Cowtown Knits

Design Process Series, Installment Four – Math and Grading

September 2, 20132 Comments

That swatch that was knit way back in the second installment of the series is coming back to the fore again. Not only does it show you how your fabric will look and how the different elements will work together, it also contains two very valuable numbers. Those would be your stitch gauge and your row gauge, or how many stitches and rows, respectively, make up an inch of your blocked swatch. Most patterns will give the gauge per 4 inches (10 cm), and that is the best way to measure it for accuracy. But when determining the numbers for a pattern I always use a the per inch (2.5 cm) gauge.

Measure 4" [10 cm] lengthwise and count the number of rows in those 4" to get the row gauge. Measure 4" widthwise and count the number of stitches in the width to the the stitch gauge. Divide each of these values by 4 to get the number of rows/stitches per inch. — Measure 4″ [10 cm] lengthwise and count the number of rows in those 4″ to get the row gauge. Measure 4″ widthwise and count the number of stitches in the width to the the stitch gauge. Divide each of these values by 4 to get the number of rows/stitches per inch.

The next set of information needed are the measurements of the type of person or thing you are designing the piece for. If you’re just designing for one person or thing in particular, using their measurements is ideal. But, when writing a pattern for public consumption you are going to greatly increase your market if you include instructions for many different sizes. There are a number of different resources out there with this information but I tend to go with the Craft Yarn Council’s Standard Body Measurements/Sizing table. There is a wealth of information there for men’s, women’s and children’s standards.

Now that you’ve got your gauge and your standard sizes, it’s time to put that information together. Marnie Maclean has an incredible tutorial on how to use Excel to do all the calculations for your pattern. Excel is particularly helpful for the grading aspect of the calculations, or figuring out the numbers for all the sizes you are interested in.

I’d say that for me this is the most time-intensive part of the process, mostly because I don’t have a very streamlined spreadsheet yet. I maintain a template each for women’s, men’s and children’s sizes, and, in theory, I should just be able to plug in my gauge information and have it spit out the majority of my information. Unfortunately my templates aren’t really at that point yet, but I’m building on them all the time. Below is an example of my current template for women. I’d love some feedback on what I might be missing. Perhaps I’ll come back to this post down the road and show a much different (better) template, but for now this is what I’ve got.

Template for calculating values for women's garments. Adding the swatch values for row gauge and stitch gauge as well as the amount of desired ease will give values for the "Stitches and Rows" section. There are also extra worksheets for Charts, Spacing Formula, Yardage and Testing. — Template for calculating values for women’s garments. Adding the swatch values for row gauge and stitch gauge as well as the amount of desired ease will give values for the “Stitches and Rows” section. There are also extra worksheets for Charts, Spacing Formula, Yardage and Testing.

Thanks for reading Installment Four, stay tuned for Installment Five – Pattern Writing.

Design Process Series, Installment Three – Submissions

August 21, 2013Leave a comment

Vacation (and summer almost) over, back to the blog. Time for the third installment of the design series, in which I’ll cover the submission process.

I’m certainly not an expert when it comes to this aspect of the business. I have had success and failure, both with the pattern featured in this series in fact. But I’ve answered calls for submission a few times now so I can pass on what I do know.

Typically a company will put out a “Call for Submissions,” in which they detail what they are looking for in terms of color, yarns, themes, etc. If I have something in my “little book of ideas” that seems like it would be a good fit for the Call, I put together a submission.

A submission is basically a one to two page showcase of your idea and how it would come to be. It should include, at minimum, a sketch of the idea, a swatch, suggested yarn(s) and a little blurb about the pertinent details of the design. It’s also helpful to include a schematic showing the dimensions of the piece, a bit about the construction, and short bio of the designer with some examples of previous work.

So what are you hoping to gain by submitting a proposal to a yarn company, magazine, publisher, etc? Almost always you’ll get yarn support, that is, yarn provided to you at no cost, to knit the sample. Sometimes the company will provide editing, photography, layout and promotion, or any/all of the above. In return for your design and written pattern you may get paid a flat fee, royalties, or sometimes nothing at all, just the promise of “exposure”. Some deals are better than others and you must really weigh all your options and consider just what it is you’re looking for from the arrangement.

Here is an example of a successful submission (with a few details removed.) One very similar to this was submitted to and rejected by Knit Now magazine. But, not accepting defeat, I modified it slightly to fit the format requested by Knit Picks and resubmitted the idea to them. This time I had success, and you should be seeing the new pattern within the next few weeks.

That’s about it for this phase of the process, next up – Math and Grading!

Testing Again

July 19, 2013Leave a comment

I’m looking for testers for my upcoming design, the Helen Pencil Skirt. Yep, this is the pattern from the Design Series. You can find the details in the Cowtownknitters thread on Ravelry.

Introducing The Eleanor Romper

July 18, 2013Leave a comment

After a long drought, I have finally released a new pattern, the Eleanor Romper! This was my first pattern through the Knit Picks Independent Designer Partnership program, and hopefully the first of many. I really enjoyed working with them, and their yarn.

The Eleanor Romper is a darling little one-piece outfit for babies. Worked with a seamless top-down raglan construction, the romper features a simple but elegant cable pattern running down the sleeves as well as the sides, all the way down to the ankles.

The design is suitable for boys or girls so it can be a gender-neutral baby gift or made more masculine or feminine with color and button choice. This is the kind of garment that will be cherished by parents and passed down through generations.

I would like to give a huge Thank You! to Ryan and Vanessa Barr for letting me photograph their adorable little girl!

Also, to Eleanor Dixon for another wonderful job with Technical Editing.

You can download the pattern, and even buy the yarn at the same time, at Knit Picks website.

Design Process Series, Installment Two – Yarn Selection and Swatch

July 14, 20131 Comment

Once I had an idea of how I wanted the skirt to look, I needed to move on to yarn selection. In my head I was picturing something with a bit of halo to it, maybe some mohair. Having never worked with it before I didn’t really know what was out there. As it turns out, mohair is usually mixed with something else like silk, and it’s also generally very fine weight, like lace or cobweb. I wanted something a little more substantial than that since otherwise I would have been knitting forever!

I headed to my favorite local yarn store, The Loop in Kensington. I was able to describe what I was hoping to achieve and within minutes the very knowledgeable Diana had it all figured out for me. I came out of there with two yarns: Schulana Kid-Seta, a 70% mohair, 30% silk 2-ply lace-weight yarn; and Berocco Ultra Alpaca Light, a 50% Alpaca, 50% Wool 3-ply sport-weight yarn. The two yarns held together provided just the right weight, strength and texture that I was looking for. I was able to find two coordinating colours that were just beautiful together.

The next step was to draw up a chart of the diamond pattern and then put together a swatch. I’ve learned in the last year or so of designing that “meaningful” swatches are of the utmost importance when designing. They are not only useful for determining your gauge but also trying out increases, decreases, edgings, etc. My swatch for this pattern included not just the diamond motif, but also the stockinette stitch hem that I was planning on incorporating. I was delighted with how this one turned out.

In the end, after submitting my idea to Knit Picks, I ended up with yarn support from them. I was able to find two yarns of theirs that had almost the same properties of those from my original swatch: Aloft Super Kid Mohair, a 75% Super kid mohair, 25% silk lace-weight yarn; and Andean Treasure, a 100% Baby alpaca sport weight yarn. Once received, I made another, smaller swatch in just the diamond pattern with the new yarn.

The two swatches matched stitch and row gauge exactly so I was a very happy camper. The two Knit Picks yarns have a little more contrast between the colours, which I actually like in the end. I find it makes the fabric have a tweed-ish look to it. And oooh, is it ever soft!

Stay tuned for the next post – The Submission Process (Yeah, I know, I said that last time, but I realized after the fact that I needed to talk about swatching first).