No way am I wearing a sweater today. But I will show you one of my favorites – this one is a thrift shop find, 100% finest acrylic, once part of a school uniform.

Off the usual topics for this blog (and this will give you an idea of some of what’s been keeping me busy lately); if you are shopping for a wedding dress or a prom dress* and you are in the Honolulu area, I highly recommend Princess Brides, and if the dress-seeker isn’t sure what she is looking for, have Roy guide you. If you are on the internets and looking for a dress suitable for prom or a party, I’ll be putting some gently worn dresses up on eBay this weekend, including a never-worn number that was going to be a bridesmaid dress except the bride didn’t listen when a certain bridesmaid told her there was no way that size would zip up on her. Ahem.

*Just for the record, I’m not. I’ve spent far more time than I would think reasonable participating in the process(es) for dresses I won’t be wearing.

…some of it is even the fun kind!

A PSA of sorts regarding backing up your files:
With the demise of my laptop came the discovery that my backups weren’t all good. My laptop’s previous hard drive death had taught me the lesson that cds can degrade, so I bought thumb drives and got into the habit of
making backups. Hey, did you know that flash drives can get wonky with frequent use? I’d stored things on my iPod as well, so at least I had myself thinking I was pretty well covered. Er, not quite. See, I checked my backups on my laptop, and my backups worked just fine…on that laptop. On the temporary "rebound" laptop I am currently using, some of those files won’t open because they have errors or are corrupted. I might be able to try pulling them off the "totally breaking up with me in a messy way" laptop, but I’m not counting on it. This does mean additional delays in getting new patterns formatted and released, but fortunately I have at least something to work from with the patterns I had in progress (even if it’s just three pages of penciled scrawls in my notebook).

On to happier news!
I am expecting an order of Peace Fleece worsted in full skeins and mini-skeins for Matilda & Tillie knit kits. I know that there aren’t many North American knitters who are thinking they’d really like to knit up a woolen cloche hat right now, but the weather is cooling off down in the Antipodes (Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) and I’m planning to offer reasonable international shipping rates. For the hats (full skeins), I’m getting in Antarctica White, Tundra, Zarya Fog, Baikal-Superior Green, Patience Blue, Baku Black, Ukrainian Red, Kamchatka Sea Moss, Anna’s Grasshopper, and Chickie Masla. For the Rosie motifs (mini-skeins), there will be Georgia Rose, Samantha-Katya Pink, Moscow Magic Pink, Antarctica White, Chickie Masla, Latvian Lavender, and Mir-Atlantis Periwinkle. The kits will come with both a printed pattern and a PDF download of the pattern.

After some not-happy-exciting experiences with the print shop I had been going to, I switched print shops and so far it’s going smoothly. I’ve also switched to 24 lb. paper instead of cardstock; the patterns now look like they are printed on a magazine page and are lighter in weight (the difference in USPS First Class postage is small, but it will add up).  Both the Anne Crochet Lace Scarf  and Matilda & Tillie Knit Cloche Hats patterns are now available as printed patterns through my Etsy shop (mkcarroll.etsy.com). 

My UFO pile continues to mock me, but I have gotten Skylla done!

The pink button eyes are 3/4" vintage glass with gold accents, purchased from Vintage Necessities on Etsy.

The closure button is a pink plastic heart-shaped button I bought at a fabric store.

Now I’m off to the fabric store and an Aloha Knitters meeting!