Designs on life

I like to design things, and it seems like a natural progression to write up my designs and try to sell them. But I've been on that cusp for a couple years now, without making definitive moves either toward or away from that goal. I'm ambivalent because the work involved with publishing seems out of proportion to the rewards. I can make a sweater to fit myself without much more thought than goes into a gauge swatch and two calculations, but writing clear instructions and, above all, sizing are whole other kettles of fish.

There are thousands of free patterns out on the Web, many of them quite good. There are enough people that are happy to share their design work, and more than enough people who think that yarn is the only part of a project worth paying for, to depress the market for patterns for sale.

And yet, and yet. Jennifer Hansen, my hero, makes a splendid go of it. Well, I say this, but I have no idea what kind of money she makes. I know she has a young son, so I hope she wouldn't be losing money at it. She does everything herself, creative and technical.

So I'm taking some more baby steps. On the recommendation of Ysolda I'm going to open an account on payloadz and sell my diagonal kimono pattern. I guess I'll put the "store" (such as it is) here, on the sidebar.