Blogging and big project

I have neglected this blog, so much. In fact I ever only posted a few "new pattern" posts, and my last patterns haven't been announced here anymore either. I will not start doing that now. I should put it in the sidebar or something.

No, let's see. I used to really enjoy "blogging" my activities over at Livejournal, so I could do likewise here.

Additionally... I have a big project. I have been developing the idea for the good part of a year, and I have recently gotten started with it. I have been hesitant to talk about it (and only two people know about it), since I realise that it is gonna take me a long time to finish, and I still am unsure if I will publish patterns as I finish them (I am not too keen on this), if I will publish a few patterns only as teasers until everything is ready, or if I should keep everything between wraps until I have it all ready!

I have nonetheless decided to write a little bit about it here, since this blog is very unknown anyway :)

I don't remember exactly how the idea grew in my mind, but I think it was just an idea for one literary-inspired pattern that grew and grew into a collection of patterns. I am now settled on 13 of them. These are very conceptual patterns, in which the shapes, techniques, look and even the yarn composition, colourways etc play a part. They all form a cohesive collection, and even four of them combine into a set of accessories (I love matching sets!). Naturally it ocurred to me that such a collection of patterns best belonged in a booklet format.

In fact, I would preferably present it into an anthology of the works that inspired them, and perhaps some other content I have in mind. This is... a book. Scary! it is a technically challenging and time-consuming project, at least it is for me! Perhaps a little too ambitious an undertaking at my experience level... but I can be stubborn. And my vision is driving me forward in an irresistible manner, so I must oblige. I must try anyway.

Many years ago, I studied DTP. I am still interested in the subject. I do have a clear vision of the layout, typography and overall design, look and feel of this book, and the work for it is already well underway. It helps me have the overall framework in mind as I go along. A little bit of a control freak? In any case this will allow self-publishing if that is the path I end up taking. I want in any case to offer the patterns individually as PDFs.

All of the designs are already well formed in my mind, many of them to the smallest details. Knitting and designing has started on several of them, swatching for others. I have nearly all the yarn I need, which I have been buying in small (and not so small!) batches for the last months.

This is so exciting!

A few swatches. This is for the set of accessories I mentioned earlier. I will allow myself to say, it is a set of fingerless mittens, hat, shawl and "overmittens". The set thus could be worn when it starts to get chilly, fingerless gloves and the shawl draped loosely, and also dress it up for winter with a warm hat and overmittens, and the generous shawl more closely wrapped around the neck. How does that sound?

I have started projects in Ravelry for these patterns as I go along. By now, though, I will only post detail pictures and some notes useful to me (I find keeping these notes in Ravelry to be extremely useful mysefl!), and they have been numbered by their order of appearance.

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