Monday, April 09, 2007

red period

Thanks for your thoughts on the camisole. While it hasn't been reknit, I heard the suggestions on how to fix things, and did a photoshoot with the sample I have, which is red. It looks better...more appealing. Since designing is part of my business, I can't always afford monetarily to redesign or reknit a project. Never mind my sanity, when it comes to the repetitive knitting...As it is, I (sometimes) earn as much as minimum wage, in terms of hours put in! It will be reposted on my website for sale soon, and in honor of its rebirth, I'm calling it Turkish Lace Camisole. That was my original name, btw. I hope it's sexy enough to draw some attention.

To go with the red theme, here's Kool-Aid's Best Use, which just came back from the local art show. (I last posted about this in mid-February.) It's handspun, hand-dyed, and knit into scribble lace, a la Debbie New. It's encased in plexiglass and both a comment on our food grade dyes..and a way to make sure knitting is on the wall at exhibitions and called art. The yarn leftovers are available here . I hung this in my guest room. It won a third place, which makes the yarn famous (!) and earned me enough to take the professor out for a nice meal. Even though it didn't win anything, I like Cosmos Fabric better, so it's in my office so I can look at it every day.
A red period might be angry and irritated, which is sometimes how I feel about the knitwear design. It's creative and fulfilling, but hard to swallow in a business sense...I'm losing money on it a lot of the time. When I have a rare typo or a pattern someone else decides doesn't work, say, because they haven't checked their gauge, etc., you can't believe the snarkiness I sometimes get, even when I try my best to remedy any mistake! (not here on the blog, of course, this is the home of cheerfulness, right? but elsewhere.)
Once, I had a success. I posted a pattern for sale, and several people told me what a great idea it was! Then they didn't buy it--instead, they copied the idea. Ouch.
Harry the dog is a good role model for me when dealing with this... He's very much a Type B personality or perhaps an AB, because he is sometimes competitive for attention with Sally. If only I could relax and just get used to my karma, Harry suggests! There'd be more time for snoozing on the couch!
I'll post the red camisole photo soon. In the meantime, here is another "red"--a sunset shot from an upstairs window at my house. Here's to lovely dusky skies here at the top of Reservoir Hill.

2 Comments:

Blogger sarah said...

I can only say I'm glad my work doesn't rely on other people following my instructions. It's bad enough trying to understand what they're asking me to do! Copyright is a major issue, too. Worse for knitwear designers, though, as you have to distribute the pattern -- some copies are bound to end up in the hands of people who don't understand or respect the notion that the designer has to earn a living. Alas, you can't change their nature and you're unlikely to change the nature of the knitwear design biz. Learn from Harry :-/

April 10, 2007 at 3:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That is a beautiful photo of the sunset. Harry looks so comfy all curled up like that!

April 10, 2007 at 10:31 AM  

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