Sneak Peek: Kisseis

Here is another look at just what I've been up to!



Kisseis is a crescent shaped shawl worked in Malabrigo lace with a large ivy lace pattern and beads! It is named for Kisseis, the Lady of the Ivy. She is one of the Nysiades, nymphs of Mount Nysa, in Greek Mythology and caretaker of the young god Dionysus.



This pattern is currently being tested and edited.  It will be available as part of an ebook and as an individual PDF download in May.

Sneak Peek: Amalthea

Malabrigo Silky Merino, fringe and leaves...on my!



This shawlette was inspired by one of my favorite childhood characters; Lady Amalthea from The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle.  Soft leaves and delicious pastel yarn make this shawlette perfect for keeping a unicorn turned lady warm in King Haggard's drafty castle by the sea.



Amalthea is currently being test knit and edited, the pattern will be released in May.  It will be available as part of an ebook and as an individual download.

So, um...yeah.

Hellooo there little blog and lovely readers.  I am very sorry for taking an "extended leave of absence." But, I have some good excuses, really.

So here's what happened:
November - 

• I was rushing to get Snowberry Brambles released both as a Ravelry download and as part of  KP IDP. Man, translating the charts on that pattern to include written instructions was a bear, but I got it done!
• The yarn support came for my big, secret project and I began to work furiously on charts, drafts and the first sample.
• Went to Chicago and enjoyed wonderfully cold weather to rock my hand-knits in and great company.
• Then my dad suffered a major injury to his knee at work the day before Thanksgiving. Broken patella, torn muscles and ligaments...it was horrible and he had emergency surgery right away.  So by the end of the month I was in NJ to help him out with just about everything, since it is impossible to drive with a cast that goes from ankle to hip!

December -

• Hung out in NJ was bored to death, worked on a ton of Christmas knitting and ate a lot of good food.
• Brought my dad down here with me for a few weeks, celebrated Christmas, panicked at my slow progress on secret project.
• My dog, Rocket, got a huge gash in his side and had to have stitches and then proceeded to rip the stitches out...ugh. (He's ok now and none the worse for wear.)
• Went to NC to visit my sister and nephew and to "hand-off" my dad so she could bring him back to NJ for his doctor's appointment.

January

•  Decided to do a Project 365 (really like I need more hobbies)!
• Spent a lot of time charting lace, unsuccessfully trying to get the massive repeats to bend to my will.  In the end I bent to the will of the lace and it worked out quite well.
• Marathon season preparation, lots of meetings and public speaking...eeek!
• Turned 31...another eeek!
• My other dog, Roxy, got a hematoma in her ear and had to have surgery (actually on the day I was supposed to leave for NJ...see next bullet point).
• Found out my dad's knee needed to be operated on again and by the end of the month I was back in NJ. And there was snow, a whole lot of snow.  I brought Rocket along for company and so Roxy could heal in peace.
• I did manage to get one sample done for my project  >_<

 February

• By mid-month I was back in Savannah and my dad is doing much better.
• Roxy finally got the silly bandage off her head and a week and a half later got all of her stitches out. 
• Coaching started, I actually missed the first 2 weeks.
• Woke up the other day in a cold sweat realizing that I need to start busting my butt to get my designs done for the big project.
• Became obsessed with Photoshop and textures thanks to Kim Klassen's wonderful blog and e-course.

See, I told you I have good excuses! Don't worry, I will do my best not to let it happen again. I am going to try to post at least once a week, hopefully more ♥ Stay tuned, in the next few days, I'll bombard you with pictures from my big project and give you the full scoop!

So...we're not professional photographers.

One of the hardest parts of designing for me is getting great, artistic photos of the finished objects.  Most of the shots are taken by me or my boyfriend and we're not professionals by a long shot!  Surprisingly I get many compliments on my photographs, which always makes me feel a bit better about our interesting methods.

We did a quick and dirty shoot for most of the Something Sweet eBook in between Ken's work schedule and my jury duty.  I wanted to re-shoot, or at least add some prettier photos to supplement what we already had.  First it was such a bad day for me; record high temperatures, running late and not being able to find anything to wear.  We made it downtown and had a very delicious and very late breakfast (pumpkin crunchcakes, yum!) then began our trek to Ellis Square with stops at a few shops along the way.

Here are the outtakes from the lovely photo session, I couldn't even model any of the items because it was 90 degrees and I was sweating like crazy.  Adding a layer of wool was not going to happen!


Yay...the scarves will look so pretty floating gracefully in the air...hehe no.



 Floating on the breeze...not really.



 Kinda floating...



 The throwing thing is still not working.



Where are the scarves?



 There's one...and sadly this was the best shot of that series.  Luckily there is a large art school downtown, so most people are used to seeing people doing strange things :)  There are some more outtakes in my flickr photostream, like shots with my feet, shopping bags and weird tourists in them.

Sooo Done!

I have been waiting months for this day, the pattern collection is finally complete and up for sale!  After a hellish week of jury duty (and more to come next week), I didn't think it was going to happen on time, but I pulled it all together today as best I could.  The big rush, other than already being close to a month behind my own schedule, is that I have advertising spots reserved and they need an url to point to.  Not too much sense in advertising something you can't sell, is there?

So am I going to Disney Land?  Nope, like I said jury duty bright and early, well for someone like me that works from home, it is early.  Hopefully we'll be done with this case soon so I can get back to my normal life.   It is so difficult to work on my knitting in the courthouse, because I have to keep putting it down and people seem to automatically think you aren't paying attention to them if you are knitting.

I plan on making myself an FO from the "pattern that is going to be in a book" since the sample is off being photographed and is then going on tour.  I do have a sweater design on the needles now, but it is in fingering weight so that will be awhile!  Since I have my yarn support in hand for the next pattern collection I am going to get started on that, just so I can be done well ahead of schedule!  Also, I managed to get my capelet pattern out to test knitters today, which I am pretty psyched about.

And now I have a little something for you, my lovely readers, follow this link  or enter promo code "sosweet" at Ravelry checkout to receive 20% off a copy of my Something Sweet eBook now through 11/6/2010.

Someting Sweet eBook

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?!!?).

What I've been doing...

Sprinkles1
Originally uploaded by Lachesis77

I am sorry that I have abandoned you blog! Things have been absolutely insane, I am finally done with my super secret project. Just in time too, the deadline is tomorrow! Let's just say many forces beyond and also a few within my control all seemed to be working against me. But, done, yay! And I am pleased with the results and I will let you all know as soon as the book is available.

Here is my Candy Hat :Sprinkles version (there is also a Stripes version). This pattern will be included in my ebook, which thankfully is starting to come together after being put on the back burner. I knit it up in the new superwash yarn from Malabrigo, Rios. I am very happy with the yarn and the colors are so saturated on this base! The three colorways I used are: Arco Iris, Aguas and Purpuras ♥