The Start of Round Table Yarns

One of my goals this year is to "do" more fiber festivals, meaning getting booth space. And I wanted to do a bit more than "just" have my patterns in my booth. I considered trying to coordinate with other indie dyers (or even larger yarn companies) to create kits with my patterns to sell at festivals. But then another option came about.

One of the women in my local knitting group (with whom I've vended before) was planning to branch out her dyeing to yarn (previously she had dyed only fiber) so we had talked about which yarns might work best with my patterns and she had gotten some sample skeins from one company. Because of various reasons, she decided against dyeing yarn and gave me the sample skeins, with the idea that I could use them for swatching. Well, I had this bag of undyed yarn hanging around. It was calling out for color.

So I gave it some.

And discovered that my idea that I'll "never get into dyeing" is one of those "never" statements that comes back around to mock you (or me rather). Oh my gosh. Dyeing is so much fun! And I'm only just getting started. I've already got a lot of things/colors that I want to try out but I'm starting slowly and trying to really "get" just a few things first for a solid foundation and then I'll build from there.

Of course, I went through the sample yarn in just a couple of days so I needed more. So I placed an order with that company and not too long afterwards, this big box full of undyed fiber arrived on my doorstep. When placing the order, I carefully thought through which bases to get and specifically had my own patterns in mind while doing so.

I also considered names and at first thought that I would just go with something like KarenDawn Dyes (although saying that out loud doesn't sound all that great!) or just continuing with KarenDawn Designs since I do want the yarn closely related to my designs. But when I started naming bases and colors, I realized that I wanted to keep the medieval theme going and decided to focus on Arthurian names. And that's when I realized I needed a different "brand" name for the yarn and Round Table Yarns popped into my head.

I started playing around with a logo design. And failing. Although my KarenDawn Designs logo is super simple, I like it. It works and it fits me. But I wanted something a little more for Round Table Yarns and I just wasn't getting it myself. So I reached out to a graphic designer. I wanted to work with one that specifically worked with crafting and better yet that was involved in the fiber community. I knew of several who have either been mentioned on Ravelry or who advertise on Ravelry, but one in particular stuck out (Elizabeth Green Musselman aka Dark Matter Knits). So I contacted her and we started talking about my ideas. It turns out that she was also a professor (in history) previously, and she totally "got" my vision.

The first drafts she sent me were pretty darn neat. She had taken quite a few different directions and I had to admit that it was hard to pick a favorite. I did narrow it down to three and asked for a few changes on each one. She graciously did so and sent back three revised logos. And that's when I realized that she was too good. All three logos were excellent and I didn't know how to decide. So I printed out yarn labels with each logo and wrapped them around my yarn. I still liked each of them but they definitely had different "feels" to each. Which direction do I want my yarn to go in?

So I took the yarn with labels to my knitting group last night and got their feedback. They were quite enthusiastic and had some wonderful ideas and a clear favorite. I realized that their favorite really was mine as well (although I was sad to say goodbye to the other two options). I did have a couple of small changes and Elizabeth once again graciously made them, turning a really great logo into a really awesome logo. When I printed out the new version on a yarn label, wrapped it around my yarn, and turned it around to look at it, there it was. A chill. Yes. This was it. This was the logo and the look for my yarn.

Elizabeth made a lot of little tweaks along the way to this logo and really paid close attention to detail and my comments. Although she truly gets all the credit for coming up with such a great logo, I really feel like we worked well together and if I ever want to update my KarenDawn Designs logo or do some other graphic design work, I know where to go.

I'm currently working on updating my website to include information about Round Table Yarns, adding the yarn to the Ravelry database, and of course dyeing up a storm. Once I have a good inventory (will still be a few weeks), I'll be listing yarn in my Etsy shop (I'll make an announcement before doing a shop update--watch in my Ravelry group and/or Twitter). And I'll be at the DFW Fiber Fest.

I'm really excited about this new business venture, but don't worry, I haven't pushed designing aside. I currently have a hat in testing and a cowl that's almost finished and will be ready for testing soon. Then I have a couple of slightly larger projects to work on. So many things going on and I can't wait to share them all.

