Publishing patterns on Ravelry.

Well I am glad Feb. is almost over! It just about did me in. Too much earning a legitimate living and not enough personal time! I did manage to write a pattern for a mobius loop scarf and post it for sale on Ravelry. It is called 'Not a Pair of Socks Scarf' and is knit in the popular STR (Socks That Rock!) sock yarn. It can be knit in any sock yarn you might have in your stash.


buy now 'Not a Pair of Sock Scarf!' via Ravelry Paypal link

The experience of posting patterns for sale on Ravelry has been an interesting one to include setting up a Paypal account and worry about my photography skills. I think I really need to find someone who will model my designs and work at taking better pictures. Maybe I could only knit mens patterns and use my sons or husband as models? I don't think I'll be very successful getting any of themn to model womans garments and my daughter is too far away. :)

I think what I like about self publishing on a site like Ravelry is I can do it at my own pace and I can be 100% in control of everything. The downside of this is I own my mistakes and weak spots - such as my photog skills - and any editing oversites. However, my one experience with working with a magazine was too stressful for my current lifestyle. I had one publishing success a few years ago, and many rejects. http://www.knittinguniverse.com/flash/knitters/GalleryDetail.php?IssueNum=76&ID=433

I found the experience too pressurized to fit into my life at the moment. I can't really knit on anything but self imposed deadlines these days.

However, I wonder if I'm missing out on some important exposure opportunities as well as working with knitting and publishing professionals? I am also wondering if I should open an Etsy shop or find other outlets for any patterns I design. After I build up a collection I will have to look into that. Right now, watching folks download my free patterns and seeing a couple of folks buy my single pattern for sale has me on a high and I think I want to ride it for a little while. Wheee!

You also may have noticed that I re-named my blog to match my Ravelry store and spruced it up a bit. Hope you can find me, and I hope you like it!

To Wii Wii Wii all the way home ....

Last year for Christmas we go the Wii. We have had such fun with it all year! I love the games which are designed for the Wii - such as tennis and bowling. My kids have enjoyed it as a platform for some of their favorite video games including some classic ones you can download when it's connected to the internet.

This year my kids surprised me with the Wii Fit. I love it! I have let my weight really get away from me to the point of an all time high. I am appalled at how big I've gotten and how out of shape. The Wii Fit is a great way to get some excercise in on a regular basis. Although I need to work at challenging myself and not taking the easy road all the time. I joined a group on Ravelry to get tips and encouragement and will try to post my progress from time to time here. So far, no weight loss, but a few sore muscles. Also, I have had a pinched nerve in my neck which the yoga helps a lot. Go Wiiiiiiiiii!

Conner's Cables

I am going to try to blog a little more this year and will start by publishing a free hat pattern I designed for my son. It is made from O-Wool and Thaki New Tweed. Hats are always great stash buster projects and this one is no exception. You could decide to do more stripes in various bits of yarn you might have leftover from other projects. Or you could use that luxury skein you've been saving for someone special. I hope you enjoy it!



(Get Conner's Cables here: ----> http://www.box.net/shared/e6jgpna113 )

Too much travel, too many WIP's ..

I have been traveling a lot for work. This is as expected, but it is wearing me out and cutting in big time on my knitting time. I try to travel with a knitting project when it's not too big and have been taking socks lately. I participated in a swap on Ravelry where we dyed and exchanged Knit Picks sock blanks. It was really fun and I have two socks started.

The green and blue pair is from a sock blank I dyed using easter egg dye. It was really fun to do and I would like to dye some more.

The rainbow one was made by my swap partner. I am using the free Knit Picks toes up pattern which I really like. It's fun to make two at a time, and I think it's easier to fit as you go than the top down methods. I also tried 'Judy's magic cast on' for the rainbow pair which is much less fussy than the cast on specified in the Knit Picks pattern. I have not yet gotten to the heel yet on either pair, but am not sure how I feel about the afterthought technique.

One of my other unfinished projects is my Clapotis shawl. I feel like I've been working on this forever! It didn't help that because I chose a smaller guage yarn I added repeats to make it the length and width I wanted. Also I misread the pattern and thought that I was supposed to be dropping both at the front and back in the straight section. I didn't figure out that the instruction applied to the decrease section until after I had ripped about 10 inches. The second setback is that I realized I actually DID make the mistake in not dropping twice in the decrease section. I have to rip again and am just not looking forward to it. It's a slippery rayon and won't be fun. Sigh.

I have also cast on for oolong socks for Molly. I'll post pictures when I get them a bit further along.

Has it been a month?

I started this blog as a journal to myself and have not done a very good job talking to myself apparently. It has been a month since I last posted. So self ... here is what has been going on:

Family - TC Graduated!! Whoo Hoo! We couldn't be more proud! I am busy getting ready to throw a party for him to celebrate with friends and family. This is an attempt at an 'art' for the invitation/annoucement. I think it's ok when looking at it on my computer screen, however it doesn't look very good printed on paper. I am going to try it on photo paper to see if it comes out better. If it does, I'll attach the photos to the Invite. Our graduate has big plans for his future and we are happy and excited about it. He's an intelligent, creative and strong willed person. There has been some conflict and worry along the way. But we feel like he is finding his way and we could not be more pleased. Yea!

Road trip: I am heading to visit my daughter the 4th of July weekend to help her move. I am exausted just thinking about the trip. It is a long 9 hour drive round trip and I will be flying out when I get back Sunday night for work. So the whole picture is: 7/4 9 hour drive to DD, 7/5 help her move her stuff and get her apt. setup, 7/6 9 hour drive home and fly out to Boston. Oh well, I really want to help her and see her. She has a new boyfriend I must meet! My DH can't go, so TC is going to go and do most of the driving (good experience for him) and help me checkout the guy. I will knit and rest as much as I can.

Swaps: I have sent my box to my spoilee and received my goodies from my spoiler and had an otherwise great time with the Going Green Swap. I am going to keep monitoring the board to cheer on those who are toiling. I think my partners and I were a little on the early side. There is still time for others to finish and I want to see all the spoils.

I have joined a new swap on Ravelry which is a huge one. It is the Swap on a Budget and I am really having fun. The folks posting on the boards are really chatty and because it's so large, I can check in almost any time and join in a conversation. I posted a note encouraging folks to talk. I think that is half the fun of this board. I have received my swap partner, checked her out thoroughly and made the big purchases for her box. I have also chosen a couple of small projects for handmade items. I am going to make her a small purse and some coasters. I will probably capture progress on Ravelry because if she is lurking, she won't know they are for her. I have really busy weeks coming up so it was important to get organized around this asap. Now that I have most of the goodies ordered as long as I make steady progress on the projects I will be fine.

I also joined the Dyed Sock Blank swap. It is in the signup stage and I think I'll have plenty of time for it. Basically you order a sock blank from Knit Picks, dye it and send it to your partner. They knit it up and show the results. I think there is a month to do the socks which should be plenty of time. I am looking forward to the fun of dying the blank and have ordered a couple. I love to do socks and this will be really fun!