Technical editors are worth their weight in gold Before we go into the list, here is what technical editors do: In a nutshell, they make sure you’re consistent in your writing, they find errors in stitch counts and sizing, they check your spelling and grammar, and can suggest ways to make patterns flow better. It’s a super power. 1. As a writer, you can never see your own mistakes (it doesn’t matter how good you are at writing). Technical editors are the equivalent of writing editors for journalists or authors. A book author would never publish a book without getting it edited, and neither should a pattern designer -- it doesn’t matter if you have a degree in English and...
I get asked this all the time: “How do I actually publish a knitworthy pattern?” Publishing a pattern that others will want to recreate takes effort, no doubt, but it is completely doable. Just break it down into five steps… do each one and you’ll be off to the races! I’m going to start off with a pretty high level intro, and then we’ll be breaking it down in detail over the coming weeks. 1. Write that Pattern Down! Brilliant ideas are no good stuck in your head! Sketch out your idea, swatch it, knit it up, and write the pattern. This is the longest and most time consuming (but most worthwhile!) part in the the whole design process. You...
I’m definitely not an expert when it comes to knitwear photography, but if you scroll back even a year in my Instagram feed, you’ll see that my photography skills have improved a bit. But, best of all, I spend about 20 minutes taking photos for an entire month with a heck of a lot less stress when I was trying to take photos daily. Last year, I went on a mission to get better at photography, so I went and spent my hard earned pattern money on a used DSLR camera and some equipment. Low and behold, I took some pretty CRAPPY photos. It turns out better equipment did absolutely nothing for my photography except cause confusion, stress, and a...