I Really Should Be More Trusting

Of myself.

It's not as though I haven't been knitting since the last ice age or anything, or as though I didn't use to sew about 90% of my clothes, or as though simple proportions and fractions and ratios elude me or anything.

My plan was to use short-rows to make the yoke of a sweater in lieu of knitting it in the round in the usual way, and after measurements and calculations I decided that for shaping via short-rowing, I needed to divide the stitches into four to get the appropriate neck-to-bottom-edge ratio. 

First go-round, my gauge was a bit off, so the yoke wasn't deep enough.

I then came across this sweater with convenient directions for pretty much what I wanted to do, and they insisted that the stitches be broken into five groups, not four, for optimal curve.

Foolishly, I did the vacant "Oh, OK" thing and proceeded blindly to work about a quarter of a yoke which would have given me a ten-inch neck opening, which is all very well and good except for the existence of my head, which would pretty much preclude the sweater ever being placed on my body in the usual way (i.e. with my head sticking up out of the neck-hole) unless I somehow managed to construct it while wearing it, and even though I pride myself on ingenious solutions, even were I able to accomplish this acrobatic sartorial feat, I think it has limited practical value.

So the above picture represents the current state of my yoke, round three.

In the beading department, I've been much more productive, which is to say I haven't been cutting things up, which can be fun, but limits the existence of finished pieces.

Amy holds a home show (she's a weaver extraordinaire) every year or so, and for the last few years, perhaps four or five, she's invited me to sell my beadwork at her shows, so I'm in Amy Sale Production Mode.

The first few times I did her shows, I was aiming on the low side in terms of pricing which of course also limits what I can make - after all, there's little point in spending ten hours on an intricate necklace if I'm only going to charge $25, and so this results in my making pieces I probably wouldn't wear, which doesn't sit right with me.

Since opening my etsy shop (if not before), I've decided not to go that route any longer, and make jewellery to please me, and price it appropriately. If it sells, fine, and if not that's fine too, but at least I don't need to be embarrassed about how I present myself in terms of the pieces I have for sale. I may try to vary the colours from my first choices, but that's about the only concession I'll make.

Actually, it also means that I can work on techniques or styles which I don't think would suit me, but which are fun to do, so if anything it expands on the fun I can have. This is a Good Thing.