I had a flash today of feeling like a real designer today. I was starting to type my pattern into the final format that it will be published in and it really started to sink in that this is real and I will have a published pattern soon!
Adding to the 'real deal' moment was last week, when my yarn support arrived. I had been waiting on this package, and when I finally got to open it and see what color the sample will be made in, it was awesome. A very cool feeling to have someone send you yarn to make a sample of your pattern.
I am really happy that soon all of the secrecy will be over and I can show the gazillion pictures I have of the various stages of this process.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Has it really been that long?
A month and a half, really? It's been that long since I posted? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, we had a lot of life stuff happen. As in, we lost half of our finished basement to an undisclosed grading/water issue and the water/mold issue that it caused. Good times. I've had my pity party about it and we are moving on. I only occasionally want to yell at the previous two owners and their decision to not disclose anything, this is progress. I do wish the dryer hadn't decided to give up at the same time, but I *love* my new washer and dryer, so that's an upside.
On the design side of things, I have made progress! I actually finished writing the pattern and grading it into 6(!!!!) sizes. I was originally planning to make it into 4 sizes, but I found out that the patterns that sell best have a size range of 2-12, so I went for it. A couple of Sunday mornings spent at the coffee shop with my calculator, and it's done. For the most part anyway. I still have to type all the final numbers into the pattern on the computer (I did my calculations old school on paper) and then check and make sure that my measurements of certain parts work.
I can say that I have never actually spent any time before now pondering the proper neckline depth of a size 2 versus a size 6 or 12. Or the armholes. Oh, the armholes. They are very important, but they are not always easy to figure out - how deep, when to start underarm shaping, how many stitches to cast on for the underarm. Especially when you have other factors to work around, like stitch patterns and chest circumferences.
The hardest part is behind me, I think.
On the design side of things, I have made progress! I actually finished writing the pattern and grading it into 6(!!!!) sizes. I was originally planning to make it into 4 sizes, but I found out that the patterns that sell best have a size range of 2-12, so I went for it. A couple of Sunday mornings spent at the coffee shop with my calculator, and it's done. For the most part anyway. I still have to type all the final numbers into the pattern on the computer (I did my calculations old school on paper) and then check and make sure that my measurements of certain parts work.
I can say that I have never actually spent any time before now pondering the proper neckline depth of a size 2 versus a size 6 or 12. Or the armholes. Oh, the armholes. They are very important, but they are not always easy to figure out - how deep, when to start underarm shaping, how many stitches to cast on for the underarm. Especially when you have other factors to work around, like stitch patterns and chest circumferences.
The hardest part is behind me, I think.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
I did it!
I did it. I am still in a little bit of shock. I created a sweater from an idea that I had and I knit it. With no pattern. And it looks like a sweater and even fits the intended recipient!
I want to show everyone, and I mean everyone, this sweater. But I can't. I'm not self publishing this design, so it is up to Three Irish Girls to release it for the world to see. It might kill me to wait.
The knitting was just the first part, though. I wrote down what I did as I went (thank goodness, because I would stand no chance of remembering all the tiny details if I hadn't). The next step is taking those notes and assembling them into a coherent set of instructions that someone else can follow to make a sweater that looks just like mine.
My husband racked up major points by taking the boys to the grocery store to give me time to type up the pattern. It went surprisingly well (the pattern typing, he isn't back with the boys yet so I will have to assume that they all survived the trip). I was worried that turning my notebook pencil scrawls into something that made sense would be impossibly hard. It wasn't too bad.
It going smoothly might have something to do with the fact that I decided to just leave the number parts blank. Fully grading this pattern into the 4 sizes I want it in is still a bit daunting. I have lots of the numbers worked out, really. But it can start to make your head hurt when you are trying to figure out exactly how many inches and fractions of inches a neckline should go down or an armhole should be for a 4 year old versus a 6 or 8 or 10 year old. I like the easy measurements a lot -- chest circumference and length, those make me feel smart (I am choosing to ignore the fact that at least half of my children could figure these out without much help). The others, not so much. I will get there. When I am properly caffeinated and feeling rather brave.
For now though, I am going to relish my (albeit small) victory.
I want to show everyone, and I mean everyone, this sweater. But I can't. I'm not self publishing this design, so it is up to Three Irish Girls to release it for the world to see. It might kill me to wait.
The knitting was just the first part, though. I wrote down what I did as I went (thank goodness, because I would stand no chance of remembering all the tiny details if I hadn't). The next step is taking those notes and assembling them into a coherent set of instructions that someone else can follow to make a sweater that looks just like mine.
My husband racked up major points by taking the boys to the grocery store to give me time to type up the pattern. It went surprisingly well (the pattern typing, he isn't back with the boys yet so I will have to assume that they all survived the trip). I was worried that turning my notebook pencil scrawls into something that made sense would be impossibly hard. It wasn't too bad.
