My current swatch/design that I’ve planned on submitting is…well. Okay, I have a swatch done. I kept it on the smaller side (8″ wide by about 7-8″ long) so that I would have time to make a full piece, photograph it on a body, and forward it with the swatch. I may either send the swatch alone, or not submit it for the Spring issue.

I’m so in love with the yarn, but I almost feel like, even at Sport weight, it may still be too heavy for this garment. Perhaps it’s because Spring, to a Florida girl’s mind, equals Summer, and both equal hot.

Also, I wanted to use a lovely cotton blend so that it would breathe, but the cotton is already growing in the crochet-ribbed section. I’m thinking that maybe I should knit the ribbing instead, but would that turn some crocheters off? Which group would be the majority? The group of crocheters that don’t mind a couple of inches worth of knitting, or the group of crocheters who are either anti-knitting or don’t know how to knit? And do I take that risk, as a designer, to incorporate it?

I already am using a size E (3.5mm) Boye hook for the Sport weight, but maybe I should reduce it to an even smaller hook? C (2.75mm, I think) or D (3.25mm)? The body of the top is in an H (5mm) Boye hook so the stitch pattern can move around and be lovely with the drape.

I need to think about this more, but I also need to ship the swatch soon if I’m going to do that. The only problem–if I decide to go with a smaller gauge, then I’ve already submitted it with the wrong gauge yarn. How unprepared does that make me look? Eek!

Perhaps I’ll just keep this one and put it out myself?

Just to get you up to speed: I just printed out the postage label for the priority packaged envelope lying on my desk right now. It’s about to be sealed, postage-stuck, and put out in the mail.

This is it! This is my first submission (well, submissions, considering there are three inside) to a publication.

I know there hasn’t been much in the way of patterns here for the site, but I have been busy, and I have been working toward something big for a while now. One of these submission items is huge for me–a big step in my design career/path.

I hope they like it.

Shit (sorry!), I hope they like all three.

Okay, here I go…I’m about to walk out the door and attempt something huge for me.

Or not, it would seem. It’s too big for the mailbox! Guess I’ll be driving it. In the meantime, have a look at Rowan with the package. She’ll keep it safe for me until I drive it into town just before lunch.

My first submission for Interweave Crochet is complete. I’m hoping it’s enough of a swatch. I used an entire skein of Vickie Howell’s Love in “Harold and Maude” for the piece. In podcast episode 11, I mentioned that I started crocheting a design submission with the wool/yak blend that a friend sent me. It started bugging me that I didn’t have a name for the yarn, and I was really worried about using such a lightweight yarn. SO, just as I completed tacking it all together, I passed my closet where the huge yarn rack is, and a lightbulb went off.

A while back, Vickie Howell offered yarn and other goodies to people who helped promote her podcast/site. I was one of the many who received yarn, and what I received was the yarn I used for this submission. I remembered the delicious muted tones of “Harold and Maude” and how much I loved squishing the skein in the palms of my hands, and rubbing it against my cheek (seriously, this yarn is my favorite, I think–the drape, the sheen, the feel, yum). I pulled it out of the stash and immediately set to work on re-making the swatch for the design. I had JUST enough yarn to work the swatch up, and ooooh man, I wish I could show you.

One person outside of my house has seen it, and that’s only because I needed help coming up with a name. So, thank you, darling Melanie. You are fantastic, and the best name-giver ever.

Now that this one is done, I have to complete the other ideas I have.

And, just so you know, any design that’s not accepted, I will eventually offer for sale up on the site. I don’t know if there’s a timeframe that you have to wait after submission and rejection, though I doubt there is, but I’ll look into it before I move forward.

That’s assuming my design(s) are rejected.

Oh dear. I only have 13-14 days before it’s/they’re due. I need to get crackin’!