Summer Time is a Busy Time

Phew. I have had a crazy summer. I've lost a job and started a new one and now I have to have my classroom all in order for the new school year by this coming Wednesday. The pressure is on to say the least.

On my lunch breaks, and times at home that Monster Baby has co-operated, I've been getting a good amount of knitting done, I think, all things considered.

For my birthday in June, I got myself some Hikoo Merino Lace Lightin the Bliss colorway. I'm using it to make an open square shawl for myself. I've never made a square shawl before, but it intrigued me, and I knew I wanted something pretty and light and airy, so this yarn the pattern (the 5 Shawl Shapes Cheat Sheet by Derya Davenport) just kind of came together somewhat fortuitously.  I don't have any pictures of the shawl itself yet, as the weather as been kind of crappy for photography for a few weeks. Hopefully that changes soon and I can get a progress picture of the shawl soon.

I spent most of July doing a test knit for my Ballerina Skirt in my brand new Ravelry Group. Head on over there if you're interested in joining a test knit or if you'd like to get sneak peeks at new stuff I have in the works. There isn't a whole lot going on right now, but I literally just started it and there's only about ten members, but going forward I'd like to build a whole community, and that means I need more of you! If you're a Ravelry member and enjoy my designs, join the group! I'm planning some polls about future designs and possibly a knit a long around Christmas or the new year. Head on over and tell me what ideas you have. If you're not a Ravelry member (which, how is that even possible? Check it out, I promise it's worth your time) leave me a comment below on those same topics. What kind of designs do you like best? What would you like to see more of? How can I improve? Let me know!

And I'll end on the kind of sneak peeks I'll be providing in my Ravelry group. Last month I bought some Knit Picks Bare Swish DK to dye, and I finally dyed it up last week. Now that it's washed and dried and I've swatched, I'm ready to review one of my original patterns. When I first started designing, I didn't know anything about pattern writing, or tech editing, or test knitting, or how to grade sizes. I was a hot mess, honestly. But I've learned a lot since then (it's seriously been 6 years, I can hardly believe it sometimes!) and it's time to go back to my old designs and make them something someone else would actually be able to make, rather that just documenting the process I took. Especially since the process I took was a bit... convoluted sometimes, if you know what I mean. >.>

But, either way, let me know in the comments or on Ravelry which pattern you think I'm going to be reviewing next and what changes you think I'll be making to the pattern. See you soon! :)