Kim and Laurel asked: I’m curious about the proposal documents. What’s all entailed with that? [Tell us about] submissions to magazines/yarn co’s etc.

Each publishing house has their own requirements. For example, Interweave posts their submission guidelines on their site. Vogue has an online form. Knitty requires that you submit a finished project, including pictures, using their template. Twist Collective accepts all submissions by e-mail. There are of course many other places you can submit patterns to, these are only the ones I am familiar with. The Designers Group on Ravelry is a great place to pick up tips on calls for submissions.

They all really want the same information (with the exception of Knitty, which wants more than a proposal). Here are my suggestions, but be sure to read the requirements carefully so that your design is not disqualified because you didn’t provide the correct information.

Introduction - This is similar to what you would see at the start of the pattern, say something about your inspirations for the design and anything interesting like special techniques you employ. This is your chance to tell them why you think every knitter will want to knit your pattern.

Overview - Get down to the technical bits here. This may include charts of the trickier parts and descriptions on special sections of your project. If you have any sketches or schematics of the piece, include them here.

Details - This section is where you might talk about the yarn and needle choices. Why did you pick the yarn you did? What qualities of the yarn work for this pattern, and why?

Remember that you are sending this document out into the world to represent you and your design. Make it clean, organized, professional. Think of it as a cover letter or resume.

Depending on where you are submitting, you will probably need to include either physical swatches, or scans of swatches. Different companies have varying policies on returns of physical submissions. Some will send your materials back, others will not.

Submit your materials in whatever format is applicable to the publisher. Wait.

It’s true, the waiting IS the hardest part. Again, depending on which publication, the waiting can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. During this time, I try to forget about the design completely and start working on other things.

Later this week there will be another Q&A about sizing garments. Keep your questions coming!

Welcome back!

This last week I have been swatching like crazy.

Stitch Dictionaries

I love my stitch dictionaries as they provide instant inspiration. This stitch might conjure images of sweater cuffs, this other one, scarf designs, etc. All the possibilities can be quite overwhelming, jumping out of the page, begging to be turned into a project.

Woven Mesh

One stitch in particular has been catching my eye lately. I love how the stitches form an open work lattice. The diagonals almost look woven. I swatched this pattern with Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock  medium weight. I also started a swatch with the Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock (not shown), but immediately found it to be too thin.

The pattern itself is rather versatile as it can be worked over (almost) any number of odd stitches. I worked this as a mini shawl swatch to see how it would work with the regular increases (yarn: Dream In Color, Smooshy).

Mini Mesh

Looks good, except…do you see it? The pattern starts at the top/middle of the neck and expands out and down so that the resulting stitch pattern is on a diagonal. The diagonal lines of the stitch then become vertical and horizontal lines instead. I’m not sure I like that. If I want to use this pattern and care about it’s orientation, one option would be to construct the shawl in a different way.

All shawls I have made have started from the middle neck. However, there are several other ways to make a shawl. I could start at the bottom point and increase on both sides, which would allow me to maintain the original diagonal lines of the mesh. The same would be true for starting from the wide edge, decreasing on both sides down to the point.

After some research on Ravelry, I decided that I don’t really care for most shawls knit in this way. I think maybe the stitch would look better if it were moved out from the start some. Here is a sketch.

Sketch1

The question then arises, what to do with that big empty section at the beginning? The easiest thing would be to work that in garter or stockinette stitch. However, I think I want to do something a little different. I would like to give it some texture without it taking too much away from the mesh stitch. I contemplate using some other lacy pattern, but push this idea away. I’m leaning towards a more modern looking shawlette; something relatively simple and not overly busy – casual.

I conclude that I actually don’t mind the diagonals running vertical and horizontal. And I like the diamond like aspect of the woven mesh. How can I expand that theme?  Back to the stitch dictionaries for diamond or diagonal themes. Two that catch my eye are swatched below.

Diamonds

The bottom one I liked most for its simplicity however, with the slightly variegated yarn the pattern gets lost. The top one stands out more and shares another common theme with the mesh stitch – twisted stitches. It is a little too tall – meaning that I don’t like how many rows the pattern repeat is for. So I decided if I use it, I will have to shorten it a bit.

The next step is to swatch the two patterns together to make sure I like the transition. The diamond theme has a much bigger repeat, but as long as I end with sections with odd numbers, the mesh section will fit in.

All Together

Next, I decide that my first sketch is too boring; I want to break it up a bit. With the versatility of the mesh pattern, I can do virtually any number of repeats of the diamond pattern followed by the mesh. Here is another sketch of what I think it will look like.

