Happymaking blog

What's making you happy today?

The colours of this WIP are intoxicating. I'm high on colour!

Hope you're working on something exciting today xx

Learning on the job....

I am frantically deadline knitting and crocheting this month, but as yet have nothing commissioned after these current projects. The cycle of submissions, and managing my workload is still a learning curve. But it’s one that I’m enjoying and hopefully I’m developing my skills in both design and pattern writing as I go.

The Knitter gave me a flying start into publication, and is a fantastic magazine with high quality designs. It attracts established designers, but also makes the effort to nurture new designers.

Knit Now has been a serendipitous magazine launch. It focuses on accessories and home knits, which are what I prefer to knit. It's a friendly magazine to read, and reflects the editor extremely well. Kate is fantastic to work with, and is nurturing quite a number of newbie designers. We have a meet up due in early Feb which is VERY exciting, and no doubt I'll tell you lots more about that another time.

It’s good to have a bigger project on the go, but as I’m not exactly petite, jumpers tend to take ages and cost a lot. With accessories I can indulge myself with luxury yarns without breaking the bank – and without losing interest before I’ve finished!

The next round of submissions for Knit now has just been announced – now I just have to brace myself and attempt to sketch my ideas! There's still a merry-go-round of excitement about submissions, deciding what designs you want to do, whether you can actually do it and write it up, writing a submission that conveys the pictures in your head, and then waiting to hear if you've got a commission or not. I kind of  hope that the tension that this process produces doesn't go away completely as I get more experienced. I'm pretty certain that the internal thrill of seeing my name in print is here to stay!

 

 

Ayli Hat.... and more to come!

 

Earlier this month, Knit Now 4 hit the shops. My hat pattern, Ayli, is in this issue, and I’m so pleased with the photos and layout of the pattern. The hat was knit in Fyberspates Scrumptious worsted/dk in the most gorgeous Cherry Red colour. It’s soft and lustrous and feels fantastic.

Ayli (As you like it) came into being after my much loved hood-style hat kept blowing off my head in the wind – so I thought that I would try to get around that problem. The hood style is flattering and comfortable and I wanted to keep that shape. The hat is knit from the crown down to the brim with decorative eyelet increases that spiral out across the crown. The ribbing is knit with smaller needles for improved grip before switching to larger needles for drape. Vertical buttonholes are incorporated into the flaps of the hood, and buttons are sewn onto the back of the hat so that it can be converted to a beanie style hat when it suits. The beanie style is less likely to be blown about in the wind.

 There has been a really good reaction to this hat – lots of references to little red riding hood! I’m very happy with it, and loved making it. I’ve wanted to use the scrumptious for a while – and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a luxury yarn and feels it. If you haven’t tried it before, I would urge you to try it. It would be lush for hats, cowls, scarves, mittens – anything worn close to the skin. Lovely!

There are more patterns coming up soon. There’s one due to appear in The Knitter 43, and I am ably assisted by my twins, Billy & Joe (both age 10) in Knit Now 5!

Hello, 2012, I'm happy to see you

2011, you see, has been a tricky year. I’m glad to see the back of it, to be honest. In fact, it’s been one of the most difficult years of my life.

However, there have been good bits.

We won the tribunal against the Local Education Authority. It cost us a fortune, we will be paying for the next few years, and was unbelievably stressful. It was also, imho, completely unnecessary and could have been avoided if the county were not so pigheaded. However, we won and our lovely boy now goes to Grateley House, a school that specialises in educating children on the autistic spectrum who are academically capable. And over the next 5 or so years, I’m pretty sure we will re-coup the cost of the case in Weetabix that we don’t have to buy while he’s at school!

We got a new bathroom. It did entail our first insurance claim in a dozen years, mindblowing communication incompetencies and 4 weeks out of our house, but we did loose the horrid 70’s ‘chick’ tiles, and (more importantly) the wet rot.

My knit group was featured in The Knitter magazine, and as a result my first pattern was published in The Knitter 37. My first pattern, in the most prestigious UK knitting magazine. The deputy editor, Rosee Woodland was so encouraging and helpful to a total novice, and is a total star.

I am now a self-employed designer. Only in a small way, but it’s exciting nevertheless.

My second pattern was published in Knit Now this year, in December. More are on the way…..

