Whoosh

Last week got away from me before I could make my second blog entry – I started drafting one, went to take pictures, and then I looked at my planner and it’s Tuesday night of the next week already.

Part of the blur is coming from pattern writing, part of it is coming from living with a teething toddler, and part of it is coming from – embarassingly – the fact that crochet seems to put me to sleep. Let’s tackle that in reverse order.

I’m working on an afghan for the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup on Ravelry (rah, rah, Ravenclaw!), and it’s the lovely and simple Vintage Crocheted Throw and Afghan from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. I’ve been cruising along with it for the better part of three months now, and, um, I’m falling asleep after roughly every row and a half. Usually with an audiobook or video running, to add insult to injury. Considering it’s “due” in a week, I’m trying my darndest to overcome that slight and unfortunate mental association that I’ve apparently created between crochet and drowsiness.

As far as the toddler goes? Nothing out of the ordinary, as far as I can tell. But it seems particularly cruel for him to have discovered the ability to slide out of bed and run to the kitchen before I have had my first cup of coffee and/or allergy meds. I usually confuse him with one of the cats before realizing that the cats do not tackle me around the knees.

And then there’s pattern writing. I’ve been working on one for a few weeks and am trying desperately to get it written well, quickly, and in accordance with the advice I’m getting from Kate Atherley’s fantastic new publication, Pattern Writing for Knit Designers. “Quickly” is taking a back seat to the other two, which is for the better, but MAN. I’m anxious to release this thing out into the world. I think it’ll be done by this weekend, but there’s lots of deep breathing and remembering that slow and steady wins the race. In the meantime, I leave you with alpacas from the pattern’s photo shoot.