I have over the last few months sped up my designing significantly. I just published a 4th design in as many months, which is a lot more than I have managed to blog!
I decided not to take myself or my knitting so seriously and 'just do it'. Don't sit around and wait for inspiration. When I curate pattern collections at work I look for what's missing to make the collection complete, and when I couldn't find the right pattern I was looking for, well...then I had to design it. I had a vision of what pattern I wanted, so I had to make sure there were such a pattern.
Now I haven't ventured further that baby blankets and accessories yet, but I have started to feel comfortable as a designer and pattern writer. I know what I want, so I just need to figure out a way to do it.
I have learnt a lot, and still have a lot to learn.
For example, the design I released this week, the Midvinter hat (pictured below). I had a really elaborate idea for the decreases, but struggled to explain it in text, so scratch that. If I can't explain it, it can't be in the pattern. If it's really that important for the design, then I have to find a way to explain it, or choose not to create a pattern of it. Simple as that. No one wants a pattern that can't be figured out.
It's the same thing with a knitting class, if you can't explain it, don't teach it. I ran a beginner's class recently and I find purl stitches hard to teach, so I skipped purl stitches. I decided to go with simple shaping instead and my students left the class able to increase and decrease, but no purling. In my opinion they can do a lot more with that than they would've if I had spent the class on knitting square pieces with knits and purls.
The outcome of this 'just do it' attitude is that I now have 4 new patterns released, I have been teaching a few knitting classes and learnt a lot more about teaching techniques. I have 2 more patterns sketched out in the pipeline and nothing stopping me from being creative!
I decided not to take myself or my knitting so seriously and 'just do it'. Don't sit around and wait for inspiration. When I curate pattern collections at work I look for what's missing to make the collection complete, and when I couldn't find the right pattern I was looking for, well...then I had to design it. I had a vision of what pattern I wanted, so I had to make sure there were such a pattern.
Now I haven't ventured further that baby blankets and accessories yet, but I have started to feel comfortable as a designer and pattern writer. I know what I want, so I just need to figure out a way to do it.
I have learnt a lot, and still have a lot to learn.
For example, the design I released this week, the Midvinter hat (pictured below). I had a really elaborate idea for the decreases, but struggled to explain it in text, so scratch that. If I can't explain it, it can't be in the pattern. If it's really that important for the design, then I have to find a way to explain it, or choose not to create a pattern of it. Simple as that. No one wants a pattern that can't be figured out.
It's the same thing with a knitting class, if you can't explain it, don't teach it. I ran a beginner's class recently and I find purl stitches hard to teach, so I skipped purl stitches. I decided to go with simple shaping instead and my students left the class able to increase and decrease, but no purling. In my opinion they can do a lot more with that than they would've if I had spent the class on knitting square pieces with knits and purls.
The outcome of this 'just do it' attitude is that I now have 4 new patterns released, I have been teaching a few knitting classes and learnt a lot more about teaching techniques. I have 2 more patterns sketched out in the pipeline and nothing stopping me from being creative!
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