Work in progress III

Oriana

After finishing The owl gang I kept thinking about owls, and I just kept on thinking about owls and cables. Oriana is the result.
The pattern is at test knitting stage and will be available at the and of August.  I made her a friend, second Oriana using fingering weight yarn and sport weight yarn held double.
The two toys will be donated to our library for some fun gift away after the summer reading contest is over and kids are back to school.
I usually take a group photo of my toys that I donated for the summer reading program, but I didn't do it this year, so instead you have a picture of the two owls named Oriana, that will be donated at the end of summer.

Oriana I & II

My plan for the next few weeks is to work on the Voyager sweater pattern and finish the grading and writing of the pattern. The sample I was working on is finished and has received compliments from fellow knitters. I also managed to take some wonderful photographs of the sweater. The pattern should be available for test knit later in August, and published sometime in the early fall.

Voyager Sweater 

I also plan to work on our next toy mystery KAL, I have few ideas as to what mystery toy he/she should be....

Thank you for visiting.

Interview with a designer Marie Segares (Underground Crafter)

Lion pocket by Underground Crafter 

Marie Segares (Underground Crafter) is a fellow designer participating in the Ami-a-long 2018.

 I had the privilege to interview her and this is the interview. I love her whimsical and adorable designs and if given the time and opportunity I would attempt to crochet any of her amigurumi designs.

What inspires you to design?
I grew up within a very creative family and making things has always been a big part of my life. The inspiration for each design varies, but generally I’m inspired by yarn, stitch dictionaries, and what I see during my subway commute.

If you could knit/ crochet one thing - anything in the world what would that be?
I like variety, so I’d rather be able to crochet and knit different things. I tend to crochet granny squares when I’m relaxing, so that’s one pattern I go back to a lot.

Describe your ideal day as a designer, what would you do and what would you prefer not to do?
I’m not a full time designer, so my design fits into other parts of my life. The things I enjoy are crocheting and knitting a sample, swatching up different stitches from stitch dictionaries, and writing. The things I enjoy less are bookkeeping, blog maintenance, writing follow up emails, and marketing.

How do you start a project, with yarn, pattern, idea or what?
It really depends on the pattern. For softies, I usually start with the idea and then pick out the yarn. I try to write out patterns (or at least the first part) before I pick up the hook or needles and test out my idea as I work.

What inspires you to pick up needles and start on the project?
Right now, I only make projects that I plan to publish as designs. My main motivators are creative expression and earning a side income.

What do you enjoy the most about the designing and what you dislike the most?
I enjoy most parts of designing. I wish I was better at photography, but I don’t dislike it. I do get sad when people leave rude or nasty comments on my work, but unfortunately, that’s part of life on the internet.

Are there any particular techniques you find challenging or impossible to work with?
Not really. I’ve been crocheting since 1984 and I think most things can be mastered with some effort. I’m not as strong of a knitter but I’ve been able to learn most of the techniques I want to, like cables.

What is on your needles now?
I’m not knitting anything at the moment, but I have a crochet pillow in the works as my “main” project.

Do you work on multiple projects at the same time or single project?
I usually have about 5-10 projects going at once. One will be my main project that I work on while commuting, others will be designs that I started and am not finishing yet because of deadlines, others will be too big so I only work on them at home.

Where to find Marie Segares (Underground Crafter)

Marie Segares on Ravelry

Undergroundcrafter.com/blog/

Underground Crafter on Facebook

Instagram.com/ucrafter/

Pinterest.com/ucrafter/

Twitter.com/ucrafter

Youtube.com/c/mariesegaresundergroundcrafter

The Owl Gang

The owl gang

It was summer of 2012 when I bought one skein of yarn. I truly didn't know what I wanted to make from it, I just loved the colors. At one point I made an owl from it, based on Miranda my first owl pattern. When I created my second owl pattern, Ollie, the owlet I knitted one owlet from the same skein of yarn. Then Helga and Otto joined the knitted owl family.

Helga, Ollie, Miranda, and Otto

 I took a picture of them and posted it on my FB page. Two of my friends asked if I could knit them an owl, and they picked Miranda. So I knitted them and took another picture. And there was still yarn left from that one skein of yarn.

Owls 

 It was at this point that I have decided to continue knitting another owl just to see if I can finish another one.

WIP Ollie, seventh owl

While on vacation I finished her and gave her away to another friend. I still had leftover yarn, so I started eight owlet.

Ollie, the owlet and another WIP Ollie

I finished the eight owlet, and there is still small amount of yarn left. I will somehow incorporate the remnants with another yarn together to make another owl. I have also combined all of the four knitted patterns that I have published previously and created a knitting pattern for The owl gang.

It's available in my Ravelry store or you may purchase it by clicking on this button:

The owl gang

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