Part 4 of my crafting journey, how I began to publish patterns.
In part 1 I told how I started knitting
In part 2 I added to my skills crocheting
In part 3 I mentioned how I joined a community of crafters.
In this part, I’m telling how I began designing.
First of all, if I can call myself a designer and a pattern writer, it doesn’t mean that I stopped using patterns from other people. I’m a crafter, and if I see something cute, original, or interesting that I need or want, I’ll just make it. If you go to my Instagram @natalia_yarncraft you can find all sorts of projects that I’m making. For example, I’m not designing at least, for now, any kind of amigurumi but love to make small toys or decor elements.
So, and what about actual designing? How did I come to the point where I’m right now?
I’ll say everything began for me with necessity. Many many years ago, back in Russia, when I sometimes had access to international knitting magazines, it was absolutely impossible to get yarn described in magazines. This means, that I needed to find a substitution. And many knitters know most likely you won't get the correct gauge with the other yarn. So, learning how to recalculate all the numbers for the pattern with your gauge was the first step.
Step two, changing sizes. Many years ago it wasn’t customary to find several sizes in one pattern. And I have never been in my life tall or size small like models in magazines, so I learned what and how I need to change to get the right size.
Next came the part “oh, I like the body of this sweater, but sleeves (or other parts) are awful and I need to change it to my taste”. Adjusting the existing patterns for your needs was the third step. I can also add to this step, changing the way you work on the project. Basically, you like the look, but you won’t be using a pattern, because you’ll be knitting it absolutely differently. For example, a pattern is for a bottom up cardigan and you want it to knit seamlessly top down.
Step four, I call it “yarn problem”. You have some yarn in your stash, a very certain amount and you’ll probably never get more because it is discontinued or you bought it in some closed forever store on vacation. So you want to make something using this exact yarn and if possible use the yarn up to the last inch, because who needs tiny leftovers? Here comes the designing rush, looking for an interesting stitch pattern or shape but you are still within certain limits because of yarn amount. It doesn’t make sense to dream of an adult sweater if you have only 100 g of yarn, right?
Step five, completely freely creativity. You start with a theme, mood board, or one picture, maybe some association and try to find how you can transfer it to some shapes, what kind of elements you can use, stitch pattern, technique, any particular colors, which yarn weight will be the best. It is the most exciting process but scariest at the same time because too many variables are involved.
For many years I was most of the time in the area of steps 3 and 4, created different projects for myself or family members, and didn’t think about publishing what I have created, especially if the project was based on someone else’s pattern.
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