Late July and August put me in vacation mode. But now it is time to get back to work. And I guess the best way to do this is to put all my thoughts into words.

I don't buy books very often, especially fiction books. Maybe simply because I don't have enough time to read. But what I do buy are books related to crochet and knitting.

Recently, I discovered Finnish publishers like Laine and Cozy. Both have published some really beautiful books. Laine is also a knitting magazine publisher, and I believe that last year they started releasing a crochet edition once a quarter.

If you ask me how I found them — well, I was watching a knitting podcast by Sari Nordlund and Veronika Lindberg, and they were talking about their books. So I searched for them and discovered these great publishers. And, of course, I bought quite a few books.

I have to say, though, they are not cheap — around €30–40 per book. I have also bought patterns in PDF format from both of these designers. And I have knitted garments following both: a PDF pattern and a pattern from a book. And I have to say, there is a difference.

I don't make notes in the book, nor do I make notes in the PDF file, but somehow the feeling is different when you work from a book.

I think that in this digital world, we are all looking for that real, tangible feeling — something material that we can hold in our hands.

Several years ago, I bought Dedri's Sophie's Universe, mainly because I wanted to see what the book looked like. I think this book is a unique one — an entire book dedicated to one blanket.

And I caught myself thinking that it would be great to release a series of books dedicated to all my blankets. It would be wonderful to have books like this.

But then you come back to reality.

What does it actually mean to release a book?

Once you start looking into all the details, you understand that creating the design itself is probably the easiest part. First, it needs to be tested. Then there is technical editing and proofreading, an editor checking everything, all the pictures need to be in really great quality... And once you have all the text itself, you need to create the layout of the book, prepare everything for printing, get an ISBN, and I guess there are still a lot of things I don't even know about.

And everything costs money.

But once I discovered these publishers, I went to check the submission page on their websites. And I realised that they can take a huge part of this work off your shoulders.

But then I found myself thinking about something Dedri mentioned in one of her interviews: what if I want to release a pattern as a book, but the pattern has to be available only in book format?

There would be less technical work for me to do, and I would have to invest less money myself, but it also puts me into a certain frame. Basically, it would mean that the pattern for the blanket would only be available as a book.

Laine does offer an option to buy a digital copy of the book, so technically the pattern would also be available digitally. But it would cost around €30. That's pretty expensive for a digital pattern.

Still, I really want to try this experience.

But do I have time for all of this?

Is it reasonable to have patterns available only as a printed book?

At the same time, I do think that a pattern in a printed format has more value than just a digital file. There is something special about having the physical book in your hands, knowing that all the work, the design, the photographs, the editing and everything else has been brought together into one tangible thing.

So, there is a lot to think about.

I guess for now I got to the stage where I know that I want to release a book. But I need to consider all the other things: am I actually able to make it happen? Am I able to fit it into my schedule? And is it reasonable from a financial point of view? Because, after all, we all need to pay the bills.

A lot to think about, but I am slowly moving in this direction.

For now, I think I need to keep at least one mandala blanket project a secret. And once it is fully completed, I can look at the situation I am in at that time and decide whether I want to take the next step and turn it into a book.