Behind the scenes work may already have commenced on This Thing of Paper, but the campaign still has a few hours left. If you want to pledge your support, be aware that one reward level has gone and only a few slots remain on others. People have asked me how I am feeling - it is difficult to explain but I will try once I have summed up what a most extraordinary community has achieved.
Thanks to people:
- This Thing of Paper will go into print!
- I will have a small, awesome team of people working on this project.
- The overall quality of the printed book has been enhanced.
- Sample knitters will help me cut down the production time of the book.
- I am able to apply to be a vendor at key UK knitting shows.
- We will have book launch parties in Central Scotland and in London, UK with periscope feeds.
- We will have a trunk show with Q&A in Manchester.
Isn't that incredible? When I launched the campaign, I hoped we could achieve the first two action points, but we've managed seven!
Answers to a few queries:
- LYS owners will be able to preorder This Thing of Paper approximately one month before publication.
- I already have a small army of sample knitters assembled, but thank you for thinking of me!
- I already have a technical editor and a copy editor onboard, but (again) thank you for thinking of me!
- You will see me less over the next six months or so, as I have a book to make! I am currently fully booked in terms of events and workshops until April 2017.
- If you weren't able to pledge support for This Thing of Paper, the book will be in print next year (estimated date: April 2017).
- Unfortunately I am not able to accept pledges outside of Kickstarter.
So, how do I feel? I keep going back to that word: overwhelming, but it fits. The whole experience has been very overwhelming. People have been so kind, so supportive, so generous, and so lovely.
The financial side of things is obviously fantastic (as you can see above!) but the emotional support has been equally amazing. And I think that's what you get from a crowdfunding effort: you get the emotional support too. And the emotional support is equally important to creatives like me who forget sometimes that we are not working in a vacuum. We are connected to a community of extraordinary people who like what we do - and something like this campaign has really brought that home.
Thank you so, so much. It means a lot as you will be able to tell by the next section.
One night last week I sat up late reflecting. The world has been a terribly bleak place of late, and my thoughts were swirling around the fact that my tiny, tiny corner is filled with the most extraordinary people: you are makers, knitters, writers, artists, lovers, dancers, thinkers & doers. And so I asked myself : how can we spread the goodness and kindness I experience in my everyday life? I don't pretend to have any answers, but I believe that we need to carry on being good, kind and open-hearted people. We need to challenge hate and fear when we see it - and to do so with love and compassion.
And then I went off to make myself a dress because I needed to create a space where I could refocus and recharge. Making stuff means that to me.
The dress is New Look 6262 - pardon the awful photo! It's a very straight-forward make, and I added pockets plus lengthened the sleeves. I used cotton lawn I had purchased from Abakhan when they had an excellent post-Christmas sale. I had three yards but despite longer sleeves and pockets, I found I only used around 2.5 yards - with the fabric costing me around £3 per yard (I've seen it for sale elsewhere at triple the price!), that must be said to be quite a bargain!
Having said that, I don't find my lifestyle lends itself particularly well to cotton lawn dresses. Scotland is probably a bit too cold for this dress to be entirely practical and I nearly had a tear in the fabric when the brooch in the photo caught the fabric. I tend to get caught on stuff, so I'll be wanting to use slightly heavier fabric in the future.
The dress itself is fine, though I'm not crazy about gathered skirts. It was a quick make and it went together without a hitch. I opted to make fancy-pants facings, but that only took about fifteen minutes extra.
Would I make this pattern again? Probably - it is easy to wear, easy to make, and doesn't take much fabric. It is not the most exciting project ever, but that's okay. Sometimes you just want to make stuff and lose yourself in the process.
Cardigan is Hetty by Andi Satterlund knitted in Cascade 220. Everyday wardrobe for the win.