An Unplanned Break

Hey readers! Yup, I’m still around, just not been blogging. Somehow life has fast-forwarded a few years in the span of 6 quick months, and I have found myself fully-employed, living on the OTHER side of the country to which I had just returned, and with a few newly-published patterns! This is all way too much to squeeze in to one brief update post, but since I am clearly not up to the task of blogging regularly, I will squeeze away.

Last I posted, my husband and I had returned to Florida after living in Scotland. Ahhh, Scotland. I miss you. Thanks to friends, Instagram, Twitter, etc., I have lived vicariously and experience Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival and the windy and sometimes sunny summer, and hope for a someday return. But digression! After a few brief months of a much-needed catching up with Florida-based friends and family, my husband and I moved across the country so that I could take a new job. The past 5 months in Oregon have been amazing – summer, lots more sun than I had expected, hiking, driving, settling in to a new job and new home.

And patterns! Back in late 2013, when we learned we’d be unexpectedly returning to the States (visa issues, bah!), in a desperate fear of unemployment I sent out a flurry of knit design submissions and signed up to teach a few classes. The classes went great, and astoundingly, a lot of the submission ideas got accepted! I spent the months of December 2013 up to now juggling design commission to design commission with packing, moving, job-searching, job-getting, moving again, settling in, etc. I cannot believe the lovely projects I have been able to be a part of.

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Windowpanes Scarf, Knit Now, Issue 33, April 2014

(c) Practical Publishing

Love for simple garter and stockinette merge with variegated yarn and geometric shaping, in Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend DK.

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Restalrig, Twist Collective, Spring 2014

(c) James Brittain | Twist Collective

Named after the street of our first flat in Edinburgh, this design is a tunic that features a twisted rib yoke and waistline in Brooklyn Tweed Loft. This was my first US publication and it was such a thrill.

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East Neuk Hoodie, Knitscene, Fall 2014

(c) Knitscene/Harper Point

This gansey-inspired hoodie was a shining star. It was my love letter to Scotland, a thank you for my adventures. Knitscene even allowed me to supplement the design with an article about my time knitting in Scotland, and the article (my first!) was a joy to write. I have so loved the response from it, so much interest in the design and in visiting Scotland. The surprise of the year was when the issue came out and my design made the cover! This issue should still currently be on the shelves in the shops, so have a look for it.

So now that that flurry of activity is over (a few more patterns are due out over the next few months, but they have for my part been completed and submitted), I am enjoying a fresh start with a break from hand-knit design. I’m not sure going forward how much I’ll be blogging, but I am enjoying a rediscovery of the things I have once loved – cooking, reading, slow (no deadline) knitting, spending time with husband, cleaning the house. It is weird to think for the past few years how much I over-worked myself by having a full-time job and struggling to fit in a hand-knit design profession as well. Looking back, I feel I was not present enough, did not relax or appreciate things enough; and life is short – we need to slow down. I love hand-knit design and publishing patterns, don’t get me wrong, but right now for me, taking a break from it is much needed.

Here’s to finding a balance!