the country, finished objects to be revealed on Monday.

In the end I wavered on the wreath and instead ended up with a Peep Tree. The wreath posed some problems for me. I could not decide where to hang it. Inside, and it would get sugar on the walls and floor of a house I am trying to sell. On a door outside I have a few thousand winged girlfriends in the back yard who would be all over it like... well, like bees on sugar. As I stood in the craft store staring at various shapes the idea of a Peep Tree formed in my mind.

Here are my supplies:

I should add here that my husband, daughter, and future son-in-law were pretty strongly impressed with the notion that I might indeed have finally lost that cheese that clings every so perilously to the edge of my cracker. Me? A Peep ANYTHING? Corn syrup? Sugar that has been both bleached AND dyed? Really?

This didn't stop me from gaining at least one willing volunteer:

Although convinced of the craziness of this project, he nonetheless sacrificed himself by opening the Peeps and sorting them into color co-ordinated piles. Some of the piles had fewer Peeps than others in the end. I have no idea where they might have strayed. Mr. Wonderful also was instrumental in snapping toothpicks in half. Toward the top of the tree the toothpicks went straight through, stabbing my fingers and pushing opposed, already attached Peeps right off of their perches. Not particularly effective. I also dragged out my trusty high-temp glue gun. This was a bit like bringing a bazooka to a baseball game. Peeps are made of sugar. Sugar and high temperatures can make for some interesting crafting moments.

Round one:

Although I managed to get it assembled, something just wasn't speaking to me. At one point I heard Mr. Wonderful mumble from the kitchen "You know, from here it doesn't look bad...". It didn't. It just didn't look, well, RIGHT. Even the cat was unimpressed.

I added a bow to the topper to spiff things up a bit.

That helped, but it still was not right. So I started playing with the ribbon, looping it over the tree like garland. Now we were on to something!

One completed Peep Tree.

The big question is: did I eat any? The answer is yes.

One purple Peep, which I floated on a lake of organic cocoa and date sugar. No dairy, no artificial anything, just one corn syrup, bleached, dyed, scary purple sugared thing floating on top.

In other news, I have been knitting...

baby sweater one (from my brain, but I sort of wrote it down and am thinking of publishing it if I can find a baby to stick into it).

baby sweater two (also from my brain and going in the mail tomorrow).

socks one (brain and heading for USPS also).

baby set (sweater from my brain, Saartje's Booties, Shibui baby pants, Sweet Baby Cap)

baby jacket (Vintage Baby Knits "Jasper")

The baby thing has kind of been a theme lately. I honestly think it is because I love the instant gratification aspect more than anything else. I need to finish up a lace scarf this week that has been languishing - I love it, I love the yarn, but some other things came up and drew my mind and hands away. Then it will be time to begin designing and knitting things for the wedding. I am probably not going to talk much about that until after September 29. But after that you can expect one big entry (or several smaller ones) with every detail of the DIY wedding, including - if permission is granted - a picture or two of the happy couple. We are nearing in on the 6 months out mark. And trying to sell a house. While handcrafting a wedding. While writing up some patterns. While contemplating my next book. And they wonder why I am not traveling as much this year!

*Tacky Tree: Tacky Tree is a holiday tradition of sorts. It began when I was a flat broke single mother, and someone gave my kids a scrawny tree. I had maybe $20 in my pocket that day, and we spent it all on ornaments and garland. It now occurs randomly. Something inspires a Tacky Tree year - say I find a white tree with sparkles at the dump for free and just can't leave it there. Or maybe I discover that my ornaments are buried under piles of moving stuff. Or maybe we are "between trees" and I end up with a scrawny sub-Charlie Brown thing in a stand. Or maybe I just need a reminder of where I came from. Regardless, Tacky Tree goes like this: ALL items placed on Tacky Tree (other than lights and garland) must cost as little as possible - the maximum allowable amount spent on Tacky Tree is $20. Dollar store items are preferred. All items added to Tacky Tree must have at least some sparkle. Tacky Tree can accept gift ornaments from outside of the home, and these ornaments can cost more than a couple of bucks as long as they are not purchased by the owner of Tacky Tree. Try it some year. It's a lot of fun.

Imagine, I could blog something...

Really it hasn't been conducive to blogging around here, unless you're a canine bent on doing a new thing every day for 100 days.

Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting has a COVER!

That is always a very good sign - it makes things seem more real somehow. We are doing some last-minute editing but they assure me that we're on time for a May 11th debut. I don't think I've ever known of a book that launched on time before. I know mine have not.

I am going to New York in a week to teach at Lion Studio, and I am very excited about it! I love the city! I am bringing my daughter along with her friend Mooch. They can see the sights while I teach on Sunday. Girl's birthday is in there somewhere, so it's a birthday present of sorts. If you are in New York, I'd love to meet you - come and learn how to knit socks 2-at-a-Time from the toes up on Sunday March 27th!

I have been working on some patterns.

The Blueberry Peak socks still have no photos to accompany the finished pattern which I find frustrating, but circumstances have conspired against me of late. Now I have a backlog -

I designed these two cowls using Artyarns Cashmere Glitter and Ensemble Glitter, but I need models to wear them also. The good news is that I have models, possibly, for Thursday.

I also did a swatch for a project for someone's book. I love the yarn. It is Valley Yarns Charlemont, the same as the Blueberry Peak socks.

The pattern... you will have to just wait and see. But I like it a lot.

Aside from all this knitting stuff (!), it is spring on the farm and that means busy. The weather has not been cooperative at times, but things are moving ahead anyway. For example, chicks come this week, the first round of meat birds. Layers come next month. Somewhere in there I need to cull the old hens and reduce the number of roosters. Culling is not my favorite job, but it is essential to maintaining a healthy flock. The new birds we got to lay for us will be healthier and better if the older girls who are not in lay are gone. They are not wasted - they make great soup stock and fricassee. But choosing who stays and who goes it difficult work.

Seedlings can be planted soon, which is always a hopeful sign. After this very long and snowy winter it will be good to see signs of life. There is not yet much outside. The snow is still thick nearly everywhere. There is melting around the barn, and the birds have been out more of late. But the cooler parts of the yard are still white and cold. There is rain tomorrow, and I can hope that it washes away some more. I will be glad to see the last of winter. Peas are always planted on the first day of spring, and I doubt I will be able to get to the box they belong in by then.

Soon it will be summer and things will be in full swing again. I miss my deck and Saturday afternoons more than anything I think. The brook behind me and the chickens wandering the yard. I will be glad to have that back.

I am going to do a give-away in May to celebrate the launching of this new book of mine and a new website with a shopping cart and downloadable patterns. There will be yarn and books and bags and things. Stay tuned for more details!

Somedays it Just Feels Like Oy Vey.

Yesterday was, I think, an Oy Vey kind of a day. It started at 1:00AM. Maybe I should even back up a little from there...

First the pictures for those socks are not working well at all. I need a photographer or more feet or both. Seriously. The pattern is totally done. This is most annoying.

Second, there's a lot of proofing here. Proofing in the morning, proofing in the evening, proofing at suppertime. I read some, I mark, I take a break. I go back and I read more. It is important not to push myself when I get annoyed or bored because then I will miss things. And we don't want that, now, do we?

Third, my mother had not been well over the weekend. We went to a birthday party for April on Saturday and it was obvious right away that something wasn't right. She was complaining of some chest pain that seemed to her to be much worse than usual. She didn't want to go to the hospital. Then my dad needed a pretty straight forward procedure on Tuesday, but sometimes the way things work around here drama comes in clusters, so I was a little on edge. Once I spoke with my mother again and confirmed that she felt much better, and Yoshi and I visited her to make sure, AND we had a call from Dad saying he felt fine Tuesday afternoon, I relaxed a little.

I even cast on a Tomten (scroll down, it's there) in this pink yarn I have in stash - not with any baby in mind, just part of my new Use Your Stash movement. I haven't made it very far yet. More will be revealed. Anyway...

Once I confirmed that everyone was well I breathed a big sigh of relief and got back to the grind of proofing this book so that everyone can have a copy, eventually.

A lot of proofing has taken place. There's been a lot of reading and scrawling in margins and marking with green highlighter, some emails back and forth with publisher and tech editor, but I feel like we're really winding down here and there really will be a book - and soon. It feels good.

I went to sleep Tuesday night with peace in my heart. Peace and love and contentment.

