Here is a quick look at what I finished in the last month and what I’m working on in February.
FINISHED
The Café Blend Cowl is finished! I had some really great test knitters this time and they all finished well ahead of the test knit deadline so I was able to release this pattern in late January ahead of schedule! Café Blend combines a simple cable with a mock cable in an all-over repeat that evokes coffee swirls and beans. Although Café Blend looks complicated, the pattern repeat is easy to work. The Café Blend cowl calls for a worsted yarn that holds stitch definition well for the cables. Cables are charted and written.
My newest sweater pattern Emma is finally and in test knitting now! Emma combines simple cabled edging on the body and sleeves with complementary cables running the length of the side from underarm to hem. Emma is a simple top-down seamless raglan with positive ease, subtle shaping and a split hem for a relaxed fit. Named Emma after Emma Rowena Gatewood who was the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail by herself in one season because this pullover is a perfect mid- or outer-layer for winter hiking. Written in 7 sizes. Cables charted and written.
My Neve cowl pattern is finished and currently in test knitting too! Neve combines two simple cables for an elegantly cabled cowl. Offered in two sizes. The Short Version combines two simple cables in an all-over repeat. The Long Version uses the same two cables with simple stockinette sections between cable panels. Directions for both the Long and Short Versions are fully written and charted as two separate patterns.
ON THE NEEDLES
Some projects are finally back in my hands now.
I’ve made some actual progress on this pirate inspired two-tone scarf out of the DK Treasures Yarn from Treasure Goddess Yarn in the colors Ghost Ship and Pieces of Eight. I made it pretty far into the simple ribbing at the back of the neck before I realized I needed more yarn. I ordered new and got it right away but that little bit of time out of my hands was just enough to leave it sitting on the shelf until recently. The simple neck ribbing is perfect to work on during family board games and movie nights. I made it even further than pictured here during a family game of Cuba so this one should be ready for test knit sometime soon after my mid-March deadlines.
I’ve also been working on this upcoming hat design. Two of the sizes are completed, one is on the needles and I’m thinking I’ll add one more size makings this one a pattern written in 4 sizes. I’d forgotten how much I love working with Lamb’s Pride Worsted on small projects like hats.
And I’ve been trying to figure out a new pattern out of this Valley Superwash in a beautiful color by Vickie Howell named Sriracha on a US Size 6 needle. I love the idea of this design. I love this yarn. And I love, love, love this color. But somehow this pattern is just not coming together as I envisioned. This is my second attempt with this particular pattern.
The first attempt was with this lovely, lovely skein of Bearfoot from Mountain Colors in the colorway Seeley. That wasn’t the right fit either. So, I’ll have to keep working on it.
I’m also working on a design for a yarn company. The color for this one is right in line with the Pantone 2019 Color of the Year Living Coral and I’m loving it. This is one of my mid-March deadlines and I can’t wait until I can share more about it later!
Last surviving mittens. 
A hat in three sizes!
My last two projects aren’t quite on the needles yet. But they will be soon! Every so often I go on a mitten knitting binge. The last time I did it was just before the husband and boys left for Okpik Winter Camp in extreme northern Minnesota in late December 2018. I made 6 pair that time. Those two pairs pictured above are the last of them. Winter Camp finally converted the husband to mittens and he’s been wearing the orange pair pretty constantly this winter so they are getting ratty. And I kept the green pair for myself (they matched my hair for a good chunk of the fall and early winter). All of the others went to friends and family members.
Going to be mittens soonish. 
Also going to be mittens.
So between the extreme cold this winter and the reminder of how much I love this yarn, I’m about to go on another mitten knitting jag. I found 5 colors of Lamb’s Pride Worsted and two garments from a recent tidying purge in the same yarn that I’m going to frog and turn into mittens also. That makes at least 7 pairs. Surely I’ll be done with mittens by the end of that.
And these lovely green yarns are going to be a hat in three sizes. I like to write my self-published hats with the different sizes following the same directions for ease and clarity. Then the only difference between hat sizes is the gauge of the yarn used. The inspiration for this hat pattern is from a store-bought hat seen on a soccer mom’s head at the chilly fields one morning last Fall. I didn’t know the mom and hadn’t had quite enough coffee yet to ask her if she minded if I took a picture of her hat for a knitting design. Instead, I sketched a rough outline of the idea on the back of a receipt in my car. My memory is nowhere near great enough for this to be exactly like the hat I saw. But I like what I ended up with and I’m really looking forward to working with these greens during the winter.
So that’s plenty to keep me busy in February!
