Trying to Catch My Breath

I'm trying to catch my breath over here for a moment so I can tell you all what I've been up to!  The time crunch last week was so severe that I didn't have time to stop and write my weekly blog, so now I have a lot of catching up to do here.

Thomas' birthday was in September, but as it was such a difficult month I couldn't do his birthday party yet.  Then my husband got a big electronics order from the company he works for; he worked on it evenings and weekends.  So that meant that I couldn't host a party here, so then I started thinking about putting the money up for renting the community room that our apartments has for events. The more I thought of it, the more I liked the idea.

We don't have a tiny apartment, but it isn't huge either so we can only host small parties here.  Having it at the community center would open it up to being able to invite anyone / everyone he wanted.  Since he really wanted to have a table top game (board games, dice games, card games) party, this would be a great time to do the big party thing!

Sale!

Hello, everyone!  

I'm in a generous mood (not rare) and feeling un-modest (very rare.).   ;)  

I know my designs are fun and enjoyable otherwise I wouldn't have bothered making them.  lol  I have a high standard for myself and have included ALL the goodies in these patterns, including how-to videos on all the techniques required.

I want you to be able to join in the fun, too!  So to that end, I've made a code "LUCKYME" that will get you 25% off any/all of my patterns on Ravelry though St. Patrick's Day, March 17th.  

(This won't get you a discount on Etsy, though, sorry.)

I am half way through the MKAL for Stitch & Story: The Case of the Missing Yarn.  It is a mystery knit along like no other; there is an actual accompanying mystery story!  

Rachel's Cozy Knits & Designs on Ravelry

Catching Up to Date

In my last blog post I was talking about all the crazy things I had going on last year that overwhelmed me.  I left off at the end of August just as I was being buried alive in projects...

I have always loved September.  For me it represents so many new beginnings;  the first day of school, my birthday, it is even Jewish New Year though I've not particular celebrated it that way.  September 2015 was all about just getting through the next step, one little bit of progress over the mountain path, carefully as to not cause an avalanche.

Here's what I worked on month-by month:

September

Searched through lots of pattern books for ideas for my design

Hand knitted socks for my sister

Used Jamberry nail wraps to quit biting my nails

Started knitting socks for my daughter

Started spinning this SAPGAP yarn order

October

Working out pattern details

Finished my daughter's socks

Wrote, tested and published this hat pattern

Started socks for my son

Hand spun and mailed out all this yarn

November

Sewed box bags for a fiber festival

Sewed a special order bag and an new cube-sized bag

Hand spun and hand dyed this yarn

Hand knit this adorable dragon

Started a fund-raiser for my ferret's surgry

Finished writing the pattern, and got it test knit

Sent off my Geek-Swap package

December

Make custom-order slippers

Dyed wool

Sewed more bags

Sewed a different style bag

Designed new fiber graphics

Hand-combed LOTS of wool

Learned a new style of art-yarn

Dyed this wool

Went on vacation to visit my family!

January

Designed something I haven't revealed yet

Hand knit a skirt for my daughter

Made a custom order of two hats

Finished this SAPGAP art-yarn order

Finally finished my son's socks

Got my ferret her life-saving surgery

Started an MKAL for my latest pattern

Whew!  All that was tiring!  That gets us all caught up!  My husband is still on swing shift so I am still 99% a single parent.  However I am going to be careful as to not overload myself to *that* point again.  I am enjoying my freedom of sitting and enjoying an evening of MY choice instead of trying to keep up with that frantic pace.  I still have a lot to get done, but at a much more reasonable pace. :D  I have lots of exciting things to share with you!

New Pattern! Red Alien Hat

Apparently I wasn't over booked enough, so I took on an effort to create a crochet pattern for someone who was looking for a crochet Pikmin hat pattern.

So it took me a while to get to it, but here I present you with the Red Alien Hat.

The pattern is available on Ravelry.

Nemesis Horns re-released!

Nemesis Knapsack has completed testing and has been re-released with updates!  

I really enjoyed working with the people in Ravely's "Free Pattern Testers" group. :). If you are a desugner, check them out. 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nemesis-horns-free-pattern