October 2020 Recap!

October is my favorite! Whenever the seasons shift I realize that whatever season we now find ourselves in is my favorite. Fall is just the best though. October is so beautiful and dramatic, it can't help but be a romantic month. Plus all the witches come out to play! This one was romantic, busy and dramatically full of witches! I managed to work up one more Salem Slouch, make it through two sweater tests, and get a good start on a third sweater (yup, I crafted 2.25 sweaters this month!). That is quite a testing list and I have to add to it that I published a pattern, designed and wrote up another pattern, created some YouTube and SDK Blog Tutorials and ran a hoppin' test for the Freia Shawl the whole time. Oh! AND I WON A GIVEAWAY- a big honken' super duper prize I can't wait to tell you about! Sheesh. When I list it all out like that I'm like, no wonder it felt so full! haha! I will link to patterns, designers and Ravelry projects throughout this post.

The Salem Slouch was received with such joy I am honored to have designed a pattern that speaks to so many. My feed has been full of smiling witches and this has made me very happy. This witchy hat works up so fast that I almost forgot to add the one I made for Acorn Street Shop to my crazy long list of October accomplishments up there!

The quarter sweater is shown above in my lap there (by the time I took this picture it was a 1/2 sweater). It is The Illusionist Sweater, a test for a pattern update from Lovely By Lee and I promise to tell you all about it next month. I actually did make two and a quarter sweaters last month. But the Flip Side Cardigan pattern test for Janine Mudge of Capital Crochet went so fast it kinda feels like cheating. I used Lion Brand Color Made Easy and let me tell you the care on this yarn is gonna be easy! After I sewed in the the ends I actually washed it in the washing machine. I was so very full of anxiety with this experiment and kinda wished I hadn't done it (at least not until after I got good FO pics for Ravelry and the 'Gram). When the washer stopped and I went to get it out I realized to my horror that the machine had NOT BEEN SET TO GENTLE but was actually on HEAVY DUTY. Utter panic consumed me for the .5 seconds it took to yank open the washer. It was fine. Just flippin' fine (get it?! haha "Flipside Cardigan"?!). The pattern comes out soon and Lion Brand Kits come out on November 19!

When Jennifer Berg of NativeKnitter asked me to test knit the ShiYahzi Sweater for my 12 year old I was super excited. When I read her words describing her inspiration for the pattern my heart melted and I knew I was supposed to be making this for deeper reason. The diamonds have paths leading back to the center because what ever path our children make they can always return to their loved ones in the center. I saving my beautiful finished object pictures for a little closer to release date but here is a sneaky peak at the most beautiful swatch ever and the body of the sweater. My stitch marker for those of you who are sure to ask is from HelloGavriella. It is magical and I love it.

I mentioned the SDK Blog Tutorials and Youtube Tutorials I made this month. One is for the Faux I-cord Bind Off and the other is for The Garter Ridge Tab. They are pattern support for the Freia Shawl. Testing for the Freia Shawl is in full swing and in some cases even wrapping up. Shown with her crochet sister, the Fenna Shawl by Brittany Garber of KnotBadBritt (pictured in the foreground), Freia is a top down triangular shawl incorporating lace and herringbone for a drapy textured effect. The patterns are scheduled to drop on the 13th of November and I am so excited to begin spamming you with the photos from my testers and my adventures in the park with my knitting. There will soon be a whole blog post dedicated to these beauties along with a fanFREAKINtastic giveaway with Sprigs and Stone Yarn.

Oh! and remember?! I WON A GIVEAWAY! (Just picture all the cartwheel emojis and that is how I feel about this!). It was with TheMakersOfColorCollective and WeCrochet and was put together in support of the BIPOC MAL with Desamour Designs. The BIPOC MAL is a fantastic make along designed to highlight the patterns of makers of color who have less than 10,000 followers on social media and bring some balance to the lack of representation in the fiber community. Learn more about it on Desamour Designs website or check out this list of makers Michael Shawn and I put together. I will be making the Savannah Summer Shawl by Brittany Garber. It is a perfect opportunity to support a friend and learn a new skill: filet crochet! (Also: I got started on this pattern a few weekends ago and got more than half way through in a morning of coffee and crochet! No pics yet but I promise they will be coming soon). We Crochet sent me the yarn for this project along with a set of Knit Picks interchangeable needles and two beautiful books. It was a most wonderful package to open and I'm so grateful to them and the Makers Of Color Collective for the support.

Support is exactly what this community provides. This is a challenging week and I hope your crafts are a lovely distraction. I promise to do my best to support (or distract?) you as we navigate these uncomfortable waters (*prays election goes the way she wants it to). This month coming is a full one with pattern release, fantastic giveaway, a testing call for a great collaborative with Bad Sheep Yarn along with some super test knits for other designers. If you want to be sure not to miss a thing, subscribe to the blog, sign up for the SDK testing team, and follow me on Instagram and Facebook.