Unraveled, Week 35/2026

Wednesday again, but the first of September! This particular Wednesday, the Mister and I are also celebrating our 19th anniversary. We will have to wait to celebrate until Friday, though, as he's still away at a work conference. But I donated blood yesterday in the room where we had our reception, and that felt appropriate! 

I won't postpone linking up with Kat and the Unravelers, however, so here's an update on my making and reading.

I have not done much knitting this week, mainly because I haven't had much free time being the only adult in the house, but I've finished a positively enormous mitten (that I'm hoping will become a normal-sized mitten once it's felted):

I'm making the largest size in this pattern (why not, given I was trying to use up yarn?) and was happy to see that I have more than half left from what I started with, so I won't be playing any yarn chicken this time around. I was able to get the cuff done on Monday evening and moved on to the hand last night, and I think I'll be able to wrap up the pair by the end of the week.

Although I didn't get a chance to take a photo, I did wind up a skein of handspun so I can swatch for my next sweater, which I hope to be able to cast on a week from today.

I finished four books this past week. Two were okay, one was really good, and one I loved.

I listened to 10 Marchfield Square on a whim because it was available on Hoopla and sounded like it would keep my interest. It's a murder mystery set in an apartment building owned by an older widow. When one of the tenants is murdered, followed shortly by the possible murder of his wife, and the owner is unsatisfied with how the police are investigating, she enlists two other tenants -- a writer struggling to find inspiration for his next book and a cleaner -- to try to solve the case on their own. I thought it got a little convoluted at times and I did figure out the killer before the end, but I thought the narrator did a pretty good job (aside from her unfortunate habit of pronouncing dogs as "dogses"). It was a two-day listen and kept me mostly engaged, so it was fine. I gave it 3 stars.

Both my father and mother read Heft and passed their copy along to me after I had recommended God of the Woods by the same author to them. This book focuses on two individuals: Arthur Opp, a 550-pound man who hasn't left his house in years because of his size, and Kel Keller, a teenager struggling to take care of his alcoholic single mother who longs to play professional baseball. They are connected through Kel's mother, Charlene, who was once Arthur's student when he taught college and with whom he continued corresponding for many years after. Both are struggling to connect with others and to be fully vulnerable with others. I thought the characters were interesting but the story was sad. I didn't love it but didn't hate it. I gave it 3 stars.

I have loved the two other Laurie Frankel books I've read this year, so I thought I'd try another. One Two Three is about three sisters -- triplets -- who live in a small town that was once poisoned by the local chemical company. Their father died before they were born, and their mother has been fighting for their entire lives to try to get justice. Mab is the firstborn who can't wait to get out of town but also can't imagine losing her sisters. Monday is on the autism spectrum, prefers to wear and eat only yellow things, and has appointed herself town librarian since the library closed. Mirabel, brilliant and observant, is confined to a wheelchair and can only speak by using an assistive device. Their family's life is challenging, but they're getting by. And then the family behind the chemical company returns to town with a plan to reopen the plant, prompting the three sisters to join forces to try to find evidence to support their mother's lawsuit or at least convince the townspeople not to take the risk. These three young women are such wonderful characters, and their interactions with one another -- their support of each other, how well they understand each other -- are funny and sad and heartfelt. I really enjoyed my time with them. I gave this book 4 stars.

A story of mothers and daughters, of the challenges of being a parent and also a person, Mothersick focuses primarily on Mara and Nell, sisters who made a pact never to get married or have children after their father had an affair and their mother, Andy, seemed to abandon them. But then Mara broke the pact when she met her partner and has just given birth to her son, Gabriel. She finds motherhood and her child unlike anything she could have imagined, almost every moment a gift, but also realizes that in becoming a mother, she's had to give up part of herself, the part that was creative and imaginative and that previously provided her for family. Nell, meanwhile, has entered a whirlwind romance with Lenny, a wealthy American who wants a traditional family to make up for the broken family in which he grew up in, and though she can accept that she's willing to break the marriage part of the pact, she's not sure she'll ever come around to the idea of children. While their mother is traveling all over the world and making art, the sisters are supported by their aunt, Jean, who provides them with the love, advice, and acceptance they always wanted but never got from their mother, and Jean finds in her nieces some of the joy in being a parent that she always wanted but wasn't able to have. Over the course of a year, these three women deal with all the usual challenges of being a woman in the world as they grapple with trying to understand why Andy seemed to be so afraid to be a mother and trying to forgive her for leaving. The prose in this book is lush, the kind of writing that you have to read slowly to fully understand and appreciate. The characters are flawed but lovable because they are so real. They have old traumas they have kept secret and new challenges to their sense of self, both of which threaten their relationships with one another. What resonated most for me was the very relatable sense that women, especially women who are mothers, are expected both to be everything -- partners, caretakers, parents, homemakers, career women, etc. -- and to give up the things that matter to them as people (careers, time, hobbies, friends) in the service of caring for others. The unspoken message in this book is that we are at our lowest, we almost always want our mother to care for us -- but what if that mother has not been cared for herself and doesn't know how to provide the love her children need? I gave this one 5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in return for an honest review. This book will be published April 27, 2027.

