What I'm Making: January

Nervous energy may or may not be a good thing. I'm job hunting right now, after getting news that my boss at one of my jobs is getting ready to retire. Handing out resumes is stressful, and I've been busy knitting every evening.

I'm playing around with an idea (probably brought on by stress). Whether anything will come from it remains to be seen, but I'm thinking of starting an Etsy shop to sell my knitting. It's going to be a while - I have to build up my stock, come up with a name, and do quite a bit of prep work - but it's something I'm looking at pretty seriously.

I made my first coffee cozy this week. I love this simple pattern! It knits up quickly, and it's just so cute. I've already started a second cozy. This is something I'd love to carry in my shop.

My boys want me to make blankets for them, but I'm a little nervous about biting off such a big project. I found a great pattern on Ravelry, though. It's a block blanket, with a different pattern for each block. I'm making one for myself first, as a test pattern. If all goes well, I'll make one for each of my boys when I'm done. Here's where I'm at on the first square:

I'm working on a dishcloth, too. This ridge and rib pattern is my favorite for dishcloths so far. Again, I think these would be great for a shop. I've already made several for myself and some for family, too. When it's finished, it will look like this:

My Project Life app is seeing a lot of action, too. My goal is to create one page per week. Not necessarily big events, but just the little pieces of everyday life that are too easily overlooked and forgotten.

Most exciting of all - I spent this week editing my next short story, which will appear in the March crime-themed issue of Splickety Prime magazine. I'm really excited about this story. It's nothing like my first two - sweet stories that tugged at the heartstrings. This one is dark, full of twists, and the style I really want to write. Now that my short story is done, I'm diving back into edits on my novel this weekend. It's hard to believe I'm polishing it and getting it ready for beta readers, then agents. It still feels like a dream.

What are you making right now?