faerwear

I'm still incredibly psyched about this pattern, though I was disappointed when, halfway through creating it, I saw Knitty.com's fall issue and noticed someone had submitted a pattern with somewhat of the same concept.

Regardless, I kept rolling with mine anyway as it's actually quite different and a bit more substantial, materialwise, and I'm still VERY excited about it - meet Morning Glory, a combination hood/cowl that will keep you warm and looking like a fairy in the winter woods. It's an easy enough two-skeiner knit, but does involve some a little bit of lace and cables, more advanced grafting techniques, and picking up stitches.

The pattern is available in my Etsy shop as well as in my Ravelry pattern store. As with all my patterns, the nominal fee for the purchase of this pattern helps to support our small permaculture farm - it allows me to make an income where there really isn't any (we're really rural, folks!) and feed all our animals (we're almost entirely fed by our garden).

i just opened a shop on Zibbet.com - i figured the extra exposure couldn't hurt - and Zibbet has Etsy to model itself after  (or not - gosh, listing on Zibbet is an ABSOLUTE breeze comparatively!)

I'm enjoying the quality of items I'm finding on Zibbet so far, as well as its speed and ease. Let me know if you've got a Zibbet shop too!

I was in California for a month - picked up some work and paid for a 1979 Volkswagon Rabbit, diesel, which we'll eventually convert to running on vegetable oil and use it for our town runs during the winter when the motorcycle doesn't suit.

The dogs are doing great - Shai's really coming into his own, and we've begun taking the dogs on miles-long hikes and camping trips in the Gila - here's Shai wearing his new backpack, obviously very happy about having a job (Sicily will get her backpack when we can either afford one or, like Shai's, have one given to us).

Unfortunately while I was gone most of our chickens were massacred - whatever did it left us with two ducks (Harold & Maude, and Maude is laying an avocado-sized egg daily these days) and two brooding hens sitting on a pile of fertilized eggs. Roy (RIP) left us a legacy - the three tiny chicks they've hatched so far look like they might be purely Americaunas, but it's also possible they're half white Americauna and half Buffington (big yellow chickens, like butterballs - in fact, the remaining Buffington hen has been named Butter. Her partner in brooding, a tiny little bantee who hasn't even begun to lay her own eggs yet but is sitting on everyone else's, is named Tart). I was devastated by the massacre, but that's what happens when you're responsible for anything other than yourself - that "anything" is still at the mercy of the world. But, with our new chicks the cycle starts again, though unfortunately it will be another six months before we see eggs from any of them, provided we don't have three small roosters in there.

In the meantime, here's a new washcloth pattern, Mazunte - it is available in my Etsy shop as well as in my Ravelry pattern store. I've now completed 8 of twelve. The next two patterns will be available ONLY in the booklet, and whoa, wow, my goodness, only two more and the project is complete! Then I can move on to my hat patterns for winter, which I'm getting very excited about - i've stocked up on some beautiful wool, wool/silk blend and alpaca for those.

It is fall here, and we're now collecting the fruits (and vegetables) of our labor - our garden is going off!  We're eating so much wonderful, fresh, organic produce and not having to buy much from the store. We live on minimal money (doing a lot of barter and work trade) but with all this fresh food coming in right from the yard, we've been able to splurge on things like cheese and honey from the co-op.

Maybe next year we'll get bees. Who knows?

i'm in a funk - it happens periodically, it's a life cycle. i'm having a hard time getting excited about much of anything at the moment (except coming home to see my silly, goofy, smiling dogs waiting there), but i also know that it will go away soon, and i'll be back to being happy. blah. blah blah blah.

in the meantime, i knit through it. even though it is august in the high desert of southwestern new mexico, i just finished this hat (Ravelry link) in a day, and it turned out perfectly. it looks good on me. and i plan on being somewhere warm for the winter (not hot, but warm) and so this hat is basically useless, i guess - good thing i knit it with cheap, $2.47/skein Caron Simply Soft Eco!

and also, i have been half-assedly working on these tabi socks, but i'm not so fond of them - it's mostly the toes that bother me. i was hoping for a more rounded effect and i completely hate that ridge along the four-toe section. if i frog them, it will be the second time this yarn has been frogged from a sock project. much as i *think* i like socks and have a real fondness for tiny dpns, i'm beginning to realize it's just a thought. sock yarn is glorious. tiny dpns are so cool. sock knitting, maybe not so much.

yes this means my washcloth booklet project has been on hold for a second - i need to get out of this funk and back into inspirational mode, and i need some new techniques because i'm getting bored with lace...  i estimate this project to now be done by late fall.  really? 12 tiny little patterns takes an entire year (and i only have five more to go). 

at this point, yes, i guess it does. when i get home from the internet (because as i may have mentioned before, i have to go to the internet), i'll probably resume working on the hat pattern I'm writing, instead of working on my booklet. Because quite frankly right now, some chunky needles and some cheap yarn are where it's at for me - something i can accomplish quickly and inexpensively to make myself feel better.

i'll resume the happy talk next time i get back here. sorry for the crankiness!

bleh! Vox has eaten this post four times now. I guess I'm just supposed to make it quick, but it's not so easy to do when you seem to be on a monthly posting schedule.

so, in brief, here is the seventh in what will eventually become twelve patterns in my upcoming booklet, Lather Up! (Ravelry link), a collection of 12 washcloth patterns. This is an easy pattern for the front of the booklet that uses only knit, purl and the left twist stitch. You can find this pattern for sale individually in my Ravelry shop if you are a member there, or on Etsy if you aren't.

I am happy to be over halfway done with this project now, as i'm looking forward to moving on to some new ideas, too. Right now I am terribly addicted to this Habu cotton boucle and i can't wait to share the pattern i cooked up for this stuff. Yay for lace!

In the meantime, yes, we did, we got another dog. He is a blue heeler/border collie cross - an absolute genius, for sure, who is very happy with us, and we with him (he absolutely LOVES his hot little girlfriend!). His name is Shai - it's short for Shaitani, which i once read was Swahili for "spirit" - i've never backed that fact up but we liked the word anyway, and shortened it to something a bit more masculine. Plus, it's a bit of a play on words on his personality.

As well, we had an amazing time on our motorcycle trip, though it was a bit brutal toward the end as we hurried across the heat of southern Arizona to get back home. Surprisingly, I was VERY happy to get home - this isn't so typical of a gypsy like me, but I guess it's because we were in such a hurry there was little chance to lolligag. If you're curious you can check out all those photos on my flickr page.

So, that's that for now - there's more on my other blog, http://www.squeezingtime.com - i intend to meld the two at some point as i can no longer find the time to maintain both. And so, that's all the news for now - i'll be back with more - hopefully sooner than next month!

yes, another superquick update but it's because i've been frantic once again - tomorrow my lover and i are leaving on an epic road trip. a crazy cheap little shuttle from southern new mexico to los angeles, and then thumbin' it up the 1 until we get to the Trinity National Forest.

from there we'll pick up his motorcycle and ride it all the way back home.

in the meantime, here's the newest pattern, Undulate - you can purchase it on Etsy, and you can also purchase it on Ravelry.

Take care, and have fun - see you when I get back in a few weeks!

i came by the coffee shop to work on my new Ravelry store and upload a bunch of patterns, but Mercury is, of course, all in retrograde and stuff... 

Ravelry is down and having database issues, coming back up around 8pm EST. i hurried over to the coffee shop for a rare chance to connect my laptop to an internet.

however that at least gives me time to run through the last little bits of pattern-proofing before I upload them all to Ravelry and Etsy. If you can't wait, feel free to check those URLs - otherwise, wait for the blog.

In just a little while you'll be able to buy and/or download all of these in one spot in my new Ravelry pattern store. I'm knitting the sixth right now, too, and resisting the urge to start a sock pattern, as i've run into another slump lately - mostly not having time to work on this little booklet project with any focus because it's planting season.

and all of a sudden the coffee shop is closing early - right now... 

jeez, what the hell?

Mercury in Retrograde. I'm just going to go home and knit now. Sheesh.

here's a picture of my newest pattern, now available on Etsy:

This one's called Strawberries in a Basket. It has a different top and bottom border, to make an actual open basket. The side border stitch is called Basket Stitch and the center lace pattern is called, you guessed it, Strawberries.

Also, you can now download my free patterns via Ravelry, if you're on there.

Believe or not, however, I can't figure out how. My designer page is here - so if you figure this out please for the love of mike post instructions!

this is the third time Vox has eaten this post, so i'll keep it brief - sick of typing!

Anyway - I have two free washcloth patterns now available, Cables'N'Lace and Hip To Be Square. You can email me if you'd like to knit these and i'll send you the pdfs. These are the two free patterns from my upcoming booklet of washcloth patterns.

Squash Blossom continues to enter Ravelry queues and garner hearts, and is starting to sell nicely on Etsy. Hopefully Ravelry will have my store up soon!

In the meantime I've been working on the fourth pattern, Summer in Asheville. It involves three different plant-named stitch patterns and is looking for a tester - someone already very confident in lace knitting and who can work out any potential mistakes - i've knit this a couple of times and i've run out of steam for knitting it again - it needs fresh eyes!

Once it's tested it will be available on Etsy and, hopefully sooner rather than later, on Ravelry too! If you're interested in testing Summer in Asheville, please let me know. I'll fill your inbox with 11 more patterns (testers will, in essence, get a free copy of the booklet).

I hate to do this to Ravelry, but.. 

I have also put my Squash Blossom pattern up for sale on Etsy for those who cannot wait.

I would have liked to have kept it strictly "ravelry", where buying a pattern and downloading the pdf is all automatic and doesn't require any further effort on my part (given my sporadic, weekly trips to the internet, this would be relieving).

However, I'm getting fancier by the day - I now own a Blackberry, and i've got the pdf stored on it - so, if you purchase via Etsy, I can STILL email you the file - wow, technology.

Anyway - I have re-opened my shop on Etsy - I am currently only offering a few pieces of jewelry as well as knitting patterns (this being the first). But if you've been one of the folks waiting for this pattern and you'd rather not twiddle your thumbs on it any further, you now have an alternative option, if you'd like:

Click ra-cheer (that's "rancher" for "right here") to get this one.

Once Ravelry gets me set up I will also be offering a free pattern or two from this booklet - and of course, I'll let y'all know when they're ready to go. If you are a Ravelry user and you decide to knit the Squash Blossom washcloth, the pattern listing itself is already in the Ravelry database as "Squash Blossom washcloth by Dori Mondon". Add it to your projects, and then I'll add your FO photo to the pattern listing!

And now, back to knitting... Just so's ya know, pattern purchases all go to, at this point, buying feed for our chickens - mostly the babies, as they've still gotta eat baby chicken food so they can grow up healthy. All of our birds get to free range all afternoon, including our ducks. We have a wonderful dog that keeps an eye on the whole shebang. We will also be dedicating money to water conservation on our property - finishing the catchment system, which is rather elaborate actually, and getting a beautifully companion-planted food garden going (soon, you'll be able to buy dried herbs and flowers, 100% organic, right from my Etsy shop!)