Testing, testing

Apparently, I've been very busy knitting and pattern writing and have let blogging fall by the wayside. I think I've been avoiding introspection a little due to some emotional baggage. Plus, I've just been excited by my ideas!

A couple of them have gone off to the editors and will appear in the next issue of Jane Austen Knits this fall (yes, two, I experienced some panic here and there to complete the samples and patterns, but it all worked out). Because the samples were for sizes smaller than me, I decided not to get them back and will instead knit my own down the line, which means we'll be able to do a couple of KALs! I appreciate that samples are knit at smaller/est sizes, since they take less time and yarn to complete (and fit better on "models"), but I've decided that I really love my sweaters. They're a personal thing for me, and I wear them as much of the year as possible (today is rainy and cool, and I'm wearing Wavelette - see below), so it will be worth it for me to reknit a version to wear and have for trunk shows and such. I know there are a lot of designers with a different philosophy, but this is what works for me.

To that end, I have a couple of sweaters that have just gone into pattern testing: Wavelette, which you may have heard about if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, and Bloc Cardi, which was a submission I never heard back about, so it's been sitting on the back burner for a few months, and I finally decided to get out of my funk and get this one moving.

Wavelette (I'm actually really in love with this knit, but self-photography doesn't always make for the most flattering photography - "beauty shots" to come)

Bloc Cardi - it's easier to smile when your husband takes your picture!

So, both of these have been written and graded, and I'm in the process of testing the patterns (join my Ravelry group, if you're interested in being a tester). They should be ready to go by the end of July. Since both of these are knit in fingering-weight yarns, they will make perfect layering pieces for the end of summer/beginning of fall. And I plan to wear mine all winter, thanks to overheated-New-York-apartment-living. I've already gotten a fair bit of wear out of the cardigan, and it always attracts attention from non-knitters.

And then there's Bloc Pulli, which has been written, graded, tested, and edited. Now, we just need a photo shoot before summer shows up in force.

On top of the five mentioned, I have a couple more completed knits (with lots of scribbledy notes and doodley sketches) that will be written and graded soon-ish. One is a laceweight shrug-y cardigan that someone begged me to write up when I wore it to this year's Gore Place Sheep Shearing Festival, and the other was the result of a gansey/guernsey/jersey obsession and some yarn from an earlier Gore Place visit. You can spot a sun-bleached peek in the Maine pictures. Soon! However, my time won't be my own after tomorrow, when Penelope finishes Preschool. Ack! She's finishing Preschool! So, I will have less computer time, though I've started doing a lot of my writing and grading on Google docs, so I can do some stuff while sitting on a park bench while the kids splash in the sprinklers.