On Designing

So, I'm pretty new to the knitwear design world. I only have a few patterns out, and I'm starting submitting to magazines to get wider exposure and getting published. I've been thinking a lot about designing lately, not just thinking of patterns but also about the design process itself. Where does inspiration come from? What's a good design, what's a bad design? What patterns should be free and what should be for sale?

I see designing as a creative outlet. I've knit so many other people's patterns, and sometimes I just get sick of following directions. My best designs have been totally improvised, just going with the flow and seeing what comes of it. Sure, there's times when careful swatching, charting beforehand, and meticulous planning come in handy - but when inspiration strikes, sometimes you just have to knit it and see what comes out - sometimes it doesn't work out, but sometimes it's great.

I see designing as a way to do exactly what I want with my yarn. Even though I have thousands, tens of thousands of patterns at my fingertips on Ravelry, there are times I just can't find exactly what I want. I wanted to knit an iPod holder that would give me access to the screen instead of covering it up, while still protecting it - thus came the iTouch Jumper. I wanted seamless bags in interesting shapes - Three Sachets.

I see designing as a way to bring something new and interesting into the world. There are so many patterns on Ravelry, and very many of them free. So when I set to design a pattern that I intend to sell, I know there has to be something interesting about it. It has to stand out from the crowd. If a knitter wants to knit a cabled beanie or ribbed mitts, they will find a free pattern before turning to a paid pattern. But what if those cables are doing something totally unique? What if that ribbing grows and shifts, transforms into lace? What if my pattern does something that none have ever done before?

I don't pretend that all my patterns are completely unique, because that's impossible. But when I design something, I don't continue with the design unless there's something worthwhile about it. I don't want anything I make to be generic, and I want to enjoy what I knit - I'm a knitter too, and I strive to knit interesting patterns. Unique construction, newly invented stitch pattern, seamless techniques? There has to be something in a design that is new, that will grab one's attention.

If a design doesn't have that spark, something that sets it apart, I won't sell it. Maybe I'll put it up for free, or maybe I'll scrap it entirely. And I really enjoy trying to come up with that spark. I love seamless, top-down or toe-up construction, and I love sculpting knitted fabric to avoid the bother of seaming. I love flowing designs, stitch patterns that complement and melt into each other, organic forms and rounded shapes. I like challenging conventions - my latest design-in-progress features a variant of entrelac, without picking up any stitches! Designing is a wonderful outlet for improving the way we knit.

~Joyuna

Knit Princess - Knitting-themed webcomic

So I like comics, and I love knitting. So when these two spheres collide, I'm bound to enjoy it - remember Handknit Heroes? Well believe it or not, there's a second member of the knitting-themed-comics club: Knit Princess.

I actually remember finding it a couple years ago when it only had a few comics, but now that I've re-discovered it I'm going through the archives to catch up on all I've missed. It's a fun comic, cute art, and some jokes that only the knitters will get. :)

You can poke around, or you can start reading the archive from here.
~Joyuna

Belle Bow - Free Pattern!

This is a fun little design I whipped up for scrap yarn - I used some of my handspun, a lovely batt from my friend CCSmile. She did a Beauty and the Beast Spinalong, so this is Belle's hairbow.

The bow is worked on small needles in the dense linen stitch so that the bow will maintain its shape - if you work it too loosely, it will be floppy.
I'm a child at heart, so this bow is "me-sized". As written, it will work as a normal-sized bow for an adult or an oversized bow for a child. You could easily adjust it to be child-sized, either by reducing the gauge or by casting on fewer stitches and knitting fewer rows.

Yarn: Approximately 30 yards of DK-weight or light worsted yarn
Needles: US3 (3.25mm) DPNs, US3 (3.25mm) straights (optional)
Materials: Yarn needle and an elastic hairtie

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Turmeric (yes, TURMERIC) dyeing!

Since I've gotten so many new fibers lately, several of them undyed, I have been itching for the dyepot. All my old tools are still in Ohio - my no-food pots and pans, my citric acid, my old formulas, my many boxes of food coloring - so I'll probably pick some of that up when I visit the States in the summer. Until then, I'm investigating some other dye methods - first up is turmeric.

Turmeric is a yellow-orange spice mostly found in Indian cooking. The upside of this dye process is that afterwards, your house smells of an Indian restaurant ;)

I started with about 35g of silk hankies, which I rolled up burrito-style - the idea was to get some uneven dye absorption, for a semisolid effect.

I soaked them in water for just a few minutes, then turned the heat up and waited for a boil. I added a few spoonfuls of turmeric to the mix, and stirred it all around.

After a minute or two of boiling, and after all the dye had exhausted, I washed it out and let the silk dry. What was my result?

A BRIGHT, SUNNY yellow. I couldn't be more pleased with that color; it's just what I need for the end of winter and beginning of spring.

There were a few downsides to this dye session, however - stirring the hankies around left them a bit matted at the edges, so it's harder to separate them. There is still a little bit of powdered turmeric left in the folds and corners, as well. Also, I have read that turmeric is not a very colorfast dye - this yellow will probably fade over time.

~Joyuna

Russell Square mitts & tam now available as a set

Good news everyone! I've managed to set up an e-book on Ravelry, so that you can now purchase my two Russell Square patterns (fingerless gloves and tam hat) as a set - saving you more than $2!

The Russell Square set is now available through Ravelry for only $6.00 USD, and you get two patterns that together use less than 150g of DK-weight yarn.
for US$6.00

~Joyuna

Spindles multiply (part two)

I've acquired a second new spindle very recently, and this one is extraordinary in several ways. It's the lightest spindle I own... heck, it's the lightest spindle I've ever found! It weighs a staggeringly light 6g, or "about 3 pennies' weight or just the dried shell of an egg".

I got this unique spindle from the Etsy seller AmbushBog, who was wonderful working with me setting me up a custom spindle order. She's very thoughtful and great to work with. If she doesn't have any spindles in stock, send her a convo!

Spinning on this super-light spindle reminded me a bit of spinning on a supported spindle - since the weight of the spindle is so insubstantial, you have to test the yarn yourself to make sure it's strong enough - the weight of the spindle will not be enough, and if you rely on that to judge the yarn's strength, it will pull apart on you.

It really spins on air, and everything about it is so delicate - from the intricate filigree whorl to the long, thin, elegant shaft. It is a real beauty, this tiny thing, and a long spinner too once it gets a little yarn wound onto it. A perfect choice for serious laceweight spinners, and beginners too - it makes spinning fine yarns quite effortless.

~Joyuna

Spindles multiply (part one)

I've heard some say that spinning wheels multiply, which is a bit of a frightening notion for me, given their price! Spindles, however, multiply as well. In the past couple weeks I've acquired two new little beauties, and I have my eye on a few more.

The first one I bought was a Wildcraft resin spindle. I've been itching for one of these spindles for a long time, because they're just so darn beautiful. The artisans at Wildcraft embed flowers, leaves, and other bits & bobs into the whorls of their spindles - the effect is incredible.

My spindle has blue larkspur in the whorl, a walnut shaft, and weighs 24gm - about .85 oz. They included a very generous sample of shetland roving in with it, as well! And by generous, I mean - I spun up as much of that roving as the spindle can hold, and I still have loads left!

The whorl is small in relation to the rest of the spindle, so I find it isn't as long a spinner as the other spindles in my collection. The small whorl also means it doesn't hold very much fiber, but I'm working on trying different winding techniques to get around this problem. Anyway, this is hands-down the most beautiful spindle in my collection.

~Joyuna

Wollmeise fever

Wollmeise fever, I've caught it. Well, maybe. I made my first order earlier this month, and it's arrived! I ordered two sock yarn grab bags, one green and one orange/yellow.

I think a lot of the appeal of Wollmeise is the game, the thrill of the chase. It's true, I sat on the homepage with my check-for-changes script running, and it was a bit exhilarating to get those yarns in my shopping cart. And then, there was the waiting. And then, there was a note through my mail slot. And then, finally, a few days later, there was a package.

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Heartland Lace (awesome alpaca shawl)

Finally an FO! It seems like I've been languishing in WIPs for ages, but now everything is more or less 75% done so I will be finishing off more and more things. The first is the Heartland Lace Shawl

The pattern is meant to be buffalo hooves, I think, with diamonds, but to me it's just a great geometric pattern. I'm not a fan of lace leaves, this kind of design appeals to me much more.

The yarn is Isager Strik Alpaca 2, a fingering weight alpaca/wool blend that my good friend Yarnmaiden gifted to me two Christmases ago. The shawl took just under a year to knit (51 weeks, according to my Rav page!), but of course that includes my two months in Central Asia when I got no knitting at all done, and my move to the UK.

Also, the lace pattern was not memorize-able, so I had to keep a chart with me when I wanted to knit it, which reduced its travel-knitting potential.
The strange thing about this lace is that it isn't really symmetrical, and the repeat was a large number of rows, so I wasn't able to remember what rows came after what - in many lace patterns, for instance, you have a leaf that decreases into a point, or whatever, so you can easily predict what the next row will be. This was not like that, so it was a little more challenging.

I LOVE that final result though. The fingering weight yarn makes it more cuddly than delicate, and the alpaca content makes it so soft and warm. This is one of the biggest shawls I've knit (using just barely under a full 100g of yarn, on size US6 needles), and it is cuddly and surprisingly wearable. Epic success!

~Joyuna

Enhancing the fiber stash

I've been yearning for stash recently. I've been a bit unhappy about the fact that I can't just start a project, I have to get the wool first. Sadly, I left most of my stash at my parent's house back in the states - When I go back in the summer, I will reclaim it. But until then, I've been doing a bit of stash enhancement.

Recently I placed an order with Sara's Texture Crafts, a UK-based supplier of yarn and fiber. I already knew about her shop from Etsy, but turns out she has a whole website as well, with a larger selection. There's all sorts of fibers available, including myriad breeds of sheep, dyed and undyed, and at very reasonable prices.

Sara was great to deal with as well; my order was shipped quickly and she even refunded an overage in shipping. So, what was my haul? Click below to see!

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On originality in naming

Let me show you the names of several UK newsstand magazines:
Knitting, Simply Knitting, Let's Knit, The Knitter, Knit

Can you tell them apart?
I'll be honest, I can't. I'm continually getting them mixed up. And yet, these magazines are supposed to have their own identities - reading through them, they're meant for different skill levels and have different feels. But by the titles, they're totally homogeneous.

Sure, maybe it's advised that a knitting magazine should have 'knit' or 'knitting' in the title. But what about these other magazines: Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting, Knitty, Knitscene. They all feature 'knitting' in the title, yet they manage to state their own identity as well. When you see a mag by the name of Vogue Knitting, you'll find in it just about what you would expect - high-fashion, and a bit out there.

This month, Yarn Forward (the only UK magazine, AFAIK, without 'knitting' in the title) is changing its name to KNIT, genericizing themselves among the ranks of Knitting, The Knitter, et al. I have to assume this decision wasn't made lightly, as any name change is a risk - you lose the name recognition you've already built up, and you have to re-create your image all over again. But I don't think it was a wise choice at all - the name Yarn Forward evokes images of being progressive, more advanced than the other newsstand mags aimed at more novice knitters, more interesting patterns. "Knit"? Well, there's not a single thing a title like that tells us, other than it's a knitting magazine.

It seems quite odd to me that all these magazines are named so generically. There's quite a number of them, so it would behoove them to stand out from the crowd and break away from the competition.

~Joyuna

Funny search engine terms

(no knitting - I've just about doubled my stash in the past week, and I'm getting pictures updated, so expect some posts about that soon :)

Like most bloggers, I get a good amount of my traffic from the Great and Powerful Google. I like to go through every once in a while and see what terms are getting me hits. Here are some of the most interesting and eyebrow-raising terms I've found recently...

• do i have a chance poems
  
• anthony rapp boyfriend
  
• hot boy knitting
  
• jubilee x men
  
• sharp nose with the necklace
  
• what is the fibre content of silk (ummm...)
  
• are you mark from rent
  
• knitting pattern for brutus the buckeye (a new design idea?)
  
• lace mushroom knit
  
• circle delicious cake pics
  
• what could be improved in superhero clothing
  
• australian owls
  
• upsize my bust

...of course, by making this list, am I only directing more people to my blog through these terms? Oops. Sorry, people who were looking for lace mushrooms (??) or sharp nose necklaces (????).

~Joyuna

The Etsy shop is back!

I've re-opened I made yarn by Joyuna! When I left for Tajikistan, I put the shop on vacation. Since I left for the UK shortly after, leaving most of my stock behind, I never opened it up again. Today I've decided to open it up, since that 'on vacation' page depresses me - and my shop page still gets some traffic, for some reason. I spent all that time promoting it in the past, it seems like a waste to have it totally closed down.

It doesn't have any yarn in it right now, only PDF patterns. Perhaps in the future I'll start selling handspun again; we'll see. For now, I'm working on listing all my patterns on Etsy, for a slightly higher price than they are on Ravelry due to higher fees. If you prefer to shop on Etsy, please take a look - otherwise, you can purchase them on Rav where it's easier, cheaper, AND I get a bigger cut.

~Joyuna