So close! These socks should be finished tomorrow night or Friday morning. Just in time to count as a finished object in our first annual Around the World Stitch Along. We are so excited to keep this going, and are looking forward to getting it ready for next year. About the socks, though, I think you can see that I was a little off on my estimate of where to start on the yarn to get identical twins, I should have pulled out a little more of the yarn than I did, so they are fraternal, nonetheless. It's hard to get good photography right now with the smoke everywhere. It's hard to believe that the photo below was taken only three weeks ago.


If you have been watching the progress with Ember Days, you should know that it will be released Friday! If you want the first notice of its publication, please click on that link below to subscribe to my newsletter. I will be sending it out as soon as the pattern is available on all the sales platforms I have.

Though I am enjoying Kristin Lavransdatter, I did a little moonlighting with Nurture Shock. I honestly thought I would disagree with it and not like it, but it is surprisingly engaging and has been extraordinarily thought provoking. I read about 200 pages into it, just after taking a "quick" look the other night.


Linking to Keep Calm and Craft On and Unraveled Wednesday.
If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Around the World Stitch Along, Books, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knit Night, Knitting, SAL2020, Stitchalong, WIP, Yarn Along

I feel like I should be finished with my Stitch Along project, because they are ankle socks and really quick to knit, but they are not. They are super fun to knit and I am really looking forward to wearing them soon. Even though I did wind off some of the yarn to try to start at the same point, I managed not to match the toe properly, so these will still be fraternal, after all. I worked on them while a couple of my kids got their teeth worked on at the dentist today, and will have time to work on them during knit night tomorrow. There is still time for you to join us in the Around the World SAL, because we wrap up at the end of the day PDT on Friday, September 18, 2020. If you finish a project, you can win cool prizes, too!

I am still reading Kristin Lavransdatter and doing our Psalter study in Songs of Praise (also in the photo is a book I read a little bit from each month - Seeking God's Face: Meditations for the Church Year). We began Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle with the kids.


Linking to Keep Calm and Craft On and Unraveled Wednesday.
If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Around the World Stitch Along, Books, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knit Night, Knitting, SAL2020, Stitchalong, WIP, Yarn Along

So, I didn't get a chance to start the toe on my second sock until this week. I'm getting all sorts of practice using a Southwest Asian cast-on, though, which seems appropriate. It is a little fiddly at first, but not any more fiddly than any other small amount of stitches in circular knitting is. I can't wait to finish my Stitch Along project, from Comfort Zone Knits on Ravelry, so I can wear them this fall! One of my goals has been to have enough hand knit socks to last me at least a week. I am not there yet. I have only two hand knit pairs that are mine in the house. That's not true. I have two other pairs that are worn through. So, this will make pair number three, and I have another couple pair on needles that I might get finished in the next few months. In any case, these are going quickly and are a lot of fun to make. There are several sock ideas in my design notebook, but I don't know when I can get to them.


As for my own design, I am looking for beta knitters who would be willing to give this shawlette a shot. I am hoping to have it at my technical editor within a day or so, and then would love to have various knitters try it. It uses a single 100 gram skein of fingering yarn, and is pretty easy until the border, which isn't much harder, it just needs a little more attention to shape with simple (really simple, like much less effort than you are used to) short rows. If you are interested in beta knitting, please contact me. With steady evening work while watching movies or television, you could finish this in a week or two.

I was so glad to be able to pick up Kristin Lavransdatter again. It is really a delightful book, and I hope I get through it soon. I've had several nights without good sleep lately, and it is hard to focus even on something fun. The mixture of faith and culture and the conflicts that can raise are explored in this book in an engaging and interesting way, and I just like the characters.


Linking to Yarn Along, Keep Calm and Craft On and Unraveled Wednesday.
If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Around the World Stitch Along, Books, Design, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knitting, SAL2020, Stitchalong, WIP, Yarn Along

My first sock is nearly finished! It is my Stitch Along project, a pair of Summer Dew socks from Comfort Zone Knits on Ravelry. Her design is toe up and really constructed in a clever manner. I have really been enjoying how she executed the short row heel, as it was a way I have never done before, and the heel flap is made so that it imitates a top down flap, which I really like. All I have left on this one is the cuff and the bind off, which is one she recommends and I look forward to trying. It should be finished today, and I will start the next one for my knit night project.

Most of my reading has been in Songs of Praise, but I hope to get back to my other books soon. Just the practice of reading through the Psalms and taking notes to discuss with other women has given me a deeper understanding and love for this prayer book of the Church.


