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 Simone here and here on Ravelry.
Where do you find inspiration?
Oh
everywhere! Most of my inspiration comes from nature or at least the
natural world around us. I love to hike and be outdoors and I am hugely
inspired by that, including the feeling of a place and atmosphere that
imbues certain landscapes. I try to capture that in the pattern and
often allude to the inspiration in the description on the pattern page
as well.
What is your favorite knitting technique?
Maybe
we can coin a new term, but I'd say I am a non-discriminatory knitter!
No, honestly, I do love knitting lace, but I also enjoy colorwork, and
texture and plain stockinette. I have been knitting for over 30 years
and still there are so many nifty things, so there is always something
new to try or something new to learn, experiment with and un-vent. If I
were forced doing one thing only, I'd get bored really quickly and so I
tend to go in cycles through different techniques and project types.
I
do love designing lace, but last year along with running my 'Riversong'
shawl club, I also released a collection entirely in Mosaic stitch
(it's called Karyai - classical beauty
meets modern forms) and a themed collection with cable stitches (Five
Fathoms). The year before, I published a book inspired by a camping trip
and woodsy wilderness (over mossy stones...)
Do you look at other designers’ work or are you afraid that you will be influenced by their designs?
Well,
in this world we are always interacting with other people and a lot of
my online friends are other designers. This is perhaps more so because
the work of a designer can be rather lonely, since we mostly lack the
office environment and interaction with co-workers, I feel we make up
for it by interacting in online communities or professional forums.
No,
I am not worried I'll be influenced by other designers, I have my own
style and things I like to do. But that said, everything around us
influences what we think and do and how we do it. I am sure you have
noticed how at times a new fashion comes up and you think 'oh heck no!
I'll never wear that, that looks awful' but then months go by and you
keep seeing it and gradually you warm up to the idea, it could be a
color combination or a style (I used to think that skinny jeans inside
boots looked like Robin Hood, and now, yes, I admit, I do wear that
myself at times and find it quite normal). So I am sure there are things
that influence my style that I see others do, but I also know that
certain things just aren't 'me', no mater how awesome they look on
others or how popular they are. In recent years the trend has gone
towards square and boxy styles for clothing pieces, and I simply cannot
wear that. It takes a very specific body type to pull it off and I do
not fall into that category. So I am not too tempted to try and design
something along those lines, even though I admire and love the look of
it on others. My style trends towards the more tailored, with a bit of
retro thrown into the mix.
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| http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/confluence-2 |
How many sample/test knitters do you have working for you or do you do it all yourself?
I
have one fabulous sample knitter that I contract form time to time when
I am overwhelmed, but I do not have anyone on my payroll, if that is
what you mean. Mostly, I do knit everything myself. I only sporadically
run test knits, since it is a time question for me and I trust that my
very awesome tech editor is flagging everything for me to fix before the
patterns go live. She can also make sure everything is congruent with
my style sheet (a wee bit of information on how everything is handled,
from abbreviations to what font size is used for what header) on top of
checking the flow of the pattern and the math.
Did you do a formal business plan?
Not
at the very beginning, but yes I did. And now I do plan out my year and
then break it down into months and by when I want to release which
collection or single pattern. Of course not everything always goes as
planned, and sometimes new priorities come up and things shift, but that
is the fun in life, isn't it? And I feel that the structure I put in
place at least gives me guidance as to what milestone I am reaching for
next and let's me prioritize tasks. And sure, sometimes I just have to
take a break or add something completely non planned when inspiration strikes, like right now I am knitting a Stopover cardigan while
finishing up the tutorials for my Silk Road shawl club. Which is a funny
story too, my editor had this idea of breaking the shawl club into two,
and so I now have two 'paths' for my travelers on the Silk Road! The
Explorer path is large designs, charted only and some quite intricate,
the Wayfarer path is a bit more relaxed, all the patterns will be
written as well as charted and it comes with a bunch of tutorials and
teaching modules to help knitters acquire or improve their skills, like
reading charts or beading. It's a lot of work, but it was a good
challenge and just too much fun to pass up!
Do you use a tech editor?
Yes,
definitely. I don't think that there is any way you can expect to
produce a professional pattern without a good tech editor.
How do you maintain your life/work balance?
Hmm,
there are definitely times when there isn't all that much balance, lol.
One example comes to mind where I had everything planned out but then
life threw a wrench into my plans, that time it was the weather, all
flights were cancelled and I had one day at home to get ready from one
event to leave for the next. Well, that shrank down to 0 days and 3
hours and rental car drive in a tropical rain storm at 3 am.
And the other more recent one was when I ran out of yarn way before I
got to the end of the design I had planned. So I had to frog it all and
start over after redesigning it, in that case it was a lot of marathon
knitting and not too much life balance!
I
am really lucky in that I have a very supportive man in my life. He
understands that since I am self employed at times I have to do things
on the weekend or knit every evening till late into the night. I do try
to not have that happen too often, if it can be helped at all!
How do you deal with criticism?
If
it is constructive criticism, there is a place and time for it, and I
trust that my friends in the industry and my tech editor deliver that to
me. If appropriately delivered and founded, it can be a great tool for
improvement, but in the online world, I have sadly seen many folks
forget that there is a real breathing human on the other end when they
are sending emails or making public comments about stuff. I think a good
rule I wish everyone lived by would be to ask yourself, would I say
that in person to someone, and if the answer is no, don't write it in an
email. And I think sometimes people forget that a lot of us designers
are, like me, a one-woman-show, so I simply cannot reply to my emails
immediately the time, and sending 3 emails around 3 am because you don't know what a Long tail cast on is, is not going to change that ;)
What advice would you give someone who wants to pursue a career in knitting?
First
off, being a knitwear designer is a lot more than sitting around
knitting all day! Oh and it's not a rich quick scheme, a lot of work
goes into creating a good knitting pattern. I spend countless hours
behind the computer, crunching numbers, working on website stuff,
directing and staging photo-shoots, or sourcing yarns. Also once you do
it professionally, it's no longer a hobby and that can take the fun out
of it for some so I try to break it up and knit for pleasure in between.
Also I want to strongly encourage folks who have any notion of pursuing
a career in the hand knitting pattern industry to start it
professionally. If you want to make money, you have to look at it like a
business, and it's a business like any other and so there are going to
be start up costs, even though they might be much smaller compared to
most other businesses, after all there is rarely need to rent a space or
start with a 7 team payroll. But if you can't afford paying for a tech
editor, or software or are not willing to invest in professional
services like photography if that is not a skill you have, I would urge
folks to consider doing something else until the financial stability is
there to start it right.
What’s next for you?
I
used to teach a good bit (in different fields) and before getting full
time into this business I was teaching a few knitting classes on the
side. My plan is to expand my teaching schedule and portfolio, as I love
interacting with people face to face. I miss that at times sitting
here behind my computer or listening to an audio book at home while
knitting on a super secret new project that I can't bring to knit-night
;)
My
second thing is to expand back into the German speaking market. I am
originally from Switzerland (I only moved to the US in my early
twenties) and have spoken German all my life. However, when I started
writing knitting patterns, it was for the American or at least English
speaking market and so most of my patterns are still only in English.
There are a lot of knitting terms that do not translate nicely into
German, and it's therefore a good bit of work to translate and create
new terminology and also establish yourself as a bilingual designer.
And
on a less career focused level: I am hoping for lots of newly
encouraged shawl knitters that have learned new skills from the Silk
Road Wayfarer path!
