Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

After seeing my designs at WEBS, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself as a designer and a knitter. Also, I hadn't heard (yet) from knitty.com about my latest submission to them. knitty says that the longer you don't hear from them, the more under consideration your submission is, so as we went further into November, I felt more and more hopeful (my previous submission to them got a pretty quick rejection). Until the week before the anticipated publication date of the winter issue. And I got rejected from knitty.com. Again. Poop.

This is where it gets tricky for me: how to express my disappointment without sounding as if I'm trashing knitty or whining because I didn't get what I wanted. I am disappointed: I worked hard on a design that I like very much, worked out the pattern, took good photos, and it wasn't what they're looking for. I keep missing the mark with knitty; maybe I'm getting closer to what they want? maybe the next design will tickle their fancy? Oh, and I know that not every design gets accepted every place, every time.

So I'll weather this letdown with a small amount of whining (which I'll keep private because whining is ugly) and keep working away at things. Plucky me.



I've put the pattern up on my website and on Ravelry (at a discount to fellow Raveliers, and where it has been favorited).

I love the design, the photos, and the model (my friend Betty's granddaughter). It's also inspired me to do more with sock yarns than "just socks".

I Think I've Arrived

I'm back from Stitches East (down Thursday, back Sunday)----classes, shopping, hanging with knitting friends, shopping, showing off the tattoo (I'm getting a reputation), shopping.....

And I had a thrill that's still sinking in. In the past year, I've sold a few designs to WEBS for their Valley Yarns; they are wonderful people to work with and for, very gracious, supportive, nice, and they pay in gift certificates. Which meant that I was recession-proof when it came to hitting the Market at Stitches.

The Market opens at 5 on Thursday for those registered for classes and present, a preview, time during which you can run around, see everything, get first pick, and it's not crowded. Our group of four was there just about at opening, and when we walked in, I kind of lost my head and went directly to the WEBS booth without telling anyone where I was going. I was completely focused on my gift certificates and hopefully seeing at least one of my models hanging in their display.

And oh my goodness. There they were: my child's cardigan and my button-wrap. For all the knitting world to see and touch and buy the pattern. I was more bowled over than I had anticipated.

I feel that I've arrived as a legitimate designer.

Halloween Adventures

This year, for some reason, I wasn't really feeling the whole Halloween thing. Maybe it's the result of handing out candy for twenty-five years, maybe it was exhaustion from making it through the World Series and having the Phillies (finally) win. For the past few years, the weather has been very mild on Halloween, and we stand outside with neighbors, hand out candy, drink some wine, have a good time. But this year, we bought a smaller amount of candy than usualy and decided we'd hand it out asap and then go out to dinner.

The plan changed a bit, as friends called and asked if we wanted to go out to dinner with them. Oh yes, we were all over it. So they picked us up and we went up to Memphis Taproom where we had a great dinner. From there, we went downtown to Scoopdeville where we had great ice cream (vanilla with gingersnaps mixed in mmmmmmmm). And a stroll over to the Comcast Center to check out the ever-changing wall.

By the time we got home, it was 9:30 and Halloween was pretty much over, at least on our block. Allie called to say she was pretty much stranded up in Northern Liberties, and would Michael come pick her up and take her home to South Philly (a two-three hour wait for a cab was the other option). So he went out to pick her up and called me a few minutes later to say that this is who he met right out on our sidewalk:

And I went out, and there he was, up in the neighbor's tree.

This is probably one of the family of raccoons that seems to be residing somewhere in the vicinity of our block: we've spotted them twice coming out from under our deck, and neighbors have seen them in their alleys, on their second-floor decks, kind of all around.

Cute, but this guy was a big one: looked like Henry in a costume. Maybe it was.

Anyway, that was Halloween.

Now we just need to get through the election.

Thank You

As of Friday afternoon, our goal was reached in the Fundable fundraiser. We now have enough money to fund our class through June 2009 and hopefully into the fall. Our yarn closet will be stocked, and our needles and notion bins will be full. Our clients will be able to make whatever they want.

What was great about this was that not only friends donated: complete strangers from the Ravelry community made donations. And in addition to the monetary donations, many Ravelers have said they'll be sending yarn from their stashes to help us out. So the next few weeks will feel like Christmas: waiting for those boxes and then seeing what's been sent.

And Kathy from WEBS and Flo from Elmore-Pisgah are sending us yarn, too.

Oh my goodness.

This is so great.

Thanks, everyone! If I could knit you a hug, I would.

A Good Day

Today it is cold, gray, raining, miserable; the fifth game of the World Series was suspended so the agonizing wait for a winning finish for the Phillies is on hold; the economy is doing god knows what; we have to wait a week for the election to put an end to that agonizing wait; I have a cold; my hair is thinning and becoming more and more unmanageable, but it is a good day because I am wearing these:



This is what sock knitting is all about. As soon as I put the first sock on this morning, I smiled. My feet feel like they're being hugged; they are warm; they are gorgeous.

I do not fear the day anymore.

XXXOOO to all my handknit socks.

Tonalita

I'm in love with a new yarn (or is it in lust?)

I've been working on an assignment for StellaPop over the last couple of days: hats using Tonalita from Trendsetter Yarns. It is an absolutely gorgeous yarn, both in texture and color: The color changes are very subtle, but as the hat is worked, stripes emerge.

The content is 52% Wool, 48% Acrylic, 50 grams/skein - +/- 100 yards/skein
gauge: 4.5sts = 1" #9 (I'm using a 10.5 needle and getting 3.5 sts to the inch). The yarn is brushed with a mohair feel without the mohair snagging or shedding that seems to happen so often; the resulting fabric is soft, light, warm, and non-itchy.

That's another advantage to doing the production knitting for StellaPop: I get to play with yarns that either I ordinarily wouldn't choose (and find myself liking) or yarns that are a little too pricey for me.

Knitting Supplies for the Blind

Our knitting class for the blind and visually impaired needs supplies, and to get the supplies, we need money (who dosen't, and especially these days?). So I've started an online fundraiser at Fundable.

We have until November 7 to meet our goal, and I'm hoping that friends, family, and complete strangers will help us out. It's an all-or-nothing deal: if we reach our goal in pledges, we get the funding. If we don't reach our goal, the pledges are negated (which means the donors aren't out any money), but we don't get anything.

Reaching our goal will keep us funded through June, when our class ends, so we are counting on this. A lot.

Thanks to everyone who helps us out.