Back in Our Workshops

I know I said I was going to take it easy this week, but I lied. I think I am genetically incapable of being inactive. The husband is even worse. By the end of our recent road trip, it was like being around a caged lion. He spent yesterday working on his trucks. We are selling the 2008 work truck, so he was moving tools to the new truck and cleaning out the old one. I puttered around in my sewing room.

A few weeks ago, the class coordinator at the quilt store—whose name is also Janet, which causes no small amount of confusion on occasion—had on a beautiful cowl-neck pullover she had made. I asked her what pattern she used, and she told me it was the Jalie Nathalie:

That was a few days before Robin and I went to Missoula, so when we stopped in at The Confident Stitch, I checked to see if they had the pattern in stock. They carry quite a nice selection of paper patterns. I bought a copy there.

This week, the other Janet sent me an e-mail and said our store had ordered the Nathalie pattern to have on hand and maybe it would make a good class? I agreed. I traced the pattern Sunday afternoon between church services, then cut it out yesterday. I am using some olive green modal sweatshirt knit from Joanns, bought specifically for testing patterns and making class samples because I would not be caught dead wearing olive green.

I could have put the top together yesterday—I think it will be a fairly quick sew once the kangaroo pocket is assembled—but I don’t have any olive green thread. I will get some in town today or tomorrow. I am making the shorter version to test the pattern. The longer version would be nice to wear with leggings.

After lunch, I quilted some big fabric sandwiches on the Q20 and cut out another stack of potholders.

I may keep doing this until I can’t stand it anymore. I need to keep moving stuff through the quilting queue and I have some quilt projects lined up that have to get done. I am keenly aware that I have about two months of quilt production time, because once March rolls around, I’ll have to start working on gardening projects.

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I’m also spending a bit of time in the mornings working on plans and scheduling for the podcast. You may notice, if you look at the footer of these website pages, that I added a Paypal donation link.

No one is under any obligation to send money.

I don’t have ads on my blog for a reason. Frankly, I won’t read a blog if it is littered with ads because it is too difficult for me to find the content. I stopped reading Sherri McConnell’s and Bonnie Hunter’s blogs for this exact reason. I also think ads on a blog looks amateurish. (Yes, I could use an ad blocker but I shouldn’t have to go to that much trouble.) This blog is free for reader enjoyment and will remain so. However, the podcast is a different beast. I probably won’t monetize podcast content for another six months or so, but I am considering adding an option for premium content. Whether that takes the form of subscriber-only podcasts, patterns, or other perks remains to be seen.

So I am starting with a Paypal link. If you want to help defray the costs I incur with the blog website, feel free. The link goes to my Big Sky Knitting Designs Paypal account, which I have had forever and is the same one I use for selling knitting patterns.