As you might remember, I am one of the slackers unlucky knitters still finishing up holiday gifts for their needy, grabby-handed, wonderful loved ones. I finished up the scarf for my mom (pics on FO Friday) but the Fiasco’s mitts are still in progress. Despite that, I desperately achingly needed to cast on something for myself. Something new. Something that wasn’t all plain ribbing or stockinette or garter stitch. Something with some oomph.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts De-Vine, colorway Pond Scum. Click for project page.

Ladies and gentlemen, if that chunky, lacy, acid-green mini-shawl doesn’t have oomph, I don’t know what does. The yarn absolutely lives up to its name, it is delicious in my fingers, and the pattern (Cedar Grove Shawl by Judy Marples) is one I’ve been meaning to knit for an entire year. It was featured in my second ever Inspiration Saturday post in December of 2012, in fact. I say it’s high time.

What up, new logo?

Speaking of me, me, me, I’ve been working with my co-worker, Lisa Kinloch (who is also a fabulous graphic designer) to come up with a logo and pattern layout that represents the feel of my blog and my patterns. How do you like it? Lisa gave me a ton of options to choose from, all of which I loved, but this one was my favorite. She couldn’t find a font that represented ‘woolen’ so instead she hand-drew what the letters would look like if spelled out in yarn. How cool is that? I absolutely love it. I am working on updating my existing patterns with the new brighter, cleaner layout in the near future.

Coming to an Etsy shop near you!

Lisa also developed a logo for my newest creative venture: handmade lotion bars. Over the last couple of months I’ve been really inspired by the idea of making my own beauty products. I bought some solid hand lotion at Stitches East and love using it. Then I found this blog post and this one about making your own. I tried it, made a bunch for Christmas gifts, and loved it but wanted to tweak the recipe and add one very special moisturizing agent: lanolin (get it? sweet sheep?). I’ve been experimenting with ingredients and have come up with a couple different formulas I like.

As a responsible creator and compulsive researcher, I’d love to do a little product testing and see which formula people prefer. If you are able to help me out, I will mail you a few small samples and e-mail you a short questionnaire asking about your impressions of the lotion, which you would then fill in and e-mail back. When I receive your answers, in return for being awesome, I will send you a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for the full-sized product as well as a coupon code for one of my knitting patterns, if so desired. Full disclosure: I am aiming to stock and open the Etsy shop before March 1st, so the coupon would not be usable until around then. Also, all of the samples will be unscented (they will have no fragrance oil added) but the use of cocoa butter will impart a chocolate-y smell to varying degrees.

So! If you’re interested, please send an e-mail to alicia at woolendiversions dot com. Feel free to send questions or ask in the comments below. I’m really excited about this project!