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| http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/corbichon |
Once a week I post interviews with interesting people about their insights on their experience of working in the Knitting industry. I’ve noticed that every one of these individuals makes their living in a slightly different manner bringing their own unique presence to the knitting world.
You can find Kathleen here and here on Ravelry.
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| http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/arguyle |
Where
do you find inspiration?
In all seriousness, all over the place! That said, though, most of my ideas have probably come from
adapting the motif from something else into a knitted item - the inspiration item
usually being a textile or art piece, often historical (e.g. Bukhara cowl,
Delft beret, photo lower down). There are so many beautiful things in the world that can be
translated into knitting! That's my absolute favourite go-to method if I want
to stimulate inspiration. But I've also had a fair few ideas that have just come to me,
kaboom. Usually this happens because several things I've been thinking about or
noticing all fall in place, and my brain decides to put them together and make
an idea for me (e.g. Hat-heel socks, photo lower down, Around the Block Blanket). And sometimes, I'll have just a basic idea of what I want to do,
and the idea will take shape as I'm trying to put it together (e.g. Leaves and Lace blanket, Arguyle sweater, photo above).
What I've found over the years is that, for me, knitting design inspiration
is like a muscle - the more I "exercise" it, the stronger it gets. When
I first started designing, the ideas were few and far between. But the more I
designed, the more ideas showed up; kind of like a snowball rolling downhill.
Now, I always have lots of ideas on the go that I want to try all at once!
Often I have to put ideas on the back-burner so I don't get distracted from the
thing I was already working on. And sometimes inspiration hits so hard that I
have to dump whatever I had going on at the time!
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| http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tracery-4 |
What is
your favourite knitting technique?
I don't know that I actually have one, to be honest. I will knit anything
if it appeals to me, no matter what methods are involved. I love all kinds of
different knitting techniques, they're each awesome in their own way. When
designing, I'll use whatever works best to make my idea "go", be it
lace, cables, texture, steeking, entrelac, knitting flat, whatever. Most often,
though, I turn to colourwork to create what I'm looking for. I'm a huge fan of
both stranded knitting and double knitting. However, one thing that I figured out how to do, which I love, is knitting
a graft instead of sewing it. I hate sewing grafts, so having that alternate technique
in my pocket means that I don't feel like avoiding projects that use grafting;
or - also bad - getting a project almost completed and then ditching it when I
come to the grafting part! (Video at https://youtu.be/-S9v-pEiu-M)
Do you
look at other designers’ work or are you afraid that you will be influenced by
their designs?
Oddly enough, I'm not worried about this. I'm fortunate enough to
have (so far) a steady stream of ideas that are my own. So I can relax and
enjoy the fantastic work of other designers. Some designers, however, are so amazing that you can't help
thinking, "Arrrrgh, that's so incredible, I wish I had thought of that first!!!" (While knowing the whole time
that you couldn't have possibly done as good a job!) Sharon Winsauer is
probably the best at making me feel this way.
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| http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sweetness-7 |
How
many sample/test knitters do you have working for you or do you do it all
yourself?
So far, I've been doing it all, as I'm a fast knitter. Also, the
prospect of managing test knitters feels much more stressful to me than just going
ahead and doing it myself. However, some of the very lovely knitters at my stitch
night have offered to test knit whenever I want, and I've also been researching
some of the test knit groups on Ravelry as a possible test knitting pool to
draw from. It's definitely on my list of things to start doing.
Did you
do a formal business plan?
No. But I'm not just winging it. I have the basic concept
in my head, even if I haven't ever articulated it in writing. And I continue to
modify the plan in my head as the business moves forward.
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| http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/parfait-7 |
Do you
have a mentor?
No. But I do look at other designers and take on-board the things
they're doing that I really like and want to also do; as well as the things they're
doing that aren't for me.
Do you
have a business model that you have emulated?
Only in terms of what I perceive to be a fairly standard indie
designer model - design lots, self-publish, get into publications and yarn
company offerings so you can put your name out there, advertise where you can,
etc.
