Friday, February 27, 2009

It's a great day for designing!!

Some days designing goes really well. I get my idea , start sketching, and grab my yarn and hook. I find the perfect place to submit the design to, and find the perfect yarn! Last week was like that. I had an idea, and sketched it out, wrote notes, etc. I decided what yarn I wanted to do it in and worked on deciding on where to submit. While I was thinking, the perfect opportunity came along!! Yay!! They even use the yarn I picked to do it in! Happy dance! Now to finish up the sketches, swatches and send them off. Then I sit back and wait.

I was just checking out my friend Ellen's blog (GoCrochet) and she had a link to a blog with some very pretty and unusual crocheted items.
O fil de lo . The crochet covered rocks is a cool idea. Wouldn't a bowl or basket of them look nice on a patio? Or they could be used as weights to hold down place mats and stuff on the patio table. The pieces of shell, crocheted around and joined into a necklace was very pretty. I have tons of shells I've collected over the years. I'll have to dig them out and have a look. I may have a new piece of jewelry and don't know it! :0) :0)

The Crochet Guild of America just announced the 2009 Design contest! It will be held at Chain Link conference this summer, Aug 6-9th. I'm putting my thinking cap on and deciding what to enter this year.

The weather is miserable today. The "light" showers they said we'd get are turning into torrential downpours! Yuck. The sky is dark gray and it's dark out. Oh well. It's the perfect kind of day to CROCHET!! I think I'll go get my stitch books out and play! :0)

PS - I've edited my last post for clarity and so I don't sound so snitty. I didn't mean it to. I was just having a day of frustrations. I apologize.




Friday, February 13, 2009

Yarn frustrations

I thought I'd talk about one of the frustrations I face as a designer. I'm talking about yarn. Yup, yarn.

As a designer, I get a great idea and start sketching. As I sketch and brain storm, I get more ideas! Things are going great! I'm on a roll! I can see it in my minds eye. The perfect design in the perfect yarn.

Step 2 is to decide where to submit it. I come up with a publication/ manufacturer that it would fit perfectly! I look at their call for patterns and my design is exactly what they are looking for!! Things are going so well, I'm getting goosebumps! I can feel the excitement!

Step 3: now I have to find out what yarn they want it done in. Yes, they quite often change the yarn color and brand and even sometimes the weight. But, if you submit it to a yarn manufacturer in a competitor's yarn, or use a yarn from someone who doesn't advertise with that publication, YOU WILL GET REJECTED, no matter how great the design is! That's where I sometimes run into trouble, choosing the yarn.

One of several things usually happen. A) the project is an environmentally friendly one and would benefit from being done in an environmentally friendly yarn ie) organic cotton, bamboo, etc, and being able to mention the enviro yarn as a feature would be a good selling point, BUT, the yarns they use/make doesn't include bamboo, organic cotton, or no cotton at all!

B) the perfect color yarn doesn't exist in the yarn they use/ make. They use brand x and brand y has the color you need.

C) they don't make/use the perfect yarn type ie) cotton, felting wool, etc or they don't have a very big color selection. You need felting wool, in specific colors and their colors are completely unsuitable. Sigh!

D) the perfect yarn type and color doesn't exist ANYwhere!! (darn imagination! lol! that's when I'd love a job as a yarn designer :)

I know the way to get a design accepted is to use the yarn they want. It's just frustrating to think that IF you could make it in the yarn you have pictured, it would be the most spectacular design in history. Unfortunately, you have to make it in the yarn available or the yarn they use and it won't show it in it's best light. Sigggghhhh. Back to the drawing board.

(yes, I know I can always submit to someone else who does have/use the yarn I want, but sometimes the project doesn't suit their format, or they use only in house designers. Sigggghhhhh....)