My twins, at 10yrs and 2 months, passed their 11+ exams. Little stars! They might have also been involved in some magazine work, due to hit the stands in about 6 weeks……watch this space!

My DH was not made redundant! This is a VERY good thing.

Our second insurance claim is now making progress, and we should be back home this month. We have spent more than a ¼ of this year out of our house …and I appreciate my small, scruffy home more than ever now.

So, 2011, despite your best efforts, we have come through in one piece. Slightly battered and bruised, but still smiling.

2012 – I’m optimistic. There’s lots of knitting and crochet action coming up. We will say farewell to primary school in the summer, as our twins head off to secondary school. A whole new era! We’ve got tickets to the Paralympics. And I have a birthday with a 0 at the end of it….

I’ve got a feeling this is going to be a great year. I wish you all a Happy New Year xxx

 

Glam Cowl

Knit now 3 hits the shops today! My pattern, the Glam Cowl is made from just 1 skein of Debbie Bliss Angel and is a simple, fairly quick knit. They have styled it as a capelet, but it can also be worn loose as a long cowl or infinity scarf, or doubled around as a close fitting cowl. I’ve made versions of this several times for Mum, and I think I’ve got it about right now! For me, this is more of a product knit than a process knit – but it’s made several highly appreciated gifts, so it’s worth the repetitive knitting!

This has been another lovely pattern-writing experience. Unlike The Knitter (also lovely to work with), Knit now is a new publication. It focusses on accessories rather than garments and has a fresh look and a distinctive, appealing voice. As a budding designer, catching a new magazine in its infancy has been a great experience. I just missed out on submitting for issues 1 & 2, but have managed to get patterns into 3,4 & 5 so far. I didn’t submit for 6 as I was busy moving out of the house (grrr) and I’m waiting to hear about 7 & 8. There’s a distinct energy to the magazine, which I really like.

Issue 3 has a pair of legwarmers – which I’ve been thinking seem like a Very Good Idea– some socks with very interesting looking non-standard construction. I’m on a bit of a sock roll, so those are going on my queue. There’s a couple of hats which I like, a cabled cowl, a trio of coffee cup cosies, a sweet shrug, and some interesting gloves that all appeal to me.

There’s also a garment supplement that has a jumper I want to knit NOW! I know that it’s a bulky jumper and I’m not exactly sylph-like. Giant boobs and bulky sweaters are not generally a great combination. But it’s cold and stormy outside, and I have remarkably few sweaters. I don’t buy many, because I can make them – but then I tend to give away most of the sweaters I knit when they look great on someone else! So, as I’ve nearly finished the second big knit for the gallery, I might treat myself to a quick and cosy sweater project.

I will write a yarn review soon – we are still out of the house, and the accommodation we are in now doesn’t have any internet access. I am so dependant on broadband – living without it feels like losing a limb!

I have been really busy recently, trying to get something happening with the insurance company, sorting out where we are going to be over Christmas (NOT back in our house) and finishing 2 patterns that were due in at the same time, plus 2 commission knits for a gallery. I’ve hardly thought about Christmas yet! But seeing my second published pattern in the shops is going to feel like any early present :)

 

Still here!

Hello!! No, I haven't run away to exotic climes with a ruggedly handsome, wildly sexy multi-millionaire. But a girl can imagine.....................aaaaaahhhh, yesssss!

No, I have been busy in my shed, frantically knitting away on a commission. And planning designs. I had good news too from The Knitter. During the summer, I submitted 5 designs for Spring/Summer 2012. It was the first time I had done a proper design submission, and (oh, the horror) realised I had to submit my ideas with a sketch!  I am totally useless at drawing of any kind, and the very idea filled me with terror. However, I reminded myself that I am a big girl, and to just bloody get on with it. And the result was that from my appalling sketches and my rather better swatches, I got 2 designs commissioned! 

This means that the other designs might not be flukes! Go, go designer Jax!

We have now agreed a start date for insurance work to start, which means we will be out of the house after half term. I have two more big furniture-type commission knits to do asap, 1 child at home for 2 weeks, the other 2 children off for 1 of those 2 weeks, and a design to submit by December 1st. On the home front, I have a friend coming to stay for a few days during half term. I am very excited and can't wait to see her and the kids, but they have allergies; I have the world's sheddiest cat and a rather untidy house, SO I have to do some unusually thorough cleaning before their arrival. And then I have to empty the kitchen, dining room, hall and the understairs cupboard of hiding which is where things get shoved when they don't have an obvious home so that the builders can remove the kitchen and take up our floor.

Now I've also agreed to have  a table at a local craft fair, which is something I have never done before. So I have been trying to make things to actually sell. Sorry about the photos - snapped them as the light was fading - but they are better than no pictures at all.

I made this little mini hold-all tote this afternoon. It's based generally on the bag I showed in the last post, and needs a little tweaking, but overall I'm pleased with it.

This one is another messenger bag, without a flap this time but with two padded pockets on the front and a magnetic clasp closure. I am VERY happy with this one.

I also crocheted a hat, but it's too dark to take a photo of that now. So that's 3 things to sell. And that could be all! Even if I spread them out really creatively, it's not really going to cover a table now, is it??

Weekend celebrations

It's been a pretty happymaking weekend. All sorts of good things happened at the same time :)

Happy thing 1: The Knitter 37 came out! It's a great issue. The designers include Jane Sowerby with her first new shawl designs for AGES, Sarah Hatton, Louisa Harding, Sian Brown, Barb Brown and....... Jacqui Harding! Yes - my pattern is out. My camera isn't working properly at the moment, but my phone camera is. Would you like to see some photos of the magazine? You would? Well, since you insist.....

I got the most gorgeous model :)  And look! My name in print, like a proper designer!!

There was an extra bonus - in an issue jam-packed with knitting superstar designers, the contributer page looked like this:

 Squee!!!

Happy thing 2: Matt was home for the weekend, and he is settling into school really well. He was more cuddly this visit, which made me happy. He gives excellent snuggles.

Happy thing 3: It was our wedding anniversary yesterday. 13 years. NO IDEA HOW THAT HAS HAPPENED! We went out for a family meal on Saturday, as Paul was away on the actual day. Lovely :-)

Hope your weekend was good too xx

Bag Ta-Dah!

I actually posted this yesterday, only to find that it has somehow vanished into the ether and there is no trace of it ever existing. So I'll just have to do it again.

We had a lovely weekend with great company in a brilliant house. Lots of food, sleep, wine and chilling. Perfect!

The birthday girl like her bag too, and has used it all week so far. It's not perfect, but I learned a lot about matching fabrics and patterns, and it does showcase this gorgeous fabric really well.

The straps are not ideal - I didn't have time to get a slider, but I still wanted them to be adjustable. I came up with a compromise that works well - the strap can be set to 3 different lengths - but it's not as elegant as I would like. The inside has plenty deep pockets (as always), a padded mobile pocket (will do that again) and a key ribbon (again, as always). Overall it's a sturdy bag that will last for ages, so that's not bad :)

I've got about half a metre of fabric left, so I'm thinking that I might try something different  - maybe along the lines of this Cath Kidston bag that I saw in John Lewis the other day.

What do you think?

Speak later xxx

Good news!

Well, we did it! We all took Matt to his new school, and we all managed to leave each other with hugs and no tears. Although some of those might have come in the car.... a little bit. So that's done, and less painfully than I imagined.

 

On a positive note, I've had a sneak peek of the photo of my design that is due to be published in The Knitter magazine Issue 37 (36 is JUST out, so only 1 more month to go). I'm not allowed to show you yet, but.... squee!

 

I've managed to get 5 design submissions prepared in time for the deadline, and posted them today, so fingers crossed. There's one design that I have mixed feelings about - I LOVE the swatch, and the design, I just have concerns about whether I can get sizing right for an actual garment - especially when it comes to putting sleeves in well. But I'm pretty chuffed that I've managed to get myself together to do it over the holidays with all the boys around.

 

In other design news, a new magazine due to launch in the UK in October, Knit Now, asked in Ravelry for submissions with a pretty short deadline. I submitted 2 ideas - and heard yesterday that they have both been accepted. Woot!

 

So maybe I am a designer. As long as the finished accessories look the way that I expected that is!

 

Anyway, my fledgling career is off to a pretty good start! 4 out of 4 so far.

 

The twins go back to school on Monday (last year of primary school ALREADY! Whut???). So that will leave me with much more knitting and thinking time :)

 

Can't show you any pictures of unpublished designs, so will have to leave you photo-less for the time being. Speak soon xx