Friday, May 31, 2013

Working behind the scenes

I am not blogging as much as I feel like I should be, but I swear, I am working like crazy on a couple of super special surprises that you are going to love.  Also, here is a picture of the biggest skein of yarn that I have ever seen.

It doesn't even fit in the picture, and weighs a whole pound.  Also, it lives at my house now.  Yay!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Dear designers:

As many of you may know, I have been doing lots of test knitting/crocheting lately.  I do this mostly because I am crazy, and partially because I have a mild obsession with getting free patterns.  That's ugly in a designer, but I digress.  The point is, I have several tips for you designers out there, to make sure you are ready to test your design.
  1. If you pattern isn't finished, you are not ready to test.  It can be rough.  It can have mistakes (heck, I expect mistakes).  But you have to have the whole pattern written before you send it to your testers, and send the whole thing to your testers.  Some of us like to skim the whole pattern so we know what we're doing before we start.
  2. Put your instructions in the order you want me to do them.  Sometimes I have Mom Brain.  It is not fun to spend half an hour trying to figure out part one, only to find out that you have to do part two first.
  3. Be ready to answer your email/rav messages/whatever in a timely fashion.  I am working hard to meet your deadline, and it freaks me out when I can't continue because I need more information from you.  I understand you have a life, but please try to be available.  If your silence can be measured in days, it has gone on too long.
I like testing patterns, really.  I learn interesting things from my fellow designers, and if you want to start designing, I highly recommend doing a few pattern tests first.  If nothing else, it will let you know what you are in for.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Apparently, I like deadlines.

I'm racing myself to see if I can finish a pair of socks in a month.

I'm also consoling myself that I couldn't afford a sweater's worth of All For Love of Yarn by making socks out of some I had in stash.  As you can see, it is stunning, even in a crappy webcam shot.  She's also having a massive sale on her DK and worsted weight yarn, and has some sweater quantities, so if you have cash money to blow on yarn, you might want to blow some of it on Angela's yarn.  I really like it, at least.

ETA:  Also, you can get 20% off your purchase with the code SH2013 through the seventeenth.  I picked up a lovely OOAK ball of RED!  My favorite color.  :)