Commission

I'm working on a commission at the moment. When I was at the Homeless Connect Day for K4BN, I was approached by a lady who wanted someone to knit her a vest in some yarn she had. I agreed to do it - she's giving me a pot plant in payment! - and am now half way through.

However, I've had to change some of the yarn, as it just wasn't going to go with the rest. The front is done in 20-row stripes of a purplish fake fur, with a pink-red fluffy yarn. I didn't think it was going to work, but it really does. I then had a pile of yellow/green feathers yarn for the back, but it just didn't gel. So I've swapped it for some blue and green feathers from the pile of novelty yarns Aunty Ann gave me. It will make a much better garment, and I just hope she doesn't mind.

I'll post a photo when it's done.

It's great to have a commission of any sort. The only other one I've done was a jumper for my physio, in lieu of a couple of payments. Here's hpoing there are many more to come!

Going into business?

Having recently finished up my work contract, and only having one paid day a week for the moment, I am now considering whether I could actually knit for a living - or for at least part of a living. A couple of people have mentioned that it's possible, but I'm still trying to find out how to find people to pay me to knit!

I've just given away all my finished item to Knitting for Brisbane's Needy, my knitting group, so I have to start putting together a new collection of items, if I'm thinking about selling things! I have quite a stash of yarn, the majority of it being my own. Some of it belongs to K4BN, so anything I knit from that automatically goes to them.

I'm thinking that my line will be on the retro side, as I have a very large collection of old knitting patterns, that are, importantly, out of copyright, so I don't have that to worry about. I also really enjoy making those classic items, and I have a long list of men's 50s and 60s jumpers and jackets I really want to make. Plus the beautiful jumpers, jackets and accessories for women I have patterns for. I also love making old-fashioned baby layettes, and hope that there are people out there that feel the same way. I'm sure there are.

I would also want to try to have most of my yarns Australian made. I am knitting a man's vest out of lovely Australian grown and spun wool, that I picked up on sale at K-Mart or somewhere, for just $2.50 a ball! If it takes all 10 balls to make it, the cost price is just $25 (not including labour), which allows for a reasonable mark-up without it being ridiculously expensive....

So Australian materials, knitter and a retro feel. Surely I can't go wrong?!

And with my newly-acquired MYOB skills, I can even do my own bookkeeping. Just need to find some undemanding temp work to keep body and soul together while I a) keep working at Canine Helpers as much as possible, and b) knit up a heap of stuff to sell. I will still knit for K4BN of course, as it's a cause very close to my heart. Maybe 1 in every 3 items is for them?!?

Anyway, so far it's all ideas and possibilities. But I really can imagine being able to do something real with this.