It's official, I've posted a request for test knitters for my dishcloth pattern on the Ravelry site Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Test Knitters/Crocheters.
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/completely-pointless-and-arbitrary-test-knitters-crocheters/1769181/1-25
I'm very hopeful that there will be some brave and daring soul that will be willing to invest their time and materials to make this dream of mine come true. (I currently have crossed my fingers, toes and eyes.)
I'll write more as details follow-wish me good luck.
Showing posts with label dishcloth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dishcloth. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Wanna Be Designer
It's been awhile since I posted to my blog. I'm not sure whether it's because I don't have much to say or whether I feel that what I have to say is unimportant; however, I decided that if I could post at least once a month I might become more inclined to get into blogging. With that in mind, here goes.
After an extremely frustrating time at work, I decided to get off my duff and work on designing a few knitting patterns. In truth, owning a knitting shop, teaching people to knit and designing knitting patterns has been my dream job for a number of years. But as with most adults, sometimes the dream gets put on the back shelf - you raise a family, build a career; and in general, just go through your life one day at a time.
This week, I started working on my first knitting pattern. Yes, it's a no brainer-or I thought so. It's pretty evident that the creative side of my brain hasn't been used for a very long time. When I first started knitting, graphs were not something that most knitters used just pages and pages of written instructions all detailed row by row. Now, knitters are using more graphs to represent knitting patterns and since my brain evidently doesn't have a working visual perceptual cell in it, this has proven to be a challenge. Let me try to explain, when I was a kid in school and the standardized tests showed a flat "box" with the folding lines and you were to determine which shape it would be-my brain decided "all of them". That's the challenge.
So I set down at my computer, opened up a Excel sheet and started putting the vision in my head on a screen. Stepped away and voila-what appeared to be a pattern emerged. Next step, trying to determine if the graph would actually turn into a finished product. With yarn, hooks, needles (this is a knooking pattern-knitting with a crochet hook) in hand, I started working with the graph-can you say oops. Yes there were mistakes; yes, I had to go back to the drawing board several times; but, I have a working graph and a potential project.
The next big challenge is converting those little squares on my graph to written instructions for those knitters who prefer the line by line, stitch by stitch instructions. (I know that this is going to get ugly.)
After that, locating some poor willing soul to "test" knook/knit my pattern to see if it actually produces the same product.
I have to admit that the whole process has been wonderfully frustrating. By that I mean, that it has challenged me in a very unique way, made me feel a little bit better about my abilities to design a more complex pattern in the future and given me a sense of satisfaction that my normal every day job hasn't done in a very long time. Could it replace my current job? Who knows. I'm sure that one little small town woman currently living in a large city has a minuscule chance of being found-but what's that old saying--No Pain No Gain.
So if you are a knitter or knooker and are feeling the desire to take on a challenge of testing my new pattern, leave a comment. I promise I'll get back to you.
Now, back to the drawing board-just had another visual pop into my head and I need to get it down on paper before it disappears. Talk to you soon.
After an extremely frustrating time at work, I decided to get off my duff and work on designing a few knitting patterns. In truth, owning a knitting shop, teaching people to knit and designing knitting patterns has been my dream job for a number of years. But as with most adults, sometimes the dream gets put on the back shelf - you raise a family, build a career; and in general, just go through your life one day at a time.
This week, I started working on my first knitting pattern. Yes, it's a no brainer-or I thought so. It's pretty evident that the creative side of my brain hasn't been used for a very long time. When I first started knitting, graphs were not something that most knitters used just pages and pages of written instructions all detailed row by row. Now, knitters are using more graphs to represent knitting patterns and since my brain evidently doesn't have a working visual perceptual cell in it, this has proven to be a challenge. Let me try to explain, when I was a kid in school and the standardized tests showed a flat "box" with the folding lines and you were to determine which shape it would be-my brain decided "all of them". That's the challenge.
So I set down at my computer, opened up a Excel sheet and started putting the vision in my head on a screen. Stepped away and voila-what appeared to be a pattern emerged. Next step, trying to determine if the graph would actually turn into a finished product. With yarn, hooks, needles (this is a knooking pattern-knitting with a crochet hook) in hand, I started working with the graph-can you say oops. Yes there were mistakes; yes, I had to go back to the drawing board several times; but, I have a working graph and a potential project.
The next big challenge is converting those little squares on my graph to written instructions for those knitters who prefer the line by line, stitch by stitch instructions. (I know that this is going to get ugly.)
After that, locating some poor willing soul to "test" knook/knit my pattern to see if it actually produces the same product.
I have to admit that the whole process has been wonderfully frustrating. By that I mean, that it has challenged me in a very unique way, made me feel a little bit better about my abilities to design a more complex pattern in the future and given me a sense of satisfaction that my normal every day job hasn't done in a very long time. Could it replace my current job? Who knows. I'm sure that one little small town woman currently living in a large city has a minuscule chance of being found-but what's that old saying--No Pain No Gain.
So if you are a knitter or knooker and are feeling the desire to take on a challenge of testing my new pattern, leave a comment. I promise I'll get back to you.
Now, back to the drawing board-just had another visual pop into my head and I need to get it down on paper before it disappears. Talk to you soon.
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