I'm currently reading The Artist and the Feast (digital) and Shy Creatures (on paper). I'm getting caught up on podcasts at the moment but will likely be ready for a new audiobook later this week.

Finally, I just wanted to let you all know that my new sock pattern, Kesbie, has been published. You'll find it on Ravelry and Payhip.

Wet Weekending

If there was one word to describe this past weekend, it would be soggy. We had some pretty epic rains on Friday, including a thunderstorm that hit just after Ruthie and I came in from our morning walk (so no run for me that day) and another that came through as we had dinner that left what I called "temporary water features" in our backyard. There were flash flood warnings in the area, but because our street sits above a deep ravine, they thankfully weren't an issue for us. There was more rain on Saturday and overnight into Sunday, and with all that moisture and some hot weather, it was generally very steamy. Let's just say there were extra showers taken every day. The week ahead is supposed to be warm (though not beastly hot) and there's a chance for rain most days, so I think I'll just have to get used to it!

When I wasn't melting outside, I got a fair amount of crafting done inside. For one thing, I finished my handspun scarf -- and didn't run out of yarn!

It turns out that it was not as close a game of yarn chicken as I thought; when I finished, I still had 7 g of yarn left (from 110 g total to start). I had weighed my yarn as I approached the halfway point, but it was when we were in the car last Sunday and the numbers kept changing because we were moving, so I didn't entirely trust them. Still, it's a win that I'll take. I still need to block it, which I think will help with some wonkiness here and there, but I'm quite happy with it.

I also started plying my current skein of handspun, which may actually be complete by the time you read this (I'm writing on Sunday afternoon and have plans to do more plying on Sunday evening):

In order to have something fairly mindless on the needles for Ruthie Nap Time Knitting, I pulled out some very old mini skeins (like as old as Molly old!) from a long-ago yarn club that was associated with a lot of drama. They'd been stashed away because I was a bit busy with a newborn at the time, and I didn't even remember I had them until Molly and I did the stash reorganization recently. There's no information at all about the yarns, but they all appeared to be fingering weight, so I put them in a gradient of sorts and am making a charity hat.

Finally, I spent time this weekend getting everything ready to publish my new hat pattern this morning. It's the first one using my new tech editor, who has been fabulous to work with, and she's already got my next pattern to work on. This is the hat you've seen twice before, now called Mandlen. It's up on Payhip already and will be published on Ravelry not long after this post goes up (look for it in my store).

I'm hoping for a regular week ahead, including my usual Wednesday update. Here's hoping it's a good one for all of us.

Good News to End the Week

Earlier this week, Kym asked us to notice and share some good news to help combat the onslaught of terrible news from across the country and around the world. As if all that news wasn't bad enough, it's been a hard week for us here following the snowstorm last weekend. This is apparently the largest snowfall we've gotten since the "Snowmageddon" storm of February 2010, when Molly was a newborn, and it's been a struggle to clean it up. We've yet to get mail this week, for instance, and it's been hard to get anywhere outside. We were all home Monday and Tuesday, and it felt a bit like the beginning of the pandemic again, so it wasn't easy to avoid the feelings of isolation and uncertainty again. The best antidote for those feelings is to look for the good or, in the words of the national treasure that is Fred Rogers, "Look for the helpers."

• While many of us were annoyed that we were trapped at home, I'll bet few of us thought about people who were here from out of town and got stuck. One of our local stations reported on just such a situation at hotel in the area, where the manager decided that because no one was going anywhere and all the nearby restaurants would be open, she might as well cook for everyone!
  
  
• Our city has a Snow Angels program through which residents can sign up to shovel sidewalks and driveways of neighbors who can't. In the aftermath of the storm, it was reported that signups had gone up dramatically. Even our new mayor got in on the action!
  
