April Check-In

April is done! April was a time of recovery after the Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March, plus a time of prepping for vending at I Knit Fandango on Friday 15-May-2015 + Saturday 16-May-2015 at Royal Horticultural Halls, Lindley Hall, Westminster, London. If you're in the area or are travelling there, make sure and stop by the JavaPurl Designs / KnitRundig booth.

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a blog post, The Post In Which I Look Ahead At 2015. I want to just check in on a couple aspects of this each month (and then I'll check in on everything at the end of the year). So here we go:

~Read at least one non-fiction book each month of 2015.
1 ~ The Accidental Anglican: The Surprising Appeal of the Liturgical Church by Todd Hunter ~ completed 21-1-15
2 ~ The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning ~ completed 7-2-15
3 ~ Soulful Spirituality: Becoming Fully Alive and Deeply Human by David G. Benner ~ completed 31-3-15
4 ~ Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words by Stanley Hauerwas ~ completed 4-4-15
5 ~ Found: A Story of Questions, Grace & Everyday Prayer by Micha Boyett ~ currently reading

~I plan to continue sharing about the creative part of my life which includes knitting, spinning, and designing patterns on a month to month basis here on my blog. Hopefully that will include releasing 12 new patterns, knitting 3 sweaters for myself, knitting 1 preemie hat per week, knit 7 stockings for family, finish at least 100 projects, and who knows what else!


Projects Finished this Month:
~2015 Top Down Preemie Hat #14, #15, #16, + #17
~Christmas Stocking 1 of 6 for Sister - my sister Carrie asked me knit Christmas stockings for her family, this makes 1 of the needed 6
~Bubble-y Socks and Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitten Socks - 2 new pairs of socks for me
~Super Secret Blanket Square - for a collaborative gift
~My new design - Super super super super super super secret project Doctor Who Companions Sock Club - Third Edition - 2nd sock pattern which is on sale now at http://www.pandiasjewels.com/, memberships for this club close tomorrow, Saturday, 2-May-2015

So the total thus far:
Christmas Stockings - 2
Cowl - 1
Preemie Hats - 17
Socks - 3 single socks and 7 pairs of socks
Sweater - 1
Misc - 2
Total - 33 projects complete

Design-wise -
~Stripey Sleeves of Warmth - I released this free pattern last week. All the details on how to get the pattern for free is on the pattern page on Ravelry.
~So that puts me at 7 new patterns released thus far this year.

On the Needles -
~A new design project - Super super super super super super secret project IBYC15 Socks + Super super super super super super secret project IBYC15 Socks Pair 2 - This is the the official sock pattern for the 2015 Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl which happens in June.
~Sweater 1 of 3 for me - Mamma Vertebrae - I only have about 1/2 of the 2nd sleeve left and this will be complete! My goal is to finish it before I leave for London in about a week and a half.
~a shawl for me, Oh, Oh, We're Halfway There, Oh, Oh, Livin' On A Prayer
~Christmas Stocking 2 of 6 for my Sister Carrie
~Secret Socks for Someone Special
+ in my insanity, I have cast on a sock yarn blanket which I'll most likely be working on for the next several YEARS!, When you think I'll zig, I'll zag. Then when you think I'm gonna zag, I do zag, just to mess you up for the next time, when I might zig Blanket (bonus points if you know that the name of this blanket is a Gilmore Girls reference)

As always, find all my completed projects plus what's currently on my needles on Ravelry:


And you can also find all my knitting pattern designs (those available for purchase and some freebies as well) on Ravelry:


Thanks for journeying with me this year. Talk to you next month.