It going smoothly might have something to do with the fact that I decided to just leave the number parts blank. Fully grading this pattern into the 4 sizes I want it in is still a bit daunting. I have lots of the numbers worked out, really. But it can start to make your head hurt when you are trying to figure out exactly how many inches and fractions of inches a neckline should go down or an armhole should be for a 4 year old versus a 6 or 8 or 10 year old. I like the easy measurements a lot -- chest circumference and length, those make me feel smart (I am choosing to ignore the fact that at least half of my children could figure these out without much help). The others, not so much. I will get there. When I am properly caffeinated and feeling rather brave.
For now though, I am going to relish my (albeit small) victory.
Monday, March 12, 2012
So that didn't happen.....
In true Nadia fashion, I piled WAY too many things on my to do list for Saturday and I didn't get to everything. I neglected to factor in the 4 or so hours that I would be away from home for my daughter's friend birthday party -- a minor oversight. All was not lost, the house was decent (a huge step up from it's usual I'm afraid), there was food and cake that turned out well, so I will call it a success.
The cake was new for us, my daughter wanted strawberry, so a recipe for strawberry cake I found here . It was good, and went well with the cream cheese whipped cream frosting I threw on there. Strawberries and cream is a classic combination and it did not fail me :).
The pattern writing completely got skipped, so that is this week's project. With all of the notes I have I can see what I did for each step, the hard part will be explaining it in a way that someone else can understand. Oh, and that tiny little matter of grading it into 4 sizes. I am refusing to be scared off by this. I have been told that I can be very stubborn (still not sure I buy this completely), so I am just deciding to be the boss of these numbers and bend them to my will. No sweat. I hope.
The cake was new for us, my daughter wanted strawberry, so a recipe for strawberry cake I found here . It was good, and went well with the cream cheese whipped cream frosting I threw on there. Strawberries and cream is a classic combination and it did not fail me :).
The pattern writing completely got skipped, so that is this week's project. With all of the notes I have I can see what I did for each step, the hard part will be explaining it in a way that someone else can understand. Oh, and that tiny little matter of grading it into 4 sizes. I am refusing to be scared off by this. I have been told that I can be very stubborn (still not sure I buy this completely), so I am just deciding to be the boss of these numbers and bend them to my will. No sweat. I hope.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Up for today: Pattern writing
Today is the day, I think. As a fabulous way to avoid cleaning my house for my daughter's family birthday party tomorrow, I want to start writing the actual pattern for my design. After 2 versions of knitting through, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing (okay, that may be a stretch, but at least I'm closer than I was!) and I want to keep the ball rolling.
And the big thing: I need to get over my fear of grading (doing the math for different sizes). It's not that bad, I can handle it. So I need to just do it. I already worked out some of the numbers, so let's get it done.
When I'm not working on that, I will be frosting cupcakes for the friend party today, baking and frosting the cake for tomorrow, thinking about what food I will be feeding people tomorrow, and possibly cleaning. Okay, definitely cleaning, but that is my least favorite, by far and I will put it off as long as I can.
And the big thing: I need to get over my fear of grading (doing the math for different sizes). It's not that bad, I can handle it. So I need to just do it. I already worked out some of the numbers, so let's get it done.
When I'm not working on that, I will be frosting cupcakes for the friend party today, baking and frosting the cake for tomorrow, thinking about what food I will be feeding people tomorrow, and possibly cleaning. Okay, definitely cleaning, but that is my least favorite, by far and I will put it off as long as I can.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
My order is already in, and I would love to see more people order. Great yarn, great cause, and that's that.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Designing is not for punks.
Seriously. I have this cute little sketch (by cute little sketch I mean something that my 4 year old probably could have drawn -- I am not gifted in the drawing department) and know what stitch pattern I want where, but that leaves a lot in the leap to finished garment.
Especially a finished garment that is the intended size and will fit a person of that size. That doesn't have ginormous armholes and sleeves. Not that I would know anything about that.
I had this romantic little notion of designing, that I would sit down with this gorgeous yarn and just have this garment develop on my needles just exactly as I had envisioned it. I have been enjoying the gorgeous yarn, and it is proving to be very resilient as it is repeatedly frogged.
But I'm enjoying it. Really. I had never created anything before, I was a die hard pattern follower. This is opening up a new world that will never be untouchable again. I *can* do this. It is not effortless, it is not easy, and it isn't perfect, but it is. Something is being brought into being because I thought it up and am bringing it into reality.
Especially a finished garment that is the intended size and will fit a person of that size. That doesn't have ginormous armholes and sleeves. Not that I would know anything about that.
I had this romantic little notion of designing, that I would sit down with this gorgeous yarn and just have this garment develop on my needles just exactly as I had envisioned it. I have been enjoying the gorgeous yarn, and it is proving to be very resilient as it is repeatedly frogged.
But I'm enjoying it. Really. I had never created anything before, I was a die hard pattern follower. This is opening up a new world that will never be untouchable again. I *can* do this. It is not effortless, it is not easy, and it isn't perfect, but it is. Something is being brought into being because I thought it up and am bringing it into reality.
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