...and so on, and so forth

First things first, eh?

A few people have expressed concern that the last of my 7 Small Shawls have not yet been released. To all of you waiting patiently, I wanted to let you know that I am, indeed, working on releasing everything, including the extra small patterns to be included in the eBook. I really am not writing this in a defensive mood, but sometimes it's difficult to write about things like this without sounding like one is, in fact, throwing out all sorts of excuses and defending one's self. So. If I do end up sounding defensive, please do forgive me and accept that it truly wasn't my intention.

First of all, I absolutely do understand people getting antsy. I can't say that I wouldn't be, were I in your position. And really, I am quite flattered that you all want to start knitting as soon as possible! I have loved the project and everyone's response to it, and I thank you all. That being said, I also want everyone to realize that this is a subscription and was a challenge to myself to design and knit ten shawls in 2010. I did not have the shawls designed before I offered the subscription and I tried to make it clear that I might, in fact, even fail in my attempt. In the end, I did succeed, and I think it was due in large part to your support! The whole thing was, and continues to be, a learning experience for me. One important thing I learned was that designing and knitting the shawls is, for me, the easy part. It actually takes more time to write a good pattern that people can follow and then to have that pattern checked and test knitted properly, than it does to design and knit the initial shawl. Surprising, isn't it? Because I have to admit, I still have difficulties reminding myself that a pattern isn't finished when I put the needles down.

Once in awhile, I run into problems, be they with a particular design or just in day to day life. This makes everything take longer. Even when things are taking longer than they ought, I do want you all to know that I work very very hard. I may not always work as smart as I could do, but I'm working on that too. Right now, I am having to learn to pace myself more, after a particularly difficult time. No - nothing horrible, but just basically what happens sometimes with kids, homeschooling, swimming, work and life. :) I know I'm sounding cryptic here, but often times things happen that I just am not at liberty to share, and also? I really hate making excuses. So in that vein, I'm going to stop here with this: I promise you all that I will have everything out to you as soon as I possibly can, and the patterns will be the highest quality that I can make them. I thank you all for hanging in there with me while I am working on finishing everything up, and I promise I won't start my next eBook until this eBook is complete. My biggest resolutions this year? Not to say yes to everything, to schedule better, to take more time away from work, and to learn that I can't please everyone all at once all the time.

ok. If you have read this far, you really do deserve some yarn and pattern pr0n, don't you think? So let's start with the new pattern!

Released today to the general public, Sevillano was part of my 2010 Pins & Lace Club.

It's knit from the bottom tip to the top, and uses short rows at the top to shape the triangle.

It's named after a variety of olives that you often see growing in the wine country where I live.

I'm really fond of this pattern.

I love how the short rows are hidden in the pattern, and I adore the open mesh of the middle back.

It is very easily re-sized, and it includes both charts and written instructions.You can purchase it here for $8. I hope you enjoy it!!!

And now? The yarn! Yesterday, I began to wind that gorgeous String Theory yarn into a ball, and I must have put it on the swift the wrong away, because I have never had such a mess of yarn barf! After a couple of hours, I gave up and took it off the swift; I had this.

After watching "Princess Bride" (perfect for untangling) it was still not done. I finally finished it today on the way to the doctor (#1 Son sprained his ankle badly and he wanted the moral support of the whole family at the doc - he thought he had broken it; Dad and I were pretty sure he hadn't; he's ok now). I was utterly determined. I did ask Karen over at String Theory about the yarn, and she said it was a limited edition, but she thinks she can find her notes to dye some more up. I have my fingers crossed, because of course it has now become my obsession, but I don't want to make something out of it if you can't all find the same yarn!

Today was a little bit of a tough day with the kiddo, so I needed some nice yarn to fondle. You know what I mean? I pulled out the cashmere that Iris Schreier of Artyarns gave me at TNNA.

She was saying that knitting with it really spoils you for anything else, and I have to say that even petting it has spoiled me! I got two skeins of laceweight - the dark reddish black and the soft golden yellow. I thought when I picked it up that the green was a laceweight but it turned out to be a 5 ply yarn that is not twisted together.

Of course I had to have it. And at 100 yards, it's just about right for a sweet little neck warmer or wristlets. A perfect little green bonbon of a project. Then I had to try the cashmere sock yarn. Look at the interesting texture in it!

These are little areas of superwash merino to keep the cashmere from felting. Isn't that amazing?! I love the look it gives the yarn.

