New Patternfish designer and a new job

I don't know if you've heard of the online pattern store called Patternfish, but if you haven't... there's another online pattern store out there, and it's called Patternfish. :) It's unlike Ravelry in that one has to apply to be able to sell patterns in their store. Around Christmas time, when I was in the midst of a huge despair-fest about the new VAT tax and how it's horrible for one-person businesses like myself, I stumbled onto Patternfish, and realized that they deal with VAT for you, unlike Craftsy and Etsy. So I applied, was one of 10 designers accepted for January, added my patterns, and am now a featured designer for February! Hooray!

There's a little blurb about me at the bottom of this (quite long) newsletter. 

In other news, you may have noticed that I haven't been around a lot lately. On February 2nd, I started a new job at LSU. I love, love, loved being a full-time designer, but the mortgage did not, and I admit that I've been really lonely for awhile now. I need to talk to people during the day! A science job literally just fell into my lap, so I figured that the universe was telling me that now's the time. The nice thing is that I'm only working 75% time, so I (in theory) still have some time to design without sacrificing things like having a clean house, and cooking dinner every night. I mourn the loss of my freedom, and it sucks to have to scale back my design work, but it's also great to be able to go shopping and not worry about the money. I can't tell you how great it would be if designers actually got paid a fair wage for what we do, but that's a rant for another day. 

So! Geaux Tigers, and hooray Patternfish!

New Pattern: the Lisburn Cowl

A couple months ago, my brain came up with an idea for a unique cowl. It was flat, not round, and had pointy ends that turned into i-cord ties, and each tie threaded through a buttonhole in the pointy ends. There were cables on the flat part, and applied i-cord along the edges. I drew it out, and thought about knitting it, and put it away for awhile, but my brain would not let it go. So, I gave in and designed the thing. I knew I wanted it to be knitted with bulky yarn, and the only stuff I had on hand was some white Knit Picks Brava Bulky, which is an acrylic yarn. No, I don't know why I had acrylic, either, but I did, and now it's this sort of odd cowl.

I learned a very valuable lesson whilst trying to get this pattern ready for release. Never, never knit a sample in white yarn. This puppy is absolutely impossible to photograph. I messed with the photos so much to try and coax some shadows out of the cables. This is actually a lesson I've already learned (shocker) with my Ghost Stories pullover- that is a gorgeous pattern, if I do say so myself, but it's not popular, and I'm sure it's because the sweater details are not at all visible in the photos. Boo. There is a 0% chance I will find time to knit another sample in a color, and I can't pay a sample knitter to do it because money. Anyway! Back to the cowl.

Meet the Lisburn Cowl.

See what I mean about not being able to see any details? Boo.

I'm glad I got it out of my head, even if no one else likes it, which seems likely. I had a hell of a time finding testers for this pattern. 

Interested? Until Mardi Gras, get the pattern for just $2. Heck, you can't even get a cup of coffee for that. 

Ravelry Link! and for anyone in the EU: Loveknitting Link!

Go Tom Brady!

I finished my Patriots socks last night. Easy peasy simple stockinette with a few athletic-looking stripes at the top. I used a ball and a tiny bit of another of the gray, and nearly nothing of both the navy and the red. It's all Knit Picks Stroll that I had in my sock yarn stash- I love that yarn. It's so soft, the colors are great, and it's perfect for impromptu Tom Brady socks.

I think that this Miss Babs Cosmic yarn (that I got at Stitches West when we still lived in California, eesh) will be my next socks, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow... there's no way I can knit while the Pats play. I spend too much time screaming at the tv.