All the boys are home this week on mid-term break.  I used to dread long holidays as there was such chaos at home making it really hard to get any work done.  However somehow it was different this week.  I’m not sure why that is; it may be that term time has become so mad with different activities and running around that a week of just staying at home is bliss or perhaps it is just that they are getting older and are capable of leaving me work for a few hours uninterrupted in the morning!

Whatever the reason we’ve settled into a nice schedule, everyone leaves me in peace for a few hours then I come out of the office and check that they have actually eaten something and we go do something for the day.  That way everyone wins.  I’m working my way through all of the book edits that I’ve been sent.  After my initial panic at all of the different color marks and potential changes I’m now really enjoying the process.  It is far less mentally taxing to review edits than write patterns, but at the same time I’m getting a very defined set of work finished.  I have just finished all the patterns so now it’s onto the essays.

Speaking of essays – I’ve realized how rusty my writing has gotten but between the book and various articles/book copy reviews (and of course blog posts) I’m being forced to dredge up skills that I haven’t used in many, many years.  They’re slow coming back but it feels good when you eventually get a flow going!

I found my book on Amazon last week much to my delight but I’m not going to link it yet as on some Amazon sites the name isn’t quite right yet (being changed!) and the copy is being updated.  Plus the cover won’t be up until April so you don’t ACTUALLY have anything to look at yet….doesn’t stop me getting excited though at being able to find myself on Amazon!

As well as book edits I’ve got a few more design projects at various stages of completion.  Some secret, some not so…a little peek here of a cardigan coming this weekend (if I can figure out the name!) in some lovely Fyberspates 4-ply.  Think there will be some more of that in the near future.  This is possibly one of my all time favorites, I knit my first trial version in Felted Tweed DK that has not come off since I sewed on the last button.

It’s starting to feel like spring these days…mornings are brighter the weather doesn’t seem as cold (shame about the wet part!) and I’m feeling that springtime buzz.

I’m trying to be very organised in my knitting and designs these days and actually have some sort of a plan, lets see how long that lasts.  Here is my little stack of knits in various stages of progress.  The top cardigan will be the first to be released – this is the first version but the next (and hopefully final!) version should be ready to photograph this week.  This design had a pretty organic design process, it started for myself at Christmas and just evolved as I went along.  This of course meant that it wasn’t yet 100%, hence the redo! If everything goes well here it should be ready for release at the end of the month.

The middle one in the stack if from Euroflax linen.  I have had this for a couple of years and couldn’t decide what to use it for.  I love the drapy quality of linen so I have been swatching with it on and off in the hopes of finding just the right fit.  I’m very happy with this vest/sleeveless cardigan that it ended up being.  It is simple, drapey and had a somewhat deconstructed look that seems to suit linen.

The bottom one on the stack is still in progress.  This accidentally ended up being a new design!  I started out reworking Raspberry Layers pattern in a lighter weight yarn.  However as the accent slip stitch rows looked less dramatic in a lighter weight yarn I started experimenting and we now have  trinity/bramble stitch accent panels rather than slip stitch.  I’ve been wanting to work with this pattern stitch for a while, I love the textured open fabric it creates.  I think it’ll be somewhere in my future again!

Since last week I’ve been working on my ‘Author Review’ for the book.  This is so much more editing than I’ve ever done at one time before.  Normally I’m just reviewing a single pattern on its own, or perhaps 2.  This volume of patterns together really requires some serious head space.  I think I’m starting to get into the rhythm now though, hopefully it’ll keep chugging along without too many hiccups!  I can’t wait to get to next stage now and actually get to see the whole design put together, it’s all a little bit surreal.

Please forgive me if my post is a little rambling today.  My youngest son has been sick for a couple of days, nothing very severe but enough that he’s been running a temperature since Saturday.  Anyone with a small (or smallish!) child will know that this involves broken sleep and a babbling child.  As he is usually a talker a fever added to mix means that by 9.30 in the morning you head is ready to explode already from being talked at.  I’m now just waiting for him to talk himself out and crash in an hour or so!

In the meantime while I listen to his continuous talk I’ll tell you a little about my Draped Vest from Interweave Spring 2011.

This vest was an interesting design to put together.  I wanted to shape a vest using so that it could all be worked in one continuous piece.  It started at the back of the neck with a tube, works down each side (one side at a time) and then you have a short row ‘wedge’ that turns the corner to the back. Finally you knit across the back to the center where it is grafted together.  The yarn the sample is knit in is a heavy recycled silk. It would also work well in another heavy drapey yarn, perhaps a linen or linen blend worked at a loose gauge?
The sample is designed to be work with the fronts just touching and with a gather at the top of the back where it is attached to the neckband (that is why it shows several inches of ease).

This vest was really an further extension of my love of short rows. Being able to shape and even change direction in your knitting while still working it all in one piece is just pure magic.  I’ve got a cardigan idea that I can’t wait to get working on that uses the same general idea for turning the front corner.  I’m dying to get started on it but I’m going to resist – I’m in wait for some secret project yarn to come so I’m being very good and not starting on another larger project right now that will compete with it!

(c) Interweave Press

Spring must really be in the air, I’m bursting with ideas and my office desk is completely cluttered with swatches.  There are two designs working through the final stages that I’m dying to share, they’re a little lighter weight so perfect for the coming milder weather.