My yellow Medusa shawl is probably my most worn accessory.   The last time I wore it was on Saturday, to the yarn store, naturally.  When I went to fold the shawl and put it away, I noticed THIS!

I almost cried.  Because just a week ago I went and ditched a lot of yarn scraps, and among them were the scraps from this very shawl.  I have no idea when the damage occurred, and I think I was very lucky that no stitches dropped.  Thanks tosh merino light for being a lovely, sticky yarn.

Because I had no matching scraps, I went to walmart and did something that may make other knitters cringe.  I bought the sharpest pack of needles and a spool of sewing thread in the closest golden yellow I could find.

I hid MOST of my patch job inside the shawl.  The tosh merino light is very fluffy, and it only made sense to go straight down the middle of the existing strands to do the fix.  As you can see, the match wasn’t perfect…but we can’t expect walmart to have madelinetosh colors.

I finished it up and snipped my ends, and here we are?  Can you spot the patch job?

How about now?

I’m pretty pleased with myself.  Yes, the fix is visible if you look for it, but I’m assuming that most people won’t.  I’m also thinking that it’ll lay a little nicer and a little more invisibly after the next time I wash the shawl.

Either way, crisis averted!

A week has passed, and I have pictures to prove it.

I am about halfway through the 3rd column (out of 25).

Depeche Mode is kind of an interesting construction.  It is knit flat, but you need to turn some pretty tight corners and keep certain stitches out of play.  A flexible circular needle definitely helps!

This shawl also has what I like to call ‘Project Momentum’.  The first column is the longest, and each following column is one square shorter than the last.  So even though I’m only 3 columns in, by the time this third column is done, I will be more than 20% finished with the total number of squares in the shawl.

As the columns get shorter and shorter, it feels like the shawl is being knit faster and faster.  We know it isn’t true, but it’s all about perception.  It was a design decision I had to make.  I could have just as easily started with the shortest column and ended with the longest.

So if it looks like I’m finishing more and more each week, don’t be fooled.  This is my ‘knit between classes’ project, so I’ll knit roughly the same amount of time each week.  But I bet I have more than 3 new columns to show next Thursday!  I’ll try to stop between columns so I can lay the shawl flat and show the construction a bit more clearly.

I’ve decided to be a more regular blogger.  I’m going to start a small segment called ‘Trunk Show Thursday’.

Today at Wild Purls, Linda pointed out that I probably have enough designs out there to do a trunk show.  With 3 in the works for fall/winter, I’ll be up to 14, and she’s absolutely right!

One of the tricky parts of being a designer involves having samples.  I do not have samples of each of my patterns.  Some samples have been worn out, some have been gifted, and some are gone forever under contract terms.

Some patterns just need new photography.  Some could benefit from a better yarn choice.  Some need a COMPLETE overhaul to make them easier to understand.

As I rework these patterns, I’ll keep you updated once a week.  I might even have little promotions for ‘new’ versions of patterns.

I’ve decided to start with Depeche Mode.  My original sample has gone to a loving home with Team Tangled, so I need one of my own.

I picked up 3 skeins of Mountain Colors Crazyfoot in Summertime (the original color) and plan to start sometime soon.

I can’t wait to do this shawl again.  It’s kind of a big project, but it is so VERY worth it in the end.  Join me if you’d like…

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In other news, nobody panic.  I’m still very much working on new things as much as old things.

I’d also like to work some changes to my website.  As I go through my patterns, I’d like to think about how I’d teach them as classes.  Once I finish this Trunk Show project, I’d like to work towards offering wholesale copies of my patterns for Yarn Stores as small booklets.  I’m thinking there would be complimentary promo materials (Glossy display prints of the pattern photos, A materials sheet and teaching tips should the yarn store want to offer a class…etc) included with the first order of any given pattern.

But we’ll see how it goes and take it one step at a time.  I’d LOVE to hear feedback if anyone has suggestions!