Knitting versus Deadline Knitting

I like to knit.

Playing with yarn

Ever since I learned how to knit I enjoyed the process. I have knitted all those years when knitting was not fashionable. My first ever finished project was a sweater. I actually unknowingly started my knitwear designer career with my first knitting project when I calculated the number of stitches to cast on and how many rows I needed to knit. I also used three colors and intarsia technique, without actually knowing how to cast on. My mom helped me with the cast on process, and I continued from there. I knitted the sweater and created an original design element, small holes in the place where the yarns should have been twisted around each other when I changed them. I didn't know that at the time. I finished the sweater, my grandmother helped me to sew the pieces together and made the crew neck around the neck opening. I had that sweater for years. Last year, when I visited my mom I found an old picture of me in that first sweater.  The picture was taken by my grandfather. He was an excellent photographer and writer.

First sweater

I kept on knitting all those years. I might have thought about knitwear designer career from time to time, but I never pursued that until few years ago. It was when a friend of mine mentioned the website Ravelry and I joined the knitting website when I realized that there is a possibility to be a knitwear designer. I was given the opportunity to share some of my ideas and projects, and I learned to write knitting patterns. I started to submit to various magazines and yarn companies and to my surprise my ideas were accepted. This whole thing is a work in progress and I am still learning.

Somehow my hobby turned into a part time job.  I can create and knit, and sometimes I earn some money. With the opportunity to have my work published by magazines, yarn companies, or in a various knitting books  the deadline knitting arrives as well.

Knitting is a leisurely process created one stitch at the time.
However when working under contract for a third party, knitting turns into a deadline knitting and the process is suddenly less of a leisure and more of a stressful event as the whole process needs to be finished on time and delivered to the third party by a certain date. Sometimes there is plenty of time to work out the pattern and knit the sample. Other times the process is more limited and has serious time constraint.

There have been moments when I am complaining about knitting. It feels frustrating, especially if something is not working the way it should, or if I make a mistake and have to rip out portion of my knitting and start over. Yesterday morning I emailed the finished pattern and in the afternoon I mailed out finished sample that will be published by a third party. Now I have to wait until the pattern is published to share the pictures of my work.

Today I spend my morning in the garden picking out the berries.

Berries from our garden

And because I like knitting, I already started to think about my next knitting project. But that has to wait, first I need to finish the final read of my Voyager Sweater pattern.

Voyager Sweater

Thank you for visiting.