Okay, I know I said this mid August, but gosh, time flies.

I’ve mailed off the (still nameless) Winter sweater to the lovely Jaala at Knitcircus.  Top down, in the round, scoop necked, short-rowed set in sleeves, just past 1/2 length on the sleeves, applied i cord (plain & cabled), and more cables and lace, all in lovely soft Blue Sky Alpacas Melange in Saffron.  Look for it in the Winter Issue, 1 November.

I’m working on three smaller projects right now:  a hat (lots of honeycomb cables) for the Fresh Designs series, the Raven mitts for Knitting Iceland, and some Wool Bam Boo mitts for the Classic Elite webletter, all due the end of September.

My goal is to get the Classic Elite mitts and the hat finished this weekend & mailed off.

The Raven mitts are a bit more of a challenge:  stranded knitting with US00 needles and single ply heavy laceweight yarn. We’re talking 10 sts to the inch, baby — with Icelandic yarn that yearns to tear apart at the slightest hint of stress.  And I’ve poked a hole in my fingertip with the Addis.  (You’d’ve thought I’d’ve learned by now to NOT push the needle tip.) The fine detail afforded by that gauge is really nice, though, and I think the mitts will be gorgeous when done.  (The pattern is easily adjustable to larger gauges as well;  you could do it perfectly fine with yarn like J&S or Jamieson’s at 8 sts/inch (which was my original intent;  it’s just the yarn I was sent — which is really neat yarn — requires a tighter gauge than that).

I also need to work on the Pippin vest again — the yarn is way too pretty of a color to let it languish (and the design is really cute — ribbing and twisted stitches, top down, in the round).

Next major project:  My winter Sanguine Gryphon submission, the Jack sweater, was accepted, and I should be getting the yarn in the next week or two.  Bottom up, fitted, seamless, set in short sleeves, more cables (of course), with some fun ruffles.

Other designer-related things:  I’ve made a couple small techniques videos.  Now I just need to upload them.  I’m also still working on the idea of the ebook — I’d like to get it out in time for people to use for holiday gift ideas.  I’m in the process of updating my older patterns that haven’t been InDesign’d yet (my new verb of the day).  I’m also writing an article on ravens to accompany the Raven pattern.  I’m the new editor of the AKD newsletter, so I’m getting that pulled together (writing an article for it, getting everyone’s contributions, etc).

Pause for breath…and on that note, don’t forget to comment on this post to have a chance to win Knitcircus pattern downloads or a subscription!