And then the phone rang at 1:00AM Wednesday morning (or Tuesday night, depending on your perspective). You know that foggy haze that you are in when you're awakened from a deep (Benadryl induced to compensate for the end-of-book insomnia...) sleep? When you are on auto pilot and answering with one syllable words and occasionally grunts? That was me. I could hear my son, Private Dan. I could hear what I thought was his wife in the background (it was). He sounded distressed. She sounded distressed. He was asking for advice at 1:00AM, which cannot be a good thing.

This is a good life lesson for anyone reading this, not just for Daniel. When you book any kind of transportation, especially if you are using a discount provider, be very, very, very certain to double, triple, QUADRUPLE check your dates before you check out. Check again, I mean really check. Get a hard copy of a current calender, check the date on your phone and computer, check the date you're booking for, and then check them all again. And even again.

Otherwise, you will find yourself on the phone to your mommy at 1:00AM asking for advice about how to get to Texas within just under 24 hours when you're in Massachusetts, and that cheap non-refundable plane ticket you bought last week turns out to be for MARCH 23, not FEBRUARY 23. Oh, and you need to be on base today. Which as it turns out IS February 23rd. This thing about calling your mommy? It is not a threat. It is a promise.

Once the details and the rather critical nature of this situation crept into my brain I sprang into something like action (there may have been stumbling). I grabbed my Amex and my pc and started surfing. Find a flight, I thought. Anything. Just get the soldier to the base before he's AWOL. Not the best way to begin your life as a soldier, now that Basic and AIT are done. "Oh, hey, I thought I'd just be, you know, late. That's ok, right, Army Dudes?" Not.

I found a flight, or really a series of four flights that began in Hartford and ended in El Paso, TX at 11:55PM on February 23rd. The fact that he's be in five major airports and on four airplanes in 18 hours, with lots of layovers really didn't matter. All that mattered was cheapest, fastest way there. Indirect is fine. Just GET there.

Drama. We HAZ it.

I spent most of yesterday not doing much of anything. I was exhausted. After bailing the kid out I spent about 4 hours ruminating on the whole situation, falling asleep just in time for the alarm to go off in the morning. Wait, did I say morning? That wasn't morning. 1:00 AM, now THAT is morning, my friends.

I did let Yoshi blog yesterday about responsible dog ownership, which is in my opinion the best piece he's written so far, and a vitally important one at that. The doggy in the window is so charming and cute. People rush in, buy, fall in love with and live with regret when they don't get what they expected. Shelters are stuffed to the gills with dogs who could tell you all kinds of stories. It's a topic that is near and dear to our hearts.

This brings us to today, which is Thursday. Tomorrow, Friday, is supposed to be egg day. Snow is predicted. I do not drive in snow. If it falls, I do not drive. The bad news is I will have a lot of eggs. The good - I can move on with proofing and get it done and in the mail on time, I just have to finish up and drive a half an hour to the nearest staffed FedEx location. God I love this valley.

Tomorrow I am going to cast on and begin knitting something with Artyarns Cashmere Glitter. Stay tuned... you're going to want to squash your face in this one!

Gratuitous Puppy Shot:

Because nothing can possibly be cuter than Yoshi in an orange raincoat!

Diversions.

It started like this: yesterday I felt a deep need to procrastinate on three different projects. First, I did not want to proof read any more of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting. It's not that this is a difficult thing, it's just that I have the head of a pig and once I decide today is not the day to do this or that, well, it's pretty much over. Actually, it is a difficult thing because I know if I miss something now, you'll all let me know later, but I digress.

I also was procrastinating on photographing the Blueberry Peak socks I shared with you the other day. Not because I do not love them; I do. In fact, the pattern is laid out and ready to go. All it needs is photos. But photos mean a drive to find either feet or photographer, and I am generally unwilling to make more than one foray from home in a week. I believe in clustering all errands into one day to save on gas and wear and tear on my car. And last I was procrastinating on a third and new project - an Artyarns design that I can envision in my head but I feel guilty playing with (all that sparkle and softness!!) when I should really be getting pictures taken of a pair of socks, or proof reading pages of a new book.

