Snug as a bug...

...in a Trellis! Yup, that's right. It's a zillion degrees and I've got the air conditioning on full blast so that I can enjoy my little lemon drop in his trellis while it still fits!


I don't know why I haven't knit a trellis until now. It's a terrific pattern and is simply delicious knit from Rowan All Seasons Cotton. Bonus: it's a lot easier than it looks. Double bonus: it knits up surprisingly fast in aran weight yarn.


I knit the 6 month size with less than 4 balls from the stash and as soon as I finished it and ascertained that it was a little snug on my growing bundle of warmth, I did what any crazy obsessed knitter would do: I got online and ordered more of the same exact yarn so that I can knit another in the 12 month size because at this rate he'll certainly outgrow this one before the weather cools down enough to wear it ;0)


This little guy is growing way too fast. My knitting simply can't keep up. It's all 12 month plus sized knits for him from here on in. And it makes me really sad because there are so many cute little baby things that I wanted to knit for him. Then again, it's been so warm that even if I had knit all kinds of cute little baby things, they wouldn't have been practical to wear in the summer anyway so I really should give myself a break.


Ah, knitting guilt. Just like parenting guilt. With more fibre ;0)

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And now for something completely different! Many of you have asked about the mechanics behind self-publishing a pattern. I'm a complete newbie of course, but have managed to learn a few tricks already with my Buddy Bags pattern. So here's how I did it:

1. I took careful pattern notes as I knit, then took a zillion shots and made a rough copy using Microsoft Publisher 2007. Once it looked the way I wanted it to, I used Publisher's "convert to pdf" feature to make a pdf.
   
   If you don't have Publisher, I've heard great things about Primo. It's a free download that allows you to convert documents from any program into a pdf. You can read up on it and download it here.
   
   
2. Once you have a pdf of your pattern, you'll need a place to host it and if you are going to charge for it, a way to accept payments. You can easily do both for a minimal cost using the e-junkie service (there are others like payloadz, but my hubby and I found that e-junkie's offering was much more reasonable fee-wise).
   
   
3. If you choose e-junkie, the rest is really easy. You upload your pdf, set your price and give e-junkie your paypal email. E-junkie gives you code for a "buy now" button you can post on your blog (in a post like I did or a sidebar button - whatever). And that's it!
   
   
   Buddy Bags
   
   an annypurls original pattern available as an instant download for $6
   

   

   Buyers click on the button, pay through paypal, and then are taken directly to a page where they can download the file (it is also e-mailed to them). All this takes but a few seconds and is completely automated so that you don't have to do anything else. The money is deposited in your paypal account instantly.
   
   
4. That's all there is to it!
   

Hope this helps and inspires you to make your original patterns available too ;0)

Cheers!