Quick Update

So, I have not gotten back into blogging as regularly as I had hoped, but I do have a couple FOs to share:


This is a tote bag I made for an exchange in the Peaches &Creme group on ravelry. My partner was skullsnbats, and said those were two of her favorite things.

I used my Meredith Tote pattern, and America's Best Cabled Cotton (which is my favorite for totes and market bags). I added some skull beads to the top of the bag to personalize it a bit more to my swap partner's taste.

The tote pattern is currently unavailable, but should be in print again soon.

This is a gift a made for a friend's little sister. She is a huge Harry Potter fan, and I thought a magic wand might be fun for her, and was very easy to make out of a birch knitting needle. The wand case was knit free styke out of Patton's Silk Bamboo. I added small hematite stars to the trim, and pewter dragon buttons to the draw string to add to its magical appearance.

A roll of rice paper made a perfect scroll to roll around the wand inside it's case. I've never actually met the recipient, but am told she was quite excited about this.

I have a new project OTN, started on a road trip to Chicago last week, but I haven't taken a photo yet. I'n not sure how well it is turning out. I brought yarn, and needles, but didn't think to bring any patterns with me. The yarn was purchased for a pair of mittens for my niece, so I just started free-styling some mittens. Free styling colourwork with out any pens/paper to take notes is not the easiest thing. So far I am happy with the look of the first mitten (didn't gat far) but I am a little concerned it will be too small. I think I will put them on hold until I can have her try on what I have done.

I had a fun surprise yesterday. While in Borders with my brother, I found this magazine. I have a pattern in it, and didn't know when it would be hitting the shelves.

My afghan (I think it's on page 58) is an expanded version of my Iris Baby Blanket (scroll down), the pattern for which had not been published previously. This version has larger motifs, and directions for two sizes. I also worked it in a more subtle colour sceme. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the nice magazine photo, yet. I do have a picture of the blanket just as it was finished:

WOW! It's Been How Long?

So, for the longest time I have been telling myself, "you have to get back to blogging." Somehow it seems that all of my time is taken up these days. Lately, however, I have received several requests to get back to my blog, and as luck would have it, I found myself with some free time today!

It has been so long that I am going to only highlight a few things in this post. Even though I have had significantly less time for my projects there has still been too much done to cover it all at once. So, here is a small sampling of what I have been up to in 2010:

Here is my very first FO of the year. I just love it, and use it all the time!

It's the Felted Mammouth Tea Cozy by Laura Jefferson. The pattern is from Shannon Okey's book Spin to Knit. The pattern calls for a bulky weight hand spun, but I actually used Cascade Eco Wool, double stranded. The tusks are made of polymer clay. It was a fun quick project, and really keeps my tea hot a lot longer than a pot alone.




This is a more recent FO. A simple crocheted ripple blanket made with Classic Elite Bubbles. I was making this for a co-worker that had not found out the sex of her baby before birth. I picked the blue, yellow, and green knowing that there were flecks of pink through out the yarn. When I found out the baby was a girl I added a pink border with Fun Fur to pull out the pinks. It doesn't show so well in the photo, but does in person.





One of the most exciting things I have to share is that, since I have last written here, I have had my first pattern published in a magazine. It was in the June issue of Crochet World (sorry I'm so late). The pattern is Nautical Dishcloths, a trio of dishcloths based on nautical flags.



This is the photo from the magazine.

I hadn't really thought about submitting a pattern to a magazine at this point, but the people at Pisgah Yarns asked if I would, and I thought "Why not?" I was very pleased with the whole experience. The editor, Michele Maks was a joy to deal with, and it really was great fun to see my own work in the pages of a national publication.

Can't say too much, but I will have more patterns published soon.

I hope to get around to posting about more of my projects soon. Thank you so much to those of you who wrote and said that you missed my blog, and sorry to those of you who's blogs I haven't been keeping up with. Hopefully I will get the time management thing under control soon, and be back to normal in blogland!