Career Direction

I participated in several discussions this weekend on Ravelry and further read some past threads that helped me make some decisions on how to proceed with a possible career in the fiber industry. One of the things Rob, my husband has been hounding me about is limiting my scope on what I do if I am going to pursue a career in the craft business.

After thinking about this for quite awhile and trying my hand at several things, I have come to the conclusion that my strength is in what I have been doing most of my life, knitting and working with yarn.
I have tried beading & braiding and I produce nice pieces but designs don't come easily to me, whereas I have several knit designs flowing in my head.

So with that decision made, a path emerges -

1. Get my name known in the knitting community through test knitting and tech editing
2. Offer to test patterns for other designers - make sure I produce a quality finished product well before the deadline and make sure I review the pattern with a fine tooth comb to give the best feedback possible
3. Become a technical editor, which first requires I take a course on tech editing. Hopefully I can do this in March. Then get my name out there. Again when I start editing to give each client a quality review. 
4. Design patterns, but withhold offering them for sale until they have been tested and technically edited. Figure out correct pricing, learn not to sell myself short.
5. Determine best knitting software and pattern template.
6. Knit up my patterns using my dyed yarn so that I spark interest in my yarn. Also to start dyeing yarn with better quality dyes. I also want to invest in a better yarn blank maker. Rob was able to fix the Singer Toy Knitting Machine but it still is very hard to use and continues to have held stitch issues. 
7. Put together a list of start up needs/costs work into household budget
8. Get business registered
9. Knit, Knit Knit and at the same time look for ways to mix media with Knitting, Jewelry Making and Braiding. 

So that's the beginning of the plan. I have been flopping around trying to decide how to proceed, it feels good to have a sense of direction now. 

So what do you think, does it sound like a plan? Do you see pitfalls, if so what?

Anatomy of my first shawl design

It started with my yarn dyeing experiments, one that produced a skein that went from a grey purple to yellow and then to a pinkish purple. For some reason this colorway spoke to me.

 Immediately I thought of going from dawn to daylight to dusk.

 For the dawn section I wanted it to be earthy, not lacy so I used only a few yarn overs. I also wanted it to be chunkier than the sum section so I used bigger knit & purl patterns in grey/purple sections that symbolized the dawn.

As dawn moved into the mid-day sun section I wanted to add more air and therefore added more yarn overs and made the break from dawn to day a strip of yarn overs. In the daylight section I also wanted to convey a sense of sun rays so I made a series diagonal decreases paired with yarn overs and I also had them move in two directions.

Finally the dusk section I wanted to go back to earth, so no yarn overs were used. A flowing pattern of knits and purls was used to symbolize how everything cycles in a day. 

And because this was not a lacy shawl I finished it off with a few rows of garter stitch. 

I am extremely pleased with the way it turned out and I am going to see if I can market the pattern. 

I have written up the instructions and through a free testing group in Ravelry I am asked for at least 3 people to test my pattern. If all goes well I can publish the pattern in early March. So excited. I have to say I really enjoyed designing this shawl, it knit up quick because it was coming from my brain and I didn't have to stop to check the pattern. I think I can safely say the designing bug has hit, I can't wait to get some other designs put together. A number of concepts are rolling around in my head. While I wait for this pattern to be tested I am testing two patterns for other designers. I feel it only fair if I ask for someone's help that I also help someone. 

off to knit ...

Here are some better pictures taken using the snow as a backdrop

List of Knitting Trims

Easy Pieces

• Garter Stitch Braid
• Picot Point
• Free Triangles
• Picot Bind-off
• Knotted Braid
• Baby Teeth
• Picot Selvedge
• Open Picot
• Saw Tooth
• Loop Selvedge
• Seed Stitch Braid
• Bias Binding
• Knotted Edge
• Beaded Cast-on
• Bird's Eye 

Braids

• Zigzag Rib
• Small Chain
• Rope
• Bobble & Rib
• Wide Braid
• Cartridge Belt
• Blackberry
• Bud & Stem
• Twill
• Rick Rack

Frills & Flounces

• Waves
• Scallops
• Crochet- Trimmed Frill
• Umbrella Flounce
• Sea Spray
• Flares
• Oyster Shell
• Chervons
• Foggot and Rib Flounce
• Looped Edged Frill
• Bell Ruffle
• Mock Pleats
• Ladder Frill
• Feather and Fan

Lacy Edgings

• Bunting
• Mini Lace
• Shoreline
• Zigzag
• Trefoil
• Floral Scallops
• Aspen Leaf
• Baby Lace
• Points and Beads
• Trellis
• Lime Leaf
• Falling Leaf
• Cinquefoil
• Textured Diamonds
• Chevron Lace
• Dots and Dashes
• Fish Eye
• Blackberry Lace
• Classic
• Leaf and Berry
• Pennants
• Fern Leaf
• Picot Lace
• Shark's Tooth
• Willow leaf

Loops & Fringes

• Picot Loops
• Garter Stitch Loops
• Chain Picot

Insertions

• Plain Four-row 
• Single Faggot
• Coin Eyelet
• Cockleshell
• Diagonal Stripe
• Daisy
• Garter-stitch diamonds
• Daisy-chain
• Lacy zigzag
• Traditional
• Checkers

From Jan 12 2014 Post on Wordpress.com