After petting, I started winding. Lo and behold. All the yarns I wound were green. I'm not sure how I do this without realizing it, but I always seem to surprise myself with the green love. In the first picture I took, manual focus was on accidentally (I'm a pointer and shooter), but it looked so cool that I thought I'd put it out there anyway!

The second and third were more to the point.

In this one you can see how the 5 plies of that cashmere stick together (top ball is cashmere; the bottom is the tamed String Theory yarn).

I can hardly wait to try it! Off to swatch. :)

harbinger of spring

It happened all of a sudden.

The sky is still grey and rainy.

But spring is coming!

In other news, did you hear the latest Knitmore Girls' latest podcast? Jasmin is knitting my Brandywine shawl! Go have a listen. The Girls are awesome as always. :) And how is Brandywine doing, you might ask? So far, with the help of all of you wonderful knitters out there, I'm at 266 patterns sold ($5 from each pattern goes to Haiti) and I've sent off $1,000 to Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)! I'm going in $500 increments so that I can keep track of everything more easily. My goal is still to sell 10,000 patterns, and if you can help, please blog, plurk, tweet or...whatever! Thank you! :) You can buy my shawl here on Ravelry, or if you're not a Ravelry member, you can purchase it here on my site.

Off to do a bit of knitting on my silk/cashmere....

help for Haiti

It's up! My Brandywine Shawl pattern for Haiti relief is here, thanks to my wonderful wonderful test knitters!

The pattern is knit using Tactile Fiber Arts sock yarn in colorway Tangerine (which name I suspect has been changed to Bark, but not sure), a simply gorgeous color, and perfect in the pattern. It was an inspiration. :)

I loaded the pattern into Ravelry on Saturday night, about 11 pm PST. And you know what? At this writing, I have sold 137 patterns! Knitters are just amazing and truly wonderful people. I am blown away by how cool everyone has been on Ravelry, passing on the word to people about the pattern and encouraging others to help out.

The pattern is priced at $6.50, with $5 going to Haiti. I've decided to send off donations $500 at a time, so this evening, I sent my first one to Doctors Without Borders! My goal is to sell 10,000 patterns. And I want to respectfully ask everyone's help to get the word out! The response so far has been so warm, that I am sure it can be done. Reach for the stars, I always say. :)






Statistics:

Yarn: 437 yard skein of fingering weight sock yarn from Tactile Fiber Arts
Needles: US 6 for body and US 8 to bind off
Construction: Knit from bottom tip to top, so it's very easy to change the size smaller or larger
Price: $6.50, $5 of which goes to Haiti relief
Where to purchase: On Ravelry or Designs by Romi
Goal: Sell 10,000 patterns!
Favorite geeky detail: The bind off used is a reverse stockinette i-cord that looks like the body of the shawl but creates a nice firm tube that you can thread blocking wires through for a perfectly straight edge.


Love the way that worked out. :)

quality time

I'm spending it with my yummy silk/cashmere. The more I knit with it, the better I like it! It's starting to look like something.

I'm working up a little shoulder shawlette.

And I'm enjoying every luxurious moment of it.

It's super soft.

And the more I knit with it, the more sheen it seems to have.

I'll miss knitting with the yarn when this little beauty is finished. But at least I'll still get to wear it. :)

testers are testing; editors are editing

Computers are crashing. Yes, the pattern was delayed getting out to my test knitters because I lost the charts in an epic crash. I was amazingly calm about it, though. I don't know what got into me.

But now it's out there being tested. Yay for wonderful test knitters! Wanna peek? Here's part of it blocking.

And here's my friend A wearing it at knitting last Saturday. I almost didn't get it back. :)

This was a super fun knit, and it only took about 4 days, not knitting continuously.

Introducing...

...my newest shawl pattern, Trieste! It's a super fun and simple knit with an easy-to-memorize lace repeat. The pattern includes both written and charted instructions for a plain garter stitch version:

and a beaded version.

Trieste is named for a little bistro called Cafe Trieste, a favorite haunt of mine in high school and then again in grad school, with a deck in the back overlooking a creek. The people watching was fabulous, and a warm but simple wrap to throw dramatically over one's shoulder would have been just the thing.

In designing Trieste, I strove for simple elegance, both in the knitting and the wearing. The shawl begins with one stitch at the bottom of the triangle, and increases one stitch at the beginning of each row. By the end of the second repeat, I had memorized the stitch pattern. I took the shawls with me to swim practices, where they served as both a lap blanket and employment for fidgety hands!

