Everyone has the right to pee

Printable version here.

I thought I was done blogging for the day, but then I received my daily email from the Daily Cross Stitch. For those not familiar with the site, it is a cute little cross stitch site that offers small, inexpressive cross stitch patterns. They also offer one free pattern per day in a daily email. They are usually cutsie little things like animals and baked goods, but today's patterns of restroom signs for men and women were obviously politically motivated. As an alternative to their design, I offer you this free pattern for an inclusive restroom sign. It's part of a much bigger piece that I am working on for the shop and will post in its entirety when completed, but this felt like it needed to be posted as a smaller pattern now. Stitched on 14ct Aida, the finished piece will fit into a standard 5x7" frame and will make any restroom better.

Tiny Shop Update

I've added some vintage knitting and sewing button packs to my online shop as well as a few new singles. Shipping is a flat $1.50 on buttons no matter how many or few you buy and as usual, these are also available at ReBelle.

In other news, I have been dyeing like crazy for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Fest this weekend. I will have a bunch of my fiber and a bit of my yarn at the ReBelle booth (we are in the same place as last year inside the big barn.) Next week I will do a big online shop update with what remains after the fiber fest so if you miss me there and can't make it to ReBelle, you can buy from me there.

Technology is Magic

This week has been a little too busy for blogging and I haven't been working on anything that I am allowed to share just yet so instead you get a free cross stitch pattern.

Yesterday I spoke to the Creative Disruption class at Transylvania University and I brought along a couple of the QR code cross stitches I've done. Mostly I use the QR technology with cross stitch for leaving little affirmations in unexpected places, mostly public bathrooms. Anyway, while this one was being passed around the class I remembered that I created a chart to share, but never did it, so here you go.

Worked on 14ct Aida, this design will fit into a 2x2" frame that can be placed anywhere your heart desires. Downloadable pattern here.

Quitting is for Winners

Lately, I have been taking account of many aspects of my life and eliminating the things that don't make me happy. I will spare you the details of my various transitions, but I do want to talk about knitting (something I have neglected on this blog for quite some time.) I went through all of my WIP's and either frogged them and donated the yarn or created a plan for finishing them. One WIP that I have been working on for a couple of years is the Beekeeper's Quilt. I have knitted about 60 hexipuffs and while I really like the idea of creating a blanket with my project scraps, I am no longer excited about the design. I haven't make a puff in months mostly due to the doubt that I will actually finish this project. I spent a little time thinking about what I like about the project- the use of lots of colors, the chance to try out sample yarns in a functional way, using some of my handdyed scraps, and seeing yarn used in old projects again. Then I thought about what I dislike about the project- the stuffed puffs (which where originally something I loved,) the difficulty of making a perfectly symmetrical hexagon, the fact that all of the finishing will be done at the end, and the laundering issues that will come with a stuffed blanket. I've put about 30 hours of my life into this project and now I am calling it quits.

I frogged my hexipuffs and have started a Cozy Memory Blanket instead. The Cozy Memory keeps the things I love about the Beekeeper while eliminating the things I don't like. There are several patterns online (here, here, and here to name a few,) but since it is just a mitered square pattern, I ended up creating my own technique that uses slipped stitches to make a knit ridge up the center. I am still working out the kinks, but am confident enough in my method to move from yest squares to blanket squares.

Shannon from the Soxcetera podcast is doing a knitalong (#blanketblitzkal) through May 31 and I am using this as a personal challenge to get the first 31 squares of my blanket knit with the ultimate goal of 100 by the end of the year. I haven't yet decided on a finished size, but I would like this to be at least a three year project so maybe whatever size it is in 2020. I am also going to try and keep a Flickr album of my squares and the memories (if any) associated with them.