Snow, snow, go away
We have been having the most bizzare weather lately. On Tuesday afternoon, we had torrential downpours (like buckets of water being dumped from the sky) and a crazy hailstorm, interspersed with patches of beautiful sunny skies. Yesterday morning, it snowed like crazy - huge fluffy flakes that melted as soon as they hit the ground. This morning, I woke up to more snow. It has stopped for the moment, but I'm not hopeful that the weather will turn nice for any length of time. On the plus side, Sydney had a blast yesterday running around and catching snowflakes on her tongue. I'm so ready for summer!
The socks have been coming in fast and furious:
Lu finished a beautiful pair of Jaywalkers.
New knit-alonger knit_tgz finished a lovely pair of lace socks.
Lindsay finished one totally awesome flamin' hotwheels sock. So cool! But those aren't her March socks. Scroll down to see her completed pair of Blueberry Waffle socks.
Linda finished some hot red M socks and is working on her first brownie point!
Sillyewe finished some "Ugly Socks" (which I don't think are at all ugly, but go judge for yourselves).
Helga finished her Sockapaloooza socks and is working on some Embossed Leaves socks. I don't usually include progress updates, but there is a really cool link on her blog (which is not written in English) that will translate it. Go try it out - it's really funny to read what the translator spits out! Sock news is a few posts down.
Nelda finished a fantastic pair of Trekking XXL socks.
Christy knit up an adorable little pair of baby socks.
Kris finished a pair of Log Cabin socks - love those cables!
Do two half pairs make an M? Hmm... Elizabeth thinks so!
But seriously, they need to be socks you'd actually wear together outside of the house. Where people can see them. Isn't she just the joker?
Melissa knit up some Not Socks for her M. I need to make a few of those! They would be much faster than Nancy Bush's New Englands on size 0 needles...
Now, what would a post from me be without some design news? I'm going to make my first foray in self-publishing, kind of. I'm going to be working with the folks at Y2Knit on a couple patterns to be published in their line. They sell the patterns on their website, wholesale to LYSes and at their own LYS in Maryland. This will be a royalty arrangement, so instead of getting paid up front (like with a magazine design), I'll get paid based on how many of my patterns sell. It should be interesting, and I'll be learning the self-publishing ropes while working with experts instead of trying to reinvent the wheel myself.
I ended up finding Y2Knit because of some Adobe Illustrator classes that Jill, one of the owners, is doing for knit designers. I am now completely obsessed with Illustrator and even sucked it up a few days ago and plunked down $500 for my own copy (I've been using the free demo for the classes). It is just incredible the stuff you can do with it - I'll be able to do all my sketching in Illustrator instead of with pencil, which will be great because you can move the lines around until they're right where you want them, pixel by pixel. Since I am not the greatest sketcher in the world, this will really help me turn out sketches that are not modeled by people who are totally deformed.
I'm also working on my next round of submissions, which means sketching and swatching, swatching and sketching. This is the most fun (and often most frustrating) part of designing, because it's totally creative. It's funny how often I can have something in my head that I think is going to look fantastic, and then when I start swatching it, it's not at all what I wanted. There are so many variables - stitch pattern, yarn, color, needle size... Getting them to all mesh into something fabulous is often a challenge. I do a lot of frogging while swatching! But then I'll find the perfect combo, and it's nirvana. The sun comes out, the angels sing while I dance around the house, and everything is right with the world. If only I could get it to happen more often...
The socks have been coming in fast and furious:
Lu finished a beautiful pair of Jaywalkers.
New knit-alonger knit_tgz finished a lovely pair of lace socks.
Lindsay finished one totally awesome flamin' hotwheels sock. So cool! But those aren't her March socks. Scroll down to see her completed pair of Blueberry Waffle socks.
Linda finished some hot red M socks and is working on her first brownie point!
Sillyewe finished some "Ugly Socks" (which I don't think are at all ugly, but go judge for yourselves).