The two versions, one in garter stitch and one in beaded stockinette stitch serve two very different purposes in your wardrobe, but both are wonderfully simple to knit. I have included dimensions for one, two and three balls of yarn, and
since you are knitting from the bottom up, you can stop wherever you wish!

The samples shown use 3 balls of elann.com Silken Kydd in Raisin for the garter stitch wrap:


and three balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Splendour (sadly, discontinued) for the beaded stockinette wrap.


The pattern is available both on my site and on Ravelry , for $6.50, as a pdf download.

Hope you like it!

Another Secret Revealed!

The Interweave Knits Winter preview is up! And another of my secret projects is revealed: Lacy Ribbons.


This is my favorite winter secret. :)

Many Thanks

It's late in the day, but I hope not too late to give our veterans a heart felt thank you for your service. I so appreciate what you have done and do every day. My husband is a veteran and jokes that he wears his veteran's hat twice a year. Veteran's Day is one of those days, and he has had people thanking him all day for his service. It really means a lot to him to know that he is appreciated.

In other news, I've finished my garter stitch mohair/silk shawl. Here it sits, awaiting blockage:

You'll have to take my word for it that it's pretty. :) And I've started the beaded stockinette version.

I am really loving knitting this thing. The color is luminous! I wish my photography could do it justice. I'm hoping to finish it this weekend at the swim meet in Vallejo. There will be plenty of knitting time! Next week, I'll block them both and post pics.

Also this weekend, the winter issue of Twist Collective is coming out, and I have a design in it! It is due out Sunday, and I can't wait to see it. I really love Twist. The "stories" are inventive, the photography is exquisite, and the designs are high quality. I'm honored to be included!

Happy November!

Today, November 1, is the last day to get your signing bonus when you join my Pins & Lace Club! Sign-ups will be open until December 15, but sign up by today and get some extra holiday cheer!

Sterling balls of yarn earrings are back in stock!

Woot!

In other news, the wonderful Sharon, aka Skylark, is hosting a Queen Wil knit-along in my Ravelry Group starting today!


Come on over and join us! :D

My new shawl is progressing really well!

Yesterday, at the swim meet, I got a ton of knitting done while waiting for the boys' events. The lace pattern is super easy to memorize, so it make superb travel knitting. Can I just add that I am so thrilled to be home today?! This was the third swim meet in four weeks, and we were so hoping that #1 Son would choose not to go today. I was all in favor of putting my parental foot down, but DH wanted it to be #1 Son's decision. The Bear didn't want to go back today, so it would have been a split of kids, one parent per kid. Thankfully, though, we didn't have to get to the parental foot since #1 Son was just so tired that he wanted to stay home. So we all went out trick or treating last night in the neighborhood, and ended up at the local firehouse where our Kiwanis Club (DH is a member) puts on an annual costume party with apple bobbing and pinatas. It was so much fun watching the kids! The best part was putting on #1 Son's vampire make-up. When #1 Son went downstairs after his make-up session, DH said he was unrecognizable. The Bear dressed up as a soldier, so we were joking that his only make-up was a piece of charcoal (which it was). It was a wonderful night. :)

Hope you all enjoyed Halloween! Happy November!

Delta Queen

New in my Ravelry pattern shop and on Designs by Romi:

the Delta Queen scarf!

Yarn: Habu Textiles lace weight bamboo (XS-45 20/3 bamboo) [100% bamboo; 574 yards per 50g hank]; 1 color #5 (dark red)
Beads: 980 size 6/0 opaque metallic seed beads
This pattern includes both written and charted instructions. Two identical sides are knitted and then grafted in the middle using my technique with waste yarn.

Pattern is a $5 pdf download from Designs by Romi or Ravelry. Hope you enjoy! :)

Something Socky this Way Comes

Yep, another sock pattern! This one was also at the Sock Summit without me. :)

Presenting Dynamique!

It's a fun lacy pattern. I started out with another pattern charted out and then I took it to my knitting group.

Oops. I totally changed it while not paying any attention whatsoever.

But it turns out that I like this one better anyway! :D

It's available on Ravelry.

Or on my site.

This one is a top down construction using two skeins of the Royale Hare's special Designs by Romi colorway, Flaming June. There are both charts and written instructions. Hope you like it!