Like Sand Through an Hour Glass

These are the days of our lives.

The world is certainly in turmoil...so how're you holding up?

I'll be honest, we have been a bit "up and down" in my little corner of the world.

For those of you staying home, staying away from other people as best you can, please accept my personal thanks.  I know it is hard!

My family...we're all essential industries, so the work and going out continues, but only to work and my one trip to gather supplies to feed us.

Gathering supplies has be, shall we say, interesting!  The panic buying from people who don't know how much of things they will need to survive two weeks at home has been incredible, and just when the world wide toilet paper shortage got into full swing, my washing machine died!

A week of rationing toilet paper (as hand washing meant cloth alternatives were not high on my list of things I wanted to do) commenced before the new one was delivered. In an abundance of caution I had it delivered to the front porch and manhandled the thing into the house and up onto the pedestal that I had built for the prior one.

It's taller than the one we had before, so TDQ can barely reach to put detergent in it, but I am not losing the cubby under it where the laundry baskets live so she will have to stand on tip toe to wash clothes.  But...nothing says Happiness like not having to hand wash all your things!

Like many of you, I thought I would turn to knitting for comfort in these wildly stressful times...and I can't wait to share one of those projects with you this weekend!  Here's the tiniest of sneak peaks....

As you can tell it will be a Knotions pattern...there will be two that I will be talking about on Friday!

Until then...stay safe, don't hoard and knit on!

~M

Fractals, Fractals everywhere

When Knotions put out a call for submissions for STEM inspired designs I knew instantly what I wanted to create!

A shawl...well I do that a lot...but a specific shawl based on something I had been reading on the Fractal Foundation website.

A computer cooling circuit that was developed by Oregon State University...theirs looks like this....

So I promptly sent the picture to the editor as part of my submission...and it was accepted!

Multiplication by Division is the knitted version of that circuit.  Very simple two stitch cables expand across the reverse stocking st base and divide to create additional cables until at the very end you get 2 by 2 ribbing.

photo by Kellie Nuss Photography for Knotions

photo by Kellie Nuss Photography for Knotions

Available now at Knotions or on Ravelry the pattern gives options for both the full circle and (what I consider the more wearable) semi-circle.

While I used a crochet cotton for the semi any yarn could be used!

There are so many great patterns in this issue, it is truly an honor to have mine included!  (And if you are smart...just buy the whole issue, you can do it right from the link above!)

Until next time....

Happy Knitting and remember Fractals are SMART!  (Science, Math and Art.)

~M

Sneak Peak

Time, Time, Time

How are we approaching mid February already?

So much knitting has been, and needs to be, happening in my little corner of the world!

When I put up my latest calls for test knitters one of my "regulars" mentioned that she was looking for a fairly specific pattern to make a poncho for a soon-to-be-new-mom.  When she first mentioned it I didn't have any plans to design on...but driving around that day inspiration struck and I spent a few days playing with yarn and cables.

All I need to do now is sew the toggles on and finish cleaning up the pattern!  It will be a very large file by the time I am done as I am grading it through several sizes and each one needs to have its own cable design so that the larger sizes do not have acres and acres of open areas between the cables, which will take some time.

I also need to spend some serious time working up the sample for an Estonian inspired 3/4 square shawl.  I actually wrote up the pattern last year and got some decadent lace weight yarn from Unplanned Peacock last September for it. 

This one will probably go up for testing this summer and be an Fall pattern release. (My time lines are long!)

I also need to get photos of a cowl so that the tech editor can work their magic on making sure I have all my ducks in a row for early spring testing and late spring pattern release. It's in another yarn I got at Wool Gathering last year...Peacock Fluff.

And...I need to carve out some time to knit up the samples of some summer placemats for my patio table.  Similar in concept to the coaster that was in Knotions last year the plan is to have a regular rectangle version and one shaped to fit better on a round table.

So all I need is...more time to get all the knitting done!

What are you spending time on?

Until next time....Happy Knitting!

~M

Palimdrome Day

Shush

Socks!

Every year, at Christmas, it is tradition in my house that my children (although young adults now) get a pair of hand knit socks in their Christmas Stocking. 

Finding exciting cables and lace patterned socks is easy, but as they are growing up and getting "mainstream" jobs, their tastes in socks has been drifting more to "what can I wear with this suit" or "really I need some smoother socks to wear with my work boots".  I find that knitting plain vanilla socks, while it sounds like a perfect solution to their needs, makes my eyes glaze over and the knitting take forever!

So I needed enough patterning to keep me interested, but for it to be subtle enough to make them happy!

Enter Pop Song Socks....

Having a musical theme for some of my other sock patterns...see Disco Tuned, Knot Tuned the Ballet, Knot Tuned the Symphony, Fine Tuned and Simple Melody,.. which were all prior years Christmas socks, it seemed natural to turn to the Easy Listening Station in my designer's playlist in my head.

Great for the men (or women) in your life who have definite ideas of what is "too much" patterning these socks can be purchased now from Knotions!

(All photos above copyright Kellie Nuss Photography for Knotions)

And my submission photo...