Tuesday, November 13, 2007

the design process...yeah


people often ask me about the design process...so I have tried to come up with an answer that someone who doesn't knit will understand...but trying to condense it for small talk is difficult. How do I say "well, first I procrastinate A LOT, I leave piles of yarn on my cutting table and walk past it often, rearrange it, knit little swatches, leave them, play with them, tidy them up, pull out my notebook and actively try to pair up yarns and drawings, swatch again, then wing it" without sounding like a moron - you must have a defined process, but I haven't, I think of things I try them, they work or they don't work but they give me more ideas, and then some of those work...it is an amorphous, inclusive, organic process if anything.
So I say "I start with an idea of a garment, then I look over my yarn swatches, then I write the pattern and test knit it, correcting the pattern and idea along the way"
And the pattern writing, I am terrible, don't get me started on how irresponsible I am in my pattern writing, I start with the measurements and gauge, and then scribble as I go, and then I have to decipher my scrawlings and sometimes re-knit to figure out how I did something - madness, why can't I just write methodically, and why the hell are my pattern notebooks full of phone numbers, addresses and memos?
(short vent post due to excess of social occasions with strangers)
YARN magazine - you already know, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a white knight will appear to save it. Most importantly I want Barb to know that she suceeded beyond our combined hopes and should be immensely proud of her accomplishment.
New wrap cardis are up in my Etsy shop, these are knit from cloud-soft merino and are too cute.
(picture: new design "Liam" sweater in process)