It’s finished! See pattern page here. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with the way this came out:
Many thanks as always to Tracie at The Crochet Studio for testing for me (and listening to me talk and talk and talk about it!).
I’m beat. More later, and I hope y’all love this pattern the way that I do!
I have all sorts of thoughts swirling in my head at the moment, but I’m short of time to make sense of them. It’s been a weird week. My work schedule was a mess because of our inventory and I’ve been under the influence of an on-again, off-again toothache that keeps popping up out of the blue to make me miserable. I honestly had no idea that it was possible for a freaking tooth to hurt this bad. As a matter of fact, I’m not even sure which one it is, because that whole side of my mouth goes nuts when I trigger the thing. I think I might have figured out what was setting it off, so I can at least avoid making the pain worse until I can get it fixed. But it’s sort of scary, because when it goes off it’s completely incapacitating until it calms down again. I’m worried it will go crazy at work and I’ll lose my mind right there in public.
Anyway, around all of this I’ve been working. My sample for my next pattern is almost done (if I can ever settle on a new border), and it ought to be out of testing in time to release it next week. I’ve been testing, too, and I can’t wait to be able to point you to the patterns I’ve gotten to test (well, I’ve only made it through one of them, but I have high hopes for tomorrow…heh).
It’s past my bedtime, but I wanted to check in. I feel bad updating this so seldom, because I have no attention span and tend to stop reading blogs that are as boring as I’ve been lately. With any luck, soon we’ll be out of the totally-focused-on-keeping-the-lights-on stage of our little financial catastrophe, and the words and the crochet will no doubt flow much better at that point. Crossed fingers, if you’re so inclined, and thanks for your patience.
A brief update:
–That dishcloth? Doomed. I just can’t find a stitch with the right proportions to make the shaping work out. If it comes to me in a dream…otherwise, on to the next thing.
–My two big design projects are coming along nicely, apart from the bit where I have to actually make the samples. They’re started, but I’m wrestling with the pattern instructions right now. I think I’m finally winning, lol.
–Anybody who thinks retail work is not challenging should be sentenced to a year of it.
–The baby destroyed my Irish-Hiking-Scarf-in-progress last night. One wip down…
Um, I think that’s it. Back soon.
I know, I know…you can’t tell I’m any scarcer than usual around here, but I can. Had three sick kids last week, sick me yesterday, plus the job, plus a possible move coming up if we can’t pull off a near-miracle money-inventing trick in the next week. So it’s on the frantic side.
I’ve been making time to work on patterns, though, for my sanity’s sake as much as anything. Have another almost ready to go to testing, so hopefully it won’t be more than a couple of weeks before it will be ready. It’s a different sort of thing than I’ve been doing, so it’s moving more slowly than I might have wished. There’s another dishcloth in the pipeline, too. This one’s pretty simple, so with any luck it’ll be available in the next week or so.
Back soonest.
Kim Werker just tweeted this crocheted Dr. Horrible. And made my night.
I also just finished my first run at a Jayne hat. Details to come when the kids aren’t trying to kill each other.
One year from my very first sale, I’ve sold 230 items on Etsy. That’s a hell of a thing, isn’t it? I’m shocked, and pleased beyond belief. I seem to have wound up focusing on patterns, which wasn’t my original intention, but I’m thrilled with the way that it’s working out. I love doing this. I love it more than I can quite explain, although the fact that I get up an hour early every morning to make time for it might be a reliable indicator. Heh. But seriously? For me there’s nothing quite like it in the world.
It’s going to be another great year. Thanks, y’all.
Yay!
If you’d rather use Etsy than the Ravelry download, you can also find the pattern in my Etsy shop over there in the sidebar. The finished dishcloth looks like this:
Spirals and dishcloths are two of my very favorite things, and I couldn’t resist the urge to combine them. I have to say that I’m pretty happy with the result!
I’d like to extend a huge thank-you to Tracie at The Crochet Studio for testing this pattern for me. Any errors that might still be lurking are there despite her attempts to straighten me out. 🙂 Also, I’d like to note that she’s also got a pattern out in the last few days that I was lucky enough to get to test for her: Sunny Picots Coaster. It’s beautifully written, easy to follow, and the finished coaster is stunning.
I’d also like to thank all of you. Designs need crocheters to bring them to life. Your support also means that I can justify doing something that I absolutely love. Thank you. 🙂
And now I’m off to celebrate by working on the next one, lol. Good night!
So I’m working on a pattern that seems very suited to being presented with a chart alongside the rather wordy (of necessity, I swear!) written instructions. I have a vague idea how I might be able to accomplish said charting using PSP and a lot of very bad words. What I’m wondering is if all of you out there would be as excited to see a chart included with a pattern as I would be?
I’m sorry I can’t give you more details, but let me tell you this: I don’t believe that having another way to look at the same information could possibly be a bad thing. I just wonder if I’m the only one who has become hooked on the charts and how crazy useful they are.
That reads more like evangelism than an honest question , doesn’t it?
Even so, anyone care to venture an opinion?
I did something heretical last night: I threw yarn away.
Worse, I threw it away in the form of a UFO.
You see, the thing is that I realized that I really, really didn’t want to finish that project. And since it was 10 years old, and I was not the crocheter then that I am now, the quality wasn’t such that I felt comfortable sending it out into the world into someone else’s hands as a donation. And honestly, I just don’t have the space mentally or physically to store something that’s never going to be finished.
So into the trash it went.
I’ve still got a ton of yarn left from it that can become something else. What else, I’m not sure, but I’ll no doubt figure it out after it’s had a chance to be stash for a while.
I feel…lighter. Definitely. When you can send something to the dump with a sigh of relief edged by sadness rather than vice versa, you know you did right.
Time to conquer the giant pile of stuff that has accumulated over here. I go through these cycles every few weeks…starting everything I run across, then sorting through and finishing some and killing the ones that aren’t turning out as well as I’d like.
Still trying to decide what to do with the Monster.
Finished my box for HAP that can go out next week or the week after.
Getting ready to look at the spiral ‘ghan with a critical eye. I think that the way I constructed it makes it fatally flawed. I have an idea how I might get it to behave better, but I’m not likely to start again any time soon.
Decisions, decisions.