Tea, Turtles, etc.

Hey, guys, I planned on writing about this sooner (like right after midnight), but I got distracted. I sent my parents away on a anniversary mini vacation and my sister and I hung around the house, ate pizza, drank tea, and binge-watched the Star Wars original trilogy. Because we’re such party girls.

So, if you’ve been following the blog the past 24 hours, you probably know by now that Bitty the Bashful Baby Turtle has now joined the ranks of the released Franciscangypsy Designs patterns.

So, yay! Baby Turtle! Go and create yourself a turtle army! Between Bitty and Timmy you can now do so! And just in time for the Tortoise vs Hare CAL/KAL!

I must have tea on the brain. I almost wrote make yourself a tea army. lol. Must because I’m listening to a podcast on tea called the Loose Leaf Podcast while writing this. It’s pretty good so far. And I am, of course, drinking some tea while listening to it. I’m drinking the Pinhead Gunpowder, in case you’re curious. The parental units were kind enough to bring back some tea from their trip to Historic Williamsburg.

Oh, and they brought me some special Williamsburg yarn. Which will be horded until I find (or design) the perfect pattern to use it for. I kind of feel like I want to design a toy for it so I can truly appreciate and love such a special skein of yarn.

Anyway, on further news, Sparkle the Unipony is coming closer and closer to being able to go into testing. I think I need to design a smaller toy after I’m done with this one. I love this toy and think that Sparkle needed to be large and I love her for it, but I think I need a quick instant gratification project to design next. Something that can pop on and off my hook in about a fifth of the time that it takes to make a Unipony. I.e.: something cute, small, and adorable.

Kind of like Bitty. See how I brought that about full circle? Yup. Cuz I’m good like that.

Anyway, go ahead, gather yourself some yarn and get your hook ready to create your turtle army. And make sure you make yourself a good cup of tea while you’re doing so.

God Bless,

Tahlia

 

Not Mere Taunting

Oh, my. It’s been a little over a month since I’ve posted here. Sorry, guys. Overtime at work, a fiber festival (yay), and a case of bronchitis & sinusitis have all conspired to keep me off of here. That is my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

The good news is that I actually have some news for you, not just some vague mocking hints. I have finished the purple design I’ve been taunting you with for the past few months. Meet Sparkle the Unipony!

This idea came into being actually when I was talking to a coworker about her niece’s fascination with unicorns. I sketched out the design right there and then (not the sketch pictured above; the above sketch was my more detailed sketch that I made when I came home). It took me a while to figure out how to achieve that perfect horsey shape, but I think that I finally got something that looks cute. I called her a unipony because when Davina would come down every morning and ask me what progress I made on the unicorn, I’d always refer to Sparkle as a “pony”. Eventually, we just started jokingly calling Sparkle a “unipony” and the name has stuck. I have to create a couple of tutorial videos for this design, and then the pattern will go into testing.

Great news, right? Finally, the design I’ve been taunting with you is finished!

Well, it gets even better than that!

While I was working on the tutorial toy for the Unipony, I was listening to a friend’s podcast where she talked about wanting to make a bunch of toys for Ronald McDonald house and she wished that there was a way to scale down Timmy the Turtle (who is huge) for the sick kids and siblings of the sick kids. Her comment hit just the right cord and another new design popped into being about eight hours later. So meet Bitty the Bashful Baby Turtle, who is currently in testing:

Bitty is significantly smaller than Timmy, but he is not just a scaled down Timmy. His head is actually a slightly different design and there are also some slight differences in the shell as well. Bitty is currently in testing and is planned to be released by June 25th.

So I know that it’s been a while since I’ve posted or have released a pattern, but I’m hoping that the reveal of two patterns at once is enough to earn me some clemency.

On another side note, for those of you who might be curious, I have tried out my GoPro camera for a tutorial for Bitty and the camera works wonderfully! The camera bluetooths into an app on my iPhone which allows me to see on my iPhone what I am recording from the camera on my head harness while I’m recording it. This is going to make my tutorials significantly better. I’m so excited and can’t wait for the video to finish loading so I can place it in the pattern where my testers can watch it and provide their input.

So lots of exciting news, I think. I hope that you are as psyched as I am! Not nearly the five designs I wanted to be released by this time, but four designs before the end of May isn’t too bad, right?

God Bless,

Tahlia