a little bit of knitting  a blog in which I ramble on about the knitting I do for Designs by Emily

Challenge Day 12

Just a quick post today.  I’ve been on the computer too long as it is already fighting with my download software and my eyes are going buggy.

First, a picture of the completed KAL:

Maple Leaf Dishcloth

I have not yet added the completed pattern to the Free page, but I will get to it ASAP.  In the meantime, all the rows for the pattern can be found over the previous 6 days in entries in this blog.
 
Here is a picture of the pattern that I just added to the website:

Seahorse Dishcloth

I know that it has nothing to do at all with Halloween or Autumn or any of the upcoming holidays, but I thought it was cute. And he sort of goes along with the Happy Whale from the other day.  Plus, I have another sea animal themed cloth that I’ve knitted that I’ll be putting up sometime in the upcoming few days.  You can find the Seahorse Dishcloth pattern available for purchase on the “New” page for $1.49.

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Challenge Day 11

Today’s pattern is a nice one for Thanksgiving.  It’s not the one I was gushing about the other day because I haven’t had a chance to scan it in yet.  I spent all last evening working on website behind the scenes stuff.  But more on that in a minute.

Here is a picture of the pattern I just added to the website:

Turkey Dishcloth

It’s the profile of a turkey, in case you can’t figure it out.  I like it because his tail feathers are spread out and it reminds me of the wild turkeys that I see wandering around not too far from my house.  I first spotted this group (flock?) of turkeys a couple of years ago.  There are about six or seven of them and you can find them in a few different locations within about a mile radius.  I’m assuming it’s the same group of birds.  But often one of them, the male I guess, will walk around with his tail feathers spread out in all their glory.  It really is something to see.  What’s more amazing is that I live in a very suburban area.  We do have some old farmland around and apple orchards, but central Connecticut has a pretty dense population.  These birds will just hang around on someone’s front lawn, with all these cars whizzing by.

As with all the other patterns, it’s available for purchase for $1.49 and can be found on the “New” page.

As I mentioned before, I spent much of last night working to fix up some problems with the website.  Specifically, some problems related to downloading the patterns.  If you’re easily bored by tech talk, you may want to skip the rest of this post.  But if you’ve encountered problems while trying to download my patterns, or if you are interested how things work, then read on.  I will try to keep it brief.

I had purchased a software program in March to handle the automatic downloading of the patterns.  It’s actually a great program except it had a little glitch that would sometimes corrupt .pdf files when people tried to download them.  After a few months of fighting with it and lots of emails from frustrated customers, I had to zip up all the files.  So, if you made a purchase from June til now, you downloaded a zipped file.  Not too bad except sometimes people had trouble unzipping them.  But at least I got a lot fewer emails asking for help.

Finally, after months and months, the software developer released an update to the program to fix the glitch.  I had to spend quite a bit of time last night updating the files because of course it wasn’t as simple as just copying in the new files he provided, because I had customized the download area to match my website.

I have not yet switched all the files back to .pdf format because I have a lot of pattern files and I’m worried that it won’t work, so I only switched the new patterns that I’ve added in the last week.  If I start getting emails complaining about error messages again, I’m going to have to switch back to the zipped files again.  But this patch has been out for a month or so and I’ve been on the support forums and it looks like it should work.

The other issue was the password problems.  Everyone will be happy to know that now there is an option to click on a link and your username and password will automatically be filled into the form for you so there shouldn’t be anymore password problems.  I know that password issues was a big source of frustration for a lot of people.  This should basically eliminate all problems with inputting the password.

Well, I think that’s enough geekiness for now.  I need to get back to knitting since last night was spent working on the computer.  I just thought some of you might like to know about some of what it takes to keep the website going.

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We’ve made it to our last day of the KAL!  If you’ve knit along with us each day, I hope you’ve enjoyed this pattern.  I think it’s a great pattern for Autumn, especially since I live in New England and we have plenty of these around!  But I won’t give any more hints today.  I will post a picture of the finished cloth tomorrow for those of you who haven’t had a chance to knit it yet, so you will know what it is. 

Row 46:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 47:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 48:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 49:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 50:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 51:           K1, P1 across, ending with K1

Row 52:           K1, P1 across, ending with K1

Row 53:           K1, P1 across, ending with K1

Row 54:           K1, P1 across, ending with K1

Row 55:           K1, P1 across, ending with K1

Bind off all stitches in pattern.

xxxxxxxx Dishcloth (x-ed out to keep the surprise for now!)

Created by Emily Jagos

Copyright © Emily Jagos October 7, 2008

Copyright Information:
This pattern is for your own personal use.  The pattern may not be sold, reprinted or distributed by any means without prior authorization.  Contact me at emily@designs-by-emily.com .

I hope you’ve had fun!

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Challenge Day 10

Today’s new cloth is an apple.  It’s not something unique.  Most designers out there have some type of apple design, and I’ve had this one planned since last year (last fall was a bad time for designing for me…..lots of cloths started and none finished).  Since I’m a teacher I figured it’s my turn to give an apple instead of receive an apple.  Believe it or not, I’ve gotten my share of apples over the years.  Kids still do give apples to the teacher.

Here’s the picture of the cloth:

Apple Dishcloth

This pattern is available for purchase for $1.49 and can be found on the “New” page of the main part of the Designs by Emily website.

Today is a slow knitting day.  I have one of my boys home sick and I’m not feeling so hot myself.  Of course the two year old is feeling fine and running circles around us both.  At least I’m several days ahead of things and if I don’t get much done today it won’t be too bad.  Thanks again to all my cheerleaders!!

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We’re on Day 5 of our KAL and we’re coming into the home stretch.  After you knit these rows, I hope you can tell what this design is…it’s always a nervous moment for a designer!  Tomorrow’s rows will just be finishing up the cloth.

Row 37:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 38:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K9, P11, K9, (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 39:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 40:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K12, P5, K12, (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 41:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 42:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K13, P3, K13, (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 43:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 44:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K14, P1, K14, (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 45:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Check back tomorrow to get the last 10 rows!

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Challenge Day 9

I’m in a pretty happy mood today.  The cloth that I’m currently test knitting is coming out very well.  It’s looking even better than I had imagined it.  I’m trying something a little bit different with this cloth and I’m really pleased.  I’ll post it in a couple of days.

Since I’m in such a happy mood, I figured I’d add my Happy Whale to the site today.  Here’s what he looks like:

Happy Whale Dishcloth

I named this cloth the “Happy Whale Dishcloth” because I think he looks like he’s smiling and he’s flipping his tail up like he doesn’t have a care in the world.  If only we all could be so carefree all the time.  You can find him available to purchase for $1.49 on the “New” page.

I hope you all are having a great day as well!

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It’s Day 4 already and here are another 9 rows.  I hope you’re enjoying this KAL so far!

Row 28:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K3, P23, K3, (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 29:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 30:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K3, P23, K3, (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 31:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 32:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K3, P4, K3, P9, K3, P4, K3, (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 33:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 34:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K10, P9, K10, (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 35:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), P to last 4 sts., (P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 36:           (K1, P1, K1, P1), K9, P11, K9, (P1, K1, P1, K1)

I’ll be sure to post the next rows nice and early again tomorrow!

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