I woke early for a Saturday (although not terribly early for me) and watched the light change through my living room window from blue-gray to azure to brilliant white. And I thought about Twist & Knit.
I have a new layout, and I have the patterns written, photography is done, and I just need to finish the copy and the layout to get a page count, price printing, and open up pre-sales. When I phrase it like that it doesn’t seem like that much work, but it’s daunting. I want to do it well, but I also want to do it quickly and that has been tripping me up.
Up to now it’s been sort of like research. I was gathering all the pieces together. Patterns, check. Photos, check. Information I want to convey, check. But now I have to make it all presentable and that’s something that feels entirely new to me. I’ve been doing individual pattern layout and making it consistent, but a book feels like so much more. I need to figure out pattern order to give the proper flow, and above all I want the book to be beautiful, which I am feeling genuinely unqualified to do.
I will get over it. I’ll push through and make everything work. I am too damn stubborn to let this project die for self-pity, but it makes it a uniquely painful thing to do. And I guess I just have to suck it up and face my insecurities. As I start the downslide into 30, I was thinking that by the time I’m 30 I should be over the stupid little things I hate about myself. At least to the point where I can work past them. I doubt that I’ll suddenly be NOT insecure about things… just that I think by 30 I should be able to move on beyond them. I don’t want to be an angsty 30 year old. So I guess I’d better start now and work through my book dread.
M
Thanks everyone for the love about Knitscene 🙂 It was a lot of fun to write and hopefully it won’t be the last article I write.
I got home Wednesday from attending Cat Bordhi’s visionary retreat, which is a juried retreat for self-publishing authors where we can learn skills that we’ll need to write our books, discuss the logistical aspects of self-publishing, get feedback on our ideas, and generally feed our creative minds. It was a great week and I’m feeling motivated again on finishing Twist & Knit so I can move forward with other projects I’ve been thinking about. I got to meet a lot of people that I’ve admired. I got to pick their brains and get to know them a little, which was amazing.
The retreat was held on San Juan Island off the Washington coast. I’d never been to Washington State before, nor that far North, but it was beautiful and a great respite from the inversions and cold of Utah. Moss grows on the roofs of people’s houses! Everything was so green, but I’m not certain that it wasn’t moss and not grass! I came home to 40 degree weather, but went out the next morning to snow. Lots of heavy, wet snow. It’s good to be home, but I guess some part of me hoped that it would magically be spring when I got back. And also that my house would have magically been cleaned and all the laundry done and everything organized. What?! A girl can dream, right?
I also came home with some really great yarn, and I’m hoping to get back to designing new and interesting things ASAP, but one thing at a time. I’m working on a few collections of patterns in my brain, but it would be nice to get some stuff on paper and on the needles.
I made a decision about Twist & Knit too. The printed paper booklet is only going to have the charts, not the text translations of the charts. But the digital version, which will be included when you purchase the print version will have the text translations of the charts (Please note: Cleite won’t be included in the digital version because of some contractual stuff with Twist Collective. It will be in the printed booklet, but not in the digital version). Printing cost is a factor as well as a desire for a clean layout and I think it will make it a better pattern booklet all around. I am working on the idea of a “how to read charts” tutorial video and accompanying downloadable pdf that would help people transition from text to charts, but still want to have the text versions available if for no other reason than accessibility (text readers for vision impaired knitters can’t read charts, but can read text directions).
I need to get down to writing the text for techniques and measuring gauge and all that stuff.
Back to work!
M
I’ve got an article in the new Knitscene (Winter/Spring 2010 Issue) about different ways of shaping triangular shawls.
All in all it’s a great issue, with 3 sweaters from Connie that are so lovely! I want to make the Geodesic Cardigan for myself. It’s also got a trio of lace shawls with different constructions for all the lace knitters out there. You can see the whole pattern preview here.
This is the first time my name has been on a cover, but hopefully not the last 🙂
Hi all,
We’ve all seen the horrible state of things in Haiti right now. And it makes me so grateful that I have running water and food to eat and that my loved ones are safe.
In order to help in some small way 50% of the sale price of all my available patterns sold through January 31st will go to Doctors without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières for their work in Haiti.