This left me at a bit of a loss. Desiring continued procrastination on all three projects but without anything to really excuse myself from getting the work done, I was becoming desperate. Then it came to me. What I really needed was a sweet little accessory made out of my sparkly yarn samples for, um, Valentine's Day. Yeah! Perfect! Knitting it would be out of the question because, after all, I was procrastinating on among other things a knitting project. Knitting would be like cheating. I trawled Ravelry and found a couple of things that I liked, but nothing that really was precisely what I was after. The one that looked the most likely was entirely in German. Das ist nicht gut.  My Deutsch is limited to about four phrases and a few words, none of them knitting related.

I picked up the closest hook and the closest sparkly yarn (Artyarns Cashmere Glitter) and began to play, and this is what happened.

A flower on a chain. And then another and another and another, and before you knew it there was a whole string of them! Nothing "meaningful" had been accomplished, but I had a string of sparkly flowers. Then I remembered that the 17th (today!) Is Mary Alice's birthday. So I decided that this was Mary Alice's Birthday Girl Garland, and now the it had both meaning and value. I sent a picture to Kristen who said it was cute, and did I write down the pattern. Well, no. Not wanting to disappoint, I grabbed the next closest sparkly yarn (Artyarns Beaded Cashmere and Sequins) and began again, this time recording what I did as I hooked away.

And that's what happened - a second garland, just in time for another birthday girl. I'll not say who just yet, since it's not quite THE day.

This left me wondering about something. If Kristen would like the pattern, would anyone else? And if they would, well, why not write it up! This led me here:

Which involved the loss of a clog and then the second one while standing almost knee deep in the snow in a short-sleeved t-shirt that says "I'm a Keeper" in big letters, trying to take pictures of garlands looking "springy" in weather that has not quite turned that corner just yet. This was followed by slipping and sliding on ice covered paths and barely making it back inside in one piece with snow-filled clogs and garlands in my teeth and my camera protected from falls and mishaps on my back. Which led to this:

And really, after this, can there be more words?

The pattern is available in my Ravelry store for $1.00. Help keep my model in kibble and download your copy today!

The Year is Nearly New

We had a wonderful holiday here and I hope yours was good too! We are gearing up for our first New Years out. Yes, you heard me. First New Years not tucked safely at home. I am kind of excited, and kind of nervous that maybe at 43 I am too, shall we say, 'mature' to begin living like it's 1985, but we will see. Wish me luck.

I knit a sweater for my mother-in-law's puppy, Max, in the 24 hours before Christmas Eve. I wanted a picture, but did not have a model, so I grabbed the closest thing.

Mel! Now, some of you may know that Mel was rescued by us (Girl, really) from a shelter after he'd been found wandering the streets, and had just come back to the shelter after a bad 24-hour adoption experience that left him labeled as "viscious" by his 24-hour-adopter. You can see from the picture above that he's a brutal beast. Terrifying even. I even still have all ten fingers AND my face! The pattern is a Drops Design and the yarn Berroco Comfort. I did make some modifications as I went along; the hood was left off, and stitch pick-ups for the legs were based on ratio not numbers.

Dinner here Christmas Eve day with three of our four kids and their partners/spouses was a lot of fun. Starting with Mr. Wonderful at the head of the table (far right) and going counter clockwise around the table, that's Rachel and Eric, Megan and Jeroth, and Selina and Brendon, the newlyweds.

It was a good day with lots of good food and good company. It's nice when kids are grown up and have learned to get along. Not once did I have to smack any heads together. They all got along like regular grown-ups. I am so proud.

In and around the holiday fray, I have been working on editing the new book. In my spare time I knit up owl hats with Katy's Owls and Tigers and Zebras, Oh My pattern:

(their faces will be along shortly!) and I work on this shawl:

I am loving it in a lot of ways. I love the way the beads sit on the yarn like fat water drops. I love the subtle (and difficult to catch with a camera) glow of the yarn which contains a good amount of tencel.

I love the rippling motion of the stitch pattern. The yarn is Buffalo Gold Moon and the pattern is my own. The beads are from Webs Beads. The pattern will be available someday, somewhere, but I can't say yet!

In the meantime, check out the pattern shop and grab yourself a copy of my new Moon and Stars Socks pattern!

I heard a rumor that there will be a knit-a-long with this pattern on Ravelry. Although Stella, the yarn the sample socks are knit in, is not currently available Carol's beautifully dyed Luna makes an excellent substitute. A little bunny tells me that until January 3, 2011 a 10% discount will automatically be applied at check out... ok, I read it on Facebook, but still - a deal is a deal!

