Howdy, knitting friends! I know it’s been a while and a lot has happened since the last time I wrote a blog entry. I thought it might be nice to drop in and catch up a little.
As has been the case for the past few years, the best places to keep up with my knitting adventures are my Instagram feed and the Unraveling Podcast. I update my Instagram fairly regularly and it provides a peek into my daily knitting life. Pam and I have been doing a great job of delivering episodes of the Unraveling Podcast twice a month for a while now. We always talk about projects we are working on and interesting news in the knitting community. We are also currently discussing the book Knitting Rules! The Yarn Harlot Unravels the Mysteries of Swatching, Stashing, Ribbing & Rolling to Free Your Inner Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. It’s a wonderful book, and I invite you to join us on the podcast for our book club! Every few episodes, we take a break from the book club and have a visit from my wife, The Button Whisperer, who chats with Pam about the history of buttons and gives tips for finding the perfect buttons for your knitwear.
Note On Ravelry Links
Ravelry has recently updated their site and some users are reporting that they are unable to use the site because it is triggering migraines, vertigo, and/or seizures. I am not fully up-to-speed on the developments surrounding this and don’t have anything worthwhile to contribute to the discussion. It’s a mess, and I hope that Ravelry is able to fix the design issues and make the site accessible for everyone soon. If you want to learn more about the issues, many other people in the knitting community are talking about it in greater detail and I encourage you to search out those discussions.
Note that many of the links in our show notes refer to pages on Ravelry.com. If visiting Ravelry causes you harm, please be cautious clicking links. If you are interested in a link that is inaccessible to you, please send me an email or leave a comment on this blog entry and I will find a way to get the content to you.
Tiger Owl and the Carolina Fiber Fest
In my last blog entry, I revealed my latest pattern: the Tiger Owl cowl. I am still immensely excited about this pattern. I just checked on Ravelry, and it currently has almost a hundred projects listed with it. I love seeing pictures of it on Instagram (use the #TigerOwlCowl hashtag!). I was absolutely giddy about the prospect of going to the Carolina Fiber Fest and seeing so many people who knitted the pattern as part of the festival craft-a-long.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 had other plans for the CFF.
The CFF was scheduled for last March, just as concerns about the coronavirus and COVID-19 were ramping up. Literally hours before the CFF was scheduled to start, it was cancelled per the NC Governor directives. This was disappointing for everyone involved, but I believe it was absolutely the right decision to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus when the outbreak was still in its early stages. Of course this meant that I missed the opportunity to see all the Tiger Owl cowls that were knitted up and to talk with all the knitters who knitted the pattern. There will be new craft-a-long patterns for next year’s CFF, but I’m still planning on wearing my Tiger Owl and I hope a lot of other people do, too. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone who knitted it! Next year’s CFF is scheduled for March 12-13, 2021.
Designing
After attending SAFF last year, I started working on a new hat design. I spent some time chatting with Kathleen from ModeKnit Yarn, and she gave me a beautiful hank of yarn to use when creating a design. A couple of weeks ago, I finished knitting the (first) sample. I have lots of notes and need to consolidate them into a cohesive pattern.
I’m talking about this design in order to help ensure I create the pattern by this fall. So keep me accountable, y’all, OK?
Keep me accountable about updating the blog, too. I’ve got a handful of ideas on what to write about and I’d like to get back in the habit of updating this space frequently. Thank you all for the wonderful support you have provided over the years.
Until next time, keep on knitting for the ones you love!
-greg
Email: greg@KnittingDaddy.com
Blog: KnittingDaddy.com
Twitter: @KnittingDaddy
Instagram: @KnittingDaddy
Ravelry: KnittingDaddy
Ravelry Group: Knitting Daddy Designs