I’ve gone through Ravelry and tagged all of them with the special tag, so they should be searchable as such. The Ravelry pattern store link is here. This donation pledge also applies to purchases through my MimKnits online store.
Please consider making a purchase of a Help for Haiti pattern, whether from my shop or from one of the many other generous designers. You can even filter your Ravelry queue by which patterns contain the help for haiti tag and purchase the patterns you already know you want to knit that way.
Knitters have shown repeatedly that we are a force to be reckoned with. Let’s do it again and help the people of Haiti to make it through this disaster.
Best,
Miriam
In January 2009 I was working as an office monkey, stuck in a stressful, uncreative, unfulfilling job. Comparing that to now, happier than I have ever been, working for myself, and accomplishing great things. What a difference a year and a little courage can make! I was thinking back on the last 10 months or so, and thinking about how unhappy I was. I realized that I used to cry every couple of days. Deep, despairing sobs. But now, I don’t think I’ve cried (except for that unexplainable hormonal tearing up) since I left that job. I feel I have a purpose and direction. And in that vein, I’ve changed my normal goals to be a bit more specific this year.
Goals for 2010:
- Self-publish a book (on track to publish about March-ish)
- Warp the loom and learn to weave
- Wear my handknits fearlessly
- Take a picture a day (with at least one a week being a self portrait)
- Produce less waste, even if it causes more inconvenience.
By way of a quick update — All of the book projects are completed, and I’ve put my snapshots of them into a flickr album, which you can view here if you are interested. I’ve got some pieces out to test knitters and they should all be arriving back to me soon so I can shoot the official pictures and get the book laid out. I’m getting pretty nervous about it now, but also very very excited.
M
I have a new year’s post brewing, but just wanted to drop a quick note to let you all know that UK Knit Camp registration is now open. Knit Camp will be held at the University of Stirling, Scotland. It will be packed with wonderful classes offered by an amazing list of teachers. You can check out the classes I will be teaching here and the full class list by instructor here. And you can register for accommodation and classes here at the shop.
Hope to see you there!
Miriam
Thanks to Ravelry’s newest pattern feature, you can now gift patterns to other Ravelry members and the pattern will be added directly to their library! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this feature, and to celebrate it and the holiday season, from now until 10 pm Mountain Time on Sunday, December 20, if you send a gift pattern of mine through Ravelry, you get one free for yourself. After you have sent the gift purchase, just send me a Ravelry Private Message including which pattern you want for yourself. I will match up your order with your rav. id to verify you purchased and gift you the pattern through Ravelry.
This offer is only good for Ravelry purchases, not purchases through my online store. The post linked above gives detailed instructions on how to send the gift patterns through Ravelry.
Thanks to Ravelry for a great service and thanks to all of you for supporting this crazy venture. Every time someone asks me what I do for a living and I tell them that I design knitting patterns, I am amazed and grateful for all your support.
Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Good Solstice, Happy Kwanzaa, Great Any Holidays I Missed, and A Happy New Year!
M
Last weekend, I needed to take a break from the crazy deadline knitting, and with winter seeping in it’s been very cold walking around town as I do, so I decided I needed a hat.
I’m really picky about hats. Most hat styles look strange on me (at least to myself) with my long face and pointed chin, so I ran around my LYS (where I work part-time) trying on all the sample hats we had. Berets, beanies, tams, flat-topped with straight sides, etc… trying to find one that I liked. The one it came down to was a bulky beanie, that had a bit too much length in it, and when I pulled the extra fabric down the back of my head to make it slouch it was perfect! Immediately I thought of Ripley, one of Ysolda’s new patterns in Whimsical Little Knits 2.
I found a couple of skeins of Berroco Cuzco that called to me and when the weekend came, I cast on for the first hat. The pattern gives 2 band options (garter and lace) and 2 slouchiness options. I ended up making both hats somewhere between the options in terms of slouch, but I love them both.
Pattern: Ripley (see link above), Raveled here and here
Yarn: Berroco Cuzco (50% superfine alpaca/50% wool) in Potting Soil Mix (Color 9679) and in Ocean Mix (Color 9685)
Needles: 6.0 mm (US 10) 16″ circular and 5.0 mm (US 8) dpns for the last 3 rounds of crown decreases. I didn’t have any US 10 dpns, and didn’t want to go buy some.
