So...we're not professional photographers.

One of the hardest parts of designing for me is getting great, artistic photos of the finished objects.  Most of the shots are taken by me or my boyfriend and we're not professionals by a long shot!  Surprisingly I get many compliments on my photographs, which always makes me feel a bit better about our interesting methods.

We did a quick and dirty shoot for most of the Something Sweet eBook in between Ken's work schedule and my jury duty.  I wanted to re-shoot, or at least add some prettier photos to supplement what we already had.  First it was such a bad day for me; record high temperatures, running late and not being able to find anything to wear.  We made it downtown and had a very delicious and very late breakfast (pumpkin crunchcakes, yum!) then began our trek to Ellis Square with stops at a few shops along the way.

Here are the outtakes from the lovely photo session, I couldn't even model any of the items because it was 90 degrees and I was sweating like crazy.  Adding a layer of wool was not going to happen!


Yay...the scarves will look so pretty floating gracefully in the air...hehe no.



 Floating on the breeze...not really.



 Kinda floating...



 The throwing thing is still not working.



Where are the scarves?



 There's one...and sadly this was the best shot of that series.  Luckily there is a large art school downtown, so most people are used to seeing people doing strange things :)  There are some more outtakes in my flickr photostream, like shots with my feet, shopping bags and weird tourists in them.

Sooo Done!

I have been waiting months for this day, the pattern collection is finally complete and up for sale!  After a hellish week of jury duty (and more to come next week), I didn't think it was going to happen on time, but I pulled it all together today as best I could.  The big rush, other than already being close to a month behind my own schedule, is that I have advertising spots reserved and they need an url to point to.  Not too much sense in advertising something you can't sell, is there?

So am I going to Disney Land?  Nope, like I said jury duty bright and early, well for someone like me that works from home, it is early.  Hopefully we'll be done with this case soon so I can get back to my normal life.   It is so difficult to work on my knitting in the courthouse, because I have to keep putting it down and people seem to automatically think you aren't paying attention to them if you are knitting.

I plan on making myself an FO from the "pattern that is going to be in a book" since the sample is off being photographed and is then going on tour.  I do have a sweater design on the needles now, but it is in fingering weight so that will be awhile!  Since I have my yarn support in hand for the next pattern collection I am going to get started on that, just so I can be done well ahead of schedule!  Also, I managed to get my capelet pattern out to test knitters today, which I am pretty psyched about.

And now I have a little something for you, my lovely readers, follow this link  or enter promo code "sosweet" at Ravelry checkout to receive 20% off a copy of my Something Sweet eBook now through 11/6/2010.

Someting Sweet eBook

Almost.

I am so close to finishing my Something Sweet pattern collection!  I feel like I have been working on it forever.  The nice part is, that after finishing my pattern for the book, I came back to the collection and everything was almost done...awesome.  So I just had to finish up a few samples and edit the patterns.  And now...only two patterns remain!  The testing is almost finished and they should be on their way to my lovely tech editor by Monday.

The funny thing is, after all of the craziness the past few months, I was ready for a break.  Not that I don't love designing, but I just wanted a break from expectations and deadlines...self-imposed or otherwise.  Of course that day when I was telling my friends I was going to let up on my crazy schedule, I find a message in my inbox.  I have to keep the wherefores and whatsoevers secret for now, but I in a nutshell it involves me doing a small (6) pattern collection/e-book.

I can't wait until I can say more, but it will be a few months yet.  Luckily I will be able to give little hints here and there, so be on the lookout for that once I start the collection!  The yarn support is already here, so it won't be too long.  It was incredibly exciting for me to have been sought out, instead of submitting the ideas myself.  My confidence has been boosted immensely and I am so flattered! 

I have two other designs kicking around right now, one is a drapey vest in Malabrigo Rios and the other is a capelet in Malabrigo Chunky.  The capelet has been on and off for months, I was going to submit it somewhere so I kept it a secret, but I am finding I rather enjoy the freedom of self-publishing sometimes.  Especially with the upcoming pattern collection on my plate, I am happy to just do these on my own. 

I will say it was fabulous to come back to the capelet just because it was already written and charted!  I hate charting, and this baby is all charts!  I finished up the prototype the other night, but I decided I wanted to change a few things, so I ripped and restarted yesterday.  I love chunky yarns, because I am already more than 75% done with the new prototype!  Hopefully I'll be able to get it finished and get some shots of it up next week.

The vest is actually a copy of one I saw at Target.  Of course, I ended up embellishing it a lot.  The Target vest is basically a large rectangle with armholes.  So is mine, but I decided to use a lace pattern for the fronts of my vest with a plain Stockinette back.  The Rios has a lovely drape and I love the color (Aguas).  Right now I am crossing my fingers that I will not run out of yarn...it is going to be close, which is why I am working both fronts at the same time, so I can still have some yarn left for the collar.  I am probably going to stop by my LYS tomorrow, though, and hopefully they will have some left from the same dyelot (one can dream right?!!?).

