Behind the Scenes: The process of designing, photography

As a self-published designer, many of the roles of publishing a pattern fall on my shoulders unless I seek help. And at first, I didn't think that I needed help for photography. I invested in a good camera and tried to learn as much as possible about taking pictures, all about f-stops and aperture and whatnot, reading books and instructions online and even taking some Craftsy classes. Then I had to set up photo shoots, find a model (my sister graciously agreed to be my model) and work with her schedule, and then learn how to edit the photos afterwards. It's a whole separate job by itself, and I never imagined that as part of designing knitting patterns I would become a photographer, too!

And I felt like I hit a plateau after a while. Unless I really wanted to devote some serious time to it, I didn't see myself getting any better at the photography portions. And although my later photographs are better than my earlier attempts, quite frankly, it's not part of the process that I love. It's become quite a labor. So I thought about hiring a photographer, but that can get expensive fast.

Then Stitch Definition was created. I'm sure you've heard me mention this small business before. Anne runs the photography side of the business. She sets up photo shoots, has a professional photographer and models, styles the photos, and makes sure the photographer gets the needed shots. And because several designers are having pieces photographed at the same time, the cost for each photo shoot is split up among them, making it so much more affordable.

I sent off some of my earlier designs for new photos in May 2015. It is a little strange to see my designs on someone who is not my sister, but it feels good to know that I have this option for future designs. If I want to do the photography myself, I can. But if I'm not feeling up to it myself (like for the Gawain's Shield collection), I know where to go for help.

By the way, I'm not alone in struggling with photos for my patterns. In the Designers group on Ravelry, there's a thread for designers to post possible photographs and asking for opinions/votes on which photo to choose as the main photo (or whether to reshoot). I've learned a lot by reading through and participating in that thread

Here's one of my early pictures (actually my first photo shoot with my sister) with the Lyonet Hat. I picked the neighborhood playground as a location because our kids could play while we were taking pictures, but I didn't realize that there wasn't much shade there. And we met when the sun was pretty high overhead, which meant the lighting was not good. And there was no styling or set up. We just plopped the hat on my sister's head and that was it.

Here's one of the pictures from the new photo shoot (it's the same hat pattern; I just made a new sample in a different color). Although it's not perfect (the details of the hat aren't quite as clear as they could be--I have other shots of this hat with better details), the composition and styling are a bit more interesting.
Photo by JS Webb Photography.

 
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The content in this post was first featured in my newsletter (July 20, 2015). If you'd like to keep up to date on my designs and yarn and receive content like this right in your email inbox, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter.

Behind the Scenes: The process of designing, Tech Editing

 

A good tech editor is an absolute necessity

Have you ever tried to knit from a pattern and just have no idea what the designer is trying to explain? Have you checked your stitches over and over but still come up with a different number than what is in the pattern? Maybe it's not you. Maybe the pattern just isn't very well written and the pattern has some mistakes. That pattern has most likely not been tech edited.

After being frustrated by several patterns I've tried to knit, I've decided not to work on a pattern if it is clear that it hasn't been tech edited. I may be a little bit biased because my other job is as a copy editor, so I do believe in the value of editing. But tech editing for knitting patterns really is essential to make sure the pattern is as clear as possible so the knitter's experience doesn't end in frustration.

So what is a tech editor? A tech editor is someone who goes over the pattern and, in essence, knits it in her mind, checking to make sure all parts of the pattern make sense, as much information as possible is provided, and that all of the numbers work out. The tech editor does not actually knit the pattern (although I have heard of some who occasionally do quick swatches). Joeli of Joeli's Kitchen is a tech editor and also offers training courses for people who want to be tech editors. She's created a series of blog posts about tech editors; these posts do a great job explaining what tech editing is all about, so I'm going to let her describe what a tech editor does:

"A tech editor goes through a pattern top to bottom, line by line, checking for errors, inconsistencies, problems, better ways of writing things, and so on. They meticulously go through the pattern with a fine tooth comb; checking stitch counts, making sure the gauge gives the right measurements, looking at wording, looking for deviations from the style sheet." (from All About That Tech Editor -- the entire blog post is very educational, so I'd recommend clicking over there and reading her full post)

I've worked with three different tech editors and have had good experiences with all of them. They've helped me clear up my patterns and make them better so that you guys can have a better knitting experience.

