New hat pattern

Sometimes I get so busy working on my knitting that I completely forget about blogging - which is what happened last week. After much time and willpower, I finished my yoke sweater on Saturday and happily wore it that night. As soon as I get a chance, I'll have my husband take a picture of me in it so I can show the world my work.
In other news, I'm thrilled to death to have a steady job again - especially one that I like! What could be better than walking a bunch of sweet dogs? (One at a time, naturally - I'm not sure if I could walk five dogs at once...)
And I finally dug up the pattern for this hat, which I've been meaning to list for a while. Simple design, pretty yarn, fun to make.

My busy weekend

Three hats - that's what I achieved from Friday through Sunday last weekend. All three are for my men's Fair Isle line. And yesterday and today, between a couple of job interviews, I've been working steadily on a yoke sweater (for myself, for once!) while watching my way through Buffy on Netflix. Awesome show - it's the second time I've watched it through - and a great sweater-knitting companion. Next up - a jacket pattern for Etsy and a sweater for my husband.

Fair Isle capelet thingy

Many will say that they're either a "process knitter" or a "product knitter" - meaning they either knit because they love the process more or because they love the finished product more. I'm somewhere in between - I love the knitting process, but I have a ferocious drive to finish everything I start. (Finish it or, if I don't like the way it's going, frog it.) Though I usually have two to three projects going on at a time, I hate having too many pieces sitting around on the needles at one time. This piece was in hibernation for a while before I figured out where I wanted to go with it; I started it a few months ago, put it aside for a while until its unfinished presence started bugging me, then brought it out and finished it last week. The yarn I used was Vickie Howell Rock, a nifty soysilk/wool/hemp blend, to work a Fair Isle design. Once I'd finished, I still wasn't sure how I felt about it until I broke out the iron and blocked it - which flattened the stockinette-stitch edge beautifully and gave the piece a nice drape, just as I'd hoped it would do. It's not so perfect that I would put it up for sale - especially since it'll probably need reblocking after every wash - but it was a good experimental piece for this yarn.

My 100th post

And I don't have anything exciting to say for it - except that I got a job, which I'm pretty excited about. Yes, a job - right here in Ohio, where the unemployment rate is over 10%. It's just a part-time job, but one I'm sure I'll enjoy - dog walking. And I'll have a steady income! Yay!!!
Though I'm also happy to say that since I've started selling patterns, my sales have gone way up - I'm almost to 50 on Etsy, which isn't that many in the scheme of things, but feels just wonderful nonetheless. I just listed a new pattern over the weekend, for a hat I've been calling The Cleveland Cap. It actually started out as a cowl, which I frogged and reknit a couple of times before it came clear what the yarn wanted to be. I'm quite satisfied with the result.
I also listed a new pair of women's gloves yesterday - pink-on-pink stripes!

Now on Ravelry!

Actually, I've technically been on Ravelry.com for more than a year, but I've only recently learned I can sell my patterns there. I owe this knowledge to Cleveland-based professional knitter Pavia Lewis of Miknitures, whom I had the honor to meet last week. So for those of you also on Ravelry, my knitting and crochet patterns are available for instant download at EmptyKnits on Ravelry for $5.00 each. I'm really getting into these patterns, so I'll be adding more as I design them! I'm hoping to have enough to compile a PDF pattern book before too long.