How to become a Professional Knitter

Friday, July 29, 2011

An Interview with...Jutta Bücker

Once a week I post interviews with interesting designers about their insights on their experience of working in the Knitting industry. I’ve noticed that every designer makes their living in a slightly different manner bringing their own unique presence to the Knitting world.

You can find Jutta here and here on Ravelry. Her website is in German however she has wonderful photos in her gallery. I did some editing, (with Jutta's permission) to improve the readability of her responses but I have tried to retain the charm of her translations from German to English

Where do you find inspiration?

Whenever people ask me about finding inspiration for my designs, the only answer can be that I'm walking with my eyes open throughout the world, with a notebook in my bag. Perhaps it is a gift being able to translate different things into knitting designs (after having finishing school, I visited a well-known fashion school in Munich, where I learned all the basics of designing). I'm interested in eye catching details that make my designs very special. It's not always an unusual design, it's a very delicate cut or very special texture to knit, the tiny little things.

What is your favourite knitting technique?

First of all, I'm not at all a perfect knitter. I fear perfectionists, handmade creations must not be perfect. If I wanted to have a perfect garment, I would go into a fashion store, it's very simple. I've never taken a special knitting class to become perfect in a particular technique. Coming back to the question, I like every technique that is feasible without taking too much time.

How did you determine your size range?

When working for a yarn company the sample is always knitted in S (36-38). While writing the pattern I think about what sizes I could imagine the garment being made in to be worn. When designing for my own collection, I'm interested in designs that are wearable for many sizes. Last year I started selling my patterns (and yarn) at handmade fairs. I recