I won’t lie to you, fellow crafters: my knitting and crochet mojo has been on hiatus for awhile. Back in March I announced that I was going to publish a book of geeky, nerdy knitting patterns. I set myself very strict, aggressive goals so that the book would get published (my myself, which means lots of up-front costs) this year.
Well.
Continue reading The secret allure of a mystery knit-a-long and regaining my knitting mojo
Hoo boy, here we go on this: I recently wrote a post for Karie Bookish about the struggles of maintaining creativity amidst a constantly shifting, chaotic political landscape.
You say, “But Angie, just don’t worry about it! *I* don’t stress about politics!”
If you want to know more about my thoughts on that, you can read the post on her blog.
This post is about the book, and whether or not I’ve reached critical mass. Here’s a hint:
I’ve been accepted into several yarn shows this year and early next year, which I am beyond thrilled about! But that also means that this summer is chock full of dyeing, tagging, prepping, and assembling. There will be new designs! There will be kits! There will be amazing collaborations with the fabulously talented Anna Nikipirowicz! There will be mini skeins and gradient packs!
Here are some things you can expect to see at chez GamerCrafting if you attend The Perth Festival of Yarn, Yarndale, Nottingham Yarn Exhibition, or Waltham Abbey Wool Show:
-Neon rainbow gradient mini skein sets
-Harry Potter themed fingerless mitts kits
-New design collaborations from Anna Nikipirowicz
-Hand dyed yarns of all kinds
-New stitch marker sets
-ME!
Okay but seriously, that’s a lot of prep, and I work a “day job,” so it can be intense. Good! But intense. I love dyeing yarn, it’s one of my favorite things to do, and I love acting like a mad scientist mixing dyes and activators, using inspiration from our favorite geeky genres.
I’ve been working on the book, and as it’s my first one I’m doing all the knitting myself. Someday when I’m rich (haha) and knit-famous, I’ll be able to pay knitters to knit my designs for me! But for now, that’s not going to happen. I can, however, give you a sneak peek of what Nerdy Knitting for Geeks, volume 1 will contain:
-Skull cardigan with POCKETS, elbow patches, and hood (done!)
-8-bit heart slouchy swewater (in progress after several false starts)
-Kraken boot cuffs and matching mitts (done!)
-Dinosaur scarf (not yet started)
-Snuggly poke-socks (featuring GamerCrafting yarn!) (done!)
-Mug cosies (in progress)
-Dice bag (in progress)
Working on THE BOOK has meant that I’ve been acting as a monogamous knitter. No crochet either, even though I’m obsessed with The Shawl Project 3 and want to make ALL THE THINGS. I’m bad at being a monogamous knitter: when I get frustrated or bored, I want to banish WIPs to the shame cupboard and forget them for awhile. Even though I’m self-publishing this book, which means all deadlines are self-imposed, I’m acutely aware that if I want an autumn launch, I need to be done, like, yesterday.
I’ve learned a lot about self publishing: specifically, that it’s hella expensive. Paying for ISBN numbers, barcodes, shipping, the actual PRINTING of said book, formatting by a professional who won’t mess it up, photography, models, on and on it spins.
My original plan was to be done by the end of July: with a trip to Madrid on the cards in the middle of the month, that probably won’t happen unless I GET INTO GEAR and finish things that need finishing.
Anyway, stay tuned: will I be able to have an autumn launch, or am I crazy?
This week’s #YarnLoveChallenge theme is beginnings or tutorials. Y’all know where you can find my patterns (Ravelry, LoveKnitting), so I thought I’d talk about why it is that I do. For this exercise, I’ll be interviewing myself for the GamerCrafting yarns origin story. You’re welcome.
Me: Angie, when did you know that you wanted to dye yarn?
Also me: Well, me, I was putting together a tutorial on DIY yarn dye for LoveKnitting. I was using fun stuff like Kool-Aid and food coloring to dye yarn to show people how easy it was to have a little bit of fun with it on a rainy afternoon. And then I got bitten by the dye bug, invested in proper equipment and dyes, and started up an Etsy shop. It’s still growing, but I’m always THRILLED when someone uses my yarn or I see it in the wild on social media!
Me: And why geeky themes?
Also me: Why NOT geeky themes? Many people use awesome things in their world as inspiration, like landscapes, literature, or butterflies. To me, video games are their own art form, so I figured there would be plenty of inspiration on offer.
I could probably squawk about how important video games are becoming as a media medium but I don’t want to bore all of our lovely readers to tears. To put it short, the advent of Steam as a platform as allowed smaller independent developers to create a hugely wide variety of games that target a much more diverse audience than continual Call of Duty releases.
Me: Call of Duty: ZOMBIES!
Also me: Ha! Exactly! You’re so funny, me!
Me: So what’s next for GamerCrafting?
Also me: Well, aside from THE BOOK, which will hopefully be released sometime in the autumn (late September/mid October), I spent yesterday planning out all of my spring and summer yarn dyes and releases to coincide with some AWESOME stuff happening this summer in geekworld. Let’s just say some of these yarns will be BLOCKBUSTERS (as much as a yarn can be).
If THE BOOK isn’t a huge disaster that makes me hide in a cave for 30 years, then maybe another book in the future? More yarns, new yarn bases, more vegan options, new dye techniques, and please for the love of god a bigger space so I can dry more yarn at one time.
Me: Exciting! Terrifying?
Also me: Yeah, yup. Both of those. For sure.
Anyway, READERS, I’m now on TUMBLR. If that’s your thing come join me for wanderlust, knitting, yarnporn, and endless fangirling. Current obsession: Witcher 3 (yes I know it came out 2 years ago).
We’ve all been there before: a difficult project gets frustrating, life gets in the way, or brain bats move in and set up shop. Whatever the reason, it can feel crushing when your go-to self care no longer helps.
As some of you know, I’m planning a book for later this year. I’m self-publishing, so deadlines are self-imposed, but with life taking some turns at high speeds, I’m already falling behind. I suffered a mysterious wrist injury which limits my knitting and crochet time, which in turn means I’m not where I wanted to be.
It turns into a cycle:I feel guilty that I’m not completing projects fast enough –> I want to avoid working on the projects to try and avoid the guilt –> the projects take longer to complete as a result.
Logically I know that this cycle is unsustainable, but emotionally I’ve got my fingers in my ears, yelling, “LA LA LA, I CAN’T HEEEAAAAR YOOOOUUU!”
I know not every crafter has a book planned, or dye yarns to sell, or shows to prepare for, or a million other things to think about, but we all have these feelings sometimes. Sometimes it’s a frustrating pattern, sometimes it’s the unending exhaustion that comes with a busy family, and sometimes it’s depression or anxiety. Sometimes it’s all of those things at once!
This week I’m moderating over on the @CraftAsTherapy feed, with the theme of kindness. I don’t just mean kindness to others, I mean to yourselves too! After all, we’ll run out of steam if we are kind to others but never spend time to recharge and be kind to yourself. If crafting isn’t feeling therapeutic, do something else, even if you have a deadline. Take a night off, allow yourself to watch the new season of Grace and Frankie or play video games and eat junk food.
I know it’s hard – I find it incredibly difficult to not be working on something. If I’m sitting, I’m knitting – or crocheting – or planning projects – or packing up orders, or ordering new undyed stock, or researching new ideas and plans, or a million other things. I know I’m not unique there – so many of us are the same. I challenge you this week to take at least one hour just for yourself. Do something that makes you happy, whether it’s the aforementioned hedonism, planting new seedlings, reading a book, or laying in the dark listening to a symphony. Just 60 minutes: that’s not even 1% of your week. Don’t you deserve some time for recharging (yes you do)?
If you want to know what I’ll be doing to recharge and give myself some self-care therapy this week, I’ll be digging into a new book and sitting on a park bench with a big bag of jellybeans. After all, self-care definitely allows for junk food multi-tasking. emoji unicode: 1f609
If you want to hang out with me on Instagram this week, head on over to the @Craftastherapy account and post your pics with #craftastherapy_kindness, and they might just get featured!
Follow GamerCrafting on Facebook for undyed yarn news (and sometimes discounts!), patterns, geeky fanflailing and fun.
Looking for the Etsy shop? It’s here (and also a link at the top of this page ^ ).
