I've been wanting to "become" a knitting designer for a while, but the move to Texas, getting my freelance copy editing business running, and taking care of my two-year-old son has pushed the knitting designer ideas to the side. And I could continue letting other parts of my life get in the way and always think about what if rather than making it actually happen.
I found myself looking for an infinity scarf (long cowl) pattern on Ravelry. I had an idea of what I wanted but I wasn't finding a pattern that matched what I had in mind (biggest thing I wanted was that it be knit in the round not knit like a scarf and then joined into a circle). So I decided that I would make my own pattern.
I spent a couple of days going over stitch dictionaries and doing some swatching. Then after doing a gauge swatch, I figured out how many stitches to cast on for the length I wanted. I started with the long cowl length but kept in mind that I wanted to include a version for a shorter cowl so I tried to make my numbers where it would be easy to divide in half for the short version.
I plotted the lace pattern and decided to do a 3x3 ribbing to help blend into the lace pattern. I started knitting my ribbing and then started the lace pattern. And I got halfway through what I had figured out was the halfway point, or so I thought. I seemed to have a lot more than half of the stitches remaining on my needles. I looked back at the pattern and realized that I had included the outside border for the lace pattern as part of the continuing pattern (rather than just on the edge). Oops. I tinked back to the ribbing and went back to the drawing board.
Armed with a new plan, I set off knitting once again, thrilled when I came to what was supposed to be the halfway point and it actually was the halfway point. In this plan, I had two lace patterns and put them in panels, something like 7 repeats of one, some ribbing, and 7 repeats of the other, more ribbing. Once I finished the cowl, I realized that I actually hated the ribbing in between the pattern repeats. Back to the drawing board.
I experimented with intermingling the lace patterns a little more rather than keeping them segregated. I then knit it again, this time doing the short size. Much better. In fact, I think it's a keeper this way, so I blocked it and snapped a few pictures and posted a call for test knitters. In less than 24 hours, I have already had 6 test knitters come forward (looking for 8 total), so I'm thrilled to see their progress and see what they have to say about the pattern.
I am also on the hunt for a tech editor. As I opened up the Criseyde pattern to use it as a template for Lady Bertilak, I realized that I do not like how Criseyde looks. Graphic design is not one of my strong points (I did take a graphic design class in college but that was a long time again) and it shows. So I searched through some lists and recommendations of test knitters and narrowed it down to four possibilities. I then contacted two of those and am currently finding out what they can offer and which one might meet my needs better. Doing this makes me feel more like a "real" designer, as in professional. It's an exciting feeling.
I'm also wondering about creating a logo. I have my karendawn logo that I had someone create a few years ago for my etsy shop, but I'm not sure that it's the right one for my patterns. First of all, it has a sewing needle and thread along with the knitting needles and yarn since I also sold items I had sewn along with my handspun yarn and knitted items. So I think doing something new might be good and will start looking into that.
I also updated my website - karendawn.com - to reflect more of the pattern designer than the etsy seller that it used to be about. It's just a bare bones set up right now to get something off the ground, but I'll also be looking to add to it as I go.
I have several other ideas in my head, mostly for hat and cowl patterns. I think I'll work on a hat next so I can start with a variety of types of projects.
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