Magical Squish

Okay, so this blog is REALLY late.

Like, this-happened-two-weekends-ago late.

It's been a tough couple of weeks, okay?

Jass' UTI hasn't cleared up. Whatever strain of bacteria she's got going on is either resistant to the antibiotic she had, or we just need another round of it. They had to do off-site lab testing to find out which. So, we're waiting for those results and having to give her liquid antibiotics to keep her covered until we know what to do next.

And of course, this hasn't exactly been a cheap endeavour, soooo.... maybe check out the donations links below if you haven't yet? It's much appreciated!

ANYway, on to what I actually want to talk about.

One of my FAVORITE things that Harps & Thistles does is host various trunk shows throughout the year. And when Cindy announced that Knitcraft & Knittery would be the first trunk show of 2019, I found myself intrigued.

I mean, a fellow Harry Potter nerd? Right here in NE Ohio? What's not to love?

Mikayla and I decided to scope out the website in advance to see what sort of treasures we could find.

We both found this gorgeous skein of grey fingering weight. And that's where the trouble began.

Have you ever had one of those super polite, "But *I* want this, but we're friends, let's outpolite each other to see who ends up with it?" battles?

Well, that's what happened to us.

And I fought dirty.

I actually cart-jacked my darling yarn-wife.

I know! I know! I'm the WORST.

BUT to be fair, I really did need it for the edging of this Sort of Secret But Not Really shawl that I'm making.

I have already atoned for my sins, but damn. Wool fumes can really bring out the worst in people, amiright?

The weekend of the trunk show ended up being Snowmageddon, so I popped up Friday before we were all buried.

I only managed to snap a couple of quick pictures because I was too busy enjoying my conversation with Morgan, the wonderful dyer responsible for all this squishy gorgeousness.

Not only did I find out we had a lot in common, making me want to just be best friends instantly, but...

We also have a similar taste in colors.

LOOK AT THAT AMAZING MUTED COLOR PALETTE!

AND!

AND!

I want to cry with how pretty all that green is.

I was good and only got myself the one skein of yarn. (Which ended up being good in hindsight... fucking vet bills...)

AND LET ME TELL YOU, THIS SHIT IS SO GAT. DAMN. SOFT.

I'm already looking forward to buying soooooo much more yarn from Morgan.

Which is going to be super convenient seeing as Cindy will be stocking the yarn at the shop!

So, you can either order directly from the Knitcraft and Knittery website or come visit Harps & Thistles to squish it in person.

And let me tell you, you NEED to get some of this yarn in your stash.

I promise to not buy it all out from underneath you....

Maybe.

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Like my writing? Why don't you buy me a coffee!

You can do so through my ko-fi link HERE: ko-fi.com/blackgoatknitting

Or donate directly through my paypal HERE: https://www.paypal.me/blackgoatknitting

In January, We Wear Pink

Well, this month has been a punch in the face.

I am FINALLY over this damn cold... just in time for John to get it.

*sigh*

Anyway, I DID manage to get January's KOGOTP project done.

I started this thing clear back in fall of 2017 with the intention of gifting it to Renee for her birthday.

Yes, I know. I was just a *wee* bit late.

But it's done now and gifted to her so I can show it off here!

I made her another one of my bulky sweater shrug things.

"So Ashtan..... where's the usual photo shoot?"

Listen, the fact that I was able to finish this thing at all is a bloody miracle.

Blocking it was a total nightmare that zapped all of my energy. And trying to keep it away from as much cat hair as possible since Renne is allergic? Hello, energy debt.

I got it finished up as fast as I could and sent down to her before I could infect it with my germy-ness.

So, no photo shoot. Just some attempt at artsy-fartsy pics on the bed that I was practically confined to.

Awww, yiss. Look at that *arty angle*.

Oh, you want to know about the actual knitting behind it?

You're acting like this is a knitting blog or something...

ANYway, this is another original lace pattern designed specifically with the recipient in mind. I wanted to incorporate leaves, as they have a special personal significance. Continuing the garden theme, the outside lace was meant to mimic trellises, while the middle is representative of vines twisting up through each other. Everything is reaching skyward, signifying growth and change, always striving to better itself.

Yeah, I know, much more in depth than, "I thought it'd look pretty."

I'm happy to report that Renee seems rather fond of it, despite how late it was.

And now I get to kick back and work on a relaxing project and certainly not something that is going to have literally dozens of ends to weave in that I'm designing purely out of my head...

Whoops...

---------------------------------------------------------
Like my writing? Why don't you buy me a coffee!

You can do so through my ko-fi link HERE: ko-fi.com/blackgoatknitting

Or donate directly through my paypal HERE: https://www.paypal.me/blackgoatknitting

Buy Me A Coffee?

Well, we've got to talk about a subject that no one really likes to talk about.

No, not politics. I'll yell at you about that all day.

I'm talking money.

Most of you know that I do not have any actual personal income aside from the odd dog sitting gig.

For most of my adult life, I haven't been in a well enough mental state to hold down a job, much less get the license required to drive a car to get *to* said hypothetical job. (No public transport in these parts...)

I've tried various methods of selling things I make and all of them have pretty much been colossal failures. (Want to hear about the craft show with a $50 table fee where I made $2 the WHOLE DAMN WEEKEND?!)

Commission work isn't feasible, either.

For one thing, no one would actually want to pay the amount I SHOULD be charging.

A shawl takes me usually about 2 weeks to do going at a steady pace and not my usual ridiculously tight turnaround times where I nearly murder my hands, wrists, and shoulders.

So let's say I'm working 5 hours a day on said shawl (which is pretty typical). So that's 70 hours for a shawl. I wouldn't charge less than $10 an hour for said work. And that's low-balling.

Are you REALLY willing to pay me $700 for a shawl?