Modifications: For the brown version: worked 6 rounds between 3rd pleat and crown decreases for a medium slouchy hat. For the blue version: worked 5 rounds between 4rd pleat and crown decreases.
Verdict: LOVE! I picked the brown color because it’s almost exactly the color of my eyes, but thought I would love the blue hat better. I don’t. The brown one is my favorite 🙂 Although I’m sure I’ll wear both.
If you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend Ysolda’s tutorial called “Using Charts, even if you hate them“. Its got some great info about charts and how to read your lace knitting using charts, even if you knit it from the text directions. I’ve added a link to the post in the sidebar Lace Reference Shelf section.
M
I’ve got a few more book designs finished now. When we last left off, you’d seen the Motte Shawl and the Colonnade Scarf, and I had mentioned that the Transverse Scarf and the Comfy Shawl (aka Thrums Shawl) would be included in the book. I’ve also worked out to include Cleite in the print version (although it will not be included in the Ravelry download add-on for the book due to contractual restrictions).
So here’s some more of the projects. The pictures are just my quick shots to show the piece. I’m working out a modeled photo shoot next month.
Lune Shawl:
A crescent shaped shawl worked from the neck down (as with a top-down triangular shawl). It makes a great shape for staying on, with plenty of drapey, fluttery tail ends to pin or toss over your shoulder.
The yarn is Spritely Goods Sylph in the colorway “Cranberry”.
Dropleaf Wrap & Scarf:
The scarf version is knit with handspun, and sans border, but with garter stitch edges. With the border included, the wrap is knit in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine.
I loved the movement of stitches in this motif. It was fun and easy to knit, while the border in the wrap gave it a bit more interest. It looks a lot more complicated than it is 🙂
Comfy Shawl, version 2:
I knit the Comfy Shawl (aka Thrums Shawl) again in commercially available yarn and in a larger size. This time in Peace Fleece Worsted, with another colorway of Peace Fleece for the border/bind off.
Windward Cowl:
With twisty lace-and-cable motifs, this was a quick knit and VERY fun. The bottom flares out with little gussets incorporated into the stitch motif to fit nicely around your shoulders.
Its knit with one skein of Green Mountain Spinnery’s New Mexico Organic Wool, in Gray, which is so squishy and woolly and beautiful that it very well may be my new favorite yarn!
Vinca Shawl:
Begun as a counterpane and worked out from the center as a square, two sides of the square are then bound off and the 2 remaining sides worked separately as “wings”, making this shawl in the shawl of a big, block “V”. The result gives you a back like a triangular shawl, but a front with none of the issues of a triangular shawl. The fronts have enough fabric to wrap like any wide stole.
The undulating stitch motif took a while to perfect, but I think it turned out really well. And the Malabrigo Lace the piece is knitted in is light as a feather and soft as a kitten! When you consider that the piece only took 2 skeins, this is a GREAT deal!
All in all, the book will have 12 designs (most of which are knitted a couple of times, in both commercially available and handspun yarns to show the versatility of the pattern. I’m designing a pair of socks and a set of fingerless gloves still, and I’ve already designed a shawl that Rhonna is sample knitting for me in her handspun. Margene also knit me a Motte Shawl in her handspun, which I took pictures of, but haven’t edited or posted yet. All the pieces are finally coming together, and I’m planning for the photoshoot in January (just have to finish those last few pieces first). It’s kind of freaking me out now…. but in a good way.
M
Hello again! Two posts in as many days, who’d a thunk it.
Just wanted to talk about a new pattern that the Knit Purl Sock Club just sent out earlier this week. People should have started receiving it, so now I can show you the photos I took and talk about it a bit.
This sock was actually inspired by the yarn, which is Abstract Fiber Supersock in the colorway Pinot Noir. I wanted to do something that was reminiscent of the grapes and vineyards that produce Pinot Noir, and I needed something simple to accent and not overwhelm the multitude of beautiful colors in the yarn.
The yarn itself was a springy superwash merino base, which just looked so great in the twisted stitches that I had to use them. I loved the way the twisted stitches looked so much that I carried them all the way down the toe.
The pattern will be available as a stand-alone in one year, so that would be November 2010.
