Thursday 28 May 2015

Jumping In With Both Feet

When planning out my goals for getting my designs published I decided that this year I would self-publish all of my designs on Ravelry as I worked my way towards submissions for magazines and other publications next year.  As part of working towards submitting patterns to publications for next year I've been starting to research calls for submissions  and looking at what various magazines require.

I've also been working on Caleb's hat for the coming winter.  There are no photos of it online yet, and I'm quite pleased with the result.  There was one call for submissions that I came across that seemed like this particular project would be a really good fit.  The deadline was really close to when I found out about it, but most of the design work was done and I had a finished sample, and I said to my self, "You know what?  Why not now?" ("Because you're about to have a baby and typing up then tech editing the pattern when you have a newborn would be hard" didn't occur to me as a reason until I was about to hit send but by then all the work was done so I figured I should go through with it.)

So the submission has been sent.  I really love designing, and I really want to see my designs published.  Despite those two things I find myself constantly surprised at how, when I come to do something on that path that's a step further than I've been before, something inside me wants to press the breaks and go slower.  Why now now?  The worst that can happen is they don't want it, I have slightly more time to type it up, then I put it on Ravelry myself.  It truly isn't rejection that I'm worried about.

So what is it?  I felt this way the week before my self-imposed deadline to get my designs on Ravelry the first time, there's something about uncharted territory that's unnerving.

I'm glad I sent it in.

Monday 25 May 2015

The source of the problem

Every so often lately I've been feeling extraordinarily warm.  It's so unlike me, I'm usually cold and love the warm weather since I don't have to wear so many layers to be comfortable.  In winter I always look so bundled up.

I got to thinking about what could be causing this, and finally realized that it happens almost exclusively while I'm knitting.

I'm knitting a blanket made out of leftover sock yarn.

I'm hot because I'm sitting in warm weather covered by a very warm blanket.

It is sad how long it took me to put two and two together.

Thursday 21 May 2015

Recovery

We were all sick the past few days, thankfully we're getting much better now.  Caleb and I got it first and are pretty much better, Joshua is a few days behind us.  I've been making lots of progress on the blanket, when I'm sick I just need simple knitting and back and forth in garter stitch with a couple short row corners is just the ticket.

The blanket is 3.5' square now, and actually looks like a blanket rather than a random square.  I think it could be properly called a throw at its current size.  I want it to be bigger, at least 4' square, but maybe as much as 5'.  Both of those sizes will require more yarn but that's not the end of the world.  I have some projects that will have leftover sock yarn when I'm done with them so not all of the yarn will need to be bought.  I'm still charmed by the thing.

Monday 18 May 2015

Back to the blanket

I wove in the ends of both the hat and the neck warmer this morning while Caleb played with play doh.  He doesn't often want to sit still for too long so the fact that he did this morning was amazing as I have a nasty cold and mostly want to curl up and sleep.  I love how both the hat and neck warmer turned out, but sadly haven't managed to take photos of them yet.  They are burgundy and there are cables.

I've been working along on the blanket, and it's the perfect thing for when I'm sick and need something that doesn't require too much thinking.  Simple is nice today.  I would love a cup of tea but sadly it's making it hard to sleep.  I'm looking forward to the end of the pregnancy insomnia, and I'm looking forward to meeting our baby.  Funny, but that part doesn't seem real.  I can't quite imagine there being a baby with Caleb running around as the big brother.  I'm not worried at all, I just can't picture what it will be like.  It's kind of like last summer when I knew they'd put grass in eventually and our yard would stop being a construction zone but part of me seemed to imagine the construction going on forever.


Thursday 14 May 2015

Just a little bit of instant gratification

I've got to just beyond the armpits in my purple top, which is delightful because that means each round is around 300 sts instead of 500, this makes it feel like it's going so much faster.  (Normally, I'm okay with things taking forever but there was a lot of stockinette).

I decided to take a small break, and work on Caleb's things for next winter.  In the last three days I haven't spent a ton of time knitting, but have a hat that's done save the pompom and a neckwarmer that's at the half way point.

It feels really good.

Monday 11 May 2015

Naturally it's stretchy

I finished the guitar strap, it's waaaaaaay too long, mostly because I didn't take into account the fact that knitting is stretchy.  So, despite the fancy two piece design with multiple length options the two pieces are tied together in a giant knot to shorten it.  Caleb seems to love it anyways, so that's good.

I've still been working on my raglan and am almost at the armpits which is delightful because there are almost 500 stitches on the needles which means the non-lacey parts are really really boring.  But I only have three more rounds to go before the sleeves get put on waste yarn and the stitch count goes back to being about 300 stitches per round which I'm sure will feel like flying, for a while anyways.

Caleb is napping, I have a couple chores but not too much, and then I get to sit down with my knitting and the remnants of an ice cream cake in my freezer.  It's going to be a good afternoon. :)

Thursday 7 May 2015

Thankful for vacuums

I installed the baby's car seat today.  It required me to take out Caleb's carseat for a bit of rearranging, and if you had ever told me how many crushed up Cheerios, Goldfish, and goodness knows whatever snacks could end up in one back seat I never would have believed you.  The car seats are in, which was one of the few remaining big items on the list of things to get done, and our car is now clean.

I figured there would be some stuff under the carseat, but not that much.

I'm making good progress on Caleb's guitar strap, but I'm going out today and since I'm close to being done that I'm going to bring the blanket.  It's just easier to cart around just one project, even if one is really small.  I've making the strap in two parts that will be connected by buttons.  There are multiple button holes, though, which means it will be able to be adjusted if it gets too small.  The yarn is tan and blue and the buttons are orange, I think it's a particularly charming colour combination.

Tuesday 5 May 2015

A small interuption

Despite being totally in love with the top I'm making, I have taken a short break to make a guitar strap.  Caleb loves music.  He is enthralled by anyone playing any sort of musical instrument, loves his toy piano and drums, and is convinced that the cranks to open the caster windows are microphones and will stand at a window and sing into them.  He has a xylophone which he is convinced is a guitar and will pretend to play his "tar" for ages.  The only thing that could top this is my husband bringing out the real guitar for a father-son jam session.

We decided that he should have his own guitar and bought him a kids' ukulele at ToysRUs.  They had kids' guitars too, but this is a much better size and is aimed at younger kids which I thought might make it slightly more durable (we're still working on being gentle, but so far he's been pretty good with his guitar).  He loves it like nothing else but is having trouble holding and playing it so I found some leftover yarn and am working on a strap for him.  I'm not 100% sure how I'll attach it at the base but I figure I can super-glue a little knob there and all will be good.