Helga finished her Sockapaloooza socks and is working on some Embossed Leaves socks. I don't usually include progress updates, but there is a really cool link on her blog (which is not written in English) that will translate it. Go try it out - it's really funny to read what the translator spits out! Sock news is a few posts down.
Nelda finished a fantastic pair of Trekking XXL socks.
Christy knit up an adorable little pair of baby socks.
Kris finished a pair of Log Cabin socks - love those cables!
Do two half pairs make an M? Hmm... Elizabeth thinks so!
But seriously, they need to be socks you'd actually wear together outside of the house. Where people can see them. Isn't she just the joker?
Melissa knit up some Not Socks for her M. I need to make a few of those! They would be much faster than Nancy Bush's New Englands on size 0 needles...
Now, what would a post from me be without some design news? I'm going to make my first foray in self-publishing, kind of. I'm going to be working with the folks at Y2Knit on a couple patterns to be published in their line. They sell the patterns on their website, wholesale to LYSes and at their own LYS in Maryland. This will be a royalty arrangement, so instead of getting paid up front (like with a magazine design), I'll get paid based on how many of my patterns sell. It should be interesting, and I'll be learning the self-publishing ropes while working with experts instead of trying to reinvent the wheel myself.
I ended up finding Y2Knit because of some Adobe Illustrator classes that Jill, one of the owners, is doing for knit designers. I am now completely obsessed with Illustrator and even sucked it up a few days ago and plunked down $500 for my own copy (I've been using the free demo for the classes). It is just incredible the stuff you can do with it - I'll be able to do all my sketching in Illustrator instead of with pencil, which will be great because you can move the lines around until they're right where you want them, pixel by pixel. Since I am not the greatest sketcher in the world, this will really help me turn out sketches that are not modeled by people who are totally deformed.
I'm also working on my next round of submissions, which means sketching and swatching, swatching and sketching. This is the most fun (and often most frustrating) part of designing, because it's totally creative. It's funny how often I can have something in my head that I think is going to look fantastic, and then when I start swatching it, it's not at all what I wanted. There are so many variables - stitch pattern, yarn, color, needle size... Getting them to all mesh into something fabulous is often a challenge. I do a lot of frogging while swatching! But then I'll find the perfect combo, and it's nirvana. The sun comes out, the angels sing while I dance around the house, and everything is right with the world. If only I could get it to happen more often...
posted by knittinmom at 8:11 AM
9 Comments:
Snow??? i didn't know it snowed in Portland. What strange weather.
Yeah, we even built a teeny-tiny snowman on the porch! :)
Exciting news on the design front. Can't wait to see how Illustrator makes your life easier!
--A
That is some crazy weather!! When you said you were ready for summer, I had a sudden flash of the cute vegetable garden you had last year - will you be gardening again? I'm so impressed by how your are continuing to learn and grow your design business - good for you!!
That's some pretty weird weather! We've had the buckets of water recently, too, but so far, no snow. ;-) That self-publishing venue sounds fantastic- congratulations! Looks like a great way to learn more about self-publishing. Mr. W uses Adobe Illustrator a lot for work and he loves it, too. Sounds like you've got a lot of surprises up your designing sleeve... looking forward to hearing more! Take care, Chrissy! :-)
More submissions! I don't know how you find the time. Are you superwoman??
Amy
I have my March socks completed! There are pictures on my blog.
Your new programs sounds very cool. Bet it's fun to play around with!
I'm enjoying all the socks! It's amazing what colors and patterns come up.
Self publishing sounds exciting! Good luck!
I've got my March socks finished - http://fiberfish.blogspot.com/2006/03/sock-in-middle-of-floor.html
Good luck with your designing... which I had the talent for it. You impress me!
I love hearing your bits about designing, I always wonder how it works behind the scenes for patterns and such...
I hope I actually have a pair of M socks for the kal :)
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