It took four times knitting Lotus Ring to see the error in the pattern.
Lotus Ring Errata:
From Round 5 through Round 15 the YO’s at the end of round on the far left side of the chart should appear on the far right of chart.
I am busy working on a magazine submission. I expect to complete the magazine project and get working on an updated Lotus Ring pattern late next week.
I’m so excited!
Very Pink Knits did a Youtube tutorial using my Incredible Expanding Gnome Cap pattern!
And my Lotus Ring pattern is finally uploaded and ready for purchase in my Ravelry store.
Let me begin with excuses and end with promises and potential solutions.
I was coming down with the flu before I left for Stitches South.
I didn’t know I was getting sick.
I felt pretty darn awful the entire time in Atlanta, but chalked it up to lack of sleep.
Retuning readers will remember I suffer from chronic sleep disorder: Restless Legs with Periodic Limb Movement. I move then wake up all night every night. This has been happening my whole life. I don’t feel sorry for myself. It’s just the weird wallpaper in the room that is my life.
I intended to do an extraordinary Stitches South recap. Instead I spent two weeks not sleeping with fever, chills, coughing, aching, stuffy sinuses. I was a wreck. Sleep disorder combined with asthma combined with influenza will do that to a girl.
In the midst of South craziness and active illness, I was trying to finalize edits on Lotus Ring.
I’m running a little behind schedule.
I promised a blog feature to Urban Gypz and Erin Lane. I will do it.
If you’re waiting for a Lotus Ring pattern I will add it to my Ravelry store when it’s complete. I could release it as is, but it was setup for professional printing, and you don’t want to put your home printer through that. The picture on the first page will eat all the ink in the world. Then the rest of the pattern will be illegible because there will be no ink left in the world.
If you simply can’t wait I made photocopies today:
Send $6 for one pattern printing and shipping included.
Maureen Hefti 59 36th Way Sacramento, CA 95819
Send me a little note, and include your Ravelry ID and email for a chance to win a free Lotus Ring pattern!
I’ll use the email address for errata / updates.
Special thanks to Lily D, Yuki H., Margaret S. and Izzie L. for test knitting!
I came up with the name Ravenous Knits a few years ago while at lunch with my friends. We were eating at a bistro called Ravenous. Their logo was a raven. I was planning a knit business launch but didn’t want to go by MoKnits as I do here. Everybody uses their name plus knits. Sitting in that café, looking at that bird, I knew I was Ravenous Knits.
You see, I’m always hungry. I wrote a couple of years ago about diagnosis with Restless Legs Syndrome. Medications such as Requip and Mirapex put RLS into the international lexicon. You know the letters R L S, but you might not know how hungry people with RLS become as the disease progresses. When my disease is bad I don’t sleep. When I don’t sleep I’m hungry. All day. All night. Unbelievebly, fantastically hungry. You know that feeling you get when you need to pee really, really bad. It’s like that, but, you know, unremitting hunger.
Like me, ravens and other Corvidae species are always hungry. This makes for fun watching-of-birds in family Corvidae; crows, magpies, jays. In my home garden both crows and scrub jays provide much needed snail control. I’m sure I have written in the past various methods these resourceful birds use crack open tough shells. They will do anything for a meal. They are relentless. So am I. The raven is me. I am the raven.
So I copied the ravenous/crow concept, hired a graphic designer to create a logo for me, and paid a lot of money for it. The work was not completely professional; not as well done as I would have liked. Lesson learned. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and sometimes you don’t.
I know more now. I know what I want. I used that unsatisfactory logo, and it taught me what I’m looking for next time. So I am here. Here I am. I have a business that hasn’t left the launch pad, and I’m already re-branding. I’m looking forward to working with the new graphic designer. She’s really good at her work.
And my business ideas are coming into focus.
Most of that focus will be knitting and some of it will be food. My dad was a professional baker, and served as a cook in the National Guard Reserves. He taught me to cook when I was seven. Thanks, dad. My first lessons were homemade marinara then roast beef. Boiling an egg came so much later. I love to cook. I love food.
As a first recipe attempt I humbly offer:
Quick Tzatziki
It’s an empty nest at Chez Hefti. Recipe makes enough sauce for two really big gyros, and doubles nicely.
1 c. plain Greek yogurt—thicker is better. Regular yogurt is too thin.
