Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Angst

Yes, I'm good at angst. This blog is about issues with knitting. I figure I should treat you all to some of the issues I'm currently struggling with.

For one, I've put myself out there with the fish mitten pattern. It was a lot of effort to write and I while I was happy to do it because of all the positive response my design received, now that it's done, I just want to be sure that everyone that was interested in it hears about it. I had posted an announcement to Bitchin' Mittens that I later found out was removed. Understandable I suppose, but still...

I'm wondering if I should put more effort into promoting it. I'm wondering if I made a mistake self-publishing the pattern because part of me thinks this little pattern is worth going through all of blogland. I wonder how the heck I should self-promote anyway?

Also, did someone turn off the Internet? The activity levels seem really low these days.

I have decided to rename the "Spiral Octagonal Shawl" to "Galaxy Shawl" and I'm experiencing angst over this project too.


I'm wondering if the Country Kid will block out. As you can see in the picture, this shawl needs a spanking good blocking. It occurred to me, when I was almost done the main body of the shawl, that I should have knit a swatch and blocked it out to see what would happen. For a smart person, I do some dumb things sometimes.

I replaced the shell edging with one called "Grandmother's Edging" from Barbara Walker's second treasury. The shells looked out of place to me, but I'm not certain that I've got the right edging here either. I'm hoping it more closely echoes the spirals in the body of the shawl.

I'm worried that the kid will fuzz up too much. It sheds while I'm knitting it. I'm worried that I burned out on this project. Most of what you see here was knit up on the long weekend. Sometimes, it is nice to just submerge myself into my knitting, but now I wonder if I did too much because while I love the design and the feel of the yarn, and I honestly like my edging choice, for the last two nights I've been working on this:

What a let down.

10 comments:

  1. I love your fish pattern. :) You should submit it to the yarnival.http://needles.guzzlingcakes.com/2006/07/23/yarnival/ I would suggest knitty but they require that it not be published elsewhere, I am pretty sure. You could start a fish mitten KAL :P I am sorry you are feeling down--it is a great, no AWESOME pattern. I don't know a whole lot else about pattern publicity, but I'm sorry if you feel down--I can't wait to buy the pattern once I am ready to cast on.

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  2. Thanks for your support. I don't feel down exactly. It's more the anxious part of the angst. :-)

    I knew I couldn't submit it to Knitty because I entered it into Bitchin' Mittens. And I have submitted a fish post and my socks in the wild post to Yarnival. So those are great suggestions!

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  3. Anonymous9:25 am

    I wish the mittens themselves were for sale. There are some of us who aren't talented enough to knit. They would make a lovely gift for some folks I know. :-)

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  4. Try posting about it on the Knittyboards .... perhaps a picture in the gallery or under "general happy stuff", or in the Knitters Review designer's forum. It's a lovely pattern, and once word gets out you're sure to see little fish swimming everywhere!

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  5. p.s. I'm making a pair of Gentleman's Socks for my dad, and I love the way they're turning out ... but they are rather a trudge to the end, aren't they?

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  6. Well, you're getting advertising on my blog anyway. :)

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  7. Hey thanks Laura!

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  8. You're welcome! I'm looking forward to getting some of my WIPs out of here so I can start the mittens, both yours and my own. I can't knit fast enough. :)

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  9. I plan on posting a note on my blog about your fish pattern in the next day or so, so that'll be some free advertisement coming your way! I wonder if you could also post the pattern on ebay as a "Buy It Now" auction....

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  10. Craftster.org. Post them there. Trust me, people will buzz about them.

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