A Quandary

Everything you see on my Ravelry designer page that says "journalgazette.net" is a free pattern. Come July or August, the Journal Gazette is changing over how it does its website, so all of those links might (or might not) stop working. There are ways to archive a website and keep old links working, but I'm not sure that a newspaper will want to do that. After all, yesterday's news is, well, old.

That's over 150 patterns. You can kind of tell which ones were from my really early days. A few are, frankly, embarrassing.

I was able to make them, and provide them for free, because my employer allowed me to use work time to write, format and post them. (They asked me to do all of the knitting at home, and I did. I also paid for my own yarn.)

I'll admit: some of them aren't great patterns. Even the ones that produce great finished products aren't written in the most standard ways. Only a few have sizing of any kind. Most of them don't even have page numbers. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it can be if you're a little tired and don't want to think more than you have to. Many of them use handspun yarn or yarn that is discontinued.

I don't want the patterns to just go away. But...

To justify spending time reformatting, rewriting (using a real, live style sheet!) and suggesting alternative yarns, I would have to charge for the patterns.

I love the thought of updating things, and maybe offering them in collections.

But, will people hate me for what might look like charging for patterns that used to be free?

Yarnover!

If you have never been, you should go, because Yarnover is awesome! I didn't take very many pictures and I can only think it's because I was very overwhelmed. Basically, fibery vendors and teachers took over a local high school for a day. It's amazing. 

I took a Designing Cables class with Fiona Ellis. It was wonderful. She's a very clear teacher and her designs are beautiful. At the end of class, she had a little show-and-tell of some of her designs. She really blew my mind. 

I managed to only buy a little art batt from a (sort of) local sheep farm: Diamond D Farm. I can't find a website for them, but their information is listed here. I would have loved to shop a lot more, but we're moving from the apartment to our new house in less than a week and I'm starting to see every object in the apartment as an obstacle!

I stopped by the Modeknit booth to say hi to everyone and rave about my socks in progress. They should be finished very soon if I get any time at all to knit over lunch. 

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

It's hard to believe it has been almost 6 years since we got married here!

It's still a stunning little garden spot smack-dab in the middle of Minneapolis. 

New Couch!

That's not our living room, it's the consignment furniture store, called Mainstreet Furniture. I'm so excited about closing on our new house next week. We bought this couch and they're holding it for us until we have the moving truck. I can't wait to lose knitting needles in it!

Starting Over

I didn't like the way that one was turning out. So, starting over with toe-up!

Don't you love the colors together? They're a bit darker than this and called Mrs. Moss and A Lovely Thing. I'm not normally nuts about pink/rose, but, my. These are pretty! 

Modeknit Socks, At The Beginning

I'm not normally crazy about yellow, but yellow is gray and white? I love it!

The View Across the Water

I love this time of year, when the ice is just starting to break and melt away. A little more depth of field would be nice, but what can you do? An iPhone can only do so much. 

Modeknit Mini Skein Set

I have a little sample pack of Modeknit yarns, in "Call the Midwife" colors. They are so cute! I was going to mix in a lot of gray from Simply Socks, but now I'm leaning toward just having the Modeknit go in all of its multiple-colored glory.

Kitty With Spinning Bag

Please forgive me the gross rag I use to wipe spinning grease off of my wheel. Our little Travis doesn't relax well enough to sleep around us very much. When he does, it's quite an event.

Antique-Store Inspiration

For those of you who have babies, would they REALLY benefit from having their little knees covered like this? Or was this just a good idea before central heat?

What Yarns Do You Love to Miss?

Some yarns are like twinkies in a zombie flick. You love it. They don't make it anymore. Someday it will all be gone. I bought a whole bag of this stuff when it went on clearance at Simply Socks. I'm knitting stash right now, and it turned up. It's a great yarn. A little splitty if you don't treat it right, but what isn't? Every bamboo yarn I have used is, essentially, indestructable. If you've never tried one, you should.