At last I finally have a sock pattern that is done, edited and available for purchase. Lucky Diamond, from Sock Madness 3, is up in the shop. I'm on the road to having a couple more ready too, just need to pick up some yarn for new samples from Wendee.
Speaking of Wendee, she's having a shop update herself later this morning. Go check out the lovely yarn at Hazel Knits. I've been working the majority of my fingering weight projects in her Artisan Sock yarn and have to say it's awesome. Not only does she have a great eye for color, but her base is really solid. Soft enough for me to use and wear (that says a lot), but sturdy enough to last (thanks to the bit of nylon in it). Just don't buy up all the Spanish Wine, I've got my eye on some.
I knit an entire sock yesterday. From cast-on to bind off in less than 24 hours, including a bit of monkey wrangling when Grant was working. Today it goes off to the photo shoot and my hands can take a break. I swear, after this summer, I think I'm done with socks for a while.
I've got 6 socks in various states of the design/edit/photo/release process. Considering that in the first 12 months of my business (Jan 08 - Jan 09) I manged to get 4 designs out there, that's big for me. I know I'm only taking 10 designs in total to Sock Summit, which isn't much compared to some of the power house designers out there, but I'm pretty pleased none the less. Everyone starts somewhere.
Now if you'll excuse me, another sock is calling my name.
Renee pointed out in a comment on a previous post that I should post some pictures, and it made me realize it has been a while since I've put some up. So for giggles here are a couple.
I took this shot of Mark on the swings just a couple weeks ago over at Carkeek Park.
A couple weeks ago Grant and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary. Thanks to some lucky timing we managed to roll our anniversary trip into a visit with some friends and a visit with the grandparents. We spent 2 weeks in TX and Mark got to have his first weekend alone with Big Grandpa and Baby Grandma. While they watched Mark we drove up to Dallas to see these guys.
These three girls have been my friends since I was 7. We were actually all in the same 3rd grade class. We went to school together on and off through high school (the school district had some funny policies, so we were split up at various points). Family and life moved us all over the country from high school on, but we've stayed friends. Currently you can find us in Annapolis, Dallas, Huntington Beach and Seattle. Every so often we try to all get together in the same place. This time we even brought the husbands along. It was a fantastic weekend that went by all too quickly.
So in case you wondered where I went, it's been TX and a whole lot of sock designing/knitting keeping me busy.
I'm happy to announce that SCK is going to have a table at the Tacoma Rainiers Stitch n Pitch on July 22nd! If you're in the area and want to come to the game I've got tickets. Can't wait!
So Sock Summit is coming in August and for the first time ever Stick Chick Knits will have a booth! More precisely, my friend is getting a booth and sharing some space and cost with me. But hey, I'll be out there on the floor selling my own patterns.
In light of this the majority of my design time the last couple months has been spent on socks. Right now my pattern line up has things made from sock yarn, but only one pair of socks (and those are free). I've been fiendishly working on socks around the clock and have various patterns in various states of completion. My goal is to have at least 4 sock patterns for sale in time for the show.
Imagine my surprise when wandering around Ravelry, poking around in my friend's activity section, I see a pair of my socks, completed. Only, they didn't have my title and they weren't mine. Yep, someone designed the exact same socks I did (same ribbing, same st count, same gauge, same st pattern, also a heel flap/gusset, though without the eye of partridge mine has). I know there is nothing new under the sun, but it's a bit eerie when you see something this identical pop up.
If Rav didn't exist, I wouldn't have know these existed (they were published for free at an online UK site I'd never heard of). I would have published them (for pay funny enough) and gone about my way. But, thanks to the blessing/curse of Rav, I now know they exist and mine will be scrapped. Back to the drawing board for at least one sock.
Ugh. As if trying to buy a house and wrangle a monkey don't keep me busy enough. Is it time for Tahoe yet?
It would seem you missed the memo. Spring sprung several days ago. Snow is best reserved for the winter months. Sunshine and flowers are the to do items for spring. Please get on it. Thanks!
On a happy side note, Grant's company got a sweet write-up in the NY Times. Congrats love!
I'm back from Stitches and have recovered enough from a crazy weekend away to recap all the fun. Sadly my camera had no batteries, so there are no photos of the weekend to show off.
Thursday was supposed to be my day to relax. I was arriving in the early afternoon and had planned to get a pedicure and then wander down to the market preview. Sadly, Virgin had other plans for me. My flight wound up being delayed by two hours. On the bright side, I got the body of my next sweater design finished while waiting. On the not so bright side my pedicure was missed and I had to rush to get to Spinnity's house in time to get to the preview.
We had a lovely time at the preview, I spent my Christmas gift cert to Webs on some lovely wool/silk from Plymouth and had a great dinner at Tomatina after with Spinnity, Bill, Jo and her mom Joyce and 'S'. Thoroughly worn out I crashed back at Spinnity's house.
Friday was a day long design class with Edie Eckman. I wish I'd been able to take this class last year, when I had originally planned to, it would have helped me immensely. As it is, I still learned some new things and got the inside scoop on the publishing world. Friday night I was entertained by Bill's live music while enjoying Cajun food with more of my old friends; Bogie and Roger, Jeni and Becky and later in the evening Rebecca and Adam popped in.
Saturday was more fun at the show, lunch with some friends from my previous day job and off to the Bobbin's Nest after party. I missed dinner and was late to the party because I thought I'd lost my jewelry bag. Who knew it was in my purse all along? I heard the gang at the Thai place had fun. I would have rather been there than frantically looking for my earrings. But once I got to the party I had a blast. It was awesome seeing Erin, the hostess with the mostest, and Wendee again.
I'm also happy to say that the Stitches after party was the launch of my new pattern, Twist & Sprout! I've been busy doing the layout work on these and thanks to Spinnity some revisions on all my patterns. Now that these are finally launched I can take a breather before diving in to my fall designs.
Sunday was a brief trip to the show followed by an uneventful trip home. I was lucky enough to be on the same flight back as Wendee. It's always nice to be able to chat while waiting for the plane. There's another design in the works for her fabulous sock yarn, but that's all I can say for now!
