Sadly, some of the progress made on Nejat's blanket had to be undone. Twice. I was trucking right along and doing pretty well, then I had too many stitches on one part of one arm of the star. Went back and fixed that and got to the next round (star?), then found that I had only done half the shell at the tip of one arm of the star on the previous round and had to redo that, too. I have about six rounds of the blue to go before starting the white, cloud border, then finishing off the star with the white. Then making eleventy billion yellow stars to sew on in a pleasing, random fashion. And I'm still not sure how I'm supposed to sew them on, anyway.

I started this scarf, using brioche, which I've never done. Using a youtube video, I was able to get the cast on on my first try, and I think I managed the brioche stitches pretty well just by keeping a glossary of brioche stitches up on my iPod while I worked them. I have less than a week to finish it if I want to get full credit, otherwise it's just half credit. But it's free money at a yarn store either way, so I'm not complaining.


I picked up quite a bit of yarn this week while at a conference for Rich's work. I met another director's wife at an evening event, and she drove me to the yarn shop, then we took a nice walk on the river front and talked a bit. She also lives in the same area that we do, so now I know someone else here. I kind of abused my souvenir yarn rule to get all of this but, first of all, they had some yarn that is often out of stock and hard to find, and second, they had a sale on MadelineTosh that made it 25% off, on top of my 10% off discount for being a yarn club member, and third, they had this yarn that matched exactly my ribbon that I've been holding against yarn ever since I saw it across my purple dress. It is destined to be a jacket of some sort to wear over that dress (and other things).


This makes me so happy. The pink was already turning in the first picture - I had to take it really quickly.
One of the yarns I picked up was the other color of the UV color changing yarn. I also picked up some cream yarn by the same yarn company. Both of them will be used with the other UV yarn I bought to make a "striped" shawl. When it isn't exposed to UV light, it will just look cream with some texture, but in UV light it will be cream, purple, and pink. That delights me. I plan on taking the project with me to work on at our church picnic this weekend, since I will be sitting outdoors and will be able to see which color each of the UV yarns is.

So I heard back from Knit Picks. It was a no. A nice no, in which they said that they liked the design, but that it didn't fit with the rest of the collection as they arranged it, and to submit again, but a no nonetheless. I had kind of hoped that if they didn't want it for the collection, they would make an offer for something else on the website as a single pattern. Rich and I had a conversation about whether or not these nice replies were just standard responses or if they meant what they said. We decided that it might be like if someone is unattractive, or not that smart, that you wouldn't say anything to point that out, but you wouldn't talk about how gorgeous he was or her astounding intellect either. So, we figure they are letting me down easy, but they might have just said, "Thank you for your submission. Your design does not match our needs at this time." And again, nobody has asked me never to submit again, so I figure that is a good sign. I'm going to re-knit the swatch in a different yarn (different color and weight) and submit it as a submission for a spring issue next year, and see what they say. If I get a yes from them, that would be great, and if not, I will work it up as a pattern for the fall on my own with this yarn, or for the Knit Picks IDP, using their yarn. I still have some issues to work out with my swatch for VK, but I think I have the other proposal ready to go now. There is another design I had in mind to send to IK for their spring 2016 issue, but it was a real Hail Mary type proposal, and I only have until the 17th to get it ready for them, and I'm pretty sure that they won't want it because of the type of item it is, even if they love the design, so I'm thinking of shelving it and working on it for Knit Picks' IDP for next spring, since it uses their yarn. Hint: This would be useful for next year at the Paschal Feast. So, at this point, I'm thinking that I will put my biggest effort into the other two designs, and if I finish those proposals, then work some more on this one, and if it is ready in time, send it in and see what they say, and if not, save it for next year.

Here's my weekly reminder to like Arabian Knits Designs on Facebook, if you haven't already. That's where I put updates and testing opportunities and other design news. Your liking it gets me more visibility with folks who may not know about my patterns and that helps me. Thank you!

It's been a week of slight progress on my reading as well in both The Terror of the Southlands (Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates) and A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter. I also finally bought Coastal Knits: A Collaboration Between Friends on Opposite Shores, which is chock full of patterns that I love.



Also posting to Keep Calm and Craft On, Yarn Fanatic Party, and One Project at a Time

Labels: Books, Crochet, Design, Family, Homemaking, Knitting, Yarn, Yarn Along