An Explosion of Flowers

I've had a productive week this week. I managed to learn how to install the html needed for a Paypal cart on the Shopping page of my website, and so now my book and the patterns I've been working on can be purchased directly from my site. Pretty neat! The Flambeau socks are there, as well as the What a Croc! scarf and my Thank You felted bag.

The newest member of the pattern family is the bag you see here, called Flowers Go Boom! since it's an explosion of colors, techniques, and shapes. The bag is knit in black and gray alternating stripes into a nice satchel shape. The flowers are crocheted and then felted. After blocking, they are beaded with some sparkly glass and metal beads, then sewn to the bag. I just LOVE this bag, and it's been getting some nice positive attention on Ravelry since I posted it there. I'm really excited to see if that attention converts into some pattern sales.

My Knit and Chat exchange partner, Tish, received the package I sent, and I'm so happy that she's thrilled with the Diamond Fantasy Shawl, the Margarita! bag, and the shawl pin. Wear them in good health, Tish!

I sold some of the Flambeau sock patterns this week to another Knit and Chatter, Carol, who owns a yarn shop called Never Enough Wool. thanks, Carol, for the order. I hope your group enjoys the pattern!

Long time, no blog . . .

It's been a flurry of activity around here the last 3 weeks. School started back the day after Labor Day. Duncan is starting on his first soccer team. And the kids and I all have the usual back to school cold and sniffles.

We moved the girls out of their cribs, finally, and into toddler beds and they're liking that a lot.

I'm getting lots of knitting projects done as well. I got my Knit and Chat Fall Exchange parcel mailed out and I'm waiting to hear that my partner has received it. I sent the shawl I was debating about earlier in the blog, as well as a bag I designed. And a nice little shawl pin I picked up from an Etsy shop. And one of my books and a kid's scarf pattern I designed.

Speaking of the scarf, here it is. With my beautiful son modeling it. It's a crocodile and the scarf will be for sale on my website soon. The pattern is called What a Croc! It's a fun way to drape a reptile around your neck. Raised stockinette stitch scales on a field of reverse stockinette stitch form the body and tail, with a crocheted edging all around. The eyes are actually little craft jingle bells sown into the eye sockets, and the nostrils are bobbles. there are even some fearsome teeth! There is a similar pattern by Morehouse Farm which appears to be a simple garter stitch alligator, and they sell their pattern as part of a kit, apparently, and in two sizes so check them out.

Another project design I completed is a gorgeous bag I'm giving a friend as a gift for treating us to such a lovely time in San Francisco during the summer. I was inspired by the design on a thank you card I picked up in a Papyrus store in Atlanta and decided to render it in wool, and many times larger. Here's a photo of what I've been calling the Thank You bag. I'm working on another one in a different colorway and I'm going to offer the pattern for sale on my website as well . . . as soon as I finish knitting
the second colorway.

Oh, and I completed my August sock of the month a couple of days into September, so not bad all things considered. I knitted the Carolina sock in Socks That Rock medium weight Sherbet. Here they are too.

I also designed and knitted a dishcloth, my first experience in laying out an actual knit/purl design so that it makes a picture. The pattern is an angel, and it can be downloaded from free pattern page at my website. Here's the photo of the Dishcloth Relay Angel. The cloth was designed to go along with a dishcloth relay planned on my favorite knitting forum at Delphi -- Knit and Chat.

So, I guess that's all for now. Be watching the Shopping section of my webpage for the bag and scarf patterns to become available, and just follow the link in the right hand column to my free patterns to pick up a copy of the Angel dishcloth.

Later!