I think the last time we took a picture with the three of us it was Christmas, and that was only because Grant's mom hired the photographer and coordinated it all. For some reason we're just not good at getting pictures of all of us together. But today monkey woke up from nap and wandered into the office while Grant and I were gaming. He then grabbed the camera off the desk and insisted Grant snap a photo of us all together. So here we are. The family that games together stays together I guess.
It would seem I managed to miss an entire summer's worth of updates here on the blog. It was a very short and fast summer with lots going on; you'll have to forgive me. Let's hit the highlight reel.
On the personal front the house hunt is at long last over. In March we got this crazy idea we should buy a house. The prices were low and so were the interest rates thanks to the economy tanking and the government was offering up an $8000 tax credit to first time buyers. Wow, I had no idea how slim the pickings would be in our price range in our desired neighborhood. After 5 months and 200+ houses visited we finally got one. We've passed price negotiation, inspection and appraisal. At this point it's wait for the end of the month to sign the papers and get the keys.
Though it was an arduous process I'm glad we stuck it out. There were lots of options in our price range if we wanted to leave Ballard, live on a bus route or have bedrooms in the basement. But I just kept hoping for a little house, on a quiet street with a nice backyard for monkey to run around in Ballard with all the bedrooms above ground; and that's exactly what we're getting. It's only 1200 finished square feet (I've had bigger apartments), but I can live with that. There's lots of storage room in the basement and the backyard is very big, with an apple tree to boot! I'm so excited it's all I can do to keep myself from driving past it every time I'm out and about. We walked there on our way home from the farmers market just to see how much closer it is to downtown. I love it!
On the mommy front I'm super happy too. Monkey started pre-school last week and loves it! He's at a pre-school that does part of the day in Spanish, which is awesome since I've been lax at teaching it to him. I've forgotten so many words at this point that it's hard for me. So yay for school! It gives me 8 hours a week of quiet time to myself, which is great. Along with school monkey is finishing up potty-training. I've finally decided to pull the plug on night time diapers. He asked very nicely to sleep in underpants instead of diapers the other night and I said yes. I figure if he's asking for it he's ready. The first night was perfect, no accidents all night! The last two, not so much, but it's a learning curve. I just feel so lucky to have such an independent little man!
And lastly, on the work front, SCK is trucking along quite nicely. I accidentally designed yet another sock that was already out there, this one was featured in Knitty no less (thankfully I found this out before I published it), but other than that the summer of the sock went quite well. I added 4 sock designs to my existing line of patterns and did wonderfully at Sock Summit. I actually sold out of the design I debuted at Sock Summit (50 copies no less)! I recently added a new wholesale account, so you can find SCK patterns at Twisted in Portland, woo hoo! My portfolio is up to 8 for sale patterns and 5 free patterns. I've got one more sock almost finished and have plans for at least 3 more designs this fall.
So as you can see it was a crazy busy summer here and I don't see it slowing down any time soon!
At last I finally have a sock pattern that is done, edited and available for purchase. Lucky Diamond, from Sock Madness 3, is up in the shop. I'm on the road to having a couple more ready too, just need to pick up some yarn for new samples from Wendee.
Speaking of Wendee, she's having a shop update herself later this morning. Go check out the lovely yarn at Hazel Knits. I've been working the majority of my fingering weight projects in her Artisan Sock yarn and have to say it's awesome. Not only does she have a great eye for color, but her base is really solid. Soft enough for me to use and wear (that says a lot), but sturdy enough to last (thanks to the bit of nylon in it). Just don't buy up all the Spanish Wine, I've got my eye on some.
I knit an entire sock yesterday. From cast-on to bind off in less than 24 hours, including a bit of monkey wrangling when Grant was working. Today it goes off to the photo shoot and my hands can take a break. I swear, after this summer, I think I'm done with socks for a while.
I've got 6 socks in various states of the design/edit/photo/release process. Considering that in the first 12 months of my business (Jan 08 - Jan 09) I manged to get 4 designs out there, that's big for me. I know I'm only taking 10 designs in total to Sock Summit, which isn't much compared to some of the power house designers out there, but I'm pretty pleased none the less. Everyone starts somewhere.
Now if you'll excuse me, another sock is calling my name.
Renee pointed out in a comment on a previous post that I should post some pictures, and it made me realize it has been a while since I've put some up. So for giggles here are a couple.
I took this shot of Mark on the swings just a couple weeks ago over at Carkeek Park.
A couple weeks ago Grant and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary. Thanks to some lucky timing we managed to roll our anniversary trip into a visit with some friends and a visit with the grandparents. We spent 2 weeks in TX and Mark got to have his first weekend alone with Big Grandpa and Baby Grandma. While they watched Mark we drove up to Dallas to see these guys.
These three girls have been my friends since I was 7. We were actually all in the same 3rd grade class. We went to school together on and off through high school (the school district had some funny policies, so we were split up at various points). Family and life moved us all over the country from high school on, but we've stayed friends. Currently you can find us in Annapolis, Dallas, Huntington Beach and Seattle. Every so often we try to all get together in the same place. This time we even brought the husbands along. It was a fantastic weekend that went by all too quickly.
So in case you wondered where I went, it's been TX and a whole lot of sock designing/knitting keeping me busy.
I'm happy to announce that SCK is going to have a table at the Tacoma Rainiers Stitch n Pitch on July 22nd! If you're in the area and want to come to the game I've got tickets. Can't wait!
So Sock Summit is coming in August and for the first time ever Stick Chick Knits will have a booth! More precisely, my friend is getting a booth and sharing some space and cost with me. But hey, I'll be out there on the floor selling my own patterns.
In light of this the majority of my design time the last couple months has been spent on socks. Right now my pattern line up has things made from sock yarn, but only one pair of socks (and those are free). I've been fiendishly working on socks around the clock and have various patterns in various states of completion. My goal is to have at least 4 sock patterns for sale in time for the show.
Imagine my surprise when wandering around Ravelry, poking around in my friend's activity section, I see a pair of my socks, completed. Only, they didn't have my title and they weren't mine. Yep, someone designed the exact same socks I did (same ribbing, same st count, same gauge, same st pattern, also a heel flap/gusset, though without the eye of partridge mine has). I know there is nothing new under the sun, but it's a bit eerie when you see something this identical pop up.
If Rav didn't exist, I wouldn't have know these existed (they were published for free at an online UK site I'd never heard of). I would have published them (for pay funny enough) and gone about my way. But, thanks to the blessing/curse of Rav, I now know they exist and mine will be scrapped. Back to the drawing board for at least one sock.
Ugh. As if trying to buy a house and wrangle a monkey don't keep me busy enough. Is it time for Tahoe yet?