Well, life is changing.  I have begun my new career, and have to say so far so good.  I have also begun thinking about my knits, and what I’m going to do with my ginormous stash, now that I won’t be relying on selling goodies to earn yarn money.

First off, I’ve decided I’m still going to knit skirties, shorties, and maybe longies.  And I’m going to do it often.  But I’m going to donate them to charity sales sponsored through Hyenacart.  I have a fair bit of what qualifies as Hyena yarn (at least I think it does, but I may be wrong on that), so hopefully my work can make a difference to people going through hard times.  It feels really good to be able to give back, even a fraction of the goodness that was given to me over the past few years of struggle. 

But before I do that, I have some projects to finish.  First up is LJ’s Pimlico.  I have only one part left to do, the miles and miles of ribbing around and around and around.  Right now I’m working a 2×2 rib over 340 stitches.  After I get another inch and a bit of this done, I’ll m1 in each k2/p2 section, turning it into a 3×3 rib.  I’ll work that for 5 or so inches.  Yes, you read that right.  Hopefully it’s sufficiently mindless that I don’t notice my hands beginning to atrophy.

To give myself a break from mindless ribbing, I’ve also started a cardigan for myself.  It’s the February Lady Sweater, and I’m knitting it up in pink 60/40 cotton/wool blend from Plumknit Yarn Supply.  I can’t say as I’m exactly thrilled with the yarn, but since I hate knitting cotton as a rule, I’m going to say that’s why. 

I still have plans to finish all the stuff in the column at right, but we all know what happens to the best laid plans, right?

It’s official: BaDumBums has gone on hiatus.  I will no longer knit anything for sale, it will all be for my family, or gifts for friends.  Maybe surprises for good causes, too, we’ll see.  Why, you ask?

Well, without going into too much detail, I will be working full-time beginning in a few short days.  And when I do, I will no longer need to earn my yarn budget, and will therefore not need to sell what I make.  That fact alone is possibly the most exciting part of my forthcoming career, I have to say, at least as far as perks go.  The career itself feels almost too good to be true, I can’t believe I was ready to work full time the same week the position was advertised, and that it came to me is…it’s overwhelming and I have to say it feels as though fate took a hand.

What will I do instead?  I think I’m going to focus on designing.  Mostly free patterns for small knits, but maybe some for-sale patterns (to buy those pesky out-of-print books) too.  But otherwise – BaDumBums is, from here on in, a blog, and just a blog. 

Wish me luck!

The Old Mill Knitting Company has a contest, and I won!

Ten hanks (skeins?) of Aspire DK, and a pattern to go with.  I selected colorway #1001, which is a lovely variegated blue/purple/gray, and pattern for a 3/4 sleeve jacket.  I don’t think I’m going to make the jacket with this yarn, though, there’s enough to make something really pretty for myself, and while it’s likely more flattering than the sweater patterns I could’ve chosen, none will do much for me, so I’m going to go with something else.  If you can think of a good pattern for me, do let me know!

I also won a prize for crossing the finish line in the First International Ravelympics.  I don’t know what yet, but I’m hoping for yarn, something I can design a pattern for, because I have to say, I really enjoy designing patterns. 

I currently have three projects in my head: one Malabrigo Merino Worsted one-skein something (I sort of know what, but shhhh, it’s a secret), one child’s winter item that I hope works out as well as I think it will work out, and one pattern to use with my Mother’s Day yarn.  I just can’t decide what I want to do with it, but fall is approaching so I better get on that.

LJ’s Pimlico will be done soon, I’m finally to the miles and miles of 2×2 ribbing.  Once I’m finished with the 2×2 ribbing, I will be m1 between each set of knit and purl stitches, turning the whole darn thing into 3×3 ribbing.  I’m so close I can taste it, you know?  I can’t wait to have a FO, so I can ship it off to my sister and get her reaction.  I really love how it’s coming out, but I won’t be making anything with this much ribbing for myself, so don’t suggest it for my Aspire DK…

In addition to trying to find a full-time job, I am in the process of mentally designing several one skein (or 200ish yd) projects. There are at least four in my head at the moment, and I tend to work on them most when sitting on my…erm…well, when I’m doing something that isn’t what I want to be doing, which is generally knitting.

Since I am committed to finishing the sweater I have been working on (largely as a result of it being a promised gift to my sister, who deserves it and more, but also because I’m knitting it up on borrowed Addi Lace needles *sigh*), and I’m to the 2×2 ribbed portion of the project, I have a lot of time in which to think about what I might do for my further designs. Once I’ve got the sweater off the needles, I can make visible progress.  All of which I will catalogue here.  Obviously.

In any case, here we have some photos of the LJ’s Pimlico Shrug, as modeled by my kindergartener

 In this shot, we have the shrug helplessly displayed on the couch.  I’m trying to show the size of this thing, but it’s not coming through.  Trust me when I say it’s big.

 A more close-up view, still not really showing how big this thing is, but trying.

  Here’s a close-up of the eyelet pattern I substituted for the one in the pattern.  I really like how it came out, and it was forgiving of the occasional mistake, which is a nice perk for a piece this big.

 On my model, selected because the 40″ circs could fit over his shoulders.  He is otherwise not very enthusiastic.

 Wearing the sweater has tuckered him out, obviously.  You can sort of see what the shrug *should* look like when it’s finished.

 This is my favorite shot, it shows the eyelet pattern and the drape of the yarn.  Yummery, I say!

So there you have it, where my project is at this moment in time.  I hope to have the sleeves finished by tomorrow, and with some luck, the rest of the knitting (2×2 rib, then 3×3 rib) will fly by as well.