Rose City Yarn Crawl 2018

I have been busy knitting my fingers to nubs in the last few weeks. I've been test knitting some patterns for another designer. I got some Knit Picks Preciosa and did a larger version of the Number Play shawl.

Then I did a second version called Number Play 2 Shawl. A fingering weight with more added to the design as well as a picot bind off. I have a samples in Fierce Fibers Renai and one in Knit Picks Stroll Gradient. I posted it to the Facebook Free Ravelry Patterns group and someone started it and had a question. To double check, I cast on a third one using up leftover sock yarns. Okay, some of them are also leftover shawl yarns, lol!

I had done a sample knit mitt for Stacey along with the idea of using the stitch pattern as a cowl for her to take to Stitches West and Rose City Yarn Crawl. A communication mix-up and they didn't get debuted as I had hoped. The pattern reminded me of Willamette Falls so with the Waterway theme of the Crawl, I went with that. 

I think that I can get a beanie hat with a 50 gram ball of yarn. That's coming up next. So look for a Willamette Falls Hat. ;-)

I'm offering the patterns for free through March 7th. Then I'll change them to a low fee.

I have the Number Play shawls made up in Knit Picks yarns. I need to do that with the Willamette Falls items. I have some lovely cashmere blend yarn coming to me soon. So more samples to be knit up!  They seem to be receiving lovely attention.

Tamra and I for the third year went out and got our passports stamped all in one day. We added in a Bob's Red Mill store stop, as well as Penzey's and Trader Joe's... There was also a coffee and churros at 180 Xurros and a bagel sandwich from Spielman Bagels and Coffee Roasters. It was yummy, but oh my! It took 20 minutes to get it!  We're still in search of a good lunch point. We'll have to see what the crawl looks like next year. Tam picked up some Luna yarns she's wanted. I got a pretty blue MadelineTosh Sport to make some mitts and a hat with. We started with Wool n' Wares and ended at Northwest Wools. I think next year we might come up with a fun matched shirt or buttons to wear. 

2018 Knit Designer Goal

My dear husband was the one that encouraged me to learn how to knit. I resisted for a couple years, happy with my crochet. Then took the plunge and haven't looked back. I use crochet skills still, but knitting it my love.

Along the way, I was changing things that didn't work for me in a pattern. Then he started saying that I should be writing my own patterns.

2016 and 2017 I actually did create some patterns, but nothing officially written down and published on Ravelry, except for one - Number Play (Using link will open a new window). To date I have 710 unique downloads of the pattern!  I need to knit up the Knit Picks version so that I can submit it there. I've written the Number Play Two shawl, a fingering weight version knit with Fierce Fibers yarn and Knit Picks Stroll Gradient. The first one I was inspired by the Equinox colorway of Stacey's Buxom yarn and told her it needed to be knit up as a sample for Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. I had a little over a week to write and knit the pattern up! Then go back and test knit it to fix errors, and there were a few. ;-) With Number Play Two, I've figured out a better format so when I release it, I'll also do one more update for Number Play.

So I'm going to be blogging more this next year! Hope you enjoy the ride along with me!