This weekend our annual family Christmas on Sunday at my Dad's was cancelled due to an impending blizzard. I had planned to make a Butternut Squash Soup with the Vitamix, and had already cooked up the squash the day before. No one here likes that soup except me. After a couple of days of contemplation I decided to use up a few leftovers, including the squash. I present for you here my solution to leftover cooked squash, spinach, chicken and bits from the holiday cheese board. It has no name, unless we want to call it something like:

"Leftover Butternut Spinach Chicken Cheese Casserole"

1.5 cups chopped cooked chicken
1.5 cups cooked butternut squash, chopped or mashed
4 cups baby spinach
1/2 of a large purple onion, sliced thin
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup neufchatel cheese, softened
1 egg, beaten
1.5 cups shredded cheese (mine was a combination of roughly equal parts parmesan, fontina, manchego and cheddar)
1 teaspoon sage
10 cranks black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil (or 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 cloves or garlic, chopped finely)

Assemble all ingredients. Spray a 3-quart with non-stick cooking spray. Combine 1 cup buttermilk, neufchatel cheese and egg and beat well to combine. Set aside. Layer ingredients as follows: 1/2 of spinach, 1/2 of sliced onion, 1/2 of squash, sprinkle over all 1/2 of salt, sage and pepper, 1/2 of chickens and 1/2 of cheese. Repeat with remainder of ingredients. Pour buttermilk/cheese/egg mixture over all. You may want to use a chopstick or fork to help the liquid penetrate the casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until the casserole is heated through, bubbly, and cheese is browned. Let it set up for a few minutes before serving. It was good! Ask the dog... he stole my lunch today!

More Books That Aren't Mine. But I Love Them Anyway.

Disclaimer: Reviews posted on this blog reflect the opinion of me. I am not compensated by the publishers in any manner other than the acquisition of a free book (never a bad thing!). If I don't like it, I won't talk about it. If I do like it, you'll have to put up with my blather for a few paragraphs.

Most of you know by now that I am a grandmother. I am also a big fan of handmade gifts. And I am a big old sucker for "cute". When I was asked to take a look at two Watson-Gupthill books, Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keen and Knitting Mochimochi by Anna Hrachovec, there was no choice but to say yes. I may have said it a little louder though. And there may have been a very very tiny bit of a squeal.

When I was a child, one of my things was watching my G.W. (aka Gramma Winnie, aka Winnifred Harvey Irish Morgan) crocheting and knitting a variety of animals and toys. Bears, mice, elves, you name it, she would make it. I even once had a purse that was made from the bottom of a used laundry soap bottle. When opened, it converted into a doll bed. I thought it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I watched her fashion many of the same for siblings and cousins, and many, many more for selling at the local Christmas craft fair held annually in Northfield, MA at a variety of churches and other locales. Small knit and crochet friends, therefore, have a special place in my heart.

I have also been very busy of late with this new book, and once again my plan to knit sweaters for my grandchildren for the holidays is falling away from me. It makes me very sad that once again I am thwarted. But then I got to thinking. What about a smaller item? Not a sweater. What about...a toy? And then the email came - would I like to review books on knit toys? It's like they read my mind.Yes, of course I would love to!

When the books arrived I dove right into them. The books are decidedly different from one another, and yet I find myself in raptures over projects in both. Knitting Mochimochi is the work of Anna Hrachovec who's adorable blog and website Mochimochi Land contains a wealth of cute, cuddly and sometimes a little bizarre creatures.

 In all there are 20 amigurami designs divided into four categories - Fierce Creatures, Random Objects, Impractical Wearables and Nano Knits. Most are under 8" when completed. The projects range from Bite-free Bedbugs to Feet Eaters (this is the cover image - a slipper that eats your feet) and from Grouchy Couch to a Hamster Herd. Information is provided on everything from childproofing your toys to designing your own. Most importantly, I think, there is a great deal of information on basic toy technique. Unlike a traditional knitted project, toys require a few tricks that some may not have in their arsenal. The information presented here on these topics would alone make it worth the investment for any toy knitter.

