Hiatus?

So! I don't know if I intended to ghost on my blog like that, but my last post was like 8 months ago and shame on me! I'm sure it will relieve everyone to know I've still been knitting (a LOT) and I have a whole pile of finished projects - some good, some not so good.
Although my store is kind of still on hiatus, at least for now, I'm going to try to keep up with the blog a bit more. It gives me a chance to wax poetic about my yarncraft, and a bit of a venue with which to explore ideas for my yarncraft future - pattern design and so forth.
Since it's almost bedtime, I'll just leave a quick note about my latest FO, the Dianthus sweater by Amy Christoffers for Berroco. I completed it as part of Berroco's October Sweater Challenge, although I'd meant to do it anyway and it was patiently waiting for me to finish all the other things when I came upon this sweater challenge. I seamed it up on Hallowe'en and wore it to work today, and while overall I'm pretty happy with it (and I love how simple the pattern was!), I have a few tweaks:
- fewer cast-on stitches. I'm still not on gauge.
- Short row shoulders. I really hate the "stair step" look of the existing ones.
- Kitchener stitch shoulder seam graft. I hate seaming at the best of times, so the less, the better. I think it would look a lot cleaner too.
- a more aggressive blocking! This is clearly my own note for myself (and not a pattern mod) but the bottom of the sweater was curling up all day and driving me nuts. I haven't washed it yet and I'm sure that will help but good grief!
Right now I'm still on my Veronika which is just as gorgeous and drapey as I wanted - just working on the front bottom bit before attaching the whole thing to work in the round. I was inspired by Tanis Lavallee (of Tanis Fibre Arts)'s Veronika and couldn't get the sweater out of my mind so I purchased some delicious Rooster Delightful Lace one night and after 2.5 hours of winding, I had a ball to cast on with! Love it.
Stay tuned for the Finished Object post about all the fun I've been having since February. I won't lie, that might be more than one post :)
Welcome back!