Showing posts with label designers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label designers. Show all posts

Monday, June 3, 2019

2019 Progress, Hope, & Happiness Collection Launch - Year 3!

Oh my friendly makers - it is the beginning of June, and for the third year in a row, I have curated, coordinated, and/or otherwise wrangled a collection of summer makes, and it went live last Friday!  For a viewing of the collection's look book, just click on it below:



I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with this year's designs, and the yarny colorways created and/or picked especially for the collection really make the designs stand out. As usual, we have our make-a-long home on Ravelry and people are starting to figure out what they would like to make, and what yarns they will be using.

I have two designs in the collection this year, and they are meant to help anyone get out there for a quick adventure or two. I happily present the Rings of Saturn, a really well-sized bag great for short weekend jaunts (it's small yet so roomy); and Weekend Adventure - a tee with a whole lot of pink attitude that is easily customized to fit a maker's personal style.

There are also a good number of shawls, some head wear, a super tank (in pink!), and a cowl that I really want to make (along with several other designs). So much to make; so little crafty maker time. Grrrr.

Also, there are a few new things this year: if you are on Instagram, do follow the MAL's hashtag #happinessmakealong2019 - we are currently running an #artadventure challenge that, if craftily played, can find both you and a tagged friend winning prizes, including a grand prize (and this year's other big new thing): an e-book of the entire collection of 12 designs! That's right, the collection has an e-book for sale this year exclusively on Swatch Warriors (retailing for $19.95, with most of that going directly to all nine participating designers), but only for a limited time (basically, through the end of July, which is when the maker event ends).

Given the ups and downs in the yarn publishing industry so far this year, it is a testament to my fellow indie designers and dyers that we have just not given up and are continuing to forge our own designing path. I cannot tell you how pleased and proud I am to be among the company of these talented artists. I hope you will check out the look book, buy a pattern or two, or even gift an e-book to someone just because. Then, get your yarn and making tools all lined up and come join us as we each find our own yarny renewal.

Happy summer, everyone! 

Sunday, May 29, 2016

A Little Fiber + Design Swap, Anyone?

Hello my crafty friends - I hope everyone in the United States is having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, and you are paying tribute to any and all of the appropriate people in your life for whom we celebrate this holiday.

As for me, I've been busy the last week or so gearing up for a fun summer swap. I am thoroughly enjoying making things in my Ravelry group a-longs with my crochet and knit peeps (and pay attention on Wednesday for the next a-long announcement). However, I wanted a way to get the good and meaningful interactions I've had with my fellow designers during the holiday Indie Gift-A-Longs to continue throughout the year ... so, I thought a fun swap with designers and indie dyers (cause hey, who doesn't love more indie in the form of dyers, and it is, you know, yarn - designers and dyers seem to go hand in hand) would be just the ticket.

I created some fun graphics to underscore the idea (the main artwork is above), started a Ravelry group along with a fellow designer, Denae Merrill, and voila! the D+D Summer Fun Swap group is alive and over 100 members strong. Sign-ups for this secret, international swap start on Wednesday, 6/1 (June, really? already?) and will be open for two weeks. If you are a designer with published designs anytime since the beginning of 2015, and/or an independent dyer currently selling yarn, and are looking for some fun connections this summer, do please join us in the group and get in on the swap. And, of course, there will be a few yarny prizes - send a great swap package to your fellow swap participant and it could land you some awesome fiber. What could be better than that?




Thursday, November 19, 2015

And We're Off To the Gift-a-long Races!

I, along with about 334 other participating designers, hereby announce the 2015 Gift-a-long sale and holiday gift-making open. Woohoo! I have 20 designs on sale (which you can access from my Ravelry design page - just click on the Gift-a-long 2015 bundle photo montage and see all of them) between now and the end of the day (eastern standard time) on Friday, November 27.

However, we'll all be whipping up a handmade gift frenzy between now and the end of the year! Take advantage of the sale by all means, but then stay for the merry gift making. 

If you want to check out the Pinterest boards for the Gift-a-long, here are the links:


And, if you don't want to wade through thousands of pins, but want one designer's targeted curation, feel free to check out my curated 2015 holiday gift designs board. While my participating designs are absolutely pinned to it (!), there are 220 pins, representing a wide swath of all the knit and crochet designs, across most of the categories above, except feet (I don't do socks) and babies (cause I'd want to pin all the cuteness).

I leave you with a nifty visual of some of the statistics that our too-cool-for-stats-school statistician Kimberly put together. It's really pretty awesome to see the entire world getting in on this indie design/hand made gifts galore party.


Make all the things, people.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Is It A Chicken? An Egg? Or Just The Wrong Side of the Pond?

My Ravellenic Games team ravatar:
living the artful life (well, virtually
anyway) in the Paris subway.
There's been a weird sort of confluence of events this week that has led me to think about the kinds of projects crocheters make and what motivates hookers to make certain types of things and not others.

I am hosting an a-long for my recent Romantique collection in my wee Ravelry group. (It will eventually coincide with my Ravellenic Games team efforts in February, but more on that later). To get things kicked off, I posted a poll to gauge which designs crocheters might be interested in working on as a group. Thus far, only the accessories have received any votes (and do feel free to cast your vote right now). Of the eight designs in the collection, only 3 were garments - a pullover, a coat, and a skirt - and none of these has received any nod from voters that they might like to make them.

Then, I provided a small ending comment on the following Twitter conversation (and I do apologize for the length and the uneven quality of the font, but I wanted to include all of it and I am still getting used to translating Twitter conversations onto my blog):


Image will appear as a link


I am with many in the above conversation that loved Kim Werker's Crochet Me (although, unlike Ysolda, I did not almost try and steal my copy :) ), and I applaud Kim's willingness to start another conversation about this recurring topic: why do crocheters not make garments? A quick look at the Ravelry database indicates that there are slightly over 103,000 crochet garment projects against a staggering 1.2 million knit projects in the same category. There would seem to be no reason for most publishers to take the time to print books for an audience that is all but invisible.

However, I find Rohn Strong's comments most persuasive and I'm in agreement with them - I firmly believe crocheters will eventually make garments, but it takes time and patience. It's difficult being the baby of the group and lost in the yarny desert for such a long time. I've heard many reasons why crocheters are reticent to commit to making a garment (and some were valid, especially the stale designs argument), but most of them don't hold water anymore. 

I love designing garments as much as I do accessories. For the designer, it's definitely more work (pattern grading, pattern grading, pattern grading) but the personal rewards far greater (in my opinion). I cannot tell you how thrilling it has been to see my garments put on a model for the first time, see them fit and look good. I basically do all of my designing blind - no fittings, no practical dress form to speak of (although I do have a decorative dress form that can be helpful in a pinch), so to see my designing labor pay off is great. Of course, I want others to make the designs (hey, I'm human), and I firmly believe crocheters will make them. I build a level of trust between hookers and my designs with each pattern I publish, just like those in the above conversation have done and continue to do. 

It's been almost four years since Crochet Me was published, so I can respect Kim's feelings of defeat, but I don't share them. All I know is that I have so many designs just itching to come to life - both garments and accessories (and yes, interior designs as well). I have been, and will continue to be, willing to self-publish. 

Anyone for a little fur trim?
Of course, if there are reputable publishers out there that want to lead the pack, I'd love to speak with them.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the above conversation. What would get you to make a crochet garment? 

If you're still reading (and good on you), do head on over to Wisdom Begins in Wonder and see what everyone else has been up to this week (garment-making notwithstanding).