Dear designers:

As many of you may know, I have been doing lots of test knitting/crocheting lately.  I do this mostly because I am crazy, and partially because I have a mild obsession with getting free patterns.  That's ugly in a designer, but I digress.  The point is, I have several tips for you designers out there, to make sure you are ready to test your design.

1. If you pattern isn't finished, you are not ready to test.  It can be rough.  It can have mistakes (heck, I expect mistakes).  But you have to have the whole pattern written before you send it to your testers, and send the whole thing to your testers.  Some of us like to skim the whole pattern so we know what we're doing before we start.
2. Put your instructions in the order you want me to do them.  Sometimes I have Mom Brain.  It is not fun to spend half an hour trying to figure out part one, only to find out that you have to do part two first.
3. Be ready to answer your email/rav messages/whatever in a timely fashion.  I am working hard to meet your deadline, and it freaks me out when I can't continue because I need more information from you.  I understand you have a life, but please try to be available.  If your silence can be measured in days, it has gone on too long.

I like testing patterns, really.  I learn interesting things from my fellow designers, and if you want to start designing, I highly recommend doing a few pattern tests first.  If nothing else, it will let you know what you are in for.

Apparently, I like deadlines.

I'm racing myself to see if I can finish a pair of socks in a month.

I'm also consoling myself that I couldn't afford a sweater's worth of All For Love of Yarn by making socks out of some I had in stash.  As you can see, it is stunning, even in a crappy webcam shot.  She's also having a massive sale on her DK and worsted weight yarn, and has some sweater quantities, so if you have cash money to blow on yarn, you might want to blow some of it on Angela's yarn.  I really like it, at least.

ETA:  Also, you can get 20% off your purchase with the code SH2013 through the seventeenth.  I picked up a lovely OOAK ball of RED!  My favorite color.  :)

Nerd Wars

You know what I like to do?  Play stupid crafting games.  My favorite right now (and possibly ever) is Nerd Wars.  This could quite possibly because I am so nerdy, I could fit right in on almost any of the bajillion zillion teams.  Anyway, the current tournament just ended, and I wanted a bonus chance to show off my awesome dissertation sweater:

As you can see I am very pleased with it, and it fits just the way I wanted it to.  The sleeves are even long enough, which is typically a big problem for me, since by the time I start making sleeves I'm just ready for the freaking thing to be done already so I overestimate blocking growth.  In any case you should consider playing Nerd Wars when the next tournament starts in a month, because you will finish all kinds of things.

Another new pattern. Yay!

Just released my newest pattern, Warm Your Sweetheart Hat and Cowl.

It's in Knit Picks' cuddly new bulky weight Billow, and I'm really pleased at how it turned out.  Both pieces feature an all over reversible XO cable pattern.  It was a lot of fun to make, I'm making another of the hats in my husband's size!  Available on Ravelry.

Getting back on the wagon, again.

The baby is very lovely, and is full of baby-ish activities, like snuggling and crying in the middle of the night.

BUT!  I am back, for reals this time.  I have in fact published a pattern, and re-released some of my old patterns for sale on Ravelry.  You might want to check it out.  Hopefully, I will be able to keep going.  Because gracious, I think I missed this just a little.  ;)

I fell off the wagon

But I have a really, really good reason for it!  That reason is that it's hard to write blog posts when the morning sickness has you half convinced you're about to die.  Why yes, morning sickness.  We're having a baby in August!  I am however feeling much better now, so with any luck at all I will be able to, you know, post on my blog occasionally.

Happy Thanksgiving

Unless you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, in which case Happy Thursday.  Now if you'll excuse me, family has descended upon my house, and for some reason we spent most of our day at Ikea.  Sleep is required.  XD