What I've been doing...

Sprinkles1
Originally uploaded by Lachesis77

I am sorry that I have abandoned you blog! Things have been absolutely insane, I am finally done with my super secret project. Just in time too, the deadline is tomorrow! Let's just say many forces beyond and also a few within my control all seemed to be working against me. But, done, yay! And I am pleased with the results and I will let you all know as soon as the book is available.

Here is my Candy Hat :Sprinkles version (there is also a Stripes version). This pattern will be included in my ebook, which thankfully is starting to come together after being put on the back burner. I knit it up in the new superwash yarn from Malabrigo, Rios. I am very happy with the yarn and the colors are so saturated on this base! The three colorways I used are: Arco Iris, Aguas and Purpuras ♥

Dammit Jim, I'm a Knitter not a Mathemetician!

I have always hated math, especially once it goes beyond 2+2 or 3*3.  When letters get mixed in with the numbers it means an instant headache for me.  I wasn't completely horrible at math in school, but it was my absolute worst subject.  I was that kid complaining that I would never need to use this stuff in real life.

Imagine my dismay earlier this week when I found myself learning to use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the height of a sleeve cap.  The surprising part is - it wasn't that bad.  If the scary math of my youth is applied to a part of a sweater and yarny goodness, suddenly it doesn't have the same headache inducing abilities. 

That is not to say that all sweater math instantly makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.  Yesterday I spent hours trying to figure out charting curves.  I was staring at a chart in The Knitter's Guide to Sweater Design and it was just making my head hurt. Since the curve is for my recently accepted design, it is probably something super simple, that for anything else would make perfect sense.   But because I am so anxious/excited/nervous to get my prototype done and the first draft of the pattern written...I can't see the forest for the trees, so to speak.

In the end I decided to make my curves another way using a combination of a percentage of bound off stitches followed by decreases.  It was much better for my fragile state of mind and the curves, while not made with a complicated formula, look great.  It still used math, just a simpler formula that made more sense to me.  I am sure, in time, I'll be able to look at the curve chart and laugh that it was once so mysterious and scary.

I remember when calculating finished sizes from gauge swatches used to be intimidating.  Now it is some of the simplest math I encounter in the designing/pattern writing process.  There is hope for me yet!

Next up.

Meringue1
Originally uploaded by Lachesis77

This is Meringue the next design in my sweet themed design collection. A lovely hat like a fluffy swirl of meringue, with an eyelet band that can be laced through with ribbon. I found this lovely chocolate colored ribbon with tiny gold flecks months ago and knew I had to come up with a use for it...voila!

The pattern is currently with test knitters and I am not sure if I want to gradually release the patterns in the collection as they are finished or do them all at the same time. I think I should just get a Magic 8 ball to help me with all of my decisions because I am so indecisive >_<

I have begun the sample for the next pattern from the series...no ribbon, but it does have a ruffle! Currently there are seven designs slated for my little collection, but a really great wrench has been thrown into the works...one of my design proposals has been accepted for publication! So, since that is on someone else's dime it takes precedence over my ebook : )

There is not too much I can say about it, what a tease right?! But, I can tell you that up until a few days ago that idea was nothing but a page with a sketch and a few scribbled notes in my design binder. The past couple of days have been a frenzy of excitement, anxiety, swatching and charting! To tell you the truth I am still in shock and can hardly believe it. Of course we got our first assignment for the tech editing class yesterday...I can hardly concentrate on that! I guess it is pretty good timing, though, as I'll feel much more confident in my pattern writing skills once the class gets rolling.

So if I am not posting that often, it is because I am busy working on super-awesome extra-secret knitterly things!

Brilliant ideas.

Is it just me, that almost all of my bright ideas tend to come to me when I am either in the shower or out running...both times that I don't happen to have a pencil and paper with me!  While it certainly is not a groundbreaking idea, I decided to start working on an ebook, basically to compliment and include my Dulcet pattern.  See I have a bit of an obsession with ribbon lately, as in I want everything to be tied up in pretty bows.

I was washing what little hair I have the other day when I got an idea for a cape/cowl type thing and then thought of a hat that would be cool and a lace scarf that would compliment them too.  And they all have to have names that go along with the Dulcet "sweet" theme, like Fondant, Spun Sugar and Meringue.  It was pretty crazy and I am sure my boyfriend thought I was crazy as I went running out of the shower still dripping trying to get to my design notebook and scribble it all down, just in case my brain decided to lose it!  So here is one of my prototypes:

Fondant is knit in a super bulky yarn, Malabrigo Aquarella, and laced up with 1.5 inch satin ribbon.  I wanted to design a piece that was really versatile and a bit funky...I am pretty pleased with how it turned out!  The pattern is mostly done for this, I just need to get the photo tutorial shot of the different ways to lace and wear it and get a test knitter or two to give it a go and it will be ready for release into the wild!