Distal sale and more

When I finished and posted my new pattern, Distal , last week, I felt a big let down.  Although I've been slowly working on several other knitting projects, I missed the rush of producing something new, something creative, and--most of all--something fast.  The solution was two-fold:

First, I cast on again.  A new one!  Hurray!  This time, I used a hand spun heavy worsted weight 2 ply yarn (4 sts=1" on a size #8(5mm) that has been marinating in my stash for a long time.  From notes I took in the pre-blog days, I think this was one ply Harlequin wool and one ply of Wensleydale or Lincoln long wool.  The Harlequin was a soft, marled brown/gray/white yarn that I spun woollen and felt would not last long on its own with any sort of hard wear; hence I plied it with something more durable, coarse and spun more worsted style.  Then, I dumped it into the dyepot and fell in love with the deep textured color that emerged.  I saved about 800 yards of this stuff--forever.  Well, not forever, but best I can tell, I bought these fleeces from 1997-2000.  I think this yarn has been in stash for 15 years.

Second....I decided to offer a sale.  Follow this link to get 20% off Distal from now until December 15.  (sale ends midnight, EST)  I'm hoping to sell a few patterns.  Based on rough estimates (cost of tech editing, yarn price, my time @ local minimum wage, etc.), I need to sell about 35 patterns at $5 to break even.  So, if you're tempted, please, knit a Distal!  It's fast!  It's a good gift...and it's on sale for even less than $5, too!

Last up, I had another essay published this past week on our local CBC website.  I'd clarify, before you click over, that I wish the income disparity between rich and poor in our society wasn't so great...but as long as somebody is going to earn $300,000 for a lecture, well, it might as well be an elder with amazing professional experience--that is, a woman with sound credentials.

That's most of the news from here.  We've been passing around cold viruses mostly...I'm thinking we should rename Autumn or Fall to "Getting Cold" or "Falling Sick" or maybe just "Virus?"  :)