I am working hard at making sure I have enough content so that frannycakes & knitdea can have a sweet launch. I have been thinking that this is the direction that my web company was going to go – blogging!

I feel vulnerable and exposed when I blog purely about my life, or even my design. But there is just something different about cooking. Food is about nurturing & nourishing. About family & friends. It is about gathering. And I like that. So, I am collecting the recipes for the dinners I have been making myself. And on Fridays, there will be a cake. A cupcake or a regular cake. But there will always be cake.

I also want to blog about knitting. I love giving away the things I knit, so I am excited to be writing this too. I just want to have about 20 posts on each before I get too excited about these sites.

So, I ask you family & friends to wait patiently for these sites when they arrive.

I wrote a design manifesto that I plan on following as well.

I am starting up a knitting design & inspiration blog (not a full on knitting mag, because that will take waaaaay too much time). It will be at http://knitdea.com.

Each week I will post a round-up of all of my designs from the week, both my challenge pieces and client work. Mainly, I just want to show off.

I can be found on twitter via @maryfran, @purpleurbia (my web design blog), @purplecrayonweb (my web design company) and @knitdea (my new knitting site).

Knitdea and Purpleurbia will soon have Etsy stores – Knitdea’s selling knitted hats (go figure!) and Purpleurbia’s selling some print work…I am getting a little letterpress to see how well the tactile graphic arts like me

This site will be getting an overhaul in March/April in preparation for graduate school applications.

It is going to be a ridiculous couple of months, but I can’t wait!

I know I appear to be knitting bunches lately, I need to keep my hands busy at lunch and between work and class, but I need to figure out how to find some time to be creative for my self.  Gil (from class) told me today that class projects are never going to get me a job.  And I am sure he is right, now to get on the ball and get some creating done.  I have a few things lined up to work on (the Project Linus chapter site, a site for a belly dancing group and using my alphabet project to write a book for the twins) but I can’t seem to find time.  I think my friends who already think I am not out enough are going to have to deal so that I can get some work done.

I started collecting pieces of jewelery to reconstruct as well as beads and findings so that I can make the jewelery for the Baumwolle site this weekend and next.  (Any volunteers to model it?  I might even let you keep the jewelery if you like it…)

I finished the red hat, started the gloves and finally bought the yarn to finish the belated birthday scary (hooray!)

The gloves took four attempts to cast-on (this is what I get for attempting to do something fancy) but are now coming along smootly.  Well, at least the glove that I have started is .

I have been a knitting fool lately.  Partially because the belated birthday scarf (that is no longer going to go to the person it was intended for) is taking forever to knit (the entire thing is a cabled 1×1 rib so that it is reversible) and has cost me an arm and a leg.  Hopefully I will finish it tonight so I can get one of my next two projects started.  Hooray for progress!

I also went yarn shopping Saturday.  I might be addicted.  But I am all set to go to knit my mom’s Christmas hat and a pair of overly intricate gloves for myself.  Hopefully I get some time to knit (and sew, I have a few bags to finish!) this weekend.  I think P might have to indulge me and let me knit during our college football watching marathon on Saturday.

I am also on the hunt for a new job.  The whole lack of creativity in addition to being a temp is starting to wear me out.  I need to exercise my brain a little bit!  So, I am hunting.  The only problem is I need to make sure that my portfolio is online and up to date, so it is taking a wee bit of time to get going on the hunting, but I am trying.  I will be taking votes for everyone’s 10ish favorite pieces to include in a pdf version of my portfolio that I will be e-mailing starting Thursday.

I bought a wee bit of yarn.  A bit of banana silk…

and a bit of merino…

I was looking for alternative fibers, but it seemed to be lacking with the midwestern ladies who raise their own sheep. I guess inego (corn fiber) just hasn’t caught on yet in corn country.

I can’t wait to finish my scarf so that I can knit with some of this stuff!