{"id":730,"date":"2014-03-31T20:51:48","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T00:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fallingblox.com\/?p=730"},"modified":"2014-04-01T09:49:49","modified_gmt":"2014-04-01T13:49:49","slug":"introducing-my-last-contract-design-for-a-while-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fallingblog.double-knitting.com\/?p=730","title":{"rendered":"Introducing my last contract design … for a while, anyway."},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the perils of being a newly-successful (for some values of successful) knitting designer is that people see your work and say “Hey, I want to get in on that”. Shortly after my book came out, yarn companies, publications and even shops began to see my work and said “Ooh, we’d love it if you designed something for us!”<\/p>\n

And I was flattered, and I said, “Sure! I’d love to!”<\/p>\n

So if you’re wondering why I haven’t been designing much lately, that’s why. I got bogged down in design contracts, and put my own work to the side. The Parallax eBook<\/a> had literally been pushed aside for more than a year, while I designed things for yarn companies and other folks<\/a>. I’ve always put a lot of stock into keeping one step ahead of the crowd, so that you’ll always have something to learn from me, but I’ve been stagnating a bit and I need to get back to what’s important to me — pushing the boundaries of double-knitting for the benefit of the knitting community at large.<\/p>\n

Now don’t get me wrong — I did the contracts because I was interested, not because I felt forced into it. I wanted the opportunities, I wanted to get my name out into other areas of the knitting world, and I wanted to get out of my niche a little bit. I designed things that were (gasp) not double-knitted! But I took gambles, and in some cases I lost. The pieces were mostly good, but they didn’t reach as far as I wanted them to. They didn’t help expose the rest of my work all that well. But I’m glad I did them. And I’m also glad that I’m not going to be doing as many from now on.<\/p>\n

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All that said, I’m pretty proud of the last one I designed. Back in early 2013, I was invited to teach at the Knitting Boutique<\/a> in Maryland, under their “Famous Knitters” program. I was flattered, of course, to be considered famous enough for that. While I was there, Dianna (the shop’s owner) unveiled a bag of new yarn samples — a new line of yarn she was going to be releasing in the Fall. I gravitated, naturally, to the one which was a BFL<\/a> and silk blend. Dianna, for her part, gravitated to a sample I had brought with me<\/a>, which I use to illustrate double-knitting cables. It is, of course, based on the iconic Barbara Walker “Twin Trees II<\/a>” chart. Dianna wanted me to do a cowl in her new yarn, based on that chart, but simpler. I told her I’d be able to start designing in January, when the rest of my contracts were done, and I did. Also, in another first for me, I contracted a friend who has test-knit for me in the past to sample-knit this time — saving me yet more time to work on other things.<\/p>\n

The pattern isn’t released yet (sorry) but I wanted to show it off before I mailed it in. As soon as it’s ready for primetime I’ll let folks know. I assume they’ll be selling it online as well as in the shop, but we’ll see.<\/p>\n

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In other news:<\/p>\n