It’s been a month and a half since my last proper update — but I have an excuse. About a month ago, I took a fall on my bicycle and sprained my wrist. My right hand has been in a brace on and off since then, and while it hasn’t stopped my knitting, it has slowed me down significantly. It has also created difficulty in my job (it is hard to hold and turn a screwdriver while one hand is in a brace) and in typing. In addition, I had two weekend gigs with a total of 27 hours of teaching, plus book signings at four different venues. My wrist is basically OK out of the brace now, but it still twinges now and then and it will probably be a while before it’s completely healed and fully functional again.
For that reason, I’m going to try to keep this update short (note: I failed), and also focus more on the work done by other people than my own work.
First, the status of the book itself. Cooperative Press hasn’t responded to my emails for the past month, and hasn’t removed Extreme Double-knitting from Amazon or Ravelry as I requested, despite having a signed and counter-signed rights reversion agreement. I suppose it makes sense not to take them down as we go into the holiday gift-giving season, but I’d really rather people not get a sub-par product when they could simply wait a few months for a much better one. So I’m going to ask you, as someone who’s following me, to please wait. But if you just can’t wait, you can still get the 2011 version in the usual locations.
Now, the projects
I’ve gotten 5 of the 6 projects 
back which were being worked on by sample knitters. The sixth (Vasily) got an extension because his dog literally ate his homework. He gave me the choice of having me deal with it in person or an extension — I took the extension, and as of the most recent update, it’s almost complete and will be mailed back to me this week.
One of the others you’ve seen already — the Silk City necktie in Update #4 was the first to return. The next to return was the Four Winds hat, which has been heavily redesigned for a number of reasons. I’ll do a separate post about that later as I do my pattern highlight posts leading up to the printing. Suffice it to say, I’ve redesigned it from the ground up — new letters, new points, new closure. And it’s in sportweight yarn so it’s a little more wearable — and comes in two different sizes as well. Here’s a photo of the original and the new version side by side:
Another one that recently returned got an uncredited photo in my previous blog post: the redesigned and expanded Sierpinski blanket. Rather than going with Sierpinski carpet fractals in levels 2, 3 and 4, I opted for the original concept of a single level-5 version. This was originally a baby blanket, but strangely enough when done in sportweight yarn comes out with a similar gauge to my previous one in worsted. This means that the finished product is still about twice the size of the original one. So it’s more of a lap blanket than a baby blanket, which suits me fine. You can always go down to fingering weight if you want it smaller (and send me photos; I’d love to see that done)
Finally, Struktur has had a significant redesign: the chart repeat has been condensed for easier sizing (the closure is now 5 or 6 repeats around, rather than 4), and the yarn has been changed to sport weight. I struggled a bit with the colors because the heathered versions I was able to use in Cascade 220 don’t exist in 220 Sport. So I did the best I could. My sample knitter had difficulty with the decreases so I had to tear back the crown and rework it myself — which is a funny echo to the previous Struktur where I also had to do the crown myself due to a sample knitter’s hand injury (not related to knitting, I swear!). This also gave me the opportunity to refine the crown closure a little bit, so it was probably for the best.
The one I’m not showing yet is the Falling Blocks hat. It has returned, but the aura of the yarn is so overwhelming that I may have to reknit it. This is no fault of my sample knitter, but it is frustrating. The yarn is the same as the original but finer, so perhaps with increased surface area comes increased aura. I didn’t see this in the sample swatch I made, so I’m not sure — I’ll have to see how it goes.
In other news
While I am not doing a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale this year, I do have a way for you to save a little bit of money if you order from my store soon. Between now and the end of the month, Media Mail shipping will be available for my printed books and patterns within the US. For the month of December, I’ll be going back to Priority mail only — and then in January I’ll turn Media Mail back on again. So if you want to save a few bucks on shipping, order in the next few days.
Also, I’ve got my (PDF) book in an Ultimate Bundle that’s opening TODAY and is open for the next week — so you have only a short time to grab a whole pile of patterns and projects for very little money. In the knitting section, my book is far and away the most advanced, but there are sewing, weaving, applique, quilting and crochet sections if you are multicraftual or aspiring in that direction, you may find something to your liking here. In addition, if you buy in before Thursday, you’ll get your choice of a Craftsy class for free! Also, I believe you can give the bundle as a gift if you’ve got someone in mind who might be interested. And whether you’re going after the bundle for my book or for something else, if you use my link, you’ll be helping me out this holiday season too. Thanks!
Finally, if you missed my update on upcoming workshops, you can check my previous blog post and/or visit my events calendar.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!