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| http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hat-heel |
Do you
use a tech editor?
Sadly, no. I'd like to, but my sales at this stage don't justify
the cost. However, I feel confident in my own tech editing abilities, and it
seems likely that I'll actually get into that branch of the industry at some
point down the road. Certainly when I work with publications, the samples that
come back to me for proofing usually have only minor changes from my original submitted
instructions. I'm lucky to have a passion for detail and thoroughness, and a solid
knowledge of pattern writing conventions. I also seem to be good at
understanding what details knitters need to have to succeed in finishing a
project, and explaining those details so they'll understand.
How do
you maintain your life/work balance?
With difficulty! I have a day job, a husband, three children, and
other hobbies that I'm passionate about, in addition to the knitting. One thing
that helps a lot is that I have about three hours of commuting time per day
during the week.
I came to the conclusion some years ago that, unless you're
wealthy enough to make some of the big time-sucks in life go away (i.e. job and
housework), you cannot possibly do it all; there's not enough time, and there's
not enough energy. Something has to give. For me, my top priorities are my
kids, my marriage, and keeping myself sane by doing things I love. That usually
means that the first thing to be dumped is my household chores! (Also getting
enough sleep. I'm quite bad at that, too.)
How do
you deal with criticism?
It depends on the criticism. When it's reasonable and delivered
reasonably, I think to myself, "Oh yes, that's a good point," and set
about fixing it, and then announcing and explaining the correction to the
audience who needs to know about it. However, when the criticism seems less
reasonable, and/or is delivered in an unreasonable way, that always stings. For
this, I allow myself some venting time. If I feel I need to respond, I will
then settle down and write a (hopefully!) helpful and professional reply. Sometimes this leads to really productive interactions that I
never would have predicted, given that it started out with criticism that got
my back up! And sometimes in the course of writing my "helpful and
professional reply", I'll realize that the person being the most
unreasonable in this situation is actually me. I think the most important thing, if responding to criticism, is
to make sure that I've moved out of that unreasonable "why, I never!" head-space, and firmly into the "how can we fix this" head-space before
I even think of hitting Send. Internal venting first really helps me with this.
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| http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/delft-beret |
How long did it take for you to
be able to support yourself?
I don't support myself with the knitting work - hence the day job.
At the moment, the design work merely provides an additional bit of income. I'd
love to be able to do this full-time, but as I'm the sole income earner for my
family, I don't have the luxury of being able to take that risk.
What advice would you give
someone who wants to pursue a career in knitting?
From what I've been able to see, I think that the vast majority of
people who do successfully support themselves with their knitting career have
more than one arrow to the string, so to speak. It seems excruciatingly rare
that a person is able to earn a living wage just by selling their designs. I may be wrong in this perception, but I would advise someone
who wants to pursue a career in knitting to make sure they're doing more than
one knitting-related thing. For example, design and teach; or work for a magazine
and dye yarn; or tech edit and work at a yarn shop; that kind of thing. I would
also warn the said someone that, naturally, this means having to be very busy!
As I understand it, a knitting career - assuming you're aiming for income on
par with a full-time job - means an extremely busy life.
What’s next for you?
I'm super-stoked about what's next for me! Right now I'm working
on a collection of accessory patterns based around a single theme: manuscript
illuminations from the medieval period of Western Europe. This is an incredible
source of inspiration for beautiful patterns - I absolutely love every single
design in this collection and can't wait to share it with the knitting world.
So far I've released three patterns from the collection individually, and hope
to have the rest all ready to go sometime this fall (hopefully sooner rather
than later).
After that, I've got a few designs that I want to modify from their
original prototypes, and get those published as well. Plus there are samples on
the go that I need to finish and turn into more designs, and new ideas to try,
and, more publications to break into... I get excited just thinking about it all! Probably my favourite
part of designing is getting to share what I've made with others. My future
goals are all about getting to do that as much as possible. |
| http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cervelli |
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