Random stuff, for you:

I have had hayfever for quite a few years now, and coming with it a (very slight) asthma. (Our cat's asthma is much more severe...) So it was interesting to me to hear that today is World Asthma Day (is there something that there is no day for?). The day is intended to raise the awareness on asthma, initiated by the Global Initiative for Asthma. They have a website for that day, but it's not very informative - in fact, it mostly seems to invite people to tell about their activities. Well.

Raising awareness is also the goal of the website of the Bee Conservation Trust. Though they focus on bumblebee species in the UK, there is interesting information for those on the continent (or elsewhere) as well.

The neverending story about the Musée des Tissus in Lyon is going on; now there was an article about some investor eyeing the two museum buildings, with some misinformation about the probable costs of renovating said buildings. You can read the update (in French) here.

And that's it for today... now I'll get back to preparing for the Nadelwelt fair this coming weekend!

Ah, the weekend - I'm really looking forward to it... the last of the yarn has been spun and is on its way to be woven, and now I can finish up the cloth that is already here and waiting to be hemmed. And, hopefully, take care of a stack of other things, such as getting tomato seedlings started and tidying up the garden a little.

And Friday is the perfect time to toss some more random links at you...

First of all, The Middle Ages Unlocked was mentioned in an interview with Traci Harding, to my and Gillian's joy.

There's an interesting article about ten female scientists... and an image of a space cake, which is really awesome (scroll way down for instructions on how to make such a cake).

Enjoy your weekend, with cake or without!

Today is one of those days... when the weather is grey and I'm tired and nothing goes just as it's supposed to do. To put it more precisely - one of the fabrics for the current project is not going along as it should... which puts us into an awkward spot trying to fix the issue and finish the project in time.

So I do what I can - put in as much time as possible to solve the problem, breathing deeply, consuming lots of motivational hot drinks, and hoping like hell and high water that everything will go smoothly this time. The cat, bless her, helps me hang out on the sofa working by curling up and purring along... and so do various fiction podcasts, without which I'd probably have gone crazy long ago.

Keep your fingers crossed that we'll be able to beat the clock and the fickleness of threads (which are unpredictable buggers!)...

This day, back in 2008, I started this blog - I can't believe it's been eight years already!

[caption id="attachment_2798" align="alignnone" width="467"] Happy Birthday, little Blog! I'd have given you a nice cake photo, but I didn't find one...


The blog has certainly changed a lot during this time, but I'm still enjoying the making of it (and the lovely excuse for random surf-time in search of links to blog about on some days), and I'm especially thrilled if people I meet in real life suddenly find out that it is my blog and tell me they've been reading it for ages. Or if somebody tells me that this or that post was really helpful...

Speaking of which - this is the perfect time to ask you for some helpful input from your side.

What kinds of posts do you enjoy most? What do you like least? And is there something you'd like to see more of? Do let me know - and we shall see what happens in the year until next December 8!

Here I am... back again. And I have found out that the only downside to a thoroughly wonderful and utterly enjoyable summer break is that it makes it harder to get back into the everyday life and work again... so it's a good thing that I enjoy what I am doing!

I've jumped right back into the preparations for the next events on my agenda, and at the moment, I'm making good use of the splendid weather by getting wool washed and sorted out.


The wool in the picture is Rouge de Roussillon, getting fluffed up. That's not all, though,  there's one Rhoen sheep fleece drying currently, and a Valais Blacknose fleece getting a good soak. I'm not sure the Valais will yield spinnable fibres, though - the shearer came very late, and it might be that the fleece became too felted in the meantime.

Only one way to find out, though...

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you will know that I have strong opinions about fair payment for work (see the Fair Prices for Crafting posts). If you are working a full-time job, no matter what the job is, you should be able to live off your job. That means if you are a professional knitter, your knitting should pay for your life needs. It does not matter whether you are a writer, or an artist, or a cashier, or a carpenter, or a nurse - your job should support you.

I can totally understand if somebody asks me about pricing for, say, a dress; I tell them what to expect, and the answer to this is "well, thanks but no thanks". I do know that having a dress or some other garment made to measure, sewn by hand, possibly using special materials will be beyond what a lot of people (and incidentally also quite a few institutions such as museums) are willing or able to spend. I am fine with that. I'm also fine with getting together with the prospective client to explore possibilities and alternatives that will result in finding a different plan of action, and both of us being happy with the price point for that. If that is not an option, I don't care whether the "no thanks" is due to not being willing, or not being able. There's a reason that I have arrived at the pricing I've given, and doing the same work for less will not work out in my favour.

The calculations I make for my offers, whether it's a service (such as making a garment), teaching, or the goods I offer in the online shop and at my stall at markets, are solid. The prices I charge do allow me to support myself. I'm not calculating overly generously for my benefit, though - if there's a slow period with few sales and few or no projects, I can definitely feel it, and my one-woman company still falls into the "small microbusiness" category.There are occasions when it is necessary to put in some work to make a proper offer for something, so I'll do research and planning and calculations, and I don't get money for this unless the offer is accepted - but that is normal, and that is acceptable, and something that is calculated for. But something I will not do at all? Definitely not? Work for free. Or for "exposure", which basically means "go work for free for us, and we will tell a lot of people so you might have trouble explaining later why you won't go on working for free for others, too".
I also get cranky if I get asked, by some institution or company that does turn a profit, to work under my price point. This does happen rarely these days, by the way - but it does still happen occasionally. Professional work should be paid.If you're wondering what brought on this ramble, it's the "offer" of the World Fantasy Convention to submit a new award design. Key phrase here is "there will be no monetary remuneration." Yes. For an award design that will be used for nobody knows how long. That they want to have all copyright for.Much to my happiness, this "offer" has already led to several people stating very, very clearly that it is a bad offer, and a bad idea to submit artwork for it. Jim Hines writes about working for exposure only (though not directly linking to the Award Kerfuffle). Mary Robinette Kowal has strong feelings about the award specs and whole thing. John Picacio already posted about the issue in November 2015. I'm really curious to see how all this will turn out - and whether the critical voices will lead to a change in the submission guidelines or not.

I nearly forgot to blog today - we had no internet or phone connection for a while, since our connection was upgraded/migrated to another type... thus throwing my typical daily routine into complete disarray. And the fact that my parents just arrived for their stay of a few days' duration here does not help with getting back into said routine... or on track.

So instead of a proper blogpost, you're getting a short late one - but at least I have a nice picture of beautifully frost-rimmed iris flowers for you, taken early last morning. Things like this make me feel okay about there still being frost!