  
• Not to be outdone, our neighbor across the street noticed that there was a huge hump of snow at the end after the main road was plowed, so he took a shovel and cleared it enough so that we could actually drive off our street.

There is some good personal news to share, too. My parents have now both tested negative for COVID, and my mother talked to my aunt yesterday and reported that she sounded like herself. Today is pay day for me, and this month's check includes my annual raise, which I'm getting thanks to the hard work of my union after the university tried to withhold increases from those of us in the bargaining unit because our contract is still being negotiated. Finally, yesterday I published my first pattern of the new year, the Mosaika Cowl (Ravelry link / Payhip link):

I only managed to publish one pattern in all of last year, and considering I have a second one planned already, that means I'm already doing better this year.

We have no major plans for the weekend, mainly because the roads are still pretty bad and it's still going to be insanely cold. But perhaps we'll get together with my parents and maybe have a make-up birthday dinner for my father-in-law. For sure I'll be celebrating the end of my least-favorite month!

Stay warm, look for the good in the world, and see you back here on Monday!

Can I Get a Break?

We've made it to Friday -- thank goodness! It's been a long, exhausting week. I've spent a lot of it not feeling well, first thanks to an IBS flare and then, I suspect, due to the wild fluctuations in the weather. I've had terrible sinus pressure, haven't been able to get warm, and have been exhausted. And the Mister was traveling for work this week, which meant I had to do everything to keep our household running. This morning I'm finally feeling more like myself and keeping my fingers crossed that I continue to feel okay. At least there is a weekend coming up and I can get some extra rest!

First up, I want to share with all of you that I published a new pattern this morning! Or new-ish, I should say -- it's a lightweight version of a previously published pattern.

This is Funnel Vision Light (Ravelry link; Payhip link), a fingering weight version of the Funnel Vision Cowl I published with Knit Picks back in fall of 2023. Although I'd proposed the pattern for a heavier yarn (I had DK or worsted in mind but was given bulky), I'd always thought of what this design would look like in fingering, and I actually knit this sample nearly two years ago. It wasn't until late last year, though, that I finally decided to write it up as a pattern after I wore it in public and was asked about the pattern several times. It's all knit it brioche, so it's super squishy, and I knit this one in an MCN yarn, so it's extra cozy. I'm thinking I might need to knit myself another one in two colors.

The knitting this week has been pretty boring -- it's all scrappy hats, all the time! I finished my third yesterday (the one on top of the pile):

This latest one is the scrappiest of the latest bunch, with five different yarns represented. Though I started out knitting the largest size in the pattern, I'm now making the next size down because its stitch count plays more nicely with the adjusted decreases I'm doing for the crown (the original pattern decreases rapidly, leading to a sort of rumpled top, so I've changed them to a more standard eight decreases every other round). Would you believe that these three hats have used up more than 1,200 yards of yarn? That's more than I used in my most recent sweater!

I'm clearly not done with this current spate of hats, either, because I dug into my bin of full fingering skeins and wound up three blues to start some more:

That deep royal blue on top is Socks That Rock Lightweight that I bought at my former LYS, which closed more than eight years ago. The blue/gray variegated on the bottom left was purchased on our trip to Cape Cod back in 2017. And the light blue/white is from Knit Picks, purchased who knows when. I'm still feeling quite overwhelmed by the size of my stash -- each time I go digging, I swear it's gotten bigger -- so these hats seem like a great way to use up a bunch and do some good in the meantime.

The weekend ahead is looking pretty wide open, which is quite welcome. I think we could all use some extra down time. We'll be watching the Super Bowl (me because I like the commercials, Molly because she's cheering for Taylor's boyfriend) but otherwise laying low. There's been a lot happening the past several weeks, much of it terrible, so I think all of us could benefit from rest and self-care. Be well, friends, and keep looking for the good -- it's still out there.

Good News

Happy Friday, friends -- we made it! It's been a calmer week at work, thank goodness, but it still feels like it's been a long one.

Yesterday, in particular, felt long because all day I was awaiting word from my brother and sister-in-law. They got the call from the hospital at 4:45 a.m. (which was early, but not outrageously so), and at a little after 6 last night, we received word that my niece had been born! I don't have explicit permission to post photos yet, but I expect I'll have some to share after we meet her. Despite measuring quite large at my sister-in-law's doctor's appointment last week, she was a very respectable 7 lbs. 3 oz., most of which seems to be in her cheeks. Everyone is happy and healthy, and we're all looking forward to meeting her. My parents are watching my nephew, and my mother reported that when they told him he had a sister, he "smiled and moved on to dinosaurs." Typical!

