From time to time, or so I've heard, it's good to do something that scares you.

Well. Maybe there's truth to this, and maybe not, but whichever is the case, I'm going to do something that scares me - I will run a Kickstarter.

And yes, that's really scary.

Ages ago, when I published my thesis in German, I was already thinking of getting it translated into English. What I did not know back then was how difficult it would be to get this done. Translating is hard work, and it needs to be done carefully, and this will take time - especially for a hefty volume like the one I wrote. I remember almost toppling over with surprise when I got an estimate for the translation costs the first time. Then I did some test translating, and the appropriate maths that goes with it, and yes - it's sound. It's fair.

It's also a shitload of money, because it takes a shitload of time.

So it's a small wonder that a traditional, smallish publishing house will not be willing, or able, or both, to pay for the translation costs for a book that, despite its relatively great success in Germany, is still a niche publication. Which is a problem.

Finally, though, I have found a publishing house with people adventurous enough to try and go for alternative funding for the translation... which means a normal book contract for the book itself, and a Kickstarter campaign to pay for the translation costs, with the printed book as one of the pledge rewards.

And this is what I'm currently working on (yes, well, among the other things, obviously): trying to think of all the expenses and possible pitfalls, and trying to work out what pledge levels to offer. It's a task that somehow keeps on growing, as the questions add up, and it's surprising how much of an individual pledge's money will disappear into item costs, fulfilment costs, payment and kickstarter fees and taxes.

I'm also still wracking my brain about possible pledge rewards. (Suggestions are more than welcome - it's hard for me to imagine what you might want!)

So. Scary stuff. Happening. Let's find out if that thing about being scared really is a good thing!

It's busy bustling around here, both with my fingers on the keyboard, with more ETF website work (almost done far enough to launch, though!) and other kinds of bustling. Kinds that have resulted in something like a wool explosion in the wintergarden... all due to new things planned for the shop.

I've been offering both washed, uncombed wool and carded/combed for a good while now, and there's a very, very obvious preference in regards to what gets bought more. Guess what? Of course - the ready-to-spin, prepared fibre. And I totally get this - while combing wool is a fascinating process and allows for extremely fine control of what goes in and what does not, it is a good chunk of work that requires both time and appropriate tools. So in most cases, I would also prefer to take readily prepped fibres and sit down and spin, skipping the prep step.

I have now found a small fibre mill that is willing to process a chunk of fibres I send them, so I'm planning on having Valais Blacknose wool combed up into a band, good for spinning without having to work on it first. That's exciting, and that also means I have to sort and pack the wool to send it to the mill. Hence: Wool Explosion as I sort my way through the fleeces I have here from the last shearings.

It's all very exciting - partly because it is very hard to estimate how much of a price I will have to ask for that wool in the end; that depends on how much of a weight loss there is through combing, and that is hard to impossible to guess. So I'm hoping I will end up with a sensible number to put onto that price tag - and that it will all turn out nicely!

Here, stuff is progressing. Coffee is being drunk.
I'm still hard at work on the Forum webpages, getting them into a nicer order and stuff on them easier to access. Putting more stuff in there, too - which means I might need to up my contract with my provider a notch, to have more space for the stuff.

I'm also trying to finalise a little survey about the Forum to see where we might be heading. I love the format of having one full week, and the combination of a lecture and some practical part, but it might pose too much of an initial hurdle to those not already straddling the line between theoretical or academic work and crafts practice and experience. I also have the suspicion that a full week is too long for quite a few people - so Sabine and I have talked it over, and Michael and I have, and we might do a bit of a change, this year or next, depending on how it goes.

The survey is not quite finished yet, but I hope to get it done and out and tested later today, and then it will be time for a newsletter and spreading it out, hopefully gaining a lot of insights. Ideally, I'll also get the site done and polished before it goes out, but I think I might not, and I'd rather have more time for the survey than less - so it all depends on how productive I'll be today. And possibly early tomorrow. So... I should get back on it, right?

I've finally gotten around to testing the 3D cake mould that we got presented with years and years ago... which bakes a little moose.

My mum has a rabbit mould (well, actually an easter bunny mould) and we used to make a bunny at easter, usually as a marble cake. These 3D forms are, though, usually rather small and I'm normally baking cakes that are... large. However, circumstances have aligned and it was time to try out a new chocolate cake recipe, and that in turn was sort of the instigator to also try out the mould.

As the instructions demand, I did butter it carefully, and it came out nicely when it had cooled:

[caption id="attachment_3603" align="alignnone" width="428"] Still in the second half of the mould...


[caption id="attachment_3602" align="alignnone" width="482"] It's out!


And because everything chocolatey is better with even more chocolate, I decided to coat it with choc. When finished, it looked like this:



The eyes are slices of cashew nuts, and the antlers have a lighter colour because I mixed a spoonful of peanut butter into the hot chocolate. Which is, by the way, utterly delicious.

Now we'll see how it tastes, and then I will decide if that recipe stays or goes...

The little sock is growing, albeit slowly now that I am back at the home desk, working, instead of hanging out in trains, planes and airports with plenty of knitting time on my hands. I've turned the heel by now, though, so it is the slow way up towards the leg and cuff at the moment.



In terms of proper work-work, I'm still puddling around with the Textileforum website. It's growing, too - but there is yet quite a bit of stuff to do. Also, I'm wildly determined that 2018 will finally be the year that sees my thesis in English. Things are going on behind the scenes. Things that I will be able to tell you about soon. Sooooon...

I like travelling. Well, up to a point - at some point, it does get tedious, and then I really love to be home again.

It's made much nicer, though, by having stuff that I don't want to be without with me, and some things are by now a no-brainer to stick into the bag. My own pillow, for instance. While I used to be able to sleep on about any pillow when I was little, at some point, this changed, and I'm now much more comfortable with my own little pillow to rest my head on. So that does accompany me.

Another thing is some stuff to amuse me, which usually boils down to knitting and an ebook reader (as that is easy to transport and offers a whole library). Finally, something for the yoga habit: my day starts with a bit of yoga, and so I take either a mat or a yoga towel or yoga paws, depending on the space I have and the willingness to carry stuff.

And then there's the food and drink related things, like these:



If you have travelled with me, or seen me at a fair or other event, chances are high that this battered mug was there, too. It's a Thermos King Tumbler mug, holds close to half a litre of drink, is absolutely spillproof when closed and keeps things hot forever. In most cases, baristas will fill it directly and thus save one disposable cup at a time, which is also nice. I usually call it "the world's best thermos cup". I also usually have my own cutlery plus a bit of salt (you never know when you need salt) and, most recent add-on to the essentials, the mini-immersion heater. Add a few bags of tea, and the world's your oyster... because somehow, I really love to have a cup of tea in the evening when I'm alone in my room, getting ready for the night.

Anything you really, really need to have with you when you travel?

I definitely need more hours in a day. Or more nights that miraculously turn out to be working nights, yet still deliver rest. Or something like that.

Yesterday, for instance, was totally gobbled up by work on the Textile Forum site (and no, it's not visible yet, I am working on a local copy of the page to make it into a nicer and more functional thing).

So somehow, all the small things that need to be done teamed up with the bigger things and ate the day. Again. It's not the first time this has happened to me, but I had only wanted to spend the morning on that page work, and do something else the rest of the day. Like planning for a possible kickstarter campaign (which is thoroughly scary), and doing some more archaeology-related writing, and some translating.

Sigh. At least I did manage to snap a photo of the nicely blooming hellebore out in the garden, which I can now share with you: