Almost.

I am so close to finishing my Something Sweet pattern collection!  I feel like I have been working on it forever.  The nice part is, that after finishing my pattern for the book, I came back to the collection and everything was almost done...awesome.  So I just had to finish up a few samples and edit the patterns.  And now...only two patterns remain!  The testing is almost finished and they should be on their way to my lovely tech editor by Monday.

The funny thing is, after all of the craziness the past few months, I was ready for a break.  Not that I don't love designing, but I just wanted a break from expectations and deadlines...self-imposed or otherwise.  Of course that day when I was telling my friends I was going to let up on my crazy schedule, I find a message in my inbox.  I have to keep the wherefores and whatsoevers secret for now, but I in a nutshell it involves me doing a small (6) pattern collection/e-book.

I can't wait until I can say more, but it will be a few months yet.  Luckily I will be able to give little hints here and there, so be on the lookout for that once I start the collection!  The yarn support is already here, so it won't be too long.  It was incredibly exciting for me to have been sought out, instead of submitting the ideas myself.  My confidence has been boosted immensely and I am so flattered! 

I have two other designs kicking around right now, one is a drapey vest in Malabrigo Rios and the other is a capelet in Malabrigo Chunky.  The capelet has been on and off for months, I was going to submit it somewhere so I kept it a secret, but I am finding I rather enjoy the freedom of self-publishing sometimes.  Especially with the upcoming pattern collection on my plate, I am happy to just do these on my own. 

I will say it was fabulous to come back to the capelet just because it was already written and charted!  I hate charting, and this baby is all charts!  I finished up the prototype the other night, but I decided I wanted to change a few things, so I ripped and restarted yesterday.  I love chunky yarns, because I am already more than 75% done with the new prototype!  Hopefully I'll be able to get it finished and get some shots of it up next week.

The vest is actually a copy of one I saw at Target.  Of course, I ended up embellishing it a lot.  The Target vest is basically a large rectangle with armholes.  So is mine, but I decided to use a lace pattern for the fronts of my vest with a plain Stockinette back.  The Rios has a lovely drape and I love the color (Aguas).  Right now I am crossing my fingers that I will not run out of yarn...it is going to be close, which is why I am working both fronts at the same time, so I can still have some yarn left for the collar.  I am probably going to stop by my LYS tomorrow, though, and hopefully they will have some left from the same dyelot (one can dream right?!!?).

Brilliant ideas.

Is it just me, that almost all of my bright ideas tend to come to me when I am either in the shower or out running...both times that I don't happen to have a pencil and paper with me!  While it certainly is not a groundbreaking idea, I decided to start working on an ebook, basically to compliment and include my Dulcet pattern.  See I have a bit of an obsession with ribbon lately, as in I want everything to be tied up in pretty bows.

I was washing what little hair I have the other day when I got an idea for a cape/cowl type thing and then thought of a hat that would be cool and a lace scarf that would compliment them too.  And they all have to have names that go along with the Dulcet "sweet" theme, like Fondant, Spun Sugar and Meringue.  It was pretty crazy and I am sure my boyfriend thought I was crazy as I went running out of the shower still dripping trying to get to my design notebook and scribble it all down, just in case my brain decided to lose it!  So here is one of my prototypes:

Fondant is knit in a super bulky yarn, Malabrigo Aquarella, and laced up with 1.5 inch satin ribbon.  I wanted to design a piece that was really versatile and a bit funky...I am pretty pleased with how it turned out!  The pattern is mostly done for this, I just need to get the photo tutorial shot of the different ways to lace and wear it and get a test knitter or two to give it a go and it will be ready for release into the wild!