To work or not to work, that is the question.

So the new year brought in some changes for us, including my decision not to work so hard. It had got to the point I either had to put a LOT more time in to make a difference, or step back for a bit and let things evolve.
So they are evolving. Kids are happier to have more of me, especially the Boy, who finds it hard already to be clear about his feelings. I don't have any more pattern commissions in the works, and time slips by whilst I fail to do my own editing and writing, and go mildly crazy with lego building, laundry and the same book over and over and over and over.......

I am finding time to knit for pleasure though. Arboroath abbey by Annie Modesitt is a coolio pattern that goes from 7yrs to adult, and although a poorly edited magazine pattern, her design and little touches that have survived are all little "aha!" moments. Just make sure you really UNDERSTAND cabling, and can read your knitting, not just the chart.

designing for magazines

Designing a pattern is an interesting process to me, and I have honed it a lot in the past year I have been concentrating on it. Not far off my goal of 1 a month for a year, it now takes me half the time from inspiration to publication.
I think some of this is due to my rigorous note taking and formula writing, but also my process has been helped by my attempt to get my patterns into some magazines, both in-the-flesh ones and online.(which, by the way, I have done, here)

Working in a template, seeing the common factors for pattern submissions, and the more abstract concept submissions some go for, they all give some insight as to how to put across your own creative idea to another individual. This has then been useful for working on many projects of my own, skipping from one to another, and shifting my inspiration, without making them all become the same, as I record, photograph and sketch and summarize along the way.

So, the money isn't great. 70 quid for one or two full weeks work when I have young children is a little irksome. And giving someone else rights to my work is a little concerning too, I can't quite put my finger on it. But if at the end my process and therefore patterns are better off and more polished, and I get more airtime, that has got to be worth the hassle, at least for now.



Image courtesy of Kate Heppell, Practical Publishing