4 inch portion of cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
~10 fresh chives, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon rice vinegar (or any white vinegar) plus more to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Stir together. Lick spoon. Yum
Mr. Hefti and I used this sauce two ways.
First we tried it for lunch after our big Easter lamb roast. Mr. Hefti is experimenting with low carb so we spread sauce over Lavash flatbread (Trader Joe’s or Armenian market) instead of pita. We topped with thin slices of roast lamb, fresh kale, and fresh mint leaf. Minty fresh surprise! Roll up and enjoy! Note: You could easily use pita and traditional garnish of tomato and sliced fresh onion. We didn’t have that in the house.
Second we tried it in a big salad. We needed a quick supper, and I used leftover chopped roast chicken, about ½ a bag of chopped kale, and handful of chopped mint. Served with a bowl of lentil soup and sliced bakery bread, this was a quick and yummy dinner. If you haven’t tried kale DO IT! If you don’t like kale use romaine, spinach or your favorite crisp salad green.
PS: I’m super addicted to Instagram. Let’s connect!
My new design isn’t secret. My test knitters have been salivating after it since early March and busily knitting away at it for weeks. The discussion board on Ravelry boasts over 100 posts mostly Q and A in nature.
If you’re super-duper curious take a gander http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/ravenous-knits/2057623/1-25
If you yearn to knit lace, there’s a bunch of good info. You don’t have to knit my pattern to get something from the forum, but I’d be honored if you did.
I started a series of lace knitting blog posts at ravenousknits.com shortly after launching website last year, but failed to finish it. Guilt and my busy life led to writer’s block. Designers block. I returned here. Comforting. Familiar.
Knitting lace is complex, advanced level knitting, and I found my own thoughts and experiences weren’t enough to write about it coherently. I needed to collaborate with other knitters and learn the challenges they face.
My newest design gave me a wonderful opportunity to share the pattern with my testers free of charge and glean what I needed from my pattern users, my friends, my knitting community. There is lace knitting magic in that forum. Like an alchemist, I hope to turn it into lace knitting gold.
I’m not looking more testers, although if you have a strong relationship with an indie yarn brand and would like to knit a sample for their shop / trunk show/ trade show I’d be willing to entertain an offer. Our indie dyers work on tight profit margins, and they need all the help they can get. I work from home, supported by a loving and financially successful husband. I’m lucky. Eventually I hope to offer the printed pattern to indie dyers for trunk shows and trade shows at a cost that helps them sell yarn and helps me build a following.
For those of you who have had the misfortune of knitting from error riddled designs, please believe I am making every effort to ensure a happy experience for my knitters. Sandi Rosner is my tech editor. We met through my Yukimi design for Twist Collective. If she’s good enough for TC, well, she’s more than good enough for me.
So I end where I started. The release is close. I expect the pattern will be ready within a fortnight. I’m excited. I thought Lotus RIng would be nice, but I honestly didn’t think it would this good. It’s super pretty, and I’m humbled to be the designer blessed with the good fortune of sharing it with you.
Sweet Beatrix Morris is one. Hooray! Here she is gnawing on a gauge swatch.
Here is Newborn Bea Last Year modeling my Gnome Cap.
To celebrate Bea’s birthday the pattern is free in my Ravelry store!
I’m totally excited to announce my first design with Twist Collective!
Meet Yukimi:
Photo by James Brittain Courtesy Twist Collective
Visit TwistCollective.com for pattern details, and make sure study the entire magazine.
It’s a spectacular issue with amazing designs, and I’m honored to be a part of it.
And…I want to make one of everything.
In other news: I finally sewed this project bag for Lorraine. It’s linen lined with taupe silk.
The fabric is reclaimed from a couple of thrift shop shirts.
Thanks again to Buffalo Gold for the purple Moon Lite.
Lorraine already subscribes to Interweave, so I’m sending a Rachael Ellen Beret pattern.
I’m also including small crochet hook for lace knitting mistake repair, and 10 of my favorite type of stitch markers for lace knitting.
The markers are simple and cheap jump rings–the kind you get at the jewelry findings aisle in a craft or beading shop.
I like the closed jump rings best, but can’t always find them.
Hope you like them, Lorraine!
I’ve been told I should include photos of my cats. Here’s an old one, and it’s still good:
They like to snuggle when they are cold. The rest of the time they hiss and growl.
