Slogging through...

So apparently Mercury has been in retrograde, which explains some of the crazy behavior that has been so common lately. I am continuing to slog through and have suddenly been much inspired in my design work. I've got three patterns actively being knit and another three that are almost ready to go to the sample knitters. I've got three sock designs that have been accepted by various and sundry publications that will be getting going soon, not to mention the book which needs to be given some attention.

Fortunately, I've got my wonderful business partner Donna, who is ready and willing to help me out with all of the non-creative stuff that I tend to put off because I just don't want to deal with it. She actually enjoys talking to yarn companies and shop owners. Not that I don't, but my introversion tends to make it something I tend not to look forward to. I don't even like calling to make myself a doctor's appointment!

February is almost over, and I'm looking forward to the arrival of March and hopefully a better outlook on life. February just generally stinks, apart from my darling daughter's birthday.

Here are a few of the pictures Blogger refused to let me put in my last post. First, my current big knitting project (a coat made out of Malabrigo that will be a plus-size pattern for my fall line):



Oh, Malabrigo, how I love thee! The unwound hank on the right is some Dream In Color Classy that will become a 'tween hoodie design. Oh, purple, how I love thee, too!

Next up, a miniature version of the shawl that Grumperina is knitting for me:



I did one repeat of the pattern and then added an edging. It's so cute! I managed to totally screw it up by working the same pattern on both sides (it's supposed to mirror) but fortunately it was just a prototype to test out some edging ideas.

Last but not least, my Tilli Tomas Rockstar cloche:



This was a totally fun little project that made great use out of one ball of this uber-expensive yarn. Look for all these designs in June!

Stuck in the doldrums.

This has been a heckuva month, particularly the last week or so. I can't get excited about much of anything that I'm supposed to be doing, AKD is at a sink-or-swim crossroads and I'm trying desperately to be optimistic about where it will end up, and Owen has suddenly decided that the potty isn't such a great idea after all. To top it all off, there is yet another swarm of Ravelry threads about how cheap it is to produce patterns, why $9 is an outrageous price for a pdf pattern (I can't judge one way or the other, since I don't know what kind of a pattern it is) and how designers should just charge $2 because they'd sell so many more patterns. Geesh. I think I've been through it before so I'll spare you all of the unexpected costs involved in pattern production, but suffice it to say, don't judge a designer's business model until you've walked a mile in their handknit socks! Like I posted to the thread, the things that keep me up at night now weren't even a blip on the radar when I decided I wanted to be a knit designer. It seems like a whole slew of copyright threads have also popped up (again) - maybe it has something to do with Wednesday's eclipse? I don't know!

But enough complaining. Sydney turned 5 on Wednesday! Yay! She graciously modeled the Feather Lace Shawl I made for Twisted:



Isn't she just so grown up? Ever since I got back from Cat's retreat, she has been a total delight to be around. She was almost to the point of me wanting to give her to the next stranger that walked by the house at the end of last year, but now she's a doll. Her brother, on the other hand, has turned into the devil. Seriously. No more potty, every single process needs to be made as messy as humanly possible (particularly eating), and any frustration whatsoever is met with a screaming hissy fit. I really AM considering giving him to the next poor passer-by. It's a good thing he's so cute...



My mom's theory is that they push you to the absolute brink, until you think you can't possibly stand it any more, and then they enter another delightful phase. I'm just glad that they've decided to alternate! We'll see how long it takes for Owen to turn it back around...

There is some knitting going on around here. I've got pictures, but Blogger just stopped cooperating. So instead I'll link to a post from my celebrity sample knitter who is flashing a bit of the shawl design she's knitting up for me. I'm not the only one who's obsessed with purple, it seems!

Back in the saddle...

I managed to survive the rest of the visionary retreat (it was so much fun but so very exhausting at the same time) and then came home only to get food poisoning. Yesterday was spent napping and, well, you know...not straying too far from the bathroom. I didn't start to feel human until around 5 pm but fortunately today I feel fine again.

I did get some knitting done, both last week and over the weekend. First, I got a sample of the Feather Lace Shawl done in one skein of Malabrigo laceweight (what a yummy yarn).



