It’s interesting to me to watch how life goes. Somedays I get nothing done, and other days I am so productive it’s ridiculous. Sometimes designs fly off the needles, and sometimes the patterns write themselves. But rarely both. Most times, as is the case in Cordelle, it’s one or the other. This shawl practically made itself and for some reason I could never make myself just sit down and write it. But my procrastination is your gain.

Because I waited so long to get it done and edited, it’s now debuting right smack in the middle of the half-price sale. So you get an introductory price as it were.

It’s lovely and soft, worked up in Baby Twist 100% Alpaca. Even though it’s a larger shawl, it goes quickly because it’s made in a DK weight. It’s cozy and lightweight at the same time. And the Baby Twist comes in some really beautiful colors.

It’s reversible, because although both sides are not the same, they are both very similar and very lovely. And it’s designed in the same way as many of my shawls in that you can totally adjust it to make it as large or as small as you’d like. Plus the fabric at the neckline wants to fold over into a lovely sort of shawl collar.

Needles: Size 8 needles (5.0 mm)

Yarn: Alpaca With A Twist Baby Twist Jumbo Hank, 549 yards to 250g in the colorway Lemon

Size: Sample blocked to 76″ wide and 28″ deep

Gauge: 18 stitches and 26 rows = 4 inches in blocked garter

Notes: Worked from side to side. Offered in charted and written format. The shawl is on sale for half-price ($2.75) until midnight on Friday July 2nd.

The Cordelle Shawl on Ravelry – $5.50 USD

This has been my best designing year so far. I’m amazed at the support and wonderful comments and beautiful finished objects that have come from my design work. So to celebrate (and to pad my vacation fund) I’m having a half-year half-price sale. Everything in the PicnicKnits pattern store is half-price. Well except for the free stuff – that’s just still free!

So now’s a great time to buy any PicnicKnits patterns you’ve been eyeing. We got shawls:

We got cowls and bags:

We got socks (and a pair of slippers!):

And we got hats:

I say we, but it’s really just me of course.  I’ve got lots of new stuff coming out from PicnicKnits, but this sale is your best chance to get some tried and true favorites for a great low price. And thanks again for all of the support!

Sometimes it all just comes together. I had a good idea, and Petite Purls had an upcoming submission deadline. And just to make it sweeter, a photographer friend of mine has the cutest little girl ever.  It was meant to be. See how cute?

Wait. She gets cuter. Look at those adorable little toes!

And just in case you have not yet succumbed to the cuteness…

What? You say that’s not cute. You don’t have a heart. Well even if you are heartless and the word “awww” never passes over your lips… this one will get you.

If you don’t think that’s cute, you might be dead. Have someone check your pulse.

Want to hear the best part of the cuteness parade? The kid is not for sale, but the pattern is FREE! Yes, free! So head on over to Petite Purls and make a Sourpatch top for your own cutie!

And if you’re local, and you need an amazing photographer you should check out Cayden Lane Photography. Lori Robinson is nothing short of fabulous!

He doesn’t read this much. I don’t think. But still I thought I would tell you all something. Life is not perfect. But life is good. Life is actually kind of awesome. And much of the credit for that belongs to the man.

He’s an amazing father – which is why I’m typing about this on Father’s Day. I’m constantly in awe of him. He makes it easier to be a good mother. He works hard to provide for us. He believes it is important for me to be home with the boys – and he just does what needs to be done so it happens. Not all men are like that, as we women well know.

He’s also the best uncle. He doesn’t have any brothers or sisters, but he has nieces and nephews. You know how that works. The family you choose and all that. And he’s the favorite uncle. Everyone loves him best.

He gets me. He’s knows I’m a full on mess and he doesn’t care. He loves me unconditionally and I don’t deserve him. At all. He thinks I’m beautiful and he always makes me laugh. He makes me crazy sometimes, but he’s mine. He my crazymaker.

I feel like the words are just meaningless though – you know? I’m thinking of cooking him a big ole breakfast, but it’s only 7:30 am and I think he’d really rather sleep in. Stupid insomnia. So I will wait, and when he wakes up we will go to the beach, or the movies, or wherever he wants to go today. ‘Cause he’s the man. And it’s his day.

Sometimes it’s hard to blog. I don’t have any fabulous pictures, and life has been running by at warp speed. It’s hard to believe that nearly a month of summer has already flown by. Time goes too fast. The boys are growing at the speed of light and sometimes I just want it all to slow down. I keep saying that I will stop, that I will take the time… but then another day, another week has gone by. I have too much on my plate and not enough time to do it all.

I wonder if tomorrow I could finish up the VBS shopping and then just take my family and disappear to the beach.

You know what? I think I will.