"But Ashtan!" you cry. "That's so much!"

Listen here, friend, I have put 5 YEARS of time into learning knitting and honing my skills.

Let's assume that it averages out to about 2 hours a day of knitting over the course of those 5 years (and that's probably a VERY conservative estimate). That's over 5,000 hours I have knit. FIVE THOUSAND.

Would you offer someone else who has put that much time and effort into a skill mere pennies?

But fine, let's play the Minimum Wage Game.

The current federal minimum wage is a paltry $7.25 an hour. (We can discuss the problems with that later.)

You're still looking at $500 for a shawl.

Mind you, that's not how much I'd actually have at the end of the day.

Yarn isn't cheap. Depending on yarn content, you're looking at easily $40 to $60 a shawl. And that's for something simple.

Celestarium? That's $120 in materials alone.

Find Your Fade? One those was gift yarn, to be fair. But if you want to do the math, mine used 7 different colors. A typical skein of fingering weight is $27.  Sooo.... $189 in just yarn.

"Why don't you use cheaper yarn?"

Listen, would you want something that's going to be running through your hands for HOURS made out of cheap materials?

That's what I thought.

So, like I said, cost-wise commissions aren't worth it.

The other problem with commission work is just how soul-crushing it can be. Being at the whims and demands of a client would kill my creativity. ESPECIALLY if said client wants a bunch one particular thing.

Doing all those bulbasaurs a while back nearly drove me to stab the crochet hook through my eye and swear off ever doing any yarn work again.

I thrive on variety. There are so many damn patterns out there, so why would I ever want to repeat one? Not to mention the fact that lately I've been unsatisfied with just picking out a pattern and making it. More and more I find myself just grabbing some yarn and needles and just going in whatever direction creativity takes me.

And while that is rewarding and fulfilling, it's still not a viable way to sell shawls seeing as these prototypes are needed in case I want to try and recreate the pattern.

Speaking of patterns, that's another avenue I've tried going down, but there is A LOT of work involved with pattern writing.

It's not as simple as knit the thing, write it down, throw out into the public.

There's testing, rewriting, swatching, editing, re-knitting... And THEN you have to find test knitters, which deserve some sort of compensation for their work, edit the pattern AGAIN when you get their opinions after doing the test knits... And now you have to do all sorts of promotional advertising to try and get the excitement up.

And then you can sell the pattern.

Which is way more energy than I have most of the time.

There are patterns I would like to eventually sell, but I'm still ways away from being able to release them because of all the steps above.

I also don't really want to run ads on the blog because I would be a giant hypocrite with my little Ad-Block Plus extension running on my browser.

So, how the heck can I get some sort of compensation for all the things that I do?

Well, it occured to me that I can just... ask.

A lot of my other artisan friends have links to paypal, ko-fi, venmo, and what-have-you on their social media so that way if people are so inclined, they can donate a few bucks.

So... I'm going to do the same.

At the end of each blog post from now on will be a little blurb about donating if you'd like to with links to my personal paypal link and my ko-fi account. (For those who don't know, ko-fi lets you buy "coffees" for a person at $3 each). If you've enjoyed my writing and are able to, consider tossing a few bucks my way.

I'm not looking for enough money to single-handedly support myself (though that would be nice). But yarn ain't cheap and I'd love to be able to help lessen the cost for myself. Not to mention the fact that my yarn winder just broke and I'd like to actually buy a nice one to replace it with.

So, want to buy me a coffee?

Buy me a Ko-fi!

Donate Directly Here!

In Which I Make a Crappy Pun

As I have said so many times before (hundred of times by this point, I'm sure) 2018 was a Bad Year.

Me in January of 2018:

Bright eyed, smiling, ready for a new year!


Me, now:

I'm pretty sure I've forgotten how to smile by this point. And we won't discuss the airport's worth of luggage under my eyes that show up even with my beauty filter turned up high...

I know, I know, I'm as sick of saying it as you are of hearing it. But bear with me just this one last time. There will be actual knitting this time, I promise!

Back in January, I had said that I wanted to take the year off from doing a monthly knitting goal. I was just coming off of the Twelve Shawls project, which was intense and emotional and exhausting. I thought I needed a break.

Instead, I dealt with a year of aimless wanderings in regards to my creativity. It felt like every other week, I would start something, then immediately lose focus. I felt paralyzed and lost.

Don't get me wrong, I still managed to get quite a few projects done this year, some with some ridiculously tight deadlines. But it never felt quite as satisfying as it did with the Twelve Shawls.

So, this year, I'm back to a monthly knitting goal. But I think it's going to be A LOT easier on me physically, mentally, emotionally... not to mention financially.

Ready to hear about it? I thought so.

Beside my bed there lives a basket...

And in this basket, there are many, many, many bags...

And in each of those bags is a project that has fallen by the wayside.

You know where this is going.

The plan is to finish a project each month. Some of it will be easy AF. Others.... well, what's a year of knitting without some slogs?

Keen eyed observers may notice there's only 11 projects up there. That's because I do have to factor in some time to do The Most Important Shawl Ever this year.

Yep, John and I are on track for ACTUALLY HAVING OUR DANG CEREMONY THIS YEAR!

But that's still a ways off, so let's get back to the knitting stuff.

I think this will be a nice balance because I have so much more flexibility. I'll still have time to do any other project that strikes my fancy, while still having a set goal. Accomplishment and freedom? Sign me up.

I've decided to name this year's goal 'Knit or Get Off the Pot.'

:D

Alternatively 'Get Knit Done', if you're not inclined to potty humor.

I have another thing to discuss with y'all, but I'll get back to it later. Time's a little short at the moment seeing as I have to go get ready for the very first pj party of the year at Harps & Thistles.

So, toodles! Chat soon, yeah?