I fear it's slightly gauche these days to make two wordy, pictureless blog posts in a row, but I'm not sure what to post to illustrate this one...we'll see what comes to me as I write.
It's been an interesting month, to be sure, and "learning to walk" comes to mind as a metaphor. I spent some time doing nothing, then some time wanting to do something, but not sure what to do, then some time with ideas of what to do, but no motivation to actually do it, then feeling yucky about not getting anything done, then I had a change of plan, and this week has been pretty productive, I'd say.
I think, more than anything, the whole cycle is a pretty good illustration of how important it is to Do What You Love (warning, preceding is a self-congratulatory link the other post where I talked about this idea a couple of months ago). See, I had this idea for a pattern that seemed like a super-great idea and (more than anything), I thought it would popular. Read: I thought it would sell well. It probably would; even non-knitters who heard about the idea were pretty intrigued by it. I spent several weeks thinking about this idea, drew up several charts, re-drew charts, started knitting a prototype, decided it needed it to change, drew another chart...but it just never seemed to come together. It just wasn't working out. In addition to some technical challenges in making it work, said pattern wasn't really something I'd wear, so it wasn't something I was super-excited about designing. It just wasn't me. Once I admitted that to myself and started thinking of how to change the design into something I could get excited about, though, the creative-ness just started flowing like whoa. I sat down to re-draw the charts (and watch a few episodes of Ugly Betty), and BAM! Before I was done for the night, I had three strong new ideas that only needed a bit of refinement.
This week has started a new up-swing in productivity for me, though (is that business-talk? Weird!). I've been swatching like a fiend, working on the prototype of the aforementioned "suddenly very exciting" project, calculating and sketching. Knit design! Wheee! Also, I bought a ball winder and swift, and I'm patiently awaiting the delivery of a couple of bundles of yarn that will be knit into samples for patterns we'll be releasing in September. See? Productive like whoa!
Oddly, the ball-winder and swift make me feel like I'm serious about knitting now. Nevermind the several rubbermaid containers full of yarn, or the fact that there's more on its way. Nevermind the stacks of knitting books, the Addi Turbos in just about every size, the color cards I just ordered, etc, blah blah blah. Yeah, it's the gadgets that make me feel like I'm a serious knitter.
Hmmm...no pictures yet. I try to avoid making posts that are like, "consumerism! Whooo-hooo!", but, that said, I added this kid to my collection several weeks ago:
Yep, that's Ugly Betty! She's a Madame Alexander doll that was apparently released in 2008, though I got mine on eBay--for less than retail, even after shipping! Go me! What's better is that she's wearing a poncho that Davitron and I jokingly considered writing up as a pattern. We were gonna call it the "Guadala-man-cho". Dodged that bullet, eh? ;o)
Alright, Knitters! Stay tuned, and I promise the next post will have real pictures, more exciting info about the super-fab projects we have for this fall, and you won't have to wait a month for it!
It's been an interesting month, to be sure, and "learning to walk" comes to mind as a metaphor. I spent some time doing nothing, then some time wanting to do something, but not sure what to do, then some time with ideas of what to do, but no motivation to actually do it, then feeling yucky about not getting anything done, then I had a change of plan, and this week has been pretty productive, I'd say.
I think, more than anything, the whole cycle is a pretty good illustration of how important it is to Do What You Love (warning, preceding is a self-congratulatory link the other post where I talked about this idea a couple of months ago). See, I had this idea for a pattern that seemed like a super-great idea and (more than anything), I thought it would popular. Read: I thought it would sell well. It probably would; even non-knitters who heard about the idea were pretty intrigued by it. I spent several weeks thinking about this idea, drew up several charts, re-drew charts, started knitting a prototype, decided it needed it to change, drew another chart...but it just never seemed to come together. It just wasn't working out. In addition to some technical challenges in making it work, said pattern wasn't really something I'd wear, so it wasn't something I was super-excited about designing. It just wasn't me. Once I admitted that to myself and started thinking of how to change the design into something I could get excited about, though, the creative-ness just started flowing like whoa. I sat down to re-draw the charts (and watch a few episodes of Ugly Betty), and BAM! Before I was done for the night, I had three strong new ideas that only needed a bit of refinement.
This week has started a new up-swing in productivity for me, though (is that business-talk? Weird!). I've been swatching like a fiend, working on the prototype of the aforementioned "suddenly very exciting" project, calculating and sketching. Knit design! Wheee! Also, I bought a ball winder and swift, and I'm patiently awaiting the delivery of a couple of bundles of yarn that will be knit into samples for patterns we'll be releasing in September. See? Productive like whoa!
Oddly, the ball-winder and swift make me feel like I'm serious about knitting now. Nevermind the several rubbermaid containers full of yarn, or the fact that there's more on its way. Nevermind the stacks of knitting books, the Addi Turbos in just about every size, the color cards I just ordered, etc, blah blah blah. Yeah, it's the gadgets that make me feel like I'm a serious knitter.
Hmmm...no pictures yet. I try to avoid making posts that are like, "consumerism! Whooo-hooo!", but, that said, I added this kid to my collection several weeks ago:
Yep, that's Ugly Betty! She's a Madame Alexander doll that was apparently released in 2008, though I got mine on eBay--for less than retail, even after shipping! Go me! What's better is that she's wearing a poncho that Davitron and I jokingly considered writing up as a pattern. We were gonna call it the "Guadala-man-cho". Dodged that bullet, eh? ;o)
Alright, Knitters! Stay tuned, and I promise the next post will have real pictures, more exciting info about the super-fab projects we have for this fall, and you won't have to wait a month for it!
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