#TheAlmonsTakeNottingham

It's been a wee bit since we've travelled in our new neck of the woods. Our travels this time took us to Nottingham, England. The Hubs had been selected to present a paper at the Society for the Study of Theology's annual conference, so Damaris and I tagged along for a wee family holiday. His paper was titled "Perichoresis, postmodernism, and pietism: the peril and promise of Stanley J. Grenz’s Trinitarian revisioning of evangelical ecclesiology". I'm sure if you're interested in this, he'd be happy to discuss it with you. ;-)

The Hubs spent most of his time at the conference, but he did sneak away for a visit to Nottingham Castle. Meanwhile, Damaris and I found a local yarn shop (we needed souvenir yarn of course!) and had pedicures. We enjoyed our leisurely walks through city centre, played loads of games, and drank lots and lots of coffee.

Who would have imagined a year ago that I'd be able to go on a trip like this and actually walk around the city? I'm so thankful and grateful for how my health has improved in the almost 2 years that we've been living in Scotland. I'm even venturing out on my own for a trip to London in May (I'm vending with my JavaPurl Designs patterns at a yarn festival with my dear friend Sam who lives in London). Pics of that coming after the trip.

So now, on to the photos of Nottingham:

March Check-In

March is done and it was a HUGE month for my knitting design business. I shared a booth with my friend Sam of KnitRunDig project bags to sell my knitting patterns at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival on the 14th and 15th of March. The crowd was amazing, met lots of online knitting friends in person, met new knitting friends, bought a few fun things, and sold quite a few of my knitting patterns. And I'll be vending again! I'm very excited to be vending at I Knit Fandango - Friday 15-May-2015 + Saturday 16-May-2015 at Royal Horticultural Halls, Lindley Hall, Westminster, London. If you're in the area or are travelling there, make sure and stop by the JavaPurl Designs / KnitRundig booth.

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a blog post, The Post In Which I Look Ahead At 2015. I want to just check in on a couple aspects of this each month (and then I'll check in on everything at the end of the year). So here we go:

~Read at least one non-fiction book each month of 2015.
1 ~ The Accidental Anglican: The Surprising Appeal of the Liturgical Church by Todd Hunter ~ completed 21-1-15
2 ~ The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning ~ completed 7-2-15
3 ~ Soulful Spirituality: Becoming Fully Alive and Deeply Human by David G. Benner ~ completed 31-3-15
4 ~ Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words by Stanley Hauerwas ~ currently reading

~I plan to continue sharing about the creative part of my life which includes knitting, spinning, and designing patterns on a month to month basis here on my blog. Hopefully that will include releasing 12 new patterns, knitting 3 sweaters for myself, knitting 1 preemie hat per week, knit 7 stockings for family, finish at least 100 projects, and who knows what else!


Projects Finished this Month:
~2015 Top Down Preemie Hat #9, #10, #11, #12, + #13
~My new design - Super super super super super super secret project Doctor Who Companions Sock Club - Third Edition - 1st sock pattern which goes on sale 18-April-2015 at http://www.pandiasjewels.com/
~ + a project a year in the making, BFF Cowl - This pattern is reminiscent of the BFF necklaces that were popular when I was younger. Damaris knit the 2 pieces in a lavender colourway. She finished over a year ago. And I finally knit my 2 pieces in a pink colourway this month. Then we each got two pieces that were looped together to make a mix matched cowl.

So the total thus far:
Christmas Stocking - 1
Cowl - 1
Preemie Hats - 13
Socks - 3 single socks and 4 pairs of socks
Sweater - 1
Misc - 1
Total - 24 projects complete

Design-wise -
~Another pattern that I designed for a club came out of exclusivity: Soufflé Girl Socks (Doctor Who Inspired). You can purchase it by clicking on the link.
~My Can Missy Say Something Nice? (Doctor Who Socks) released as part of the Doctor Who Villains Kit - Part 1. You can buy the pattern separately by clicking on the link.
~So that puts me at 6 new patterns released thus far this year.

On the Needles -
~A new design project - Super super super super super super secret project Doctor Who Companions Sock Club - Third Edition - 2nd sock pattern
~Sweater 1 of 3 for me - Mamma Vertebrae
~A pair of socks for me - Bubble-y Socks
~Christmas Stocking 1 of 6 for my Sister Carrie
~ + a shawl for me, Oh, Oh, We're Halfway There, Oh, Oh, Livin' On A Prayer

As always, find all my completed projects plus what's currently on my needles on Ravelry:


And you can also find all my knitting pattern designs (those available for purchase and some freebies as well) on Ravelry:


Thanks for journeying with me this year. Talk to you next month.

The Post In Which I Check In For July 2014

I can't believe July went by so quickly. There's still so much I want to accomplish in 2014 and there's only 5 months left! I wanted to write this post to check in on how July went with my goals for the year.

So, let's have a look at my 2014 goals progress:

~Keep a daily journal.
Continuing to stay strong with this goal and in fact, I'm converting others to the Bullet Journal system I'm using. If you haven't checked the system out, you definitely should!

~Continue keeping a list of the eucharisteo/gifts/joys/Thanksgivings in my life.
I'm doing this in my daily journal. I'm over 3,500.

~Read at least one non-fiction book each month of 2014.
1 ~ Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life by Lauren Winner ~ completed 5-January-2014
2 ~ Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life by Nancy Sleeth ~ completed 18-January-2014
3 ~ In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed by Carl Honore ~ completed 9-February-2014
4 ~ Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider ~ completed 16-March-2014
5 ~ Confessions of a Prayer Slacker by Diane Moody ~ completed 4-April-2014
6 ~ The Knitter's Life List: To Do, To Know, To Explore, To Make by Gwen W. Steege ~ completed 3-May-2014
7 ~ The Organized Kitchen: Keep Your Kitchen Clean, Organized, and Full of Good Food-and Save Time, Money, (and Your Sanity) Every Day! by Brette Sember ~ completed 17-May-2014
8 ~ I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough" by Brene Brown ~ completed 29-June-2014
9 ~ The Yarn Whisperer by Clara Parkes ~ completed 9-July-2014
10 ~ Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World by Tsh Oxenreider ~ completed 22-July-2014
11 ~ Junia Is Not Alone by Scot McKnight ~ completed 28-July-2014
12 ~ Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray and Still Loving My Neighbor by Jana Riess ~ currently reading

~I plan to continue sharing about the creative part of my life which includes knitting, spinning, and designing patterns on a month to month basis here on my blog. Hopefully that will include sharing about designing at least six knitting patterns, knitting at least two sweaters for myself, knitting at least six pairs of socks for myself, spinning at least five batches of fiber, knitting several preemie hats to donate to charity, and who knows what else!
So far, I've completed:
*Design Projects ~ 4
*Cowls ~ 5
*Gloves ~ 1
*Hats ~ 20 (19 of them are preemie hats for charity)
*Shawl ~ 2
*Socks ~ 18 (4 are new designs, 5 of them are for me, 9 are gifts)
*Sweater ~ 1
*Washcloths ~ 5
*Misc. Items ~ 2
*Spinning ~ 5
TOTAL ~ 59 projects completed in 2014

In progress are:
*Shawl ~ 1
*Socks ~ 1

Details are below.



Finished Projects
2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #15, 2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #16, 2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #17, 2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #18, + 2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #19 ~ From my own free pattern Top Down Preemie Hat. Knit on US6 (4mm) needles with various yarns + colourways (you can go to the page for each hat to see the details). Our knitting group, the Town Mouse Knitting Club, knit hats earlier in the year to donate and I decided to continue making 1 per week to donate later.




Stripey Hitchhiker ~ From the pattern by Martina Behm. Knit on US5 (3.75mm) needles with CJKoho BFL Top Handspun in the Liberty and Justice (for all) colourway and Brigantia Luxury Yarn Double Knit in the 8100 colourway. I won the handspun from my sweet friend Vicki's Dragonfly Soars podcast. It wasn't enough to knit this pattern, so I striped it with the Brigantia and I absolutely adore how it turned out!!!!!!





