Pattern Spotlight

I've spent some time this week re-doing my pattern pages on my website. I had some of my patterns listed in my shop, which was fine but it meant I had to e-mail the patterns manually when I got orders. this is extra work for me and means customers have to wait for their pattern. Adn if it's over the weekend, when I rarely go online, they had to wait a couple of days. not good. A few months ago I managed to work out how to list pdfs for immediate downloads on m ywebsite. It's a bit long and drawn out process to do and I had the instructions all written down. Ofcourse i realied earlier in the week that I lost the instructions when our laptop crashed in February and we lost everything on the harddrive. Fortunately I managed to remember how to do it. I made the odd mistake but I got there in the end. So far I've been concentrating on listing my lace shawls and scarves. You can see all the patterns available for immediate download here.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be listing more of my patterns. I'm also planning to feature a weekly 'Pattern Spotlight'. This week's pattern spotlight is the Rosebud Stole. I first designed this for Yarn Forward. It was one of the first designs I did for Yarn Forward. I did two versions, one in Posh Yarns Eva 2ply and one in my own Cashmere Lace (which is dis-continued). Unfortunatley I don't have any photos of those two versions. But I did have the design re-knitted in my Merino Lace (which is discontinued) and Vanessa modelled it for me:

The last year I got Pixie (who knitted the Merino Lace version too) to re-knit it again using my Angel Lace.

 I love this colour. Teh Angel Lace version is lighter than the Merino version and much airier. This design can be knitted in any lace yarn which has 800m per100gr. My Bambino Lace would be a perfect choice and I'll have more Bambino Lace in teh shop next week. This week's batch has all sold out I think.

Anyway, back to the Rosebud Stole. If you're new to lace knitting and worried about tackling a bit lace shawl, this project would be perfect. The lace yarn is not too thin. the needles used are 4mm. For a denser fabric use 3.75mm or 3.5mm but you will get a smaller stole. The stole is knitted in one piece from cast on to bind off. Why not give it a try today? To see this pattern and my other patterns available for immediate download click here.

Tomorrow is emily's birthday, she'll be 12. We're having a sleepover party tonight and she has 3 girl friends here. We've eaten pancakes, watched 'My sisters keeper' which had  several of us with tears in our eyes. the girls are now watching 'Up'. I'm hoping they will be asgood as Vanessa and her friends were a week ago and be quiet so I can get a good night's sleep. tomorrow we're off to buy Emily's birthday present, a fish tank.

I've done lots of knitting this week and have made good progress on my current secret project.  I've also done lots of swatching for new projects. I've been itching to start a nice big lace project. I've not done a lace shawl in ages. I've done some charting and got an idea for a semi-circular shawl. I've got the chart worked out and I'll try to find time to swatch over the weekend. I'm plannign on adding beads to this one. With a lot of deadlines over the next 2 months I'm not expecting this to be a quick knit.  I've had Pixie do most of my lace shawls lately as she's so incredibly quick but this one i really want to do myself as I'm craving some delicate lace. My aim is to get it finished so I can release the pattern in time for Woolfest. I'm hoping ot get a new delivery of Amazing Cashmere Lace and a new Angora Lace next week and I'm thinking I may do this shawl in Angora Lace. And as it won't be secret project I can share the progress with you all. Dont' expect to see too much until beginning of May as i have a deadline due end of April and that will require all my attention for the next few days.