Slipping

When I started writing down the pattern for Riva, the stash-buster scarf, I thought it would take a few days. After all it’s a simple idea; I did not expect it to take too long. But a string of unexpected social engagements, a nasty intestinal bug, some web work from an old client… and here I am two weeks later without a finished pattern. To be honest I did make some progress. In fact I should have a finished first draft tomorrow or Friday and then I will send it off to a couple of friends who will give me honest feedback and, I hope, spot the unavoidable lapses and oversights of the beginner. After that I am thinking of submitting the pattern to the Free Testers group on Ravelry before publication. The only reason I am posting about this is to force myself to keep to a deadline — will the threat of public shame do the trick? Talking about sticking to a plan, I just read a post by Cornflower about how she plans to finish a languishing project by knitting two rounds a day for the next several months. One of her readers commented by offering to sponsor her if she finishes the project (a scarf) by an earlier date, and I thought what a great concept: sponsorship to beat procrastination. Maybe I can convince Ben to take me out to dinner if I finish this tomorrow. Are you reading this, Ben? It might also help to talk about the reasons I am having a hard time getting this pattern out the door. It’s a first. I have to figure out everything for the first time: what to include, what to leave out, how to structure it, how to phrase things, design the layout, get better photographs, chart the

stitch patterns, make the software do what I want it to, and so on. Even though I worked as a web designer for many years, I’ve never really used Illustrator much and even less InDesign. Most of what I did was in Photoshop and code, so this is new territory and I have to figure out the what and the how at the same time. So I keep finding faults with everything I do: the color doesn’t print out right, the instructions are too verbose, no one will want to do multiple cast-ons (I must be out of my mind!), the design sucks. I shouldn’t be blogging. Back to my layout. Oh, wait, no photos? I can’t bear to post without pictures (what does that say about me?) There. Just to show you that not everybody in this household is a stress ball.

Kelvin

Pipie