Sketch2

At this point if I were planning on submitting this project to a magazine, I would have nearly all my materials ready. Armed with swatches and sketches, I would now organize my plan into a proposal document. But since I am self publishing,  it’s time to start knitting!

Next week I will be sharing the grueling* process of knitting the prototype while trying to work out the final pattern. Please feel free to leave your questions and comments and I will address them in my next post as well.

* I say grueling because this part is probably the hardest step in the process, but it is also quite fun. Here is a sneak peek:

Preview

Welcome to the first installment of the Design Series: Inspiration.

I want to preface this posting with a disclaimer of sorts:
I am calling myself a designer because that is what I am striving to be. However, you will find that my design resume is rather short. I have one design self published, one design to be published by a magazine, and several more self published designs waiting for their final write-ups. I don’t intend for this series to sound like it’s coming from a professional design perspective. I’m a beginner, maybe as you are. I just wanted to share my process, and possibly inspire some other knitters to take the reins of their own design dreams.

And now, inspiration…

The inspiration for a design could come from anywhere. Sometimes inspiration sneaks up on me and catches me unaware at the grocery store or during my commute to work. I keep a little notebook with me at all times in order to capture these ideas. Other times, it’s like trying to get my husband to take out the trash. For those hard times, I like to surf around on Ravelry or Flickr for ideas and inspiration.

When designing for a magazine submission, you can sign up to get inspiration boards from the editor. Shortly before submissions are due, the editor sends out an e-mail, or posts a PDF online, with pictures and ideas to guide you to what types themes, colors and feel they are trying to achieve. These boards are like writing prompts, something to get your brain moving.

This is nice for designers looking to be published in a magazine. However, one of the things that makes magazine designing difficult is the time line. Magazines are planned well ahead of the season. So it can be hard to think of heavy winter designs when it is ninety degrees outside.

One of the strongest influences for me is nature. Not just flowers and colors, but even simpler things like seasonal weather. As spring blooms around me I know the temperature is going to fluctuate both inside and out.

Spring Boards

1. Early Spring, 2. Dew, 3. Y’a d’la joie! – There is joy!, 4. Shadow Dance

I work in an office where thermostat wars keep the temperature ranging from “Antarctica” to “Surface of the Sun”. The perfect accessory for the office is a wrap or shawl, something easy to take off or put on when the wars heat up.

If I were only making a personal pattern, inspiration would stop here. This is something that meets my needs, and that is what matters. However, I really want to design something that not only I will use, but also something that I hope other knitters will want to knit and use as well. Therefore, I also keep in mind trends in knitting as I see them.

For example, I know that a lot of knitters are interested in knitting shawls. There is a popular knit-along called 10 in 10 – where knitters around the globe are attempting to knit ten shawls during the year 2010. So I pop over to that group in Ravelry to check out what types of shawls these knitters are excited about.

One of the trends I see is that for many, the idea of knitting a delicate lace shawl with impossibly thin lace-weight yarn is impractical, time consuming, and downright scary . Lots of knitters are gravitating towards small patterns designed for fingering weight yarn. Not only do they work up quicker, but sock yarn is something that everyone seems to have plenty on hand – including me.

I have a HUGE sock yarn stash, and a shawl would be a great way to use some of that yarn for a project other than socks. Recently, I made a shawl using Dream In Color Smooshy. I loved working with it and happen to have several other skeins. Other sock yarns I have generous amounts of include Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock (I have also used this to make a shawl) and Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock. I will try out these different yarns when I start swatching.

I also use Ravelry in a different way. I want my shawl design to be unique and memorable. So, I spend quite a bit of time researching to make sure that I don’t end up stealing someone’s ideas. This may or may not work for you. It can be hard taking in all those ideas, and not being influenced by them. But I feel better about my finished pattern if I know I tried my best to create an original piece.

The next step for me is taking all these ideas and distilling them into sketches and swatches. Come back next Monday to see how the inspiration starts to take shape!

I’ve wanted to do something different with my blog for some time now. However, I found myself constantly too busy with other life things.  Finally I have some free time to dedicate to this space.

My plan? A series of posts that walk through my design process from initial inspiration to finished pattern. I am not sure how long the series will run, as the whole process will be ad-hoc.

Are you interested? Check back weekly for updates; I will post every Monday starting March 22nd.

March 22: Inspiration
March 29: Sketch & Swatch
March 31: Q&A – Submissions
April 2: Q&A – Sizing
April 5: Prototyping
April 6: Q&A – Charts/Copyright
April 12: Testing & Tools
April 19: Publishing
April 21: Free Pattern