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July 1, 2016 Leave a Comment

Stepping Away for Clarity

Stepping away from my usual work is making me want to do my usual work. Not clear right now if it is because I love my usual work, or that I just would rather do it than what I’m doing, but I am seriously pining for sitting at my desk and fiddling with patterns and designs.Stepping Away: Spice Jars

Stepping Away: Yarn Arrives!

Stepping Away: Salt & PepperYarn arrived from Sheepspot yesterday. I have been working on a design that will be released in the fall and this is yarn for the sample. I haven’t had any of the yarn, so at least I can now swatch.

While I was waiting I created my master spreadsheet for grading the pattern into multiple sizes, which allows me to dive down into how the project will be structured, and think about each step of the knitting process.  If you are a designer/knitter interested in learning about using spreadsheets to grade, I am planning to do an online class in the fall. You should email me to get on my mailing list for the online Grading class. I am not a spreadsheet whiz, which makes me an excellent person to explain this! I often forget formulas, so I have a reference guide. We’ll talk more in the class about how to create the spreadsheet so you can make adjustments and not have to change anything! You do have to check your work and make sure that everything comes out as needed.Stepping Away: Paintbrushes

I like using this method because it allows me to set up a process I can follow later on. When I scrawl on paper, I end up with sheets of paper with no clue what they are. I do love doing the scrawling though! Also, I can set up all the construction and other details before launching into any knitting or pattern writing.

Stepping Away: Ideas Clarify

seashellsI love rolling things around in my head, so you may be sure that despite the fact that I am not actively generating work I am making lots of plans. The key is to make sure that I write things down. Later on when I do get to sit at my desk I need to have a path for pursing what I was thinking about while I wasn’t able to do the work. I used to be able to rely on my memory much more than I can now. It is hard to remember that I will likely forget key parts if I don’t make notes. Years of having an excellent memory (I blame menopause for changing that) have left me with horrible habits and lots of things I need to remember.

Stepping Away: Drawing

Stepping Away: HouseplantsI got a little behind on my CreativeBug drawing this month.  I have three more drawings from the 31-day challenge I’ve been doing this month (I know, June only has 30 days. I opted not to do the water color challenge right now because I needed to keep this simple.) and I will get to them over the weekend. Drawing has been such a revelation and this month, more than others, I have had to be very fast and not too particular. I’ve posted a lot of photos of what I would consider subpar work. I am learning that sometimes it is okay to just knock something out and enjoy the process. If you want the pithy comments I write when I post my drawings to Instagram, you need to follow me! They cross post to Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr if you prefer to follow me on those platforms.Stepping Away: BootsStepping Away: Seashells

Stepping Away: Cactus

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: clarity, CreativeBug, drawing, grading class, ideas, Sheepspot, stepping away, yarn

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