Timing

I think my timing is a little off lately. Take today for instance. I spent 3 hours this morning typing up a new pattern and getting it posted to 2 on-line shopping sites. I really thought my timing was excellent with Saturday being National Support your Local Yarn Store Day. My feeling was this would be a great time to post a pattern so people could go and buy the yarn and purchase the pattern.

Not so much. It turns out that the large yarn companies are sponsoring trunk shows across the country and giving away Free Patterns with a yarn purchase. If this is not a head desk moment than I really don't know what qualifies.

I have tried the free route before. It does not work for me, wait for it...I am not a large yarn company that can recoup the free pattern cost by selling the yarn. Even worse when a pattern is given as a small promo, everyone ignores the copyright and makes zillions of copies to give to their friends who were not part of the promo. Thus leaving a whole city of knitters who don't need to buy the pattern. With comments such as if you enjoy what you are doing why should we pay you? Or better yet, it's not like you are doing real work and you owe it to the knitters of the community. I am pretty sure that these are the people who copy patterns and don't pay the designers for their work.

Please remember that small independent pattern designers, who self publish must buy their own yarn to knit the design that pops up in our heads. So for a small item like a washcloth, 2 patterns must be sold to just cover the cost of the yarn. The costs only go up from there. Today's pattern will require 6 patterns being sold just to cover the cost of the yarn. Then there is design time, knitting the sample to see if what is in my head works out. Then and additional 3 to 4 hours to photograph, type the pattern and get it published.

So if you are looking for a moms day, fathers day ( yes, men do knit ) birthday or holiday gift for a knitter please consider this pattern,  2 of 3 A Shawl Study and a skein of yarn to go with it. Thank you and happy knitting.

Old Hands

I think my hands are getting old. After only 4 hours of knitting they are very tired and don’t want to do anything else for the day.  I am not sure how to build my hand stamina up to be able to knit for 8 or more hours per day again. Does anyone have any suggestions?  

Spoiler Alert

This is a spoiler alert for Game of Thrones.  The season 8 episode 1 is so good that it makes knitting and spinning impossible.  What? You were expecting me to give plot information. No way.  Watch it for yourselves.

I have been busy trying to put store throat and it’s aftermath behind me.  I have not caught up yet.  I still have a few patterns to type up and take pictures of. I also have a few designs in the process, yes I am taking good notes.

I am also getting a lot of Spinning and art yarn spinning done.  I am trying for a couple of skeins a week until my fiber stash is smaller.  So if you need art yarn for a project be sure to check out Grandmas Spinning Wheel in Tucson for some very 1 of a kind skeins.

I have a slew of knitting that needs the rows counted and added to Raverly too.

Well it’s time to call it a day.

Projects 68 to 74

Here are the next 7 finished projects.  All are hand spun yarn. 4 are art yarn. All are going to Grandmas Spinning Wheel in Tucson on Friday. They are all one of a kind skeins of yarn. They will be in the hand spun yarn by local Tucson Fiber Artists section of the shop. All will be priced $34.00 or less.

Projects 37 to 67

You will notice that you only see 28 items, not 30. The simple explanation is that 2 pair of earrings are hiding in my bedroom.  I just loved 2 of the pairs of earrings so much that I could not part with them. These are all for the Taglit fundraiser tomorrow morning at the Tucson JCC At Alvernon and Dodge. From 8 am until noon.  Please come out and support Eric and his friends.   Thank You.  

Friday’s Fundraiser

I did not have the energy to do errands today. So after my eye doctor appointment I came home and made a lot of earrings for the Friday morning fundraiser for Eric’s day program.  I only have 5 more pairs to make for my promised 2 dozen.  Let’s just say I really prefer more than 2 weeks notice for making things for fundraisers.

Also since I can’t  commit to a full day Friday, the fundraiser will end around lunchtime.  All my earrings will be priced at $5.00 and the bracelets at $10.00.  This will be a good time to pick up something for mom and help a good cause.

The fundraiser will be at the Tucson JCC at the corner of Alvernon and Dodge.  That is unless you come in on the back side and use River Road. There is not a hard start time, but around 8:00 am to noon.

Also Eric and his friends made some great greeting cards and other art projects to sell. So please try to stop by and make it a sell out.  Usually the money goes to scholarships and supplies.

As usual 100% of the sale price for my jewelry will go to the day program.  Also if you have any tabs for Eric’s charity project they can be dropped off too.

Feeling Better

After sleeping most of the day, I am happy to report that I am feeling better.  I will still try to keep things on the light side though. So this afternoon I designed 4 pairs of earrings, 1 of which I am keeping.  I plied 3 skeins of art yarn.  To top the night off I started knitting a new hat.  I expected that my creative energy will be all over the place for at least a few days.  I really can’t wait to see what happens.

25 to 36

A dozen new bibs for Eric. He likes them very much.  They don’t have the been washed over 100 times feel.  They are still nice, fluffy and  very soft. The pattern was published in 2010 under key word bib.

Bad at Posting

I have been very bad at posting pictures. I have not posted since project number 24. Since then there have been almost another 24 projects completed. I will try to post some pictures later.

I am still sick, although feeling better. I have knit 2 hats in 2 days. Pictures later.