Anniversary

Today is me and the Hubbo's 13th wedding anniversary. We've been together for 18 years and for some reason do everything on a 5-year schedule (started dating in 1990, got married in 1995, had a baby in 2000). A little known fact is that we eloped to Toledo and then went out to breakfast at Big Boy (romantic, no?) But hey, we were young and broke. We did have a casual little reception-esque party a few weeks later-- here's the classic cake-cramming shot:


Yes, I got a little carried away.

Goodies!

I recently did some pattern writing and grading for J.Knits (not designing, but taking other's sketches and turning them into patterns. To my delight, today I received this lovely package from Julie of J. Knits herself. The funny thing is the package also contained the check I was expecting for my services, but I must say the yarn (and cute tin of knitter's mints) was so engaging that I almost threw the check out with the envelope! Luckily I noticed before it was too late. The yarn is a big fat skein of Superwash Me sock yarn and two skeins of Simply Luxurious, both in the Honolulu colorway (I know what you're thinking-- green? But I just plain like it).

Behold

I actually get to knit with this. Yes, it's Mariel's Crystals, the Tilli Tomas yarn strung with Swarovski crystals. It is sooooooooo gorgeous. I'm doing a design for Knit n' Style using it, which is great since I don't think my yarn budget would allow for actually buying some myself.

Ballerina

Emma's first recital was last night-- she did very well!

Sneak peek

Of one of the designs I did for an upcoming Vogue Knitting on the Go book is here. It's the scarf.

Guess I could blame all the knitting...

-2 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Sock Book

I submitted a sock design for an upcoming sock book, and it was accepted-- yay! I spend so much time knitting sweaters, it'll be nice to have to knit a pair of socks (since they're my favorite and all).

Back to finishing up a little paperwork before knit night!

Back from TNNA

Well, I'm back, and tired (of course!) from several days of walking the show, chit chats, and whatnot. Like a total nerd I kept a mental tally of the number of garments I had designed that I spotted in the various booths on the show floor (31 in 6 booths, if you're wondering). I ran into lots of people I was hoping to see, including most of the editors I've been tech editing for so far this year, yarn company folk I've been designing for, lots of lovely ladies from AKD, especially Chrissy, who I've been doing a lot of tech editing for these days, Shannon, Vickie, Jess and Casey, and more. I also got to see our beloved and much-missed ex-Detroit Area Knitter Tracy, who lives not too far from Columbus and came down to join me at the AKD party on Friday.

It was so nice (as usual) to check out the new yarns, people-watch, and be generally overwhelmed. I had a few appointments for lining up new gigs, all of which went very well and led to much planning and time management on the ol' calendar when I got home to be sure everything gets done on time.

Until next year!

Upcoming book stuff

Taking a break from my work and perusing Amazon, I noticed a few books that will feature my designs are available for preorder-- yay!

Vogue Knitting on the Go Shawls 2

Vogue Knitting on the Go Grannies, I did 2 projects for this one

Luxury One Skein Wonders, also tech edited so don't kill me if a mistake slips through!

Knit on Down, description is wrong, it's all top down patterns, not afghans , did 2 projects for this one too

and last but not least,
Socks a la Carte which I tech edited but didn't design for per se, though I did help out with selecting some of the stitch patterns, etc.

Tech Editing Day

Today is one big ol' day of tech editing for moi. Am I ready, let's see?

Diet Coke? Check.

Laptop and comfy chair? Check.

Calculator, tape measure, scrap yarn and hook (for testing tricky stitch patterns)? Check.

Big binder o' style sheets, CYCA standards, etc? Check.

Big box o' projects? Check.

When I'm done with a good sized load, I'll reward myself with some knitting (design stuff, yes, but still fun!)