Linking to Keep Calm and Craft On and Unraveled Wednesday.
If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Around the World Stitch Along, Books, Faith and Morality, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knit Night, Knitting, SAL2020, Stitchalong, WIP, Yarn Along

So, I think I have mentioned that I try to take a few months off each year as a sort of "sabbatical." Well, August is one of those months, but I did have a lot that needed to be finished, so I didn't take quite all of August off this year. However, I am finished with the knitting that absolutely has to be done for my designs, and I am working on a Stitch Along project, a pair of Summer Dew socks from Comfort Zone Knits on Ravelry, as well as the stranded, beaded stocking for Mariam. Ember Days is blocked! I need to get final photography done, and send the pattern to my technical editor. You can see the socks and shawl with my books above.

I'm still reading Kristin Lavransdatter and Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages, but not making a lot of progress. It has been more about cooking, baking, and preserving here lately. We actually have leftovers from knaffeh, lemon blueberry poundcake, and blueberry pie. Having that much dessert leftover in our house is almost unheard of, which tells you how much cooking and baking is happening right now.


Linking to Keep Calm and Craft On and Unraveled Wednesday.
If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Around the World Stitch Along, Books, Design, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Homesteading, Knitting, SAL2020, Stitchalong, Tales from the Kitchen, WIP, Yarn Along

Since the slippers were giving me trouble and we have sunflowers in bloom, Rich suggested I get this shawlette finished so I can get photography done with our sunflowers. I am hoping to have this pattern, the slipper pattern, and a hooded cowl/balaclava pattern with my technical editor by the end of this month (some pretty soon, actually). There will be many opportunities for beta knitting, too. This shawl worked on my swatch, but after doing the larger, real, object, there was a part of me which still held its breath while I bound off, hoping that the short rows did what I though they did. They did! It was such a relief, and I love this bright, cheery color. Also, I won at yarn chicken. There are only about five yards left, but they are there. I was going to weave in ends and block today, but I had a lot of blueberries and peaches that needed to be attended to, so instead I made 20 jars of blueberry preserves and blueberry peach preserves. Tomorrow will be my block party day.

I'm still reading Kristin Lavransdatter. A friend loaned me this book, Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages, too, and it is really interesting.


I mentioned our Around the World Stitch Along before, well each of the participating designers has five patterns for sale in a sale bundle. You can see mine on PayHip by clicking on the Around the World Stitch Along collection button, or on Ravelry. Please follow us on Instagram, as well!


Linking to Keep Calm and Craft On and Unraveled Wednesday.
If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Around the World Stitch Along, Books, Design, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Homesteading, Knitting, SAL2020, Stitchalong, Tales from the Kitchen, WIP, Yarn Along

I was really hoping that Qibli would be headed to my technical editor and ready to come back soon for people to try it out before it goes on sale. Unfortunately, I am spending today recalculating a rate of pick up for the border, because I forgot the border had a different gauge than the foot of these slippers. Gauge matters, and swatching is more important than we like to think. If you would like a chance to knit these slippers before anyone else, and for free, please contact me. As soon as I have a decent picture and the pattern back from my TE, I would love to give you a chance to try them. These are knit toe up (with one of the easiest toe up methods in the world!), in a linen stitch with a mosaic border. The whole piece uses slipped stitches in interesting ways. It is a pretty interesting construction, too, if I do say so myself. It will be an eligible pattern to knit during the Around the World Stitch Along that will be beginning next week, too!


I am part of a group of almost a dozen knit and crochet designers who are putting on a stitch along beginning at the end of next week. We hope you will join us, either on Ravelry or on Instagram. We will be hosting an IG challenge with prizes, as well as the discussion, games and prizes in the Ravelry group. This is our first year putting this together, and we are hoping it will grow and become an annual event with more crochet designers especially and more parts of the world represented in our designers and participants.

I'm still reading Kristin Lavransdatter. We've been too exhausted lately for me to be reading much more than a page at a time, which makes it harder going. I found myself reading a story that wasn't on the page the other night, and that was when I decided to put the book away and turn off the light. Our study of Songs of Praise and the Psalms is going really well. It has been such a pleasure to delve into the prayer book of the Church and share that with other women.

Also, in case you missed it, Vespers is now available in Knotions Magazine's August issue!


Linking to Yarn Along, Keep Calm and Craft On, and Unraveled Wednesday.
If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Around the World Stitch Along, Beta Knitting, Books, Design, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knitting, Quarantine, SAL2020, Stitchalong, WIP, Yarn Along