Monday, Monday

Hi, Knitters,

I want to pop in this Monday morning to say hello. I have been working hard on finishing up the manuscript for my next book. I only have a couple of details left before it goes off to copyediting for the first time. There is still so much work left (lots of editing, illustration, photography, more editing, book design, etc.) but I am feeling a lot of relief just by getting this far. It has been hard to get much work done in between the teaching and traveling and family activities this fall. But now I am almost there and that feels really good. I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Next up in the works, I have a shawl design I'm working on for a well-known indie designer, a couple of specific toy designs for a certain someone who we all know and love, and another shawl for a popular indie dyer, and then I have a few of my own designs lined up for my Ravelry pattern shop. I also have an even bigger scale project I am working on for sometime in the near-ish future and this is one that I'm particularly excited about. It's a lot on my plate. There is always so much to get done and that's part of the fun. I like being busy and having work lined up. I will start traveling again quite a bit to teach starting in January and going through the spring and even into the summer. Remember that if you are interested my teaching schedule is always at the top of the sidebar on my blog.

I am almost done with the second design in my Yowza Weigh It Shawl series. I think there will be three or four shawls in the series in the end (that's how many skeins of Yowza I have in my stash). Each shawl will have a different shape, absolutely no counting and different weighing points. I want to thank everyone for the incredible response to the first Yowza Weigh It Shawl. Pattern sales have been over the top and I really appreciate it. The pattern shot up all the way to #2 on the Ravelry Hot Patterns List after its release. This has been really fun and gratifying! Thank you so much.

Also, Cate Carter from Infinite Twist has been giving me updates on the Hayward Shawl Kit sales. She has reported that the kits are selling really well so far. That's exciting. Any of her kits would make fantastic gifts and she has a lot of variety. Click here to check out the Hayward Shawl Kit and her website Infinite Twist!

I went craft shopping with TC yesterday. She loves making beaded ornaments and our local craft store, the Wisconsin Craft Market, always has a lot of beaded ornament kits. Last year she made tons of ornaments and we boxed up little gift sets for everyone in the family. It was the sweetest gift and she felt really great about it. She is so much fun and I love it when she gets crafty. It is hard when you are in high school and a high school sport to find much free time. Now that her swimming is over for the school year she'll have a little more time. And I'll get to see her more! Yes to that!

As far as the socks in the photo go, I couldn't wait to give the fresh off the needles socks to my son. He came over to watch the Packer game yesterday and the socks were sitting there looking all wonderful and cozy. It is unusually cold for this time of year around here, about 20 degrees below normal. We had a fire going and I simply couldn't resist handing them over before his birthday which is in a couple of weeks. He put them on immediately and they fit perfectly. They fit like a glove as the saying goes. That is a great feeling. He loves them. Oh, and by the way he finished and caught up with the Corcoa orders last weekend. He has worked night and day and every spare moment in between on those orders. Thank you for that as well!

Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks Ragg Shades, #55048 in the Grey Brown Marl colorway. I bought it at the Wisconsin Craft Market for $7.49/ball. 

I used two 50 gram balls, almost all of it. My son wears a US men's size 11 shoe. I knit an 8-inch cuff.

Pattern: How I Make My Socks If you look on the pattern page there is a link to the men's sock pattern information that I put in a blog post (click here for the men's sock info.). I gave all of the numbers I use for knitting men's socks in this link.

Needles: US size 1 dpns, Knit Picks. I found the Signature Needle dpns, my usual favorites, were a little too sharp with this yarn and the points kept splitting the yarn so I switched to the Knit Picks. These worked great.

I have another sock on the needles for my other son. I am on the heel of the first sock so I have a ways to go. Both of these boys are crazy about handknit socks. They would love it if that was all I worked on.

Have a great Monday. I'll be back with a super fun review and giveaway in a couple of days. Maybe I'll squeeze in a podcast this week.

xo ~ susan