Spring is definitely in the air, with the Easter long weekend very close. I hope you get the chance to recharge the batteries a little, whether you celebrate Easter or not.

It feels like I've been mentioning the Aran Watchcap for such a long time, but the test knit call was issued over a week ago, and some wonderful examples have already been shared with me. The pattern will be out soon, and I am so glad to be at that stage! Thankfully very little re-editing will be needed after the test, and then it will be on to new ideas : )

It's not the Aran Watchcap pictured above though, but a hat pattern of mine which was originally published last December in Knotions online magazine. It's actually quite a good knit for this time of year too, as it is nice and light. It's the Aer Beanie (the theme for that issue was Air) and features little cable 'bubbles' that get smaller as they rise towards the crown. Most of my hats are knit in Aran weight yarn, so it was a lovely change to work with sportweight (close to sock weight really) yarn on this one. I used Yarn Vibes Organic Irish Wool sportweight for it, in the shade Bog Cotton. The reason I mention it now, months after it was first released (!), is that the rights have now returned to me, and the pattern is available in lots more places. I have it on Etsy, Ravelry, Makerist and good old www.aranaccessories.net !

In other news, I did an interview with Alura about my Etsy shop. Alura provides tools for Etsy sellers, and it was quite nice to look back and see the journey to this point. Seriously, it took me about 7 months to make my first sale on Etsy, and I would never have thought at the time that I would reach a point where I now have over 7,000 sales on Etsy! It still is such a joy whenever anyone buys a pattern of mine, I am so grateful to have the chance to keep creating new patterns.

If you would like to keep up-to-date with new patterns and designs, don't forget I have a monthly newsletter - I promise you, it will not be spammy! You can sign up easily at the bottom of the page : )