But I just had to take a little break after the Challenge. On top of all that, it took me about most the week last week to get my head under control. You all are so nice to ask about my headaches. I’ve finally gotten them back under control and I hope they stay that way. I’ve learned my lesson and I will not convince my doctor that I will be fine on a lower dose. Really. What was I thinking?
I’ve been working on designing one of my new projects and I’ve set my test knitters loose on the thing. They are excited about it. But thank goodness for lots of testers because we’re still working out some of the important details like needle size, gauge and how much yarn. It’s definitely different than a dishcloth so I’m not sure on some of those details. Don’t expect to see it for a while yet though. I’ve given them until after the holidays because it’s a bit bigger than a dishcloth and I know that we are entering into the craziest time of year!
I also need to get busy on designing a free pattern for December. The 24th is rapidly approaching and the KAL will begin. It would help if I had an idea!! Don’t worry, I’ll think of something.
I’ve drawn out the name of our lucky winner for week three! I could draw out the suspense by writing about some new cloth that I’m working on, except that I’ve barely been knitting for the last couple of days. I’ve been working on the same cloth for this whole time. I really just needed to take a break.
So, without any delay…… week three’s winner is…… Helen Ensor!!!!!!! Congratulations Helen! I’ll be emailing you all the patterns from this week in a little while. Thank you to everyone who cheered me on these past three weeks. This challenge has been a lot of fun and has motivated me to add so many new patterns to the website. I’m looking forward to running this challenge again in a couple of months, although I think I will have to modify the rules slightly to say something like 5 patterns in 7 days, or something like that.
I also drew out the 5 names for the end of the challenge winners. Since the challenge lasted 3 weeks the 5 winners will each win 6 patterns of their choice picked from any of the patterns on my entire website. The lucky winners are: Debby C., Lynne, Laurie, Cheryl, and Pat! Congratulations to all five winners! I’ll be emailing you about choosing your patterns. Pat cheered me on almost every day and also won the first weekly challenge. Several of you cheered me on each day and I appreciate it so much. I’m working on a couple of patterns for all of my cheerleaders — a couple of celebration themed patterns. I was going to do a cheerleader pattern but I figured that not everyone has a reason to knit a cheerleader cloth. The ones that I’m working on I hope will come in handy for you. I’ll still need some time to get them ready though.
I think that’s all the news in closing out the Challenge. I hope you all will still check in on the blog from time to time. I’ll still be posting (although maybe not every day) about my knitting and projects that I’m working on. I also do several other crafts that I may sneak in every so often. You never know what you might find here!
I’m sorry to announce this, but I’m giving up the challenge. I really enjoyed this challenge and it got me knitting and designing and thinking about dishcloths every day. But on the other hand, I’ve been knitting and designing and thinking about dishcloths every day for not only the last three weeks, but also the two weeks or so before the challenge. I’m a little worn out on dishcloths. Also, I wasn’t excited any more to design new cloths. It was getting to be a chore and I do this because it’s fun and I love doing it. It’s time to stop.
On the upside, that means I have some drawings to do and some prizes to give away!! I’ll be organizing all that tomorrow. Since I lasted three weeks, I’ll be giving away 6 patterns (of their choice) to 5 lucky winners. I also promised a free pattern to everyone who cheered me along on this challenge. I’ve already been thinking about what would be a good design for that and I have a couple of ideas sketched out.
This challenge was a lot of fun and I’m already thinking that I’m going to do it again after the holidays. Mid-January might be a good time to start. I’ll have had enough time to recover from all the Christmas craziness, and I’ll need something to keep me going so I don’t slide into a winter slump.
Now that I’m in the habit of blogging, I’ll be blogging a little more often than I was in the past. I’ve got a few new things that I’m going to be working on. One that I started today, I’m super excited about and I can see that it could possibly lead to a great new addition to the website. I don’t want to give away too much before it’s ready, but let’s say it’s a little larger than a dishcloth.
The other idea I’ve been working on since this summer I’m also very excited about, is something completely unique. I’ve spent many hours searching high and low all over the internet for patterns for this and I can’t find one. So I’m staying completely quiet until I get more of it finished. I’m really hoping that people will like this pattern because it is different. Although it defininely will appeal only to a certain group of people. Now if that isn’t vague enough to confuse the heck out of you, then I don’t know what!
Challenge Day…. on hold
Well, this could be it. I don’t have a cloth ready. It’s 8:30 at night and I don’t have one knitted, or even half knitted. It is cast on with two rows done though.
I really don’t want to stop the challenge!! But I don’t think I can keep up.
I really wanted to make it for at least 4 weeks. But this is looking pretty bad because I ran out of anything and everything that was half prepared and I spent quite a while last night sketching out new designs and I don’t do too well with that part when I’m trying to rush it.
I’m going to give myself one day to see if I can get caught up for tomorrow. But it’s going to be a rough day tomorrow. The kids are off from school.
I know I still have to do the Weekly Drawing for last week. I’ll have the kids home and they can help me tomorrow with the cutting and folding and picking out of the winner.
I’m sooooo sorry!! I feel like I’m letting you all down!!!!
Challenge Day 21
Thanks to everyone for the kind words about my headaches. I’ve had migraines since childhood, I believe, but they weren’t diagnosed until I was in college. I take a couple of medications for a couple of things with my head and recently I suggested to my doctor that maybe I could try a lower dose on one of them. Well, that wasn’t one of my more brilliant ideas. I was hoping to get off the the medicine but it looks like I won’t be and I have to go back to my regular dose. So, that’s the story of why I’ve been feeling so awful lately. I’ll get back to normal soon!
Here is the picture of the cloth that I added today:
A simple pattern of a pair of cherries still on the stem with a leaf attached. I thought it would be good for a kitchen. I’m going to try to get some more fruit and vegetable patterns done, but they are actually pretty difficult. They generally end up looking like roundish lumps. Maybe now that I have my seed stitch trick down, I can work out some better designs.
I’m off to bed. I’m tired tonight because I was up early with my little guy and then we spent the morning at the soccer fields for the last games for my older two boys. I’m so glad soccer is done! We have a few weeks of breathing room before basketball starts up. Just tonight I was working on trying to sketch out both a basketball and a soccer ball. Much harder than I thought it would be! We’ll see if I can get it to look the way I want it to.
Good night everyone! Check back tomorrow for the Weekly Drawing to see who wins the patterns for the week.