Although it's not always clear if a pattern has been tech edited (I always add a thank you to my tech editor on my Ravelry pattern page), it's good to choose patterns to knit that have been through the tech editing process if you can. It doesn't mean that a pattern will be completely error free (tech editors are human after all), but it does mean that the pattern is in the best possible shape, which makes for much less frustration on your part when you sit down to knit.
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The content in this post was first featured in my newsletter (June 20, 2015). If you'd like to keep up to date on my designs and yarn and receive content like this right in your email inbox, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter.

Behind the Scenes: The process of designing, Yarn Selection and Knitting the Sample

Most of the time, I have picked out the yarn I want to use before I get too far into the process. For example, with the Astolat Shawl, I knew before I even started looking into stitch patterns that I wanted to use the madtosh sock in the brown color. Other times I might have a general idea that I want to use a certain weight of yarn or fiber content and then pick out the actual yarn (and color) once I have everything planned out.

I always think about the finished effect I want the object to have when I'm picking out the yarn. I knew, for example, that I wanted The Wife of Bath's Cowl to be a little more on the "sturdy" side since I envisioned large buttons on it and didn't want a super drapey yarn which wouldn't be able to hold up the buttons. So I picked Spud & Chloë Fine because it had a tighter twist and seemed to be able to hold up nicely. But with the Dorigen Cowl, I knew that I wanted drape and maybe a little bit of a fuzzy halo effect, so the Classic Elite Fresco, which contains alpaca and angora, really helped to create both the drape and halo I had envisioned.

Once I have the basic outline of the pattern and the yarn, I start my sample. These days, I knit using the knitCompanion app on my iPad rather than a paper pattern. So I convert my sample pattern to PDF format and set it up in knitCompanion. I'm able to add notes as I go in case I want to make any changes or find something that doesn't work as I'm working on the sample (and I usually have at least one change from the original).

I do try to make sure I keep notes while I'm knitting the sample, but there have been a couple of times when my notes are either pretty cryptic or I think "oh, I'll remember that" and don't make a note--and then I don't remember it after all! That can be pretty frustrating because I usually have to go back to the sample and either redo something (usually in a swatch) or try to figure out from the sample what I did. I have gotten a lot better about this so I'm experiencing much less frustration these days!

Once I finish knitting the sample, I block it and the gauge swatch (if I hadn't done that already), and take the measurements to add into the pattern. I flesh out the pattern, putting it into my pattern template, and make it as close to the finished product as possible. I take a couple of quick pictures, and then I send out a call for test knitters, which is one of the topics I'll discuss in an upcoming blog post.

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The content in this post was first featured in my newsletter (June 20, 2015). If you'd like to keep up to date on my designs and yarn and receive content like this right in your email inbox, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter.

Knitting and Crocheting Survey

I sent out a survey to my mailing list subscribers asking three questions: Do you knit or crochet? How long have you been knitting? How long have you been crocheting? Here are the results!

Behind the Scenes: The process of designing, making charts

 I love graph paper these days. I have several different types of graph paper with different sized squares. I use it to play with stitch patterns and to layout how those stitches will work together in the actual design. I also go through a lot of pencil lead and erasers!

The picture above shows a sketch on graph paper for a shawl (or rather half of a triangular shawl--it gets repeated for the other half). With this sketch, one piece of graph paper wasn't enough to be able to get a good representation of the chart, so I had to tape multiple pieces of graph paper together. I remember spreading this out on my kitchen table and working on it there because my desk wasn't big enough!
Once I have a stitch pattern charted out on graph paper, I move to my computer and use my charting program to draw the chart. (I use StitchMastery, which I really like, but there are several other program options out there.) From there, I write up a quick set of instructions for the pattern, insert the charts, and start my sample knit.

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The content in this post was first featured in my newsletter (June 20, 2015). If you'd like to keep up to date on my designs and yarn and receive content like this right in your email inbox, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter.