October 2024 Recap - Sam Bartley Designs

Hi pals! Welcome to this weeks blog, the October 2024 recap! Looking at it all laid out here I did a LOT this month, and I am actually pretty surprised because I felt incredibly behind. November might not be quite as productive, because I’ve got to get everything ready for December, but I have a few projects I am hoping to wrap up so wish me luck.

Oh, what’s in December? Well, it’s our 8 year anniversary of designing patterns, and our 2 year anniversary of the blog! I have a lot planned for this so let me get it all out and then I’ll explain it.

Instagram BIG giveaway
Twitch granny square blanket giveaway
This years book of patterns
My book review for the year
& a few final blog posts to help you through the season

On Instagram I am starting a giveaway on December 1st. I will be giving away a few things, in collaboration with 3 of my favorite humans, and I am so excited to share it all with you. This will run from December 1st through December 15th, and I will pull winners on the anniversary date, December 22, 2024. Winners will be announced on my Instagram, you must be following me and my pals that I’m working with, and you will have 24 hours to respond before I pull a new winner.

As of today (11/2/24) we have 2 skeins of yarn and 2 custom Cordsmiths, one Original and one Mini. The yarn is from my sweet friends Quarter Cakes Yarn (the uv rainbow) and Sunset Fiber Co (the purple). Autumn over at Size Inclusive Collective makes the Cordsmiths and she made these ones custom just for us! I do have a few in my shop if you want to snag one ahead of time, and if you win the giveaway I’ll send you the opposite size! I plan on adding a few more things before it starts, so make sure you’re following me on Instagram to keep up with my shenanigan’s.

This post does contain affiliate links. These are just links I use from Amazon that allow me to make a small commission off your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me keep the website running and the patterns free. Thank you for using them!

Everything I Wrote

Everything I Read

This month I got through 4 more books. I had 3 four stars and 1 five star. We’ve been lucky this year and I don’t think we’ve had anything less than 3, so I am feeling hopeful for the rest of the year. The only books I DNF’d (did not finish) were ones I was sent that I didn’t sign up for. Thankfully my local little free library enjoys them.

Click on the images to take you to the reviews.

Whenever you’re ready

meet me in a mile

christmas is all around

make me a mixtape

Everything I Worked On

Poncho

I started a new design 😅 I have been wanting to make something for one of my sweet friends who doesn’t live here in the states, and he mentioned one time he would like a poncho. Soooo, that’s what I’m designing. This one might not be his specifically, I have to figure out gauge and measurements and all of that, but once I solidify the design and get approval I will gladly make a second.

NEW green knit tank top

I DID IT! If you’ve been following along with the saga of the green knit tank top, I finally frogged the split side tank top and cast on the Summer Secret Crop top for the 3rd time. Hey, I like what I like and that’s the entire point of this craft.

Sunset Fiber Co Beanie

Yeeeee! This is going to be sooooo good! I had some leftover yarn from my laptop sleeve design and realized it was plenty enough to make a new chunky beanie. I freaking love Sunset Fiber Co’s yarn and I won’t stop talking about it.

Mohair KNit Sweater

I picked this baby back up after about 4 months of ignoring it. I only have one set of 4.5 mm needles and I use them for beanies all the time so I rarely put them back on the sweater. However, I am taking a beanie break and working on this for a bit… I think I have to frog a bit though because I have NO idea where I am at.

Tunisian crochet “kindle Purse”

Idk if its just my tiktok feed or what, but the “purse kindle” trend has been all over mine. I think that’s super silly and fun, so I thought I would make a “kindle purse for your purse kindle”, so it doesn’t get scratched in your purse. Dumb idea? Probably. I love it all the same though.

Sock

The never ending sock adventures, continue on.

Callad Shirt

I got a few rows of lace work done, please clap.

Embroidery Project

I am SO close to finishing this project, I am hoping I get it done in November but also won’t be upset if it takes until December. I also lost one of the colors so I’ve gotta figure that out. 😂

Everything I Finished

Marled mandala shawl

LOOK AT THIS SHAWL! I am swooning so hard. It took me all month to knit, but the main reason behind that is I realized about 36 rows from the end I knit the entire thing wrong. The little twists in mine are supposed to be open eyelets, but instead of opening them, I twisted them shut… And I only “checked in” at the end. Thankfully Vanessa is a gem and a delight and helped me figure out what I did wrong, so I know for next time!

Bookmarks

Don’t come for me, I started a few new hobbies this month. Now, technically this isn’t really new, but more like an addition to a hobby. I started making scrapbook bookmarks for all of my books! I had a ton of scrapbook supplies, added a few packs of holographic stickers, and bought a laminator and off I went. What do you think of them?

coasters

Insert new hobby number 2, diamond painting, and yall I can’t stop. I saw my friend SleepingLunaDesigns diamond painting on her stream a few weeks ago and thought it looked super fun, but was mega intimidated by how big the project was. I did a little searching and found this kit on amazon, which seemed like the perfect size. It took 2 days to finish 4 of them, one is left for Sean to try, and the other I’ve held off on finishing because I don’t want to finish yet. 😂

giant knit beanie

The idea behind this project was to knit a really really big beanie with the yarn I had left over. I accomplished that I believe. No pattern for this one, but I can write up what I did if you’re interested. Actually, I might just post it on Instagram sometime this month as a little treat.

c2c washcloth

Sometimes you just have to make a corner to corner washcloth. Not for any reason, I just wanted to do some c2c and figured a washcloth was a nice quick and easy project.

peach

A little present for a friend who ordered a keychain from me.

Knit headband

If you remember a few weeks ago I released a new pattern for Lunas Crown and Fingerless gloves, and I had enough yarn left over to knit up a headband for myself too! Once again, no pattern, but I can always tell you what I did.

Stream Projects

I am not going to go into a ton of detail here on this kit and book, but if you check out my Twitch streams, even the past ones I put up on my YouTube, you can see my thoughts there first.

Carrot Mushroom

Kit Here

Peas

Book Here

Blanket

This is my stream blanket and I am currently working on row 5. I really need to write up a blog post for it, but I might just wait until I finish it and write out everything then.

Oh, one more thing. I mention this on the video too, but I have merch now! Head on over to my merch store and check it out. I personally own the t-shirt, the crop top, all of the stickers, and the mug. The sweater is on my list next.

Alright pals! That’s it for this months recap! I hope you had fun this month, and if there is something you’re really wanting to see – no matter how “simple” you think it might be – let me know and I’d love to add it to the list!

Love you pals, mean it <3 Sam