This baby needs a good blocking to open it up and flatten it out, and then it will live at Twisted if you locals want to go visit it.

I also finished up a my-size version of the Cannon Beach V-Neck in Dale of Norway Svale. This was mostly knit by one of my sample knitters and then finished by yours truly. Here it is getting some love from the cat:



And here's Sydney, looking very J-Lo-at-the-Oscars (or was it the Grammys?) while modeling for me:



I've got one more long-suffering project to finish (a design for The Sweet Sheep which has been languishing for like a year - poor Michelle!) and then I'll be free to focus fully on the June designs and several other things I've not been able to say no to. I am such a sucker for pretty yarn!

In other news, the Auburn Camp Shirt was recently featured in the Knitting Daily gallery with pics of the sample on several different Interweave staffers and several tips on customizing the fit. There's also a knit-along starting up, hosted by my blog friend Linda who was one of the first Sock-A-Month Knitalongers. Obviously she knits things other than socks. If you're going to be knitting the shirt, please go join the fun and games! I'll be dropping by to answer questions and such but I will freely admit that I'm NOT going to be knitting this design again any time soon. It was bad enough in the small size - in my size I would need to have a lot more free time to manage all those little stitches! What crazy *$%*&# would design a sweater in fingering-weight yarn? At least it's short-sleeved...

I've also had my first experience with editor-introduced errata. The Cabled Baglet, my design in Storey's 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders, was slightly hosed up before publishing. The errata is now posted here. I've included this design in my own pattern line as Cable That Bag! and have the original (correct) instructions along with new charts in the pattern leaflet if you like the bag but don't want to buy the whole book. I feel a little strange about advertising my own pattern along with the book, but it's also nice for people to have choices as to whether they want the whole book (and the other 100 patterns that go along with it) or just the one pattern. This was one of those great instances where the publisher bought one-time publication rights for the pattern for a small fee, allowing me to do what I will with it on my own - these are the types of deals I seek out now. I'm less and less willing to work-for-hire and give away all rights to my work. It's hard to continually kiss my creative works goodbye as soon as I'm finished with them, which is why I really love self-publishing (not to mention the fact that I get final say on any edits and hopefully catch the really egregious ones before they're printed).

Since I didn't manage to bring my camera up to the visionary retreat, here's a picture of the lake from last year:



Beautiful, no? Now I've got to get cracking on that book so I have something to show for myself next year!

Visionary mid-way

Well, here I am, up in the gorgeous San Juan Islands, at my second visionary retreat. These retreats are put on by the fabulous self-publishing maven Cat Bordhi and are invitation-only to designers with book ideas that Cat thinks have promise. It's inspiring and exhausting all at the same time. There's a fabulous group of people here and lots of great book ideas (of course, I'm sworn to secrecy so you won't be hearing about any of them here).

This has been a bit of an up-and-down experience for me, for sure. It's the longest I've ever been away from the kids and there is plenty of time for reflection. It's good, because it's very nice to have lots of time available to think about things. But there's also plenty of time to miss my family and Portland-based support network. It's also very challenging for me to be in a big group of people that I don't know very well. I had this same problem last year, to some extent, and I've become wonderful friends with so many of the people I met here. I just wish I wasn't such an introvert. There are some very extroverted folks in this group, and I'm so envious of them. Fortunately, I've had plenty of time to reconnect with people I love dearly but don't see very often. I've done some good networking and been inspired, even if the group sessions are quite exhausting for me.

One big thing that has come out of this session for me involves the book proposal I was supposed to be writing this week. On the first night here, I volunteered to talk about what I've been up to over the past year (and I was happy to do it then so I didn't have to worry about it all week - I did the same exact thing with my big presentation last year). Of course I mentioned the big book idea and that I was reluctantly going to submit it to a publisher. You can guess what happened here...they told me that I COULD NOT give it to a publisher and had to self-publish. So, now I'm working on the beginning stages of an actual book, not just a book proposal.

