Pattern inspirations

Where do you get your project inspirations from?

If you're like me, sometimes they appear from out of no where, like a bolt of lightening. Other times they creep in in the depth of night. Occasionally, in the shower or the car.

Do you find yourself intently gazing on strangers in line ahead of you - desperately attempting to figure out the pattern before their needs are met or striking up conversations just to find out if they created the item themselves?

"Sorry for staring but I LOVE that sweater. Did you make it yourself?"

Do you find yourself noticing every person around you that is wearing a knit and proceed to critique the color choices and designs in your mind?

"I would have chosen royal purple and blue. Perhaps made the design start a little higher here. Oh, maybe some fringe there...yes, I like that..."

What do you do when the inspiration is no longer there?

These are some things that I've found helpful:

• I keep the yarn label from skein I use (if there is one). Most labels contain at least one project and many give website addresses for the company. A lot of companies provide free or economical projects through the web now.


• When browsing at the craft store I always pick up new project flyers. Even if the design doesn't appeal to me, sometimes it will inspire me to try new stitches or stitch combinations.


• I browse craft and book stores for new magazines and books each visit. My limited budget prevents me from purchasing all of the ones I like, so I make a list of the interesting ones for further research. Sometimes you can find them later at a thrift shop or online at a more reasonable price.


• Your local library is a treasure in itself! I've found many interesting books there. My favorites are the older books. Even though the pictures may not be as colorful or detailed, you may find design ideas that other people have forgotten over the years.


• Web searches for free patterns usually result in thousands of project ideas. Who can't find inspiration with that many options?


• Don't rule out books you already have. If you haven't used the books recently you may have forgotten all that they contain. Take another look. You just might be surprised!


• Try Ravelry. It's the best website, in my opinion, for these types of searches because you can search by yarn (that you may have on hand), by project style, by color, etc... This is a fantastic way to destash. The best part is that most of the projects will have comments by the maker. You'll know in advance to watch out for certain things or truly how difficult or simple a pattern.

Remember that if you're going to sell something it needs to be your own original pattern. It's okay to duplicate patterns for yourself or as a gift for someone, but once money becomes involved it needs to be your own personal creation.

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That being said, I do create my own patterns, mostly due to my own inability to willingly follow a written pattern. However, I was thinking the other day, some of my personal pattern creations are fairly simplistic in nature. A given considering that I'm new to the fiber arts world.

What are the chances that no one has ever copyrighted a basic knit stitched poncho or a double crochet dishcloth???? Very slim. So what would give someone the right to copyright such a basic design? Do you think someone has? (Probably, since they've been using these methods for hundreds of years...) Or would it need to be an intricate design to be copyrighted? How long are copyrights enforceable?

These are little things I've been thinking about over the past few days, since viewing a post about this on Etsy. Honestly, it's something I hadn't considered. Do any of you know the ins and outs of these laws or have any input? I'd love to hear about it...

Help! I can't take a picture...

Before

Sorry for being so remiss in my postings. I set up my Etsy shop several weeks ago and, although I haven't sold a darn thing, am spending what amounts to hours a day trying to tweek everything.


I've been surfing the forums and getting to know some of my fellow Etsians. By the way, I haven't experienced this sort of camaraderie EVER in my life. The people that I've been in contact with are absolutely precious! If you ask a question or have a concern someone hops right in to help. Heck, they even have patience when answering questions!


I've sold on e-Bay for over 8 years now and have never had this sort of experience there. On e-Bay, a few people are helpful and nice the rest are snippy and, at times, down right cruel. Etsians seem to have a more personal, caring attitudes. Perhaps it's the fact that they make most of their things by hand and have a deeper appreciation for what's going on around them due to that fact. Selling something made by someone else can be very impersonal. There's no passion involved unless you inject it.


One of the things that I've noticed is a very high standard in the shops. Pictures and listings are well thought out and, for the most part, highly artistic. When I listed my first few items I thought I'd done a fairly good job with the photos, until I compared them with other shops. Oh my goodness! I was almost embarrassed to see them side by side. Mine were so dark and fuzzy.