Designing Goals for 2015

Rather than make resolutions, I've made some goals for my designing during 2015. Here's what I'd like to accomplish:

1. Self-publish at least 12 patterns (roughly one each month).

I currently have two patterns in testing and one sample on my needles as well as another pattern almost written up. So that's already four patterns to start with, so I feel that I should be able to accomplish this goal.

2. Work on a book idea. Decide if I want to try to find a publisher or self-publish.

This goal may make the first goal a little more difficult as I would need to design and reserve patterns for the book. But I think it is still manageable. Besides, my goal is to work on the book--not have it fully completed and published within the year although I actually would love that to happen.

3. Approach LYSs in the area about stocking my patterns in print.

I keep telling myself that I'll do this as soon as I get "just a few more patterns" in my catalog. But if I keep saying that, then I'll never do it. So I just need to do it. I'm also considering trying to find a distributor (I have two in particular that are my top choices) to help me accomplish this.

4. Approach LYSs (at least one) about setting up a trunk show.

Again, this is one that I keep dragging my feet on because I feel like I need a larger catalog first. But I just need to do it and get something set up. Just because I have a trunk show this year doesn't mean that I can't ever have one again as my catalog grows!

5. Be more active on social media--especially Twitter and Instagram.

I was getting really good about Instagram for the last bit of 2014, but I didn't do as much in the last couple of weeks. I'd love to post at least one picture a day on IG and perhaps one tweet a day. I just want to make sure I have good content and that I'm not just posting to post something.

6. Take new photos of my first patterns.

As I'm learning a little more about photography and getting more experience (although I have a long way to go), I'm looking back at my first attempts and I'm not happy with those pictures. In particular, I want to redo the pictures for Lady Bertilak, Lyonet, and Lyones (and possibly Astolat). I've been wanting to create Ravelry ads for those first three patterns and I'm just not finding the pictures (especially Lady Bertilak) to work very well. I'm also wondering if the yellow samples for Lyones and Lyonet might not be as attractive (I know that I personally am not a big fan of yellow and can't really wear it although my MIL looks fabulous in yellow). So I might also consider redoing those samples in a different color before taking new pictures.

7. Design the boy’s vest pattern I’ve been considering--which means really digging into grading.

I actually have two ideas for a boy's vest pattern, so I need to pick one, sit down and plan it out and figure out sizing. I've watched the Craftsy class on grading and also have other resources available in my personal library so it's just a matter to sitting down and doing it.

8. Consider redesign of pattern template--experiment and see if there’s something I might like better.

Part of the reason for this is that I'm thinking about the print versions of patterns so I'm really mostly looking at that front page. I've also been posting the front page as one of the images on Ravelry and Patternfish, so making it look as attractive as possible is good. I'd already started rounding the corners on the pictures and I felt like I wanted to echo that with boxes around the two columns of text on the front page. I've already been playing around with this, and here is a mock up of what I'm considering:

Yes, this is a sneak peek of a pattern -- it's currently in testing.

9. Redesign business card.

I saw that VistaPrint was doing a pretty good new year's sale so I went ahead and redesigned and reordered. I do like the new ones better (I've taken off a lot of the information such as my Etsy shop link since I won't be doing much with it and my Facebook page link and focused on Twitter, Instagram, and Ravelry). I've added a few more pictures of my designs (removing the handspun yarn), and I made the back the same purple as my logo with the square version of my logo on it. But now that I've been experimenting with my pattern template, I'm wishing that I had waited on the business cards because I'm already seeing an idea in my head about some other options that I can do to make those two things match a bit. So I may work on the redesign but wait to order new ones for a little longer as I don't need hundreds of extra business cards!

10. Create video tutorials for some of the techniques used in my patterns.

For some of the techniques, I've been linking to other videos/websites with tutorials. But I worry that at some point those links might no longer work (which will mean an update to the pattern will be needed). I also think that it would be nice to have tutorials that are relevant specifically to my pattern but could also be applied to other patterns (like the garter tab cast on). I do need to figure out the best way to make the video (should I use my iPhone or my camera?) and how to edit the video. But I won't be able to make those decisions until I experiment, so once again this is just something that I need to sit down and do.

I do have other things I'd like to do with my designing this year, but I think that this is a good list for now. And just because I don't include something on this list today doesn't mean that I can't accomplish it this year!