Well, shit.

I just realized, today, that I've got a Knitty deadline coming up October first. As in, six days away. This could be a problem.

Properly inspired, I can crank out an article (the TEXT of an article) in a day or two. Even less, with a gun to my head and my sense of humor at full blast. The problem comes when I try to find something to illustrate the damn things. This often means custom-knit swatches, drawings (I haven't been much good with a pencil since I busted my hand... drawings are bad), and graphics found on the internet or scanned out of books. THAT can take a hell of a lot of time.

I wanted to do 'how lace works', and explain how yarnovers push columns of knitting around, and how decreases kind of eat them up. Problem is, there's no fricking way I can knit the swatches needed in six days AND finish up this freaking Blue Shimmer. Someday I will write this article, but it won't be this month.

Ditto for an idea I had on color theory and Fair Isle sweaters and how to use a black and white copier to cheat at it. (It's a very slick method, involving making a gray scale copy of your yarn or a sample card, and figuring color intensity, etc.) Unfortunately that would ALSO mean knitting two-color swatches and copying them and scanning the copies, and taking photos... No time.

So, boys and girls, we're going to do "Knitting on the Cheap" suggested to my by Trish, who has to deal with me constantly harping about cost per yard. I still have no idea what I'm going to illustrate it with... Bad feeling I'm going to wind up rummaging through the Dead Zone for this one. Someone shoot me for not taking photos of all the Christmas presents I gave out last year. Damn it.


I have informed the husbeast that I will be pulling an all-nighter, if neccessary, to finish the second sleeve of the Blue Shimmer. It is 2/3 done and I can PROBABLY finish it before midnight, but either way, this thing is getting DONE today. Because I still have to re-knit the neck, darn in ten thousand ends, hem everything, and block it. The next week is going to suck. The husbeast said if I get too bad, I'm sleeping on the back porch. Isn't he sweet?