What a wildly unexpected year 2022 turned out to be! 13 new designs, oodles of mini tutorials, new cables with notations, a complete website overhaul, and a few events, too, made these past 12 months fly by.
The 2022 Slip and Rise Pattern Club brought these 6 designs, along with a KAL option:
Shadowlands Headband, Love Letters Cowl, Vertical Hiker, Archways, Floral Chic, Glistening Evergreens
Peppered throughout the club releases, these stand-alone patterns appeared:
Optimistic Elevations – slipped stitch cables in the pattern club and slipped stitch cables out of the pattern club… Into the Unknown can easily be dubbed the year of slipped stitch cables!
Depth Perception – turning 40 as an April birthday girl and being “Miss April” with Malabrigo’s Quickies program felt like it needed something completely out of the box. New to me construction (capelet) with trial and error engineered new cables (that resulted in a new notation to describe them), two skeins of yarn, and a whole lot of joyful memories both of design and family time are the memories I associate with Depth Perception!
Bubbling Interplay – the leftover grey mentioned later in Autumn Sense started life as Bubbling Interplay. I was fighting a naked needles situation and enjoying swatching bubbles in the slipped stitch cables technique… the two forces came together into this summer weather scarf!
English Cottage Gardens – another of my stash down for Maine projects lead to asking for yarn support for this design. Hehe, even now I find that so amusing! The design was inspired by a new friend and stories of her elephant garlic.
Summer Hideaway (Tank) & Summer Hideaway (Sweater) – I loved it so much, I knit it twice. Literally! Normally I’d start with the tank and then shoot it and add the sleeves and shoot it (and take the sleeves off because I like wearing tanks better), but with Summer Hideaway the rhythm of the stitches of the interesting construction had me coming back for more! And I’m so glad I have both as the sweater is great in cooler weather and the tank in warmer 😉.
Autumn Sense – stash diving was big for me this year. A brioche design I had to put aside from publication due to runaway costs, left me with leftover orange and grey yarn. Loving the slipped stitch cables and being inspired by the falling leaves outside my window, lead to this crafty creation.
On the Set – part 1 of a 2 part indie designer collection! Stay tuned to see how this scarf is transformed into a sweater next year!! Yep, a seamless design too boot 😉.
Wednesday with Wendy – I’ve not shared the backstory here, which was amiss of me. The original prototype was a hat for camera dad back in February 2022, but I lost yarn chicken. Camera mom saw the colors and immediately claimed it! With a few tweaks, the intended hat became her cowl. Flash forward to September/ October and camera mom and I drove over to see (an elderly) dear friend to drop off some treats and mom was wearing her cowl. As we socially distantly shouted at each other, I mentioned I had naked needles. As a knitter herself she knew this was the epitome of boredom and asked if she could have a cowl like my mom’s in blues. After stash diving, I found enough yarn leftover from Snow Showers and a spare skein of Glacier. I got to work right away and a few weeks later took the photos outside her neighborhood before dropping off her FO! I named it Wednesday with Wendy as we spent many a happy Wednesday morning together on zoom prayer meetings and it was such a joy to see her in her handknit!
Meanwhile in Maine Update
Rather than a huge move to Maine, I find myself at the exact same place as I started… in body, that is. The build continues in Maine, and I look forward to moving! Thankfully we got “dried in” with the heat on before Camera Dad came home for Christmas.
It was a long 8 ½ months without his presence here! But I’m so thankful that he was there overseeing construction and ensuring only products tested were used!! When Christine Guest said she was looking for test knitters for her men’s sweater, I knew his first handknit sweater would be a wonderful way to say “thank you, with love”. If there is a man in your life you’d love to knit one for, check out her upcoming KAL next month! (And I hear a woman’s version is in the works, too.) To be the first to hear, sign up for her mailing list here: https://www.christineguestdesigns.com/blog/im-starting-a-newsletter/
As to my “Meanwhile in Maine” sweater design, well, unfortunately brain space didn’t see any progress, so it is still “in progress”. I’ve chatted with a tech editor about her helping me over the mental block I have – I have all the sizes worked out but getting into one starting point isn’t playing nice. I hope her second set of eyes will get me moving again… it’s too beautiful (if I do say so myself) to abandon! We’ve planned to tackle the set up directions together next month and see if that’s enough to get the brain to flow what I know is trapped inside.
Outside the knitting world?
I spent the vast majority of the year inside as, unfortunately, my health was worse than years gone by. I still relish outside days when they come! With all that “spare time” on my hands and little in the way of spoons or grey cells for extra designing, I started a new business – Barnabas Notes. Reliving and re-enjoying the beautiful scenes God painted before my eyes helped so much with the indoor requirements. Freelance photo editing (/ chart making) brought a few breaks to the monotony as well. I started kung fu lessons on zoom. Learning kung fu is an experience proving my lack of coordination, but also an unusually fun way to exercise. Zoom church and weekly zoom prayer meetings kept me social safely! Until I’m well enough to care for a pup, no dog is on the horizon. But again, thankfully the memories of Puddles bring tearful smiles!
Comments 2
Thanks for the peek into your health world. It must be unimaginably challenging.
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It is definitely different, but I’m thankful for God’s grace each day and the love and support of camera mom and dad!!