The other good news this week is that thanks to the quick work of my tech editor, I was able to publish my sock pattern this morning!

I've called it Oh My Cod, inspired by the fish tail-like lace pattern and also a joke among the moderators of the Indie Giftalong on Ravelry, of which I am one (and so is my tech editor). It all started when our leader was typing notes using a keyboard that sticks on a couple of keys and suddenly the fish-related puns were flying. I'd been struggling to come up with a name for this pattern prior to this, but as always the perfect name came along at the right time. I know a number of you expressed interest in this pattern before, so I wanted to let you know that it's out now on Ravelry and Payhip.

Speaking of the Giftalong, I also wanted to mention that it kicks off next Thursday (11/21) at 5 p.m. This the 12th year, amazingly. The first week is a massive pattern sale in which the hundreds of participating designers (we have more than 200 this year) put 10-20 of their patterns on sale for 25% off. I've been participating in this event as a designer since the first year and as a moderator for almost as long, and as it's about to suck up a lot of my time, I'm extra glad that I was able to release the sock pattern before it starts. I know many of you aren't the type to get involved in this event, but if you've had your eye on some patterns, it might be worth it to peruse those that are on sale next week.

In a small effort to make the world a better place, I've got my fifth blood donation of the year scheduled this afternoon (keep your fingers crossed that my hemoglobin is high enough!), and then Molly and I will have a girls' evening tonight, as the Mister is going to the Dave Matthews Band concert with his brother and a friend. We have no plans for the weekend other than snuggling our new niece/cousin when she comes home from the hospital!

I hope you have a relaxing weekend full of good things!

Just in Time for the Heat Wave

Greetings from the Excessive Heat Watch! I know it's summer, but mid-June is a bit early for mid- to upper 90s F in my neck of the woods, which is what we're expecting all this week and through next weekend. With the heat index, it's not out of the question that it'll feel upwards of 100º F. In case you're wondering, I am not a fan. I run cold generally, but I also don't like heat and humidity, so I will be spending as much time as possible in the air conditioning this week.

And because my timing is always impeccable, I've chosen this week to launch my latest knitting pattern! (I guess at least it's not a heavy sweater.)

You all saw this while it was being worked on, but now it's officially been blocked, photographed, written up, and edited. I'm calling it I'm Still Stranding -- I just love a good pun. It's up in my Ravelry and Payhip shops now, if you're interested, and an email is going out with a discount code to newsletter subscribers later this morning.

We had a really nice weekend before the heat set in. On Friday, in addition to doing my running and baking, Mo and I did a little shopping, first at Michaels for craft items (she's been into making stitch markers/progress keepers out of polymer clay lately) and then at Old Navy for some new summer duds. I found a couple of great summer dresses that I kind of want to live in this summer; she got new jeans, a cute tennis-style dress, and a two-piece bathing suit -- all in women's sizes (yikes!). She wore the suit and the dress yesterday when she went to the pool with my parents and my nephew, and then she came home completely wiped out from all the sun. Yesterday we had brunch with our parents, siblings, and nephews for Father's Day. My youngest nephew just started walking in the past week, so it was so cute to see him and the middle nephew toddling around!

Mo and I officially wrapped up all our Downton Abbey watching early last week, and now we've started in on Gilmore Girls. I've been working on my rainbow Bousta Beanie the past several evenings while we watched. It's moving right along, despite having to tink back a couple of times because I've forgotten that the rainbow yarn is the MC and the black is the CC.

I have a feeling this is going to be a very busy week -- I received all the content for a magazine late Thursday -- but I also have Wednesday off for Juneteeth, and I think that break midweek should keep me from getting too stressed.

Stay cool and well hydrated, friends!

A Day for Tea and Toast

Here we are again on Monday, and this morning I'm feeling a little under the weather. Either the Mister gave me the tummy troubles he had last week or I'm having an IBS flare. Either way, I'm very happy that I work from home and don't have to try going into the office today. I've already sent my boss an email to let her know that I'm playing the day by ear, but I've had some tea and toast and will be taking it easy today.

After I posted on Friday, I did indeed finish plying the handspun and did indeed get it all on the bobbin. I could've fit more on, too, if I'd needed to! Skeining took a while, but the day was calm enough to allow me to get it all done, and it was dry by the next day.

I can really only get a rough estimate of the yardage because of the size of this skein, but my conservative estimate is about 817 yards -- now I know why it took so long to ply! I'm very happy with how the blending turned out. too.

I called the skein "A Pale Olive in a Blue Fog" after the names of the colorways, although a number of people have commented that it looks like silver and gold rather than blue and green, and I can see that a bit. Don't ask me what I'm going to make with this -- I have no idea! For now it's just going in the big bag of SCF. And for those of you who are keeping count, this skein used up two bags of fiber (these happened to be prizes) and takes me to 33 for the year. I don't know that I'll get more done before the end of the year, because I'm focused on my Fibernymph Dye Works minis right now, but I have just seven bags left, only five of which are club shipments, so it should not take me long into the new year to get caught up.

In spite of not feeling quite like myself this morning, I did get enough preparation done yesterday so that all I had to do this morning to publish my new pattern was click a few buttons.

Hydrophily is now available on Ravelry and on Payhip, and soon it should be up on LoveKnitting, too. No pressure, but I hope you'll take a look.

And with that, it's time to get back to my second cup of tea and get ready for my morning work meeting. Have a good Monday, friends!

What a Week

TGIF, friends. It's a dark and rainy Friday here; a cold front is coming in, bringing an end to the summery weather and the arrival of Sweater Weather (I'm not sorry -- I want to wear my woolies!). Despite a calm week in terms of workload, it's been a long one.

First, an update on the washing machine: The technician came on Wednesday and, unsurprisingly, couldn't do anything because he didn't have the right parts. But the Mister, who isn't very handy around the house but is really good at Googling things, had found the parts online and ordered them, and when they showed up shortly after the technician's visit, he thought he'd try to see if he could replace them. I guess it was an easy fix, because shortly afterward, we were doing laundry again! So far, everything seems to be fine, and I'm reassured that the washer would not turn on if the door wasn't locking, so at least I don't have to worry about flooding the laundry room.

I have made only very small start to my new socks, but I think doing a tubular cast-on and ribbing in black yarn at night deserves a little recognition. I have a bit more ribbing still to do and then I'll start the colorwork.

My main focus the past several days has been spinning (I know, you're all shocked). I am hoping to finish up these singles today:

I still have not decided how I am going to ply these, though I have a little time before I have to decide. When I started spinning, I thought I would do a two ply, plying from both ends, but the singles are turning out rather fine, meaning a two ply would be a lace weight. So then I started considering chain-plying, which would get me a fingering. I posted a poll on my Instagram Stories with photos of plyback samples, and the majority of people seem to be in agreement with that.

Two ply on the left, chain-ply on the right

I will be working on finishing up the singles today in between a lot of baking -- my parents are headed to Florida tomorrow, so I offered to host Friday night dinner, and that means baking challah plus a cake for dessert (I'm trying out a recipe for Apple Cider Donut Cake!). Tomorrow, we're running (or running and walking) as a family in the neighborhood 5K that's a fundraiser for the local Boys & Girls Club -- it's returning after several years away due to the pandemic. This will be Mo's first race, and I told her I'd stick with her, so I'm sure this will be my worst time ever, but that's okay. We're also signed up for the local Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, so this can be seen as a training run.

Finally, I did want to mention some design news! I have two patterns out with Knit Picks, one existing and one new. First, my Obfuscation pattern was chosen to be part of an Independent Designer Partnership Showcase, and I knit up a new sample using a rainbow set of mini skeins:

You can still buy the pattern directly from me, but now it's also available from Knit Picks (linked above), and you can conveniently purchase a mini skein set at the same time if you so choose.

Brand new is a pattern I've been keeping secret for a while: Funnel Vision.

This is a super cozy cowl knit in fluffy Swish Bulky yarn in brioche stitch. If you've mastered basic brioche and want to expand your skills a bit, this is the perfect pattern for it, as it introduces simple brioche increases. I envisioned this pattern as a cowl with a bit of a sweater attached -- there are raglan increases that mimic the top of a sweater yoke, and that shaping helps it sit perfectly atop your shoulders. Plus, you get a bit of extra fabric so you don't get that one spot where the cold wind can get in when you fasten your coat and there's that one area right on your chest that's uncovered. At the moment, this pattern is exclusive to Knit Picks, so you can get it individually (link above) or as part of the Déja Yarn: Single Color Stashbusters collection.

A Peek at My Weekend (with a Bonus New Pattern)

The weekend went by quickly, as it always does, but this one had a lot of good things.

We had our first dinner back at my parents' of the new year, though of course we were missing my dad. Leo the dog was there, though, while his parents were at a childbirth class. We ate homemade challah with dinner, too:

On Saturday morning, Rainbow and I drove about 20 miles away to a small fiber event. We ended up spending more time in the car than actually at the event, but it was worth it. Here's what came home with us:

I was not intending to buy any yarn, but I saw these gorgeous burnt oranges and reds and browns, and before I knew it, they were in my arms. I'll be using them for a Birch Pullover. Rainbow bought the green skein, and we'll fight it out over who gets the soaps. These all came from Rebecca of Dusty Tree Soap/Dyeworks; her yarn is all dyed in small batches with no dyelots, so I picked skeins that all looked like they went together and will be doing a lot of blending.

There was some successful lace knitting on my Love Note once I learned how to count correctly:

I promise it'll look better when blocked!

And there was some spinning as well, with the first of three bobbins of singles spun:

Kingfisher on Corriedale from Southern Cross Fibre

Last but not least, there was some brownie baking in my fancy new pan, which I purchased after Kym blogged about her even fancier one:

Now I'm starting off what is looking like it will be a busy week, but it will at least be a shorter one, because my office is closed on Friday -- one of the benefits of working for an institution of higher education is that there are random days off, in this case, the Friday of spring break week! It's also my birthday week, but my actual birthday will be a long day ending with an in-person board meeting. Ugh. In any case, I've decided to kick it off by publishing my center-out, top-down, any yarn, any gauge hat pattern!

It's called Spinning in Infinity and is available in my Ravelry and Payhip shops. It's written for five sizes (toddler to adult large) and includes a photo tutorial for the cast-on method.

I hope that your weekend was full of good things and that your Monday is off to a good start!

The First Pattern of 2023

Do those of you who have been reading the blog for a while remember the days when I'd release a pattern a month? Hard to believe I used to be able to manage that. Maybe someday I'll be able to quit my full-time job and focus more on designing, but for now, I'm pretty happy with releasing patterns when I can.

My first new pattern of this year is one that's pretty simple, but I'm excited about it nonetheless. The double-ended double-thickness hat has been a big trend in the knitting world in the past couple of years. There's one pattern in particular that I'm sure you're all aware of that it seems like everyone has knit. But I have never knit one because I didn't love the crown shaping. So I knit my own version of it, knowing only the gist of how it was knit, and used the swirly crown shaping I prefer. I still wasn't entirely satisfied with how its started, and so I did some experimentation with the inside-out cast-on. Finally I "unvented" (to quote Elizabeth Zimmermann) something that worked well and looked virtually the same as a bottom-up hat finish.

And after all that, I wasn't even intending to publish what I did -- I really only was doing it to see if I could! But when I shared my finished hats on Ravelry, I had a number of people ask if would write it up as a pattern, so I did! And this morning I published it.

My version is designed to use every bit of a skein of fingering weight yarn. As you can see, it works really well with self-striping. How it's knit isn't a big mystery: You start at the center of one crown, increase until you've reached the stitch count for your size, then knit until you have just enough to knit another crown, and decrease back to the 8 stitches you started with. You'll need a scale that weighs in grams to help you use up all your yarn. It's that easy -- my tech editor even joked that she was really stretching to add some useful comments because there wasn't much to actually edit when I sent her the pattern.

The one thing that I think makes my pattern unique is the cast-on technique, which is fully explained in a photo tutorial in the pattern. I'm particularly proud of it. And I'll be using it again in my next pattern, which uses the same beginning as this pattern to create a top-down hat (with the same swirled crown) using any yarn and any gauge. I'm still debating whether to include instructions for combining the two to get a double-ended hat with any yarn, but I'm guessing many of you could figure that out on your own.

In any case, I'm happy to have this pattern out today. You'll find it on Ravelry and Payhip. And keep an eye out for the next one!

Reasons to Smile

Happy December, friends! I still think I'm owed an extra week of November, but here we are in the last month of the year. As of this morning, I have 10 days of work left this year, 13 more days until I have a teenager, 15 more days until we host the bat mitzvah we've been planning for almost a year, and 17 more days until we leave for our Florida vacation. Yes, things are going to get hectic around here! So today's post is all about pausing to appreciate happy things.

First, Wednesday was a really long day, but it contained some good things. I successfully made my fifth blood donation this year and we also got to meet our new nephew/cousin. Rainbow, naturally, is over the moon, particularly since her older cousin doesn't much like to snuggle anymore.

