Current mood:	crazy
Entry tags:	blog news, publication, self-design, yarn

Sensual Yarn Excursion, Part 2, panicking abating + blog change?
I went out a couple days ago and got two more kinds of yarn. I picked up some Louisa Harding Grace from Pacific Fabrics, and some Euroflax from Cultured Purls. Despite them both being completely different weights (size 6 needle for Grace, size 3/4 for Euroflax) I like both enough for them to be my two choices. I had to do a rough estimate for yarn quantities, but it was easier for the Grace since a dress in the current Sensual Knits is made out of it and uses just a little less yarn than I anticipate. The Euroflax at least comes in huge 270 yd skeins, so asking for an extra skein or two really adds up.

Freaking out is settling down a little, and I'm realizing that even though this is a major project, the deadline isn't that much different than a class on the quarter system. Why would I freak out about the final project if I have all quarter to work on it? Why would I think I wouldn't have any free time the entire quarter? Seriously, if I worked on the project non-stop the whole time, I'd get done way early, which would mean I'd STILL have free time before the deadline.

My first (and only) design was my first fair isle project, and I finished that pattern in a couple days and knit the hat in one night. Yeah, this is a dress, not a hat, but I think I'm capable of putting this together. I wore the first sweater I ever knit (less than a year ago, too) to a formal party and got compliments from people who didn't realize I'd made it. I've done enough lace projects (uh... two? three?) to understand how decreases and YO's can be arranged to make something happen, and working from charts became second nature after my first time using them (Cherie Amour was my first, and I got it enough to get through the neckline which is obviously in need of errata).

I have 16 years experience with sewing, and come on, if I can sew this:

I can design a much simpler dress. Yeah, sewing is not the same as knitting, but knowing how fabric goes together to make garments sure doesn't hurt. Joann's is having a sale on dressforms next week, and I might just drop the damn $90 to finally get one. I'm also seriously considering sewing a fabric version of the dress I want to knit so I can get measurements. There's where the autistic "I can't understand it if I can't see it" thing starts getting annoying. But still, doesn't seem like a bad idea.

COMPLETELY UNRELATED!

Well, not completely. I've complained to Chris that the hardest part of this whole being in a book deal isn't the pattern or the knitting, it's figuring out what to say in my bio. I am not good at giving a succinct three sentence summary of me. Unless I can just say, "Alysa is WEIRD," I can't be summed up in a couple sentences. I managed to scare away a guy trying to talk to me at a New Year's party when he asked me who I was, and I ended up rambling on with a friend about how much we loved our cat and dog, respectively.

That part of the bio aside, almost every knitting designer has a website/blog/online store. I have one. It's uh... right here. My PROBLEM is, as much as I love LJ (I don't love it as much as I hate change, actually), it's not very useful for knit/craftblog purposes. People can't respond without an account unless they do so anonymously, which makes it impossible to know how many people/if anybody reads this. I don't really want to take up precious space in my bio with karmic-fishie.livejournal.com! especially if it's not something people could easily interact with me through.

SO.

I'm thinking of moving this blog. The only reason I had it here in the first place was I'd reserved the name for when I changed my madamecacoon name, which isn't happening now, and I figured why not use it? But now... not so useful, and I might as well switch domains while I have a manageable number of entries. I've found a good hosting site, but because of LJ I'm horribly not educated about blogging and blogging software. I'd really like my own domain, and the horribly ironic fishie.net is available. I have the money for pointless things like a domain, and being published will get my name out there and hey! maybe it would motivate me to get off my ass and start putting stuff in my damn etsy shop. I have how many half-finished Beaded Octopus Earrings?

There I go.






Next time I design something, will somebody make sure I've already knit it once and written a pattern? Please?