Things are changing around here – most notably, the look of hungryknitter.com! I upgraded my wordpress theme and I’m still in the process of de-wonkifying things. I’ve cleaned up the last couple entries already, but if you delve into the archives things might get a little weird. And by weird I mean the pictures are going to look all out of whack – nothing really life-shattering.

And in self-promotion news, Stacey of the Knit Picks Independent Designers Program (through which I worked up and published Adva!) recently interviewed me and the results are now up on the KP Staff Blog, Stash. So if you’ve come here for the first time via the KP website, welcome! If you already know me here and have a burning desire to learn all about my crafting life, head on over to Stash. I’m thrilled to be a part of the IDP and I can’t get over how much the program has grown in just the last couple of months! I know I’ve added quite a few IDP patterns to my queue lately.

I know, I know – two posts in one week! You might be wondering what the occasion is.

I’m thrilled to announce that I have a new crochet pattern available through the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program. The pattern is called Adva and it is for a wrap crocheted in an angular ripple stitch. I worked up the sample in five colors of Knit Picks Swish Worsted. It’s about 10 inches wide and 90 inches long, but really, it would look great in any color palette at a variety of sizes. I particularly love the finishing touches of the pattern – tidy color changes and tassels on each end. Adva is a beginning level pattern worked in a repetitive stitch pattern using increases and decreases.

It is available for download on the Knit Picks site for $1.99. It also has a ravelry page for your faving and queuing pleasure. The folks over at Knit Picks have been exceedingly professional and friendly to work with and I’m so psyched that they’re willing to support my pattern!

I’m sure everyone who loves a particular craft (or many crafts) has had this experience – you see a new pattern and you absolutely must have it. You go racing to the store or diving into your stash in a crazed frenzy – you must make it now; you must have it now. Be you a process- or product-crafter I’m sure you’ve experienced this. Frankly, if you haven’t, I would wonder whether or not you had a soul. We’re in this for the love of it, right?

Enter the latest issue of Crochet Today. When I saw the preview go up I was absolutely frothing at the mouth for this necklace. Now I know it’s part of a wedding story, but it’s not like you have to be a bride to wear an amazing intricate necklace. It doesn’t even have to be white. If there were a rift in the space-time continuum and we were still planning our wedding, I would probably make this necklace and wear it for the event. I love it that much. But alas I am already married, and I had a fantastic hand-knit shawl for the event so I wasn’t exactly lacking in the home-crafted wedding accessories department.

But I digress – back to the necklace. A while back I acquired a semi-ridiculous stash of size 10 crochet thread. I thought I’d try some intricate potholders out of this thread, but, frankly, that was the stupidest idea I’ve ever had. I realized it the second I started my first chain. I would never finish a single potholder, let alone 5 potholders for the swap. And even then, were I to miraculously make five potholders out of size 10 crochet thread, would I really be willing to part with those? Honestly? No. I would maybe give one to my own mother since she gave birth to me and all. Maybe one to someone were they to save my life by pushing me out of the path of a speeding car. But frankly, after all the time I would have put in, I would be clutching those suckers until the day I die.

The necklace, however, is objectively beautiful and requires significantly fewer stitches than a potholder – certainly fewer still than five potholders. It is still on the size 10 crochet thread, however, so I thought it might take a little while. I was wrong. Over the course of two days I whipped this sucker out and now I’m ready to bare my décolletage to the world and emblazon it with a crocheted necklace.

And I’m thrilled with the result. Over the moon, even. Am I planning on doing it again? Absolutely. While the pattern isn’t exactly for a beginning crocheter – you need to be able to read your stitches pretty well, keep even tension on a very small scale, and OH there is the claw hand – I was shocked that it wasn’t more difficult. As you saw above, I have quite the color assortment and it would be nice to try something in a more muted shade. I had to go all out with the red on my first try, though. The only thing I’ll change in the future is the size of the necklace. While it would be great with most wedding dresses and evening gowns, I can see how it’s going to be hard to wear with other things. Most of my shirts don’t go down nearly as low as your average gown, and this necklace is really big. That tank top I’m wearing in the picture above is hardly something I’d wear in public. So I might rework the chart a little bit to make it smaller. And who knows, once I can do that I might even be more comfortable making other pieces of threaded jewelry – a ring, perhaps? That would make a lovely delicate little gift.

I’ve been doing a whole lot of a whole lot lately, and as much as it might feel like I’m a chicken running around with its head cut off… well, I make a pretty good headless chicken. That doesn’t exactly make sense – what I mean to say is I’m my best at everything, and I’m most excited about everything when I’m crazily busy. Among other things there’s been cooking, of course, because I have to keep eating and all. That pizza pictured above is a breakfast pizza, which is a brilliant idea I read about on Smitten Kitchen. You can also click through to my photo on flickr to see another shot of my pizza with the herby-oniony toppings.

In crafting news I’ve been working on a new design that is almost, ALMOST done. And no, despite the picture above it does not involve tweedy mitered squares. There will be orange involved, though, and I can’t wait to show you all what it is. In the meantime I’ve got about 9,000 other ideas and projects kicking around the apartment, and it’s killing me to not cast on for them all Right! Now!! The preview for the new issue of Crochet Today! went up today and there are some super cute projects in there. And I must be a total masochist because I can’t wait to start hooking up this necklace with some size 10 crochet thread. Just to put things in perspective, this is what size 10 thread looks like:

It looks like thread. BECAUSE IT IS. Surely I will go blind, but at least I’ll have a completely amazing necklace. Right? RIGHT?! I originally thought I’d use this thread for some potholders (to swap) but I was clearly delusional when I had that idea. I did manage to make one potholder (not with the thread, obvs), however, and then sent it away to live with a friend.

And amidst all this I’m walking all over creation taking pictures, many on film with my two toys, a Canon AE-1 –

(sniff, good bye, winter) and a holga (hello, summer) –

And just as a teaser before I check out for an afternoon at the library, I’ve got that forthcoming design to tell you about (as soon as I, you know, finish it…) and a really great meal to write up -

Hey folks! I’m just popping in to let you know I have a design in the current issue of Crochet Today! The issue is hitting stands as I type, and on its way out to subscribers. My pattern is called Your Great-Aunt’s Pillows. It’s a round pillow in a textured waffle stitch. Again, a great opportunity to play with color. Head on over here to queue it up on ravelry.

The description in the mag says, “A clean, modern couch is the perfect canvas for colorful crochet cushions.” Um, how about my dirty green velvet vintage couch? I love the way they styled the pillows for the magazine’s shot of them. Quite a few people have already msged me to ask about that orange couch – I hear they got it at Urban Outfitters. It’s super cute, no?

The magazine did a great job with the editing on the pattern, but I’d like to add a word about the finishing. First, I debated about the buttons for a long time. They look cute, but if you’re going to lay down and put your face on the pillow they might not be the most comfy thing. I could see the pillow working with or without them. I picked up the ones you see in the magazine at my local JoAnn. The colors were just too cute with that yarn! Second, about stuffing the pillows – I know they’re out there somewhere, but I could not for the life of me find round pillow forms locally. People, I live in the third largest city in the US. And I can’t find round pillow forms. What is WITH that? So what I ended up doing was again, going to JoAnn, and buy upholstery foam. I got the pre-cut pre-packaged squares of it because this was far cheaper than having them cut the bulk foam. Then I just went to town with a pair of scissors. There was a lot of trimming involved in order to even things out. The reason I’m making note of this here is just because the finishing took longer than you might anticipate, and I’m hoping that if I declare this publicly then people won’t be surprised when they finish their two pillow-halves and don’t have a completed object 5 minutes later.

And one last word about this issue of Crochet Today! There’s a whole ton of super cute designs in there, but one of them – only one! – is super cute AND FREE on the Crochet Today website, and it’s by my internet-buddy Maryse. It’s called Your Nana’s Potholders and you can get the pattern for free right on over here.