Summer? Not Quite…

Name: Kaitlyn

Date: May 26

Current Location: Bethesda, MD

Hey all!

As a professional grant writer, May is a bit of a disaster month for me. I’ve been buried in grants with every grant due within the space of a week, and most of my clients throwing last-minute requests at me. Good times! Working with multiple clients, I have, tragically, had little time to devote to my beloved fibercrafts.

HOWEVER, I still have some updates and news for all y’all lovely folks faithfully following my fiber journey.

Mostly, my big excitement is that I’m making my first stab at a knit pattern of my own creation! It’s not remotely complex, but I’m pretty pleased that I’m winging it and attempting to write it down. When I am a world-famous fiber artist, know that it all started here! 😂

For the upcoming summer, I’m doing more figurative rather than literal travel: over the last year, I’ve gotten back into belly dancing, and I’ve joined a local company! We’ll be performing at the end of the summer at a local festival as well as at a big international performance in downtown DC. I’m very excited to get a beautiful costume and perform on stage for the first time in over 10 years! (former competitive dancer, here <–)

I also attended the WEBS Spring Knitting Retreat, and got to take a stab at brioche and double-sided knitting. I love weekends where I get to hole up inside, eat snacks, and never leave my bed, LOL!

Current Projects:

Fancy Yellow Socks

The Flying Arrows sock pattern from Helen Waittes

I think I’ve probably griped about how poorly written this pattern is, but I’m nearly at the end and I just need to wing it as I complete the toe and kitchener stitch the end. The written instructions will absolutely not result in a toe of any form, so I’m getting a little experimental. Unlikely that this sock will ever have a mate, TBH.

Tunisian Holiday Sampler by TL Yarncrafts

Still ticking along with the next square: working corner-to-corner! This is a surprisingly fun stitch, very simple, and incredibly easy to remember.

My First Sweater

If I wanted to do a crop-top sweater, I’d be golden!

I’m cruising right along, and have made it through the yoke and armholes of my top-down sweater! Now I just have several miles of plain knitting to do until it’s as long as I want, and then I’ll go back and add the sleeves. Knock-on-wood this will be finished just in time for the 4^th of July! Perfect weather for wearing a wool sweater!

The Amma Blanket from Tinna

I’ve begun work on yet ANOTHER winter project, with the goal of having this one done by roughly Christmas. I’ve been planning this particular project for over a year, as the yarn I’m using is courtesy of my Iceland trip! I’m going with a blue-gray color palette in honor of the ice and glaciers of Iceland.

I’m slightly annoyed, as I actually did the entire square (more than twice the size of what’s pictured here), but I used the wrong hook size, and realized that I would run out of yarn long before I made it to the end, so I ripped the whole thing out and restarted using the proper hook size.

I’m not actually that annoyed, as, like all of Tinna’s patterns, this is super fun and a joy to work on! Here’s hoping it takes me less time to complete than my last blanket from her (over 2 YEARS of crochet on that one!).

Up Next:

No big changes for June or July – I’m plowing through work and hope to take a day or two for myself. I have some small trips around the DC area planned, and then I’ll be heading up to NH for a few weeks at the end of July.

See you all next time! ❤