under the weather

Oh poor, dear blog! You've been so neglected lately. This time it was a cold keeping me away. A horrible, mean cold that's kept me under the weather for a week now (the state of our house makes it seem longer). Only today am I feeling a faint hope of being well someday soon.

Sweet Mr. Mitten has spent his evenings keeping the dirty dishes and stray toys from overwhelming us, as well as being a stellar daddy, so there hasn't been much progress on the new Fuzzy Knits. But with so much of the work being done in tiny bits and pieces, we'll probably sit down to work on it one day, and have it ready in a blink!


I did find a wee bit of time the other day to snap a few test shots for the book. I think the photos are a good start, although I wish there was a hobby shop around here with fun miniatures. I'm pretty stumped for ideas for a few of the toys, so I guess it's all right that we're not quite ready for the pictures yet.


I do have a cool idea for a holiday clothing pattern for you, and the yarn for it is ordered. I just hope it gets here soon, and I have enough time to make it up, before all the holiday craziness really gets rolling!

siamese kitty

If it's been a wee bit quiet here the last week, that's because Lev and I have both been fighting a nasty cold. It's the first time he's been sick, and he's certainly not enjoying it! I'm feeling quite rotten too, so it's been difficult to get much work done (cleaning, cooking, or knitting).

I've noticed a few chipmunks on Ravelry already. Way to go! I'm glad everyone is enjoying the pattern (and no corrections yet *crossing my fingers*). In case you missed it, we updated the Siamese Kitty pattern. If you'd like the new version, you just need to email me a copy of your receipt for the original pattern or Fuzzy Knits. If you give me your Ravelry username, I can send the pattern to you there, or I will just email it to you. (barbara at fuzzymitten . com)

getting there

The new Festive Knits book is taking it's time coming together, but with hard work and some luck, we will be ready to order a test print by the end of the week. We've been trying to find a few spare hours in the evenings and on weekends, but with so many other things happening this time of year, the book is taking longer than we planned. Oh well, it should still be ready for you by early November. We have photos of most of the patterns now too, and I'll be getting them up on Flickr in the next day or two. That way you'll have a better idea of what's coming!

I'm feeling a bit better today (hooray!), but I get tired so easily. Although, that could have as much to do with my pregnancy as the cold. Unfortunately, I've made my niece and my hubby sick, so I now have two sick people to look after. I better get well soon! The big bowl of home-made chicken noodle soup I ate for lunch should help. Having a sister who went to cooking school is great!

We've had frost here the last two nights, and the colourful leaves are starting to fall. As much as I enjoy the colour of the season, it just makes me think of all the gardening that must be done soon! I'm so happy that I'm not working as a gardener this year. It was fun and interesting, but I think fall is definitely the hardest part of the year for gardening. It's cold here, and often damp or raining, so you're always waiting for break time and your thermos of hot tea, hoping your gloves will dry on the air vent on the way to the next job. Last year we also had snow early, so many days I worked in that, trying to get the last of the plants out or tied up for the winter. I'll go back to gardening some day, perhaps, but for now I'm happy to settle down to being a mom, and designing toys for you to knit.

geek viewing

I've been fighting a cold all week, but finally had to admit defeat this morning, and call in sick to my sister. I have a feeling she doesn't mind getting to play with her baby all day. I rarely get sick, so when I do I go rather overboard with grumpiness, because I'm not used to the mucus, aches, and exhaustion.

But, moving on from the whining...

I think today I'll curl up on the sofa with a commission I just started (a polar bear in a red cardi), several cups of tea, and watch Mary Poppins. I can't remember what the video service is called in the US, but up here it's zip.ca. Since we don't have cable (in fact, we don't even have a TV, just a large computer screen) this is how we get our entertainment. I love being able to choose what we should watch from such a huge list, and it's always a surprise what we get next.

