Livin' La Vida Loca
So, it's nearly 11:00, my left eye is nearly swelled shut for some unknown reason, and Owen's little musical potty is going totally nuts. It won't stop playing. I'm about to throw it out the back door.
Today has been a nutty day. I'm at the point where I've gotten enough done with regard to TNNA that I'm just left milling aimlessly around the house, unable to finish up that final 10%. On top of that, I've been working madly on my duties as the Membership Services chair for AKD (the association of knitwear designers). I've been organizing a casual meetup at TNNA next Thursday (it's at the Hilton lobby bar after the fashion show, if there are any TNNA-attending designers reading this and you haven't yet heard about it since I feel like I'm blabbing about it EVERYWHERE), and it has happily grown to slightly frightening proportions.
On the one hand, my dream is for this to be a regular event at TNNA, since there isn't really any open social event for designers to just hang out and network. Ideally, it would be one of the events of the show. I'm hoping it will be crazy fun, and I've been e-mailing lots of personal invitations to designers and other design-related folks that I've worked with on various projects. So far I've been met with very positive response, which is quite exciting. On the other hand, I'm worried that it might be too successful and we'll be obviously unprepared for the huge deluge of people. Or maybe nobody shows up (or worse, one of the "big name" designers who we've invited will show up, expecting a big event, and the rest will blow it off, proving to that one "big name" designer that we're a bunch of chumps). I always hate this part of planning a party - worrying that nobody will show.
Ahh...silence from the potty! I don't know what gets into that thing sometimes - I swear it's possessed.
I've got a schematic to do for the Donna Druchunas book I'm contributing to. I've got one final detail to add to that sweater before I mail it off (it has to go out tomorrow). I need to get my gazillion catalogs (finally printed - CORRECTLY this time) stapled and mailed off to LA so that I don't have to drag them on the plane with me. I need to get all the new designs posted to the website and put into the online wholesale ordering system so that shops can access them after they see my fabulous designs at TNNA (or on my website) and flood me with orders. I've got two or three episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 to watch before my Tivo records over them. When's a girl supposed to get any sleep?
One final word about AKD, since the blog seems to be the only place I haven't been talking obsessively about it for the past couple days - for those of you who are designers or aspire to be, I'd love to encourage you to join us. AKD just elected a brand new board of directors (of which I'm a member) and we're gearing up to really change the organization and make it a driving force in the industry. Annie Modesitt has written some excellent blog posts over the past couple weeks about this business of knitwear design, valuing our work, negotiating fair deals for ourselves, etc. These are the sorts of things we're thinking about addressing, but we need your help. This is a great time to help shape the future of AKD and determine whether or not there will be a go-to group available for designers (like the Writer's Guild, or the Graphic Artists' Guild). Right now, it often seems like we're all working in our own little corners and while there are some groups out there, there isn't one cohesive voice willing to stand up for us little guys.
I can answer any questions you might have about AKD. If you're an established designer, you can join by submitting your resume and six tearsheets from published designs. If you're a new designer, you can join as an associate by submitting a swatch and written pattern. Best of all, you can request a mentor to help you navigate those first couple of years in the industry. This is what I did, and it really helped get me to where I am today.
And now I'm off to staple!
Today has been a nutty day. I'm at the point where I've gotten enough done with regard to TNNA that I'm just left milling aimlessly around the house, unable to finish up that final 10%. On top of that, I've been working madly on my duties as the Membership Services chair for AKD (the association of knitwear designers). I've been organizing a casual meetup at TNNA next Thursday (it's at the Hilton lobby bar after the fashion show, if there are any TNNA-attending designers reading this and you haven't yet heard about it since I feel like I'm blabbing about it EVERYWHERE), and it has happily grown to slightly frightening proportions.
On the one hand, my dream is for this to be a regular event at TNNA, since there isn't really any open social event for designers to just hang out and network. Ideally, it would be one of the events of the show. I'm hoping it will be crazy fun, and I've been e-mailing lots of personal invitations to designers and other design-related folks that I've worked with on various projects. So far I've been met with very positive response, which is quite exciting. On the other hand, I'm worried that it might be too successful and we'll be obviously unprepared for the huge deluge of people. Or maybe nobody shows up (or worse, one of the "big name" designers who we've invited will show up, expecting a big event, and the rest will blow it off, proving to that one "big name" designer that we're a bunch of chumps). I always hate this part of planning a party - worrying that nobody will show.
Ahh...silence from the potty! I don't know what gets into that thing sometimes - I swear it's possessed.
I've got a schematic to do for the Donna Druchunas book I'm contributing to. I've got one final detail to add to that sweater before I mail it off (it has to go out tomorrow). I need to get my gazillion catalogs (finally printed - CORRECTLY this time) stapled and mailed off to LA so that I don't have to drag them on the plane with me. I need to get all the new designs posted to the website and put into the online wholesale ordering system so that shops can access them after they see my fabulous designs at TNNA (or on my website) and flood me with orders. I've got two or three episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 to watch before my Tivo records over them. When's a girl supposed to get any sleep?
One final word about AKD, since the blog seems to be the only place I haven't been talking obsessively about it for the past couple days - for those of you who are designers or aspire to be, I'd love to encourage you to join us. AKD just elected a brand new board of directors (of which I'm a member) and we're gearing up to really change the organization and make it a driving force in the industry. Annie Modesitt has written some excellent blog posts over the past couple weeks about this business of knitwear design, valuing our work, negotiating fair deals for ourselves, etc. These are the sorts of things we're thinking about addressing, but we need your help. This is a great time to help shape the future of AKD and determine whether or not there will be a go-to group available for designers (like the Writer's Guild, or the Graphic Artists' Guild). Right now, it often seems like we're all working in our own little corners and while there are some groups out there, there isn't one cohesive voice willing to stand up for us little guys.
I can answer any questions you might have about AKD. If you're an established designer, you can join by submitting your resume and six tearsheets from published designs. If you're a new designer, you can join as an associate by submitting a swatch and written pattern. Best of all, you can request a mentor to help you navigate those first couple of years in the industry. This is what I did, and it really helped get me to where I am today.
And now I'm off to staple!
posted by knittinmom at 10:47 PM
2 Comments:
You're in the big time, lady! I know all your hard work for AKD is going to pay off. How exciting! :)
*The picture of ballerina feet is to die for! :)
I hate that part of party planning, too. I never progressed beyond my eighth-grade terror that no one really likes me enough to come to my party. But you know they always do show up in the end. I'm sure it will be a raging success. Good luck!
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