Last night I fixed the hole caused by the dropped stitch in her Hitchhiker, and I don't think you could find where it was if I didn't leave the safety pin in to mark the spot:

I've started spinning my Fibernymph Dye Works Holiday Countdown Set and have gotten through five little bundles of fiber -- I'm spinning them out of order to have one skein that's more cool colors and one that's more warm colors, so I'm showing this photo in black and white so I don't spoil the surprise for anyone.

And, finally, I released two patterns today, De Reflectie Hat and De Reflectie Cowl, both available on Ravelry and Payhip!

I hope that you find some reasons to smile today! Have a great weekend!

Growth in 2022: October

Happy Halloween! I know I say this all the time, but it really does feel like time speeds up as we approach the end of the year. Perhaps it's something to do with the days getting shorter or the increase in activities that starts in the fall, but it seems like just last week we were celebrating the High Holy Days, which fell at the end of September/beginning of October. And now here we are, at the very last day of the month yet again.

It's not only the last day of the month, it's also the last Monday, which means it's time for my monthly One Little Word check-in and link-up with Carolyn.

Another sign that we're approaching the end of the year is that it's getting increasingly difficult to come up with a new facet of how I've had Growth in the past month. I really had to think a lot about it this weekend (which, sadly, I had plenty of time to do, because Rainbow came down with some sort of sinus/respiratory virus on Saturday, so we canceled some plans and laid low for much of it). I know that I've been doing a lot of good work on myself this year: I've expanded my viewpoints and learned new things through my reading, I've taken on more responsibility and embraced the moments of "adulting," and I've made more of an effort to be kind to myself and take care of myself by making healthy choices. I know that I'm a work in progress and always will be, so I don't consider the growth to be done, but all the same it can be a challenge to look at my word in a new way every month!

Finally yesterday afternoon, as I was looking at my to-do list, I realized that using such a list is something that has happened a lot recently. With the everyday school schedule, work meetings, board/executive committee/committee meetings for the synagogue, social events, and planning for the bat mitzvah, there is a lot going on our lives, so I rely a lot on technology like our shared family calendar to help me keep everything straight. I also know enough about myself to know that I can't count on my brain to remember to do things, so I have frequently been making a daily to-do list to make sure things that need to get done aren't forgotten. Sometimes items don't get completed for several days simply because I've run out of time on any given day; sometimes I take advantage of a quiet work day and have everything crossed off by the time I have to pick Rainbow off at school. The big thing here is I've recognized that this is a system that works for me and helps me not procrastinate (intentionally or not) by forgetting things I need to do. There are so many digital tools out there that are touted as lifesavers, but for me, I like a piece of paper and a pen -- there's nothing quite as satisfying as crossing an item off the list!

(By the way? One thing I've crossed off my list today is publishing my new sock pattern. You'll find it on Ravelry and Payhip, if you're interested.)

When It Doesn't Feel Like Monday

Happy Labor Day! For those of you not in the United States, today is a federal holiday that celebrates organized labor. We are all home today, as schools and most offices are closed. But a long weekend also means that it doesn't really feel like Monday, and that's not really a bad thing.

I don't have too much planned for the day, which is just as well because it's supposed to rain pretty much all day long. Rainbow just left with my father to go downtown for our city's Labor Day parade (one of the biggest in the country), and I'm going to put on a raincoat on go for my walk in a bit. But the big thing I needed to get done today is already crossed off my list: This morning, I published two patterns, my first since early this year.

The Echinacea Hat on the left is actually a re-released. It was published in Knitscene last spring, but the rights have since reverted to me and I've updated it to include an additional size and an optional tubular cast-on. The Echinacea Cowl on the right is brand new and coordinates with the hat. It has an optional tubular cast-on and bind-off and also is slightly wider at the bottom than at the top so that it sits nicely atop the shoulders. You can find both patterns in my Ravelry and Payhip shops, if you're interested.

My main focus for today, other than tackling a pile of laundry, is trying to finish up this pair of socks for my sister-in-law for her birthday tomorrow.

I have about half an inch of leg left to knit before I start the heel, so I think it's doable, particularly as I plan to spend the afternoon reading and knitting. If I can manage it, I'll block them tonight and drop them off tomorrow.

I have to end with a little bit of thankfulness for internet friends. On Saturday, I was surprised to receive a package inside which was this adorable mug rug that Katie quilted for me:

We are just getting into prime hot tea season, and I have a little teapot with a coordinating mug that will rest so perfectly on this little mat. But more than the utility of this little piece, I'm touched by how thoughtful it is. The internet can be a big, scary place sometimes, but it's also been an amazing way to make some wonderful friends!

Pattern Release: SOHCAHTOA

It's an exciting day, friends. I'm ready to release my first pattern of 2022! They are the so-called "shark fin" socks whose actual name is SOHCAHTOA.

This new heel method is one that combines two earlier patterns -- Non-Euclidian and CPCTC -- to create a heel that uses the same instructions regardless of whether you're knitting toe up or cuff down. The result is the same and produces near-identical results. Seriously, I knit one sock in this pair each way. Can you tell which is which here?

The pattern includes instructions for both methods, and you can choose whether you want to knit your socks both cuff down, both toe up, or one each way. The heel combines triangular gussets with short rows for good fit and an execution that does not require picking up any stitches at all. I am someone who has a high instep, so short-row heels often fit me poorly, but these fit me perfectly (as they should, considering I designed them with my own feet in mind)!

The pattern has been graded to five foot widths and has been professionally tech edited to ensure that it's correct, complete, and easy to follow. It's also on sale for the first week! You'll find a coupon code to get $1 off the purchase price on the Ravelry and Payhip pages. Oh, and if you're wondering about the funny name, let's just say it's another math reference that you might get if you can remember any trigonometry from high school, and it's explained fully in the pattern.

I am so excited to have these out in the world and hope you love them as much as I do!

Pattern Release: Obfuscation

Dear readers (especially longtime readers), do you remember when I used to design and publish patterns almost every month? It seems like forever ago, and there's no denying that the pandemic has really dampened my creativity. I had to go back and check to see when I last published a pattern because I honestly couldn't remember (it was July, by the way). I'm just starting to feel the designing mojo coming back, and I think going to Rhinebeck really kick-started it.

Today's pattern, my first new release in four months, is a direct result of that trip. Remember that set of mini skeins I picked up at Indie Untangled? My brain started going the very night I bought them and I had a plan for them before I went to sleep. When I got home, I moved the idea from my brain onto my needles.

"Obfuscation" is the act of throwing something into shadow or darkening it. My idea for this cowl was that as each new color/mini skein was introduced, it would push the previous color to the background. I immediately thought of brioche stitch, as it's not only fun to knit and creates an extremely squishy fabric, it also creates a fun blended effect when worked in two colors.

Though this might look like a complicated knit, if you have knit basic brioche stitch before, you'll find that it's a piece of cake. The stitch is the same the whole way though; all that changes is whether you're using one color or two. In fact, I'd say the most complicated (or maybe fiddly is the better word) part of the pattern is weaving in your ends carefully so that the cowl can be fully reversible.

The pattern is written to use one six-skein set of fingering weight mini skeins (I used a set from McMullin Fiber Co.), but I've also included a customization section should you want to use scraps/leftovers or change the final dimensions. The beauty of this design is that it's immensely adaptable, and I plan to make another as an infinity cowl/long loop at some point!

You will find the pattern on both Ravelry and Payhip, and in both places it is on sale for $1 for the first week with the coupon code MINIBRIOCHE. 

I hope you like this one, and I certainly hope I have another new pattern to share sooner than four months from now!

Happy weekending!

Pattern Release: Mammillaria

It's been a while -- maybe too long -- since I last published a pattern. The pandemic really killed my creativity for a while, but I can feel it starting to come back. And I'm really excited about this one, especially since the lovely ladies in my Sunday Zoom group oohed and ahhed over my sample.

This design started with the idea for the pleated crown decreases. I had knit them in my head, and it seemed like they would work, but of course I didn't know for sure until I had yarn and needles in hand. And honestly? I think it turned out even better in real life.

As fun as those decreases are, I knew that I didn't want the rest of the hat to be plain, so I've combined them with a hemmed brim and a fun bubble stitch for the body of the hat. As you can see, the texture plays really nicely with a self-striping yarn (this is Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce, my fave), but it'll look just as good in a variegated or solid/semisolid.

The pattern has been graded to three sizes, to fit head circumference of 20 (22, 24) in./51 (56, 61) cm, and you'll need 250 (300, 360) yds./229 (274.5, 329) m of yarn. There is a photo tutorial included for the pleated decreases, for which you'll need two additional DPNs in addition to the needles you prefer for knitting small circumferences in the round. As always, the pattern has been professionally tech edited to ensure that it is correct and easy to follow.

I really hope you love this one as much as I do! You'll find it on Ravelry, Payhip, and LoveCrafts.