Most of these projects are small and quick to knit, making them perfect tote-along projects. I personally require a herd of hamsters for my office, and possibly some Pigs in Wigs as well. I am looking forward to boatloads of fun both to knit and to enjoy when they're complete. Excellent as gift ideas or just adorable objects to have around you, this book is loaded with fun and inspiration.

Next I turned my attention to Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keen.

The patterns in this book are more traditional in appearance, but are just filthy all over with cute. The cover image alone is captivating, but then you begin to flip the pages...fifteen adorable creatures peer up at you, page after page of wildlife just begging for you to pick up the needles. Lion and tiger and, well, no bear unless you count the unbelievable cute giant panda. There's warthog and moose and zebra too!

A technique section gives advice on the basics of casting on, increasing and decreasing and binding off. There are helpful hints on working with intarsia, making tassels (tails!) and embroidery for faces as well as stuffing and care of your finished stuffed creature. These creatures are larger in size, about in the 8-18" range. You could knit an entire zoo that would keep any child entertained for hours regardless of their chronological age.

Continuing the trend toward unbearable cuteness, the Webs Holiday 2010 catalog just made it's public appearance.

Seriously cute. Within hours I had knit two penguins using the pattern from Webs which is available as a download (in case you are, as I was, instantly driven to whip some up), and I doubt my obsession will stop there. I love the slightly sarcastic look of the penguins. These are mine (so far):

There will, of course, need to be more. I've been rewarding myself for accomplished work with something like this - a project I can knock out and feel finished with in a matter of an hour. Of note, I did NOT put them here. When I went up to bed last night they were side by side on the mantle contemplating who they wanted me to knit next. I think this display indicates they want more of themselves? I can happily comply!

(edited to add an update on penguins and the resulting stacking behavior seen above from Girl - "Well there was an epic penguin battle going on, but then we all came in to watch movies so they had to freeze where they were. At least that's what I think happened... It's not like I was there.". I don't think I believe her about the not being here bit...)

Next weekend is our oldest sons wedding. There's a  lot of flutter and excitement here. We love Selina (oh and Brendon too) and could not be happier for them or for ourselves, really. Among her other fine qualities, Selina KNITS. Just a little for now, but I think we can work on that, don't you?

Do I Knit?

Last week Blue Toe Spinner posted a comment asking if I knit. The truth is...I do. All the time. In fact it's pretty much all I do lately. I am either writing about knitting, knitting, or editing writing about knitting. The things I am working on, however, are for my next book, so I don't like to share them until closer to the book's release. I don't know why this is, it just is. last week I knit 2 hats, a kid's sweater, two cowls and half a shawl. So far this week...well, we'll talk about that in a minute.
The things I post here are things I am doing when I am not knitting, because all of the knitting I've been doing (until today, you'll see in a minute, promise!) has been for this book. So there's been a lot of this gardening stuff.

And there's been a great deal of canning. Some zucchini pickles, then 60 lbs of tomatoes in various forms, and most recently watermelon pickles, which were this morning.

Then there's been some cooking, in this case combining the tail end of last year's canning with a chicken I grew all by myself.

 And today there is this.

Now don't get too excited, because I am not sure what it is yet. Sock? Glove? gauntlet? I don't really know. Heck it could be a mitten for all I know. For now it's a pair of rich and luscious tubes in Spirit Trail Fiberworks Sunna (75% Superwash merino, 15% Cashmere, 10% Bombyx Silk, 100% amazing; color Vireo). Whatever it becomes it will be self-published as a pattern for sale on Ravelry and hopefully via my website as a .pdf (we're working on it. It should not be taking so long, I know, but there's so blessed much going on around here that it's impossible some days to breathe it seems).
Also, Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks is now available through the Crafter's Choice Book Club. This gave me a good giggle because they sent me an email asking me to join, and when I clicked through to see what they had for knitting books, I was greeted with my own book, right there under "Bestsellers"! Now is that good for the ego or what?
Having exorcised my excess energy on starting these amazingly beautiful Sunna babies up, it's time to return to the new book for a few days. Stay tuned - once this book is put to bed for a while I'll be right back at it. I have plans. I want to do some more self-published patterns; a bit of a change from working for other people for a while. Not that I don't love other people. I do. But I want some me time - just yarn and needles and time to play.
And about those Sunna tubes. I am willing to take opinions. Socks? Gloves? Gauntlets? Wristers? I just cannot decide!