I'm still here...and I have some good news...

I had hoped to get a blog in at some point this past week, but every evening when I got home from work, I had no mental energy left to construct a post.  So, it's been nearly a week since I last posted and I feel like I have so much to chat about!

First off, this past week I submitted four designs to the Knit Picks Independent Designer Partnership Program.  I've been working hard on getting the submissions together and it's been so hard not to share these designs with you all.  I've heard that Knit Picks has been super fast at getting back to people, but I still thought that it would take at least a week to get back to me.  (This, of course, did not stop me from checking my email every 20 minutes.)

I was super surprised to find an email from them on Friday afternoon saying that they were really interested in all four designs!  I was crossing my fingers for them accepting maybe 1 or 2, but I was floored when they wanted all of them.  So, now I have to get the samples and patterns ready to send off for the final review.  Two of the designs are already knit in Knit Picks yarn, but I have to re-knit the other two.  So, I'll be receiving a big box of KP yarn very soon to do just that!  It's my understanding that the designs will go through one more round of judging once they receive the samples before getting the final acceptance, but I'm still so excited that I made the first cut!

So, that's my good news.  It was a great way to start the weekend and a much needed ego boost in this time of winter blues.

In other knitterly news, I'm plugging away on my Maplewing for the Adventures in Lace KAL.  I've finally finished Chart B and will now move on to the decreases in Chart C.  FINALLY!  Don't get me wrong, this pattern is really well written and I know I'm going to feel a major sense of accomplishment upon finishing it, but I'm so over the wrong side rows.  I wouldn't mind if it was all purling, but I actually have to think because it's some purling and some p2togging.  I don't want to have to count!  I want to space out and take a break after all the counting on the right side!

Here's a couple shots of it.  Don't mind the awful photography.  Our house has horrible lighting.

As you can see in the 2nd photo, there are currently 9 edgey pointy things (yes, that's the technical term).  And from what I can tell from some of Anne Hanson's photos of the finished Maplewing, there are at least 30 pointies in the finished piece.  *Sigh*  Hey, at least I'm on the decreasing charts, so hopefully things will progress a lot more quickly now.

So, I guess I'll be working on my Maplewing until my box of yarn from Knit Picks arrives.  And then I'll be knitting until my fingers fall off to get the samples done as quickly as possible.  I can't wait until I get to share my stealth projects with all of you!