Posts Tagged ‘design’

Look Ma! I’m on TV!

Friday, August 13th, 2010

OK, so not TV…but YouTube!

I decided to make these short videos to help out with the “Seam as you go” technique used in the Tamarix Quilt. I rigged up my phone with a makeshift wearable tripod, and got to work. (Those iPhone bumpers really are good for something!)

Note about Part 2: I realized after I finally got a good recording for part 2 (these things require many takes), that I did it wrong. OK, not wrong, just that I tell you to pick up the held stitch before turning. In the magazine, I say to pick it up after turning (which is easier). Both ways produce the same result.

Let me know what you think. Also, feel free to join the KAL on Ravelry ~ Hope to see you there!

Knit Along with Me?

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

I’m planning on knitting another Tamarix Quilt and would LOVE your company! I have started a Ravelry Group for my designs here. Please stop by and share your projects and progress. So far I have only ordered yarn, but I will be sure to post my progress here and on the group as well.

Hope you join me!

Tamarix

Tamarix

Did you know…?

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

The latest issue of Knitting Purls is out and in it you will find an interview with yours truly! I answer some questions about designing and goals. There is also a book review, product review, and other good stuff; be sure to check it out!

Strawberry

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Here’s a summer pattern for you! This is something I’ve been working on for some time now.

Strawberry is a summer shawlette worked in fingering weight yarn; perfect for chasing away the chill on cool summer evenings. The shawl is designed to be shorter but wider than the traditional triangle shawlette.

Strawberry1

Strawberry

Strawberry

Strawberry

Special thanks to my two wonderful testers, Irina and Sairy!

Strawberry Pdf Strawberry

Strawberry is available on Ravelry (no account needed)!

Ravelry Detail Page

Purchase the pattern for $4USD

Introducing: Luz Mojito

Monday, July 19th, 2010
Luz Mojito

Luz Mojito

Check out Crafty Detour for details!

Tamarix Quilt

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

For the last two days  I have been jumping around crazy with excitement over my first published pattern. (I say published meaning by someone else, not self-published.)

This has been a secret project since the beginning of the year, actually the proposal submission was about a year ago. Let me tell ya, it’s been very hard to keep it hush hush. And now that it has become public, I have been shouting about it all over the internet. So here’s a sneak peek, a preview from Interweave.

Tamarix Quilt

(c) Interweave Knits

Tamarix Quilt

(c) Interweave Knits

I have also added it to Ravelry HERE.

Introducing: Mae Finch

Monday, June 21st, 2010

blogAnnoucement

Check out Crafty Detour for details!

Preview

Thursday, June 17th, 2010
CSI

CSI

It’s almost time! For the latest news and more details, check out CraftyDetour.com.

Criminal Sock Investigations

Monday, June 7th, 2010

It’s official! Crafty Detour has announced CSI: Criminal Sock Investigations!

This is a not-a-club club which will span 10 months with one pattern a month. Patterns are available all at once (for a discounted price) as an e-book (patterns are added to the book monthly) or for those that don’t like surprises, individually.

Patterns will be hosted via Ravelry, but you don’t need a Ravelry account to participate! However, if you do have a Ravelry account, we have started a Crafty Detour group which will house discussions, project sharing, and all that fun stuff.

Deadline Knitting

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Wow, I cannot believe it is June already!

I’ve been mega busy in May with what I call Deadline Knitting. Deadline Knitting is bittersweet. It’s awesome because it means I have a project (or two) appearing in a magazine sometime in the future. However, it is underlined with huge amounts of stress. This stress is two-fold. First and foremost is the need to knit fast while maintaining high quality (this is going to be in print, archived forever as a testament to my knitting prowess). And second, I am constantly worried that people will not like the design.

When a magazine comes out there is a brief time of first impression judgment. Usually this occurs on an issue level, meaning that often the entire magazine is declared excellent or poor. People say things like, “I didn’t find anything I would want to knit, a terrible issue” or “I loved almost every pattern and am going to knit them all!” Of course there are the in betweens, “Eh, I found one or two things I would like to make.”

The hardest thing about pattern writing is accepting the fact that not everyone is going to fawn over your design. It’s a brave thing to put your work out in public. It’s going to be both praised and ridiculed; you cannot please everyone. The problem with the online community, well, not just online, is that most people feel the need to express the negative, and not necessarily the positive. The negative people can be so strong in fact, that many positive people cower in silence, afraid to voice their opinion in fear of getting cut down.

Anyway, this weekend I finished the knitting portion of my Deadline Knitting and will now do the writing part. I hope to get my projects in the mail tomorrow. And then I have a few months to brace myself for the oncoming storm of online judgment await public praise.

Also something good in May, my good friend Kim gave me an awesome thank you gift! Thank you Kim  for the thank you! I already have plans for the yarn ;-)

kimGift

Yarny Awesomeness