My Cane Didn't Want to Be Naked Anymore 2 ~ From the pattern I designed which is available for free on Ravelry here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/my-cane-didnt-want-to-be-naked-anymore. Knit on US6 (4.0mm) needles with King Cole Merino Blend DK in the Silver + Dusky Pink colourways. As you know if you follow me other places online and/or watch our podcast, I'm walking more (I want to get rid of the wheelchair if at all possible), so I decided my cane needed a new cozy. I modified the pattern a bit this time - instead of doing a ribbing at the bottom for over the stopper, I instead removed the stopper, did a kitchner stitch, and replaced the stopper over it. It's staying in place so much better than with the ribbing.




If you're my sister, scroll quickly and don't read this next part. LOL!
Birthday Socks for Lola, Birthday Socks for Wyatt, + Birthday Socks for Waylon ~ Used the measurements from the pattern by Jane Richmond, but modified the pattern to get the look I wanted. Knit on US1.5 (2.5mm) needles with Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in the Harvest colourway. I wanted to get all 3 pairs of these socks done at once so I could ship them back to the US together (versus higher shipping cost for shipping them separately) to my Momma for my niece and nephews birthdays (one in September + the other two in December). They've arrived safely and I can't wait to see their faces when they receive them.






#TheAlmonsTakeLondon Socks ~ Just a plain vanilla sock with the Fish Lips Kiss heel. Knit on US1.5 (2.5mm) needles with Trailing Clouds Nimbus Self Striping Sock in the Mind the Gap colourway. As you've probably already seen, we spent almost a week in London in July. How could I not knit with this sock yarn that was dyed with the colours for the 12 lines of the London Tube. I didn't quite finish the socks before our holiday was over, but finished the last half of the 2nd sock after we returned home. I love, love, love these socks!




It's Not Magic, It's a Sock Blank! Socks ~ Just a plain vanilla sock with the Fish Lips Kiss heel. Knit on US1.5 (2.5mm) needles with Easyknits.co.uk Sushi Sock Roll in the Lovely Lydia colourway. I purchased the sock blank (ok, let me explain for those who don't know, what the dyer did was take a machine knitted piece of fabric, dyed it in a gorgeous gradient colourway, and then sold it to me; I think knit from the fabric by unravelling it as I knit) at Unwind Brighton which was a fibre festival we went to while we were on holiday in Brighton which is south of London. It was definitely a unique experience to unravel to reknit the fabric as something else. I still have quite a bit of the center portion of the gradient left over, so I'll use it for another pair of socks.




The Border Tart Nine Pinkish Bumps ~ Spun on my mini Turkish drop spindle. Started with 50 grams of 9 bumps from The Border Tart. Ended up with 47 grams, 155 yards of a Sport Weight 3-Ply and a 1 gram, 6.7 yards Mini-Skein of a fingering weight 2-Ply for Damaris




Chocolate Brown Unknown Fibre ~ Spun on my mini Turkish drop spindle. Started with 24 grams of an unknown fibre. Ended up with 23 grams, 93.3 yards of a heavy fingering weight 2-Ply.




Current Works in Progress
*Shawl ~ Endless Rainbow
*Socks ~ Super super super super super super secret project 5 - a new sock design



2014 Completed Projects:



Design Projects
*Spoilers Socks (Doctor Who Inspired) ~ completed 1-March-2014 ~ this pattern which was inspired by Doctor Who's River Song was exclusively released to members of the Doctor Who Companions Sock Club on 25-July-2014 and will be available for the general public to purchase on 18-January-2015 on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spoilers-socks-doctor-who-inspired

*Super super super super super super secret project 2 ~ completed 30-March-2014
*Super super super super super super secret project 3 ~ completed 26-April-2014
*Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl 2014 Socks - Pair One ~ completed 25-May-2014 / Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl 2014 Socks ~ Pair Deux ~ completed 11-June-2014 ~ this pattern was released on Wednesday, 18-June-2014, just in time for the first Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl on Saturday, 21-June-2014, it is available to purchase on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/indie-burgh-yarn-crawl-2014-socks




Cowls
*Casu Cowl ~ completed 7-February-2014
*Sweetness Cowl ~ completed 15-March-2014
*Sowing the Seeds Cowl ~ completed 30-March-2014
*Cantaloop ~ completed 29-May-2014
*Sowing the Seeds Cowl 2 ~ completed 8-June-2014



Gloves
*Urban Necessity Gloves ~ completed 23-January-2014



Hats
*Take A Bow Hat ~ completed 14-January-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #1 ~ completed 7-April-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #2 ~ completed 11-April-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #3 ~ completed 17-April-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #4 ~ completed 23-April-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #5 ~ completed 30-April-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #6 ~ completed 7-May-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #7 ~ completed 20-May-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #8 ~ completed 21-May-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #9 ~ completed 28-May-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #10 ~ completed 4-June-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #11 ~ completed 11-June-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #12 ~ completed 18-June-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #13 ~ completed 20-June-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #14 ~ completed 22-June-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #15 ~ completed 6-July-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #16 ~ completed 6-July-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #17 ~ completed 17-July-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #18 ~ completed 24-July-2014
*2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #19 ~ completed 30-July-2014



Shawls
*2014 Ravellenics Leftie ~ completed 21-February-2014
*Stripey Hitchhiker ~ completed 2-July-2014



Socks
*True Love Socks ~ completed 20-January-2014
*2014 Ravellenics Über Vanilla Socks ~ completed 18-February-2014
*Spoilers Socks (Doctor Who Inspired) ~ completed 1-March-2014
*Super super super super super super secret project 2 ~ completed 30-March-2014
*Super super super super super super secret project 3 ~ completed 26-April-2014
*The Hubs 40th Birthday Socks ~ completed 28-April-2014
*Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl 2014 Socks - Pair One ~ completed 25-May-2014
*Birthday Socks for Jeremy ~ completed 26-May-2014
*Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl 2014 Socks ~ Pair Deux ~ completed 11-June-2014
*Phalanges for Noah ~ completed 13-June-2014
*Tetius for Noah ~ completed 16-June-2014
*Planum for Genevieve ~ completed 24-June-2014
*Mix Match Leftover Socks for Genevieve ~ completed 28-June-2014
*Birthday Socks for Lola ~ completed 5-July-2014
*Birthday Socks for Wyatt ~ completed 14-July-2014
*Birthday Socks for Waylon ~ completed 16-July-2014
*#TheAlmonsTakeLondon Socks ~ completed 19-July-2014
*It's Not Magic, It's a Sock Blank! Socks ~ completed 29-July-2014



Sweaters
*Delancey Cardigan ~ completed 25-May-2014



Washcloths
*Washcloths for Stormageddon - Doctor Who The Angels Have the Blue Box ~ completed 1-January-2014
*Washcloths for Stormageddon - Doctor Who Cyberman ~ completed 3-January-2014
*Washcloths for Stormageddon - Doctor Who Bowties are Cool ~ completed 5-January-2014
*Washcloths for Stormageddon - Doctor Who Don't Blink Dishcloth ~ completed 6-January-2014
*Washcloths for Stormageddon - I Heart Heart Doctor Who Dishcloth ~ completed 7-January-2014



Misc. Items
*Garter Stitch Headband ~ completed 2-January-2014
*My Cane Didn't Want to Be Naked Anymore 2 ~ completed 4-July-2014



Spinning
*Third Spinning Project ~ completed 3-February-2014
*2014 Ravellenics Pink Punis ~ completed 21-February-2014
*The Border Tart Merino and Tussah Silk ~ completed 6-May-2014
*The Border Tart Nine Pinkish Bumps ~ completed 18-July-2014
*Chocolate Brown Unknown Fibre ~ completed 27-July-2014




As always, find all my completed projects plus what's currently on my needles on Ravelry:


And you can also find all my knitting pattern designs (those available for purchase and some freebies as well) on Ravelry:


Thanks for journeying with me during 2014! I'll talk to yall next month with an update on my progress for August.