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Life's pretty good
Jul. 17th, 2017 11:00 amThis Monday morning I'm taking a moment to stop and realise how I feel about life at the moment, and it's pretty good. I've been "self-employed" for over a year now and it's done wonders for my mood. I'm doing what I love and I've got a wonderful man who supports me in doing it.
Just a few more orders to finish for Orenda, two of the uniforms were picked up last Friday and I got my hour registration in order for the first half year (I have to keep time sheets in order to get a deduction on my taxes just in case I end up in the green this year). It was a late night at the office but it's great to get such administrative things out of the way. I also still have to edit pictures and write promotional texts, something I'm notoriously bad at.
This morning I re-read an article about the best bespoke tailor in New York, who can barely afford to live from his craft. Until bespoke becomes very hip, this is what I'm probably looking at for my future. But I love what I do, and so I don't mind going for it.
Truth is, I've got a work ethic and I stand behind my craft. I could order items from AliExpress, trying to make a quick buck selling things like Chinese-made waist cinchers. But as soon as I started to find my way on the site I got disgusted with myself for even looking. That's not what I'm going for! If I want to sell waist cinchers, I'd better invest time in developing the product myself.
Product development takes forever, so I'm not sure when I'll even get around to that.
In knitting news, I've not had much fun knitting the last few weeks. Mostly, I'm struggling to finish two big projects and I've got one slightly-too-intricate sock on the needles and one slightly-too-boring one. I just want to get the big projects out of the way. The Morgenfryd for Sigunne has been eating at me (20 months on the needles) and I had to frog back five rows at some point because I made a mistake. Once that was done though, I've been ploughing steadily onwards, and I did a whole pattern repeat yesterday. I'm in feather number 3 of 6, and after that it's only the binding-off chart to go. Progress!
The other big project is the Bodemloos. The sleeves are a bit tricky because they were too tight, then they were too baggy, and I ended up fiddling with the pattern to get a better fit. I'll pick that up again soon. It's nice to have something to fall back on when I don't want to fiddle with lace-weight yarn.
I was thinking about a "concept wardrobe" a few months back and I haven't gotten around to actually putting things on paper. I've seen all seasons except autumn since I started thinking about it, and I've realised there's still some work to do. Mostly I wear blue, because blue goes with everything, but I had wanted to focus my concept wardrobe on purple and green. I guess blue will be the main colour for now.
Winter: Bodemloos + the blue a-symmetrical sweater should hold me over.
Summer: lots of t-shirts and some dresses I made myself. I'm good.
Spring & Autumn: I need a new cardigan as the standard ones from Hema are getting VERY frumpy from washing. Still have a Bagtanke in my planning. Longsleeves + shawl will work too.
Mostly I need a few neat blouses and a good cardigan. For those rainy summer days when a t-shirt is too cold. And I also want to knit a sweater for Eisirt. So there's plenty of big projects coming up, but not until I've finished both big projects currently on the needles.
Although I love to make pretty things, pretty things take time. And I get a little tied down by promises I make to other people. Like I still want to finish the socks for Kat, HowlingMoon and the Lady_Red. They're on my to-do list and it's not like they're costing me any energy, but they're there. And they need doing. I love to make pretty things for other people but it's always a relief when they're done. It's like minimising a program you're running and finding out something else is hiding behind it.
For now I've decided to not take on any new promises. I won't start on any new projects until at least one of my large projects is done, and I'd like to get all my promises out of the way as well. Just to have them finished.
Just a few more orders to finish for Orenda, two of the uniforms were picked up last Friday and I got my hour registration in order for the first half year (I have to keep time sheets in order to get a deduction on my taxes just in case I end up in the green this year). It was a late night at the office but it's great to get such administrative things out of the way. I also still have to edit pictures and write promotional texts, something I'm notoriously bad at.
This morning I re-read an article about the best bespoke tailor in New York, who can barely afford to live from his craft. Until bespoke becomes very hip, this is what I'm probably looking at for my future. But I love what I do, and so I don't mind going for it.
Truth is, I've got a work ethic and I stand behind my craft. I could order items from AliExpress, trying to make a quick buck selling things like Chinese-made waist cinchers. But as soon as I started to find my way on the site I got disgusted with myself for even looking. That's not what I'm going for! If I want to sell waist cinchers, I'd better invest time in developing the product myself.
Product development takes forever, so I'm not sure when I'll even get around to that.
In knitting news, I've not had much fun knitting the last few weeks. Mostly, I'm struggling to finish two big projects and I've got one slightly-too-intricate sock on the needles and one slightly-too-boring one. I just want to get the big projects out of the way. The Morgenfryd for Sigunne has been eating at me (20 months on the needles) and I had to frog back five rows at some point because I made a mistake. Once that was done though, I've been ploughing steadily onwards, and I did a whole pattern repeat yesterday. I'm in feather number 3 of 6, and after that it's only the binding-off chart to go. Progress!
The other big project is the Bodemloos. The sleeves are a bit tricky because they were too tight, then they were too baggy, and I ended up fiddling with the pattern to get a better fit. I'll pick that up again soon. It's nice to have something to fall back on when I don't want to fiddle with lace-weight yarn.
I was thinking about a "concept wardrobe" a few months back and I haven't gotten around to actually putting things on paper. I've seen all seasons except autumn since I started thinking about it, and I've realised there's still some work to do. Mostly I wear blue, because blue goes with everything, but I had wanted to focus my concept wardrobe on purple and green. I guess blue will be the main colour for now.
Winter: Bodemloos + the blue a-symmetrical sweater should hold me over.
Summer: lots of t-shirts and some dresses I made myself. I'm good.
Spring & Autumn: I need a new cardigan as the standard ones from Hema are getting VERY frumpy from washing. Still have a Bagtanke in my planning. Longsleeves + shawl will work too.
Mostly I need a few neat blouses and a good cardigan. For those rainy summer days when a t-shirt is too cold. And I also want to knit a sweater for Eisirt. So there's plenty of big projects coming up, but not until I've finished both big projects currently on the needles.
Although I love to make pretty things, pretty things take time. And I get a little tied down by promises I make to other people. Like I still want to finish the socks for Kat, HowlingMoon and the Lady_Red. They're on my to-do list and it's not like they're costing me any energy, but they're there. And they need doing. I love to make pretty things for other people but it's always a relief when they're done. It's like minimising a program you're running and finding out something else is hiding behind it.
For now I've decided to not take on any new promises. I won't start on any new projects until at least one of my large projects is done, and I'd like to get all my promises out of the way as well. Just to have them finished.