There - I said it! I'm writing a book. It's a terrifying thought, but I'm going to start with what I do best, which is design. The subject is something I think will come very easily to me, and I've got lots of great yarn companies that I can now approach for yarn support. I've also got several ideas that won't fit in the book but will definitely go well with my pattern line.

And now, we're going to go drink wine and eat some cheese. The lake is glassy, the sky is amazing, good on ya!

They're coming to take me away..hee hee!

Although I don't need to go anywhere - I'm already at the funny farm! I had such grand visions of what I was going to accomplish today. I was going to get the laundry washed, dried, folded and put away. I was going to get the kitchen clean and the carpets vaccuumed. Bill has been in San Antonio this week, and he'd be so delighted to come home to find the house all clean. Um, not gonna happen. I'm not sure exactly what happened to the day, but here's what all's on my mind right now:

* decide which yarn to take to Cat Bordhi self-publishing retreat
* find that yarn (easier said than done)
* print off book proposal draft
* print out Feather Lace Shawl chart (I'm making a sample for Twisted out of a lovely green skein of Malabrigo) for "meeting knitting"
* charge cell phone
* try not to forget to pick Sydney up from preschool
* make sure I have enough clean clothes to pack for the week
* plan Sydney's birthday party, which needs to be one of the last two weekends of February or it gets bumped to mid-March due to Sydney's Grammy's impending trip to Costa Rica for two weeks in the middle there
* start writing patterns for June designs so sample knitters can start on them
* order yarn for June designs so sample knitters can start on them
* block Camelspin scarf so fringe can be added and it can be sent off immediately upon my return
* figure out how best to navigate the surprisingly contentious concept of admitting crochet designers to AKD
* get Ravelry ads I signed up for starting March 1 ready for approval
* post remaining new patterns on Ravelry
* post errata for Cabled Baglet from Designer One-Skein Wonders on Ravelry and my website since the tech editor totally hosed my cable instructions - yikes!
* try not to forget to pick Bill up at airport

Owen is assisting me in all this by dumping an entire box of bunny crackers all over the futon in our TV room and "digging for treasure" in them. Sigh. And now I must get to item #6 on my list if I can figure out how to tear Owen away from "Wow, Wow, Wubbzy"...

Go vote!

No, I'm not talking about the primaries (we in Oregon don't get a chance to help pick our party's candidate until May, which generally makes it a non-choice, although there are hints that Oregon may become a battleground state this year due to the neck-and-neck race amongst the Democrats...but I digress). Go vote in the Knitting Daily poll to determine which of the summer sweaters are going to be featured in the gallery (where they take pictures of the sample on a bunch of intrepid Interweave staffers to see how it looks on non-models).

Of course, I'm going to tell you that your first vote should be for my Auburn Camp Shirt. Be sure to vote for Connie's Printed Silk Cardigan and adorable Drawstring Chemise, too. I wonder why they didn't include the socks...

(No, really, I know why they didn't include the socks - I was just trying to be funny. Sorry.)

We have a winner!!!

So, I know I said I was going to announce the winner of the blog contest on Sunday, but it wouldn't be me if it wasn't at least a couple days late. So, without further ado, congrats to Kristie at Guilty Pleasures! E-mail me with your mailing address and your size preference (regular or plus) for the sweater patterns and I'll pop them in the mail for you.

And thank you all for your great comments. It's always nice to get feedback, and it sounds like I'm on track with the direction of my blog. Now if only I could get around to posting more than once a week...

I've got Camelspin (from Handmaiden) on the brain right now. I'm making a lace scarf for a submission, and Camelspin is total crack yarn. I love it so much. I'm trying to get the scarf done this week so I can mail it before I leave for Friday Harbor on Saturday for Cat Bordhi's self-publishing retreat. I can't wait! It was so much fun last year (and so incredibly inspiring). This year I've got a book proposal that I'm going to set aside time to work on, assuming Cat doesn't ban me (imagine the heresy - working on a book proposal for a publisher at a self-publishing retreat). Now that things have quieted down a bit after TNNA, I'm also getting my fall line in order. I placed a huge yarn order with Lorna's Laces and am trying to figure out who else I need to talk to.

My crack yarn is calling me.... Must. Go. Knit....