This past week I've been testing out all of the options on my camera - with flash, without, with Macros enabled, without, with scene settings, with special lighting, you name it... I've even been taking pictures in my dreams!


After uploading the photos, there is more "repair" work to be done - cropping, correcting any lighting or color issues, making sure what looked good on the camera still looks good.



Here's what I've learned -

• I have a good camera with lots of bells and whistles. It's a Nikon CoolPix S210. Reasonably priced at around $100 when on sale.




• There are WAY too many settings to check for each and every picture.




• I don't understand why the picture looks great with the flash on and terrible with the flash off. With the flash on, the definition is fantastic but, it's too dark. With it off, on the same settings, the photo looks grainy.




• You can change the focus outcome by changing the focus of that little box that shows up before you click to take the picture. Who knew???




• You need to take about 5-10 photos of each item in each pose to get one that looks halfway like you want it.




• I have 5 different photo assistance programs on my computer - each one does a slightly different job and none are exactly what I need to fix a photo 100% for posting.




• I downloaded Picasa by Goggle and it works better than any of the programs on my computer but, I still have to resize the photos in another program! Somebody please fix this!




• Picnik works really well but, you have to spend a lot of time waiting for upload and download. You can "buy up" in service but it's too expensive if you're not selling anything. It would be much better if you could install it on your computer, like Picasa, and work offline.




• By the time I finish making, photographing, editing, uploading photos, listing, and packaging items I would need to charge over $100 for each item to bring in minimum wage for all of the hours spent on the item BEFORE a sell is made.

If anyone else is having the same concerns here are a few links that may help with the photography issues -

Little Birds flash photography tips from her blog.

My Handmade Registry offers tips on cropping.

LiciaPots blog post on her photography contains lots of comparison photos and tips in laymans terms.

Flickr shows some shop makeovers although, many of the photos don't offer a comparison. It will give you some perspective ideas.

Why do you need this if you don't have an Etsy shop?

These tips would come in handy on a blog, too. How many times have you been drawn in to a blog because of an interesting avatar photo, or blog logo? When you get there, don't you expect to find more great photos? I do, but my blog has probably been severely lacking in interesting photos to this point.

What to do now?

I'm still working on my photography. I suppose it's one of those things that you constantly strive to improve at. Ideally, once I get more comfortable with my camera and lighting I'll be able to produce show stopping photos! (And, hopefully, stop taking hours to edit them!)

After

P.S. Many of the links in this post came in a recent Etsy e-mail, which I found immensly helpful. I told you they were great folks!

My latest contribution to the Prayer Shawl ministry

We've been blessed with tons of donated yarn! Unfortunately, some of the yarn is older and you're unable to find comparable yarn to match with it. This was the case with this lovely, Lavender, virgin wool. We had one large skein, and no other wool or comparable color to go with it.

Since it was a larger skein and somewhat bulky yarn I thought I'd given it a go with some large sticks and an open design. Although, I ended up crocheting this one to try out a new-to-me stitch, the bobble.

It's done on an "N", I think, which is about twice the width of one of those Kindergarten pencils. Do you remember them? My family laughed at me when I pulled out the hook, as it's very fat and glaringly white. Whatever. It got the job done!

The tad bit of leftover yarn I had went to making tassels for each corner. I still can't decide whether or not I want to felt the blanket to make it a little more substantial looking. Right now it makes a great lightweight, summery blanket.

(Yes, I know the photo is blurry. I'm trying new tricks on my camera and the project has already been turned in...sorry!)

What do you think? To felt or not to felt, that is the question... :-)

If you're unfamiliar with the term - to felt wool means to fluff or bulk it up a little by washing it or rinsing it in warm/hot water and then cool. This causes a little pilling and tightening of the wool, giving a fuzzy appearance and feel.

Announcing a Giveaway!

Be sure to head over to my other blog and sign up to win a set of 4 all cotton cloths. They're in lovely spring colors...

