Projects and Publicity

Projects
I'm actively working on two things right now, both original designs, and neither socks. First, there's the revamp. See, I began designing my own stuff in order to create things I wanted and either couldn't find or didn't want to pay outrageous prices for. One of the very first things I designed was a very easy to knit water bottle carrier -- I was commuting into the city at the time and tired of my water bottle getting condensation all over the stuff in my bag. I was cleaning out a closet the other day and one fell on me, and I thought, Hey, I should put that pattern up! I dug the pattern out, and boy, did I not know anything about writing patterns back then! I decided to spiff it up and make it legible and usable, and it turns out that rewriting a pattern that you haven't actually knit in about 10 years is sort of ridiculously hard. And also, they stopped making the yarn I originally used, which is a bit of a monkey wrench. So I'm redesigning it in Arucania's Patagonia cotton, which is yummy though a bit smaller gauge that what I originally used. But look, pretty! This is about halfway done:



And the big project I'm working on right now is a lacey summer tank. I've finished the front and will cast on for the back tonight:



Publicity
Tuesday I was getting my oil changed and knitting socks while I waited, and a very nice lady who had come in with emergency car trouble approached me and started talking to me about knitting two socks at once (because that's what I do, usually, and what I was doing then). We chatted a bit, and I showed her and her daughter where I was putting the afterthought heel and explained briefly how to do it, and then they went back over to where they were sitting. And I thought You know, I should have given them a card. Used to be, that would have been the end of it. But I said to myself, "Self, you need to not let this opportunity get past you! Gird yourself up and go give those nice ladies a card!" So I girded, and I pulled out a card...and then their mechanic came in and told them their bill was going to be about $350. So that was clearly not a good time. And as I waited, their ride came...and had thrown a belt on the way to get them. So then that wasn't a good time. And then finally my car was ready, and the two nice ladies happened to be outside smoking while I was leaving, and I offered them sympathy and gave them a card (I offered two, one for each of them, but they said they live together so one was fine). Whether they buy anything or not, that's a pretty big deal for me, so I'm pleased with the interaction.

I've been Taking Steps lately to get myself out there and stir up the publicity and so on. So I've joined the EtsyNJ street team. And I've got a Facebook fan page. And there's the Twittering (and not just about the Etsy store). I've redesigned the Etsy store avatar and banner, and will be unveiling a blog redesign soon (that's the delay in the recipe and pattern pages -- easier to do new pages once than do them first then have to redo them). And I've decided that as part of my "Proud to be an Artisan" campaign, I'm going to art up my laptop. Here's the first bit, inked today:



Sweet, right? I'm recreating this piece as part of the new blog design, and have decided to use this as my general logo (which means there will be a small revamp of the new Etsy banner to include this).

posted by Laura Y. @ 11:35 AM