Here we go, here's a look at what that line and what it does on the crown! Like I said, I actually sort of love it all on its own (in addition to finding it useful given all the embroidery that happens on this one). I think it does a really lovely job of sort of marking out the shape of the decreases at the top. If I ever get around to doing a collection of different crown decreases, I could see using a technique like this to mark out one set of the decreases, just to make the structure [...]

You know those comments that, in the past, would have wrecked your mood for days? But now you just shrug and go 'eh, some people are like that?'⁠ ⁠ Because that's what happens when I get comments about my prices these days. And I kind of love it. It feels like growth!⁠ But it didn't happen overnight, and I know lots of designers still feel bad when they get these. Seeing other makers talk about their experiences with comments like this has helped me tremendously over the years, so I try to talk about it when I get them.⁠ ⁠ [...]

There is no need to be alarmed. The tentacles pose no threat. Reports of tool use and escape attempts remain unsubstantiated. Please remain calm. The situation is under control.

Remember how I said you run a little line of the color you use on the brim all the way up the side of your hat? Yeah, there are a couple reasons for that!⁠ First, it just looks cool (I'll show you the tiny starburst it makes on the top here shortly, or if you look back at yesterday's post you can catch a glimpse of it). But it also does something practical!⁠ You see, when you're knitting in the round, you’re actually working in a very shallow spiral (that’s why you get a weird little jog at the beginning [...]

Expound is out on both ravelry and payhip! It's a perfect way to turn little bits of leftover yarn into something absolutely magical, and it's 15% off with the code STITCHED for the first few days it's out. Look, no one is more surprised than me. But it turns out, the way to get me to enjoy relatively simple knitting (this is almost all stockinette worked in the round, and you can't get much simpler than that) is to let me embroider all over it the very moment I'm finished knitting. Somehow this takes something I used to regard as [...]

For those of you concerned that things have been too staid, too practical, too sensible of late? Fear not. The uncharacteristic stretch of respectable propriety is coming quickly to an end. I'm fairly certain not one single one of you will find a pile of knit tentacles to be in the least staid or practical or sensible. They are quite absurd and therefore just what a certain sort of day demands. Plus they give me an excuse to get pliers involved in my knitting, which is always fun!

Everything's all set for this to come out Tuesday! As always when new patterns come out, there will be copies available through the Community Supported Pattern fund. That's the program I've set to let folks who don't have room in their budgets for a pattern right now still get the pattern if that would make their day a little better and let folks with a little extra room in their budgets help someone else out if that would make their day a little better. You'll find info on how to do either of those right over here. You can also [...]

Every month I write a post saying "abortions are good!" and send a donation to Aid Access to support their work providing abortion pills to people who need them.⁠ Next month marks a year since Roe v Wade was overturned—a year since I, and every other person in this country who can get pregnant, lost a little more of our bodily autonomy, a little more of our personhood.⁠ If I think too long about the harm that's been done in a year and the harm that's yet to come, I despair. Writing these posts and making these donations every month [...]

This should be out next week, so let's talk about yarn so you can be ready! As with most of my patterns, it's written in lots sizes and gauges, so you can use whatever yarn weight you want and fit pretty much anyone's head (mine's 24.75 inches, I'm not leaving anyone out for having a big head)! Because there are so many gauges and sizes, you don't have to try to match a particular gauge. Instead, get a fabric you like, measure its gauge, then pick from the sizes for that gauge. This always seems so much more sensible than [...]