I only wish I could include a dishwasher or maid in the deal. So sorry!

Are you bi-stitchual???

Hmmm...that sounds very risque doesn't it????


Are you thinking that I've lost my mind? Nope. I'm fine. This post really is about knitting. Honest!

Take another look. That's B-I-S-T-I-T-C-H-U-A-L.

.....

Bi - meaning "two"

Stitch - referencing stitches we make when when knitting or crocheting

ual - referring to U ALL...hehehe...just kidding!

.....

So, are you? Can you crochet AND knit (or knit and crochet - I certainly don't want to offend)?

It's said that Jen, a lady from Ravelry, coined this phrase. I'm not sure, but it is an attention getter. I also believe that it's applicable to many of us.

Ok, guys. This is your new word for the day!

Say it loud and say it proud -

I'M BI-STITCHUAL!

Knitting vs. Crochet

Photo from Flickr

Since I've recently learned to crochet I've had quite a few people ask me which one I like better. Here's what I've decided.

Knitting :

PROS - It's fairly easy to learn. You can make pretty much anything with those two sticks, if you set your mind to it! I definitely like circular needles. They allow you to easily connect your project sides, without any additional stitching.

Stockinette stitch is one of my favorites. The chevron pattern that appears can be spectacular with certain yarns! The multitude of patterns that you can make are mind boggling. I believe you could knit a different pattern every day for a year and not even put a dent in the spectrum of patterns.

I prefer the tightness that can be achieved with knitted fabrics. This is particularly helpful in sweaters, glove, hats, and the like.

CONS - Some of the designs are fairly complicated to achieve. The "wrong" side of some of the patterns is not very pretty and could potentially cause problems when putting on or taking off the item.

When you make a (noticeable) mistake it can be difficult to back down to the error for correction. The last time I backed down, somehow I ended up on the bias and was then forced to unravel twice as much yarn as I originally needed to.

Carrying the entire weight of some projects can be tiring to your arms and hands.


Crochet -

PROS - Even easier to learn. The patterns are fairly simple and quick to grasp. Having one needle has it's benefits. This may actually make it easier to participate in other things while continuing your project. Additionally, you carry less weight on your arms by releasing the project as you go, which may allow you to work longer.

Triple and Quadruple crochet sets make light and airy projects a breeze. These are wonderful for spring, summer, and fall accessories. I love the ease of creating circular and connecting rows for more stitchless projects!

The best thing about crochet to me is the ease of correcting errors. You know they're going to happen and the ability to take out one individual set at a time makes it much less frustrating to correct the problem.

CONS - Crochet projects are touted to use more yarn than knit items. Counting is pretty much a given for any project due to half double, double, triple, etc... If you miss count then you mess up the stitch.

The hand that I hold my project with tends to cramp from holding the project in a similar position for extended periods of time. Even though the hand position is similar to the one you use in traditional knitting, this position bothers me more than the knitting position. It may have something to do with the tension...


Things I love about both -

Available yarn selections are phenomenal! Whether you want basic acrylic, wool or silk you can find what you need in hundreds of color varieties. The possibilities of creating the exact same project as some one else has to be close to a million to one.

Portability is a huge plus for me. I LOVE the fact that I can take my craft anywhere and work. Waiting for appointments has never been so pleasurable!

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Do you have a preference? Which one do you like better and why? Or do you appreciate them both?

Admirable efforts

While working on my new Etsy shop configuration, I've also been doing research on what sales on their site. I'm thinking that rather than being inspirational or assisting me in pricing comparisons, this may end up being detrimental to my slim, trim pocketbook...

These beautiful creations are all sold in one shop on Etsy - Gsakowski Designs . The photos are a sampling of their collection. My first visit to their shop left me drooling. A few are reminiscent of the 1900's and all are graceful, colorful, and so artistic. Of course, my deep love of flowers certainly taints my opinion...

The saving grace - I have no where to wear this gorgeous creations to (otherwise, I may buy out the store!)