In which I ramble and lay out new knitting plans

A long time ago when I started knitting, I remember saying I wanted to publish my own patterns... that I would get very good at knowing how knitting works and then make my own! Well, I've published a Sock Monkey, a simple shawl and I have a hat pattern that just needs an hour or so and then it will be published.

Not to say that I'm not proud of these, but the shawl was crazy easy and the monkey was inspired by another monkey... the hat is the first real 'original' thing that I dreamt up.... until now!

So remember when I cut that lace wrap in half?  Ya, me too!  That was a terrible idea in retrospect!  However!  It gave me the new found LOVE of caplets!  Here's why!  I'm pretty tall, which means that anything I wear has to be a reasonable size to not look ridiculous!  I usually wear a very huge pink cashmere pashmina, which while warm, is not that attractive and because it's a rectangle and super long, it's difficult to move around in... it either falls off my shoulders or my arms get all tied up in it! (yes, I do have issues!).  Ergo, the caplet!  I'm super warm today and I only have a tshirt and my restyled purple lace wrap.  Well pants too, but you know what I mean!  So I'm on a mission to make another!  I looked through almost all of Ravelry today and didn't find anything that I liked as is.  I found quite a few that I liked features of, but nothing that was 'perfect'.  Funny how 'perfect' for me is actually a chopped up something else... Anyway, I decided that I'm going to design my own.  One of my 2011 goals (of which I've done very VERY few) was to design and publish four patterns...that's probably not actually going to happen at this point, but two is acheivable if I get my butt in gear on the write up of the hat and get this one down.  Our KAL for this quarter is to knit lace in a heavier than Fingering weight (guess who MAY have thought that up!).  I'm thinking, since I want my item to be both lace and ribbing, (of which I drew a hellishly crappy picture!), I will use the overdyed pink yarn for that instead... I really can't get on board with a baby pink lace shawl... In fact, I'm sort of over shawls... as my friend PJ put it... she got there about a week before me, but I'm there too!

So I'm thinking this would be a perfect time to think about what I want my new cape to look like...

I'm currently working on my sister's hat (16 cable hat) that she 'commissioned' from Glenda, but then I wasted far too much time getting the yarn to her, so I'm knitting it myself.  I have a scarf on the needles for a friend that is going in next week to have his prostate removed due to surgery.  It's already 2 feet long which is good because it's only going to be 5' and it's pretty monotonous knitting... 3x2 ribbing.  And I feel that I need to be in a good headspace when I knit it because as you know, my philosophy around knitting is that you're knitting yourself and your vibes into whatever you make.  I'd like the scarf to have healing strong vibes, not 'stupid boring scarf' vibes!

Other than that, the only other thing I have on the needles is my Alpaca Tarp, which I really should endeavor to finish before the end of the month.  Everything else has either been finished or ripped out and waiting for a trip to aforementioned Glenda's so I can borrow her swift for 20 min and reskein all my frogged projects!

Things I'm planning for (because I'm an overacheiver!)

My new cape design out of overdyed Louet Riverstone

Sedum Sweater out of Rowan Renew

Reverse engineered swing sweater out of Cascade Eco (if all goes well, that could be the third pattern)

Lovisa mitts out of Madeline Tosh DK in Flashdance and some white Debbie Bliss

Girasole the Second out of Indigo Moon BFL in Wildberries

Felicity Hat out of BSA Alpaca Silk in both the lime green and the hot pink color (together, in one hat)

Christopher Hat for me out of Spud and Chloe in Waterslide and Barn

Hot Water Bottle cover (of my own design) for Sharon out of (to be acquired... you'll notice that up until this project, it's all pre-existing yarn in my stash... more on another day about that!) Vintage Chunky in Orange and White

Another pair of Mary Jane Slippers out of Gray and White Smungkee Yarn leftovers

And I say 'another pair' because last night I made a pair.  As per pattern, you cast on 30 stitches, knit for as many rows as you need till you get about an inch away from the tip of your foot (from the heel).  Next row, K1, K2tog (repeat across) and then the last two rows are K2tog and then you thread the yarn through, sew up the cast on edge corner to corner and the toe (for about 2") and voila!  I made a pair in the span of the evening last night (it would have gone faster if I was using metal needles and they weren't 14" straights... how awkward!).  Anyhow, they were a bit big on me, so I stuffed them full of 100% Merino roving and then jammed my foot in... SO SOFT!  I'm going to make another pair in 2 row stripes and only cast on about 24 stitches... Good for stash busting and good little slippers to wear when on the sofa knitting... I like to sit with one foot under me and a bulky slipper makes that uncomfortable... and I don't enjoy socks...