Training is going well for the 3-day. And I’ve already got over $100 in donations. If you made a donation and deserve a free pattern, make sure you let me know which one you would like. Also, my new shoes are fabulous! I walked five miles Saturday morning and wore the new “anti-friction” socks and my feet felt wonderful. Well it totally kicked my butt, but my feet felt good. If you’re local the Baldwin-Jacksonville trail is a fabulous place to walk or bike. It’s mostly shaded, the path is smooth, and the miles are marked off!

In other news and notes, I missed a contest deadline. I was working on a beautiful shawl out of this yarn and I just ran out of time:

The yarn is delicious. If you’ve ever worked with Baby Twist, you know what I mean. And it worked up into a generous wrap that is lovely and reversible. Not truly reversible like some of my shawls are. But both the right and the “wrong” side of the fabric are lovely and very similar. In fact, I think I prefer the “wrong side”.

This should be going to the tech editor in the next day or so. So hopefully there will be a new PicnicKnits pattern published very soon! I also have two designs that will come out in magazines in the next few months and two designs for online publications. Yes, I’ve been busy, even though it doesn’t seem that way!

Actually yes, yes I did. And you should be grateful I did before I snapped this picture. I needed new shoes to train for the 3-day. When I walked 3 miles on Tuesday my old shoes gave me a big honking blister. So I hit up Rack Room today just to see if maybe they had any New Balance shoes for a reasonable price. And they did! Scored these babies for $35.99! I figure I will need two new pair a couple of months before the race, but these should get me through until then. Five miles on the calendar tomorrow morning!

Oh and I need donations! Desperately! So here’s my thought. I easily know 500 people online via social networking, Facebook, knitting, Ravelry and all of that. If everyone could just donate $5 I would easily blow my $2300 goal right out of the water. And if you are a knitter, I have a bonus for you. If you donate $5 or more I will give you a free PicnicKnits pattern of your choice. Just leave your pattern choice in the comments after you donate!

This one has been a long time coming. I’ve known I wanted to do it for at least six months. And the actual pattern has been finished for nearly a month. Finally today, I got some photographs so I can show it to you!

It’s reversible – totally. The lace pattern is fabulous and blocks out beautifully. It’s worked side to side (as all my favorites are) with a cast-on of 2 stitches and the same number for cast-off.

It does a perfect job of highlighting some of the really gorgeous semi-solid sock yarns out there – like this Ink colored Madeline Tosh Sock. It shows all the lovely little highlights and lowlights.

The pattern is provided in charted and written form just like always!

Needles: Size 7 needles (4.5 mm)

Yarn: Madeline Tosh Sock, 395 yards in the colorway Ink

Size: Sample blocked to 64″ wide and 28″ deep

Gauge: 26 stitches and 26 rows = 4 inches in blocked lace pattern (yes, the gauge is basically square!)

Notes: Worked from side to side. Offered in charted and written format.

The Kyveli Shawlette on Ravelry –  $6.00 USD

So remember that little matter of 60 miles? Yep, I’m (finally) officially registered. Which means I can start hitting up all of you good folks for donations. Here’s the short and dirty of it all: I will be walking 60 miles over the course of 3 days. I have to raise $2300 for the Susan G. Komen foundation in order to do it. This will happen in Tampa the last weekend of October.

So I have time to train. And I have time to raise funds. A lot of people read this blog. And if each reader would just donate a few dollars… well I’d have that goal in no time. And if you think about it really, you probably know someone. It just seems breast cancer has touched so many lives. So think about it, and if you have a few bucks to spare, please consider donating.

Oh and if you are interested in walking… we’ve organized a team up at school/church. Shoot me an e-mail and you too can join the madness!

My husband says this all the time. Not because he is a huge Vanilla Ice fan. It’s his way of saying Internet Changes Everything. And it does. You might not know this, but I met my husband on the internet. Happily married for 6+ years now.

And I run my business on the internet. PDF downloads, paypal, Ravelry – I depend on the internet. I use it daily. Maybe a bit too much, but it is what it is.

But right now I am internet-less. My modem bit the dust last night. And the service I have – well I need a new one. It’s on the way to me. But not fast enough. I tried to ask the nice man to overnight it, but they don’t do that.

So there is no internet at home. It’s really, really strange. I never realized how much time I spend connected. This morning I had a coffee at Panera and checked a few things I could not do on my phone. And now I’m in the library. The boys are taking a much-needed after school break and playing some Poptropica. And I’m blogging. Who knows why.

The good news about my online business is that it keeps going even though I’m not constantly checking on it. Yay for that. Hopefully the modem will come fast. Really, really fast. But until then I will be finishing some last minute sample knitting and just doing what I do. Well, doing what I do – but not telling you as much about it.