Thursday 28 April 2016

I may go mad

I am working on a project with cables. As you may have surmised from the name of my blog, cables are something I like. However I keep realized I've miscrossed a cable ages ago and have to rip back and fix it. I swear I've knit enough stitches to have finished the project and yet I am perpetually at the one quarter part because I keep having to rip it back.

I can't overlook the miscrossed cables because the thing is for my magazine commission so I have to do it right (also that would bother me every time I saw it) and there's a deadline (again, because of the magazine thing) so I can't just put it aside, the entire thing is driving me mental.

I think I enjoyed cables more before I had kids, they're wonderful but make it a tad difficult to pay just enough attention to cross the cables the right way. I do really like how it's turning out and I'm so trying to have a good attitude about the whole thing, but I feel like I'll go just a little bit crazy if I have to rip it out again.

Monday 25 April 2016

Real Life

When I first started designing knitting patterns with the intention to sell them, everything seemed new and intimidating. Every step was something I hadn't done before and a lot of the time it was really hard to push through that.

Last year I felt kind of like a teenage in terms of the business, like I knew some things and could do somethings but there was a lot that was still new and a lot where I felt like I was guessing.

This year I'm starting to really feel like I've got this a bit. Not that I know everything, I definitely don't, but things don't feel as foreign and when I run into a situation where I don't know how to move forward there's a good chance I know where to look for the answers. I've been reflecting on this journey so far as I prepare my first pattern that's going to be published by a third party, it's due next month. The yarn just came yesterday but I've been working on the details and making sure the background info that's listed in the publisher's style sheet is still there. It's new but I can pull this off, and things sort of feel like I'm in my first job.

I'm really enjoying the journey.

Friday 22 April 2016

Chalk Paint

I've been wanting hooks for our front door for a while and I just haven't been able to find quite what I was looking for. A while ago I saw something I really liked at Home Outfitters, it was just one hook mounted on a wooden square, and I really liked it, and I liked that I could put a bunch at different heights. Since Home Outfitters gets rid of excess stock, they only had one. I figured I could probably make ones like it, though, and got some wooden squares at Michaels and some acrylic paint.

The result looked like a nine year old's art project. Not a terrible art project, but not what I wanted on my wall. Then I discovered chalk paint, which is actually easy to use and I randomly decided that stencils were a good idea and I have the coolest dragonfly square ever. I still need to get the wax and the hooks are on order but I'm super-excited.

I may be so excited that I spontaneously painted a matching bench.

Monday 18 April 2016

There's something about spring that makes it feel like tackling lost of little jobs is way easier than it is in winter. I don't know why, but the list of things I have to do around the house suddenly seems possible instead of dreadfully long as soon as the weather gets nice. Maybe it's because the sooner they're done the more time I have to spend outside. This weekend I've gotten a ton done, and spent time enjoying the weather with the kids. I've got my test knit done in time (still need to do some finishing but the knitting is done) and I've started figuring out what I need to do for my first magazine commission, which is suddenly feeling very real. It's real in an exciting way. I emailed a yarn company about yarn support, and after I'm done this post I'm going to go print the style sheet the publisher sent me and get to work.

In some ways I feel like a sixteen year old at their first job, but I'm good at learning things and I'm really excited about getting published.

Thursday 14 April 2016

Today

My test sweater is due on Sunday, and I'm almost positive I'll make it. I have about 30 rounds to go. It looks pretty good, and I'm really glad the that I used the solid for the yoke (also really glad that the designer I'm doing the test for is okay with it). It's looking really good. I'll have a beautiful wool sweater just in time for when it gets warm. I suppose that means I can spend the summer looking forward to wearing it.

I have my knitting group tonight and so I'm saving the sweater for that (this is how sure I am that I'll have it done in time) and spent the last hour recovering our kitchen chairs with wax cloth. They look AMAZING. I agreed to buy chairs with a fabric cover because the chairs were comfy and IKEA said the cover was "removable" so you could "easily" clean it. Apparently they consider having to disassemble part of the chair part of the "easy" cleaning process, because you can't get the thing off without removing four screws, which also means that if I want to wash them when the kids are in bed (and would be okay sitting on the chair without the cover because we're grownups and won't hurt it while the cover gets washed), I can't use the chair because the seat has been removed. And the covers always looked dingy and gross because kids touch things.

JYSK had wax cloth for 4.99 a meter, so I went in to get some and discovered that the one I really liked wasn't actually 4.99 a meter as advertised, but was actually 98 cents a meter. I got four meters and made a matching tablecloth. That, however, was a failure. Too much overhang before the elastic. It's supposed to cling to the underside of the table so small people learning to walk can't pull it off. I think I can rip out the stitches, trim it, and try again, but not today.

It sounds suspiciously like my son has disassembled the childproofing thing on his door handle...

Monday 11 April 2016

Done

I have worked and worked and worked to try to catch up from the computer dying. We might get things back through data recovery but that takes time. This weekend though, I hit a wall I desperately needed to do something other than try to get back to where I was. I knit (my test knit due on Subday only needs part of the yoke, so that's a good place) and I relaxed. Today I rearranged furniture. We had a ton of furniture delivered the other week and there were some things I didn't like the location of after we moved but just hadn't gotten around to moving them. I also culled the toys in the family room. There are SO many toys. Fewer now. Such a first world problem.

Our new computer arrived this morning after a detour to California, because despite "International" being all over the thing Fedex confused Canada with California. California is probably the furthest state from where we are. I figure while my husband sets up the computer this evening I'll sort out the few things I have to do to get my blanket test knit and be on my way tomorrow.

Initially I was nervous about the whole test knit thing but I've been so busy I haven't had time to be nervous.

Thursday 7 April 2016

They say it comes in threes

I hope that saying is true because I don't think I can handle something else breaking. In the past two weeks my phone, the computer, and the breaks all died. Spectacularly the computer's backup system also failed and two patterns that were ready to be sent to testers are gone.

I've been recreating them this week because I want to release them as planned and thankfully I have really good notes for these two. (Those of you who have been around for a while may be remembering that a while ago I made a promise to myself to type things up as I go so I don't have to do it from notes later...yep, all for nothing.)

I think I'll be able to send one of the patterns to testers on Monday and the other one about a week after our new computer arrives.  It's been ordered, they didn't have the type we wanted in store. I've been typing up my patterns on a computer from 2000 in text edit so none of the formatting or graphic stuff is done but the majority of the work is.

I've moved from being really upset to working my butt off but today I'm taking some time to relax and knit. I need to get this sock yarn sweater done by the 17th and the goal is to get the back done by Sunday so I have a full week for the yoke.