Our list is pretty evenly split between movies and TV shows, so we have both evening and weekend viewing. We have pretty similar taste in movies, but my hubbie draws the line at musicals and Shakespeare, so I get to watch those on my own time. As for TV shows, we've already made our way through the original Star Trek series and the animated series. Now we are now on season 2 of TNG (can you tell we're geeks?). I think TNG is my favourite, though, since I remember watching it as a kid/teen with my dad. We almost never missed an episode :)

mysterios illness

Well, my mysterious illness has come back to bother me this week. I feel guilty for getting so little done, but all I want to do is curl up on the sofa with a kitty and a good book (at the moment it's "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents" by Terry Pratchett). I've been working a bit on updating a few more patterns, although they're still waiting for my husband to format them. He's been super busy at work, trying to get enough done before we go on holiday.

I'm really hoping that a change of air and scene will help me feel better. I don't want to spoil anyone's holiday by being sick and whiny all the time. I plan to make the most of our time there, visiting all my favourite people and places. With the cost of flights now, who knows when we'll make it back there again? Plus, I suspect my husband's family will be demanding a visit from us next year, and Russia is a long way to go.

After finally selling a set of printed patterns to a yarn shop, I discovered that printing is more expensive than I estimated (stupid taxes). So the price will be going up a little. I wonder how other designers manage to afford getting a few hundred patterns printed at a time? Maybe they already have the orders waiting, who knows?

In case it wasn't obvious last week, the Sea Horse pattern has been sent out for test knitting. I gave my lovely testers a month to work on it, so the pattern should be ready by mid-July. Sorry to make you all wait so long, but perhaps this gives you a chance to clear up your queue!

shop update

Maybe I'll kick myself later for promising a shop update so far in advance, but it could also motivate me to get everything ready on time.

I am hoping to do a shop update by the middle of January, let's say the 18th for now, to be negotiated if necessary. This update will include the cow pattern, some pin cushions, some knitting bags, maybe a toy or two, and a custom-order toy listing. I don't think I will have the new pattern books by then, so the books and kits will be listed a bit later. I was hoping to have more ready, but I am furiously working on an important project which is taking up all my knitting time.

Thanks so much for your well wishes. I am slowing beginning to get over my cold, and I appreciate you patiently reading through my whinging to get to the good stuff :) I need to get better soon, so I can meet friends for coffee, knitting, and new LYS exploring!

agh!

I hate being sick! This cold is kicking my butt all over the place, but hopefully this will be the worst day, and tomorrow I will start to get better.

I did manage to get the Cabled Cardigan listed in my Etsy shop, but not in my Lulu shop yet. My energy was at a premium today, and only the essentials got done.

We had a blustery snow storm here today, and I would have preferred to stay in, but clearly I have more fear of late fees than snow! We had a Star Trek marathon for our new year's eve fun (yes, I'm a big geek) and I needed to return the dvds this afternoon. It was so beautiful and quiet, with hardly a person or car in sight. The roads hadn't been ploughed yet and I got snow nearly to my knees! I would have stayed out to enjoy it more, but felt too sick to bother. We have a couple good months of winter left to enjoy, and hopefully this will be the only cold I get.

new year's eve

I hope you all have fun plans for tonight, whether it's getting fancied up and heading out on the town, or having a fun time with your family at home. This year I'm sticking with the latter plan. I seem to have come down with a cold, probably caught on the flight home from Vancouver. Nothing like breathing in 200 people's germs for 5 hours!

I rarely get sick, so I'm holding up better than my hubby. We have some Star Trek TNG to watch tonight, a bunch of junk food, champagne, and kitties to cuddle up with. I'm not sure if we will make it to midnight, but we'll have fun anyway :)

The January feature pattern is all ready to go for tomorrow. Hopefully some of you have tried twisted stitches before, and will enjoy this pattern. I think I have my own way of making them, so feel free to use whichever method you prefer. I love making patterns with twisted stitches, and knit a gorgeous tuque for my brother's Christmas present (which I forgot to take photos of, doh!) But I have at least one request for another, so I might try writing up the pattern. Maybe it's time I put out a people sized pattern :)

I also want to thank all of you who have bought my patterns and toys, left me lovely comments, or found some other way to support me. It's been an incredible year, and I feel tremendously lucky to find something I love doing, and can be successful at. I couldn't have done it without all of you, and I wish I could give everyone a big bear hug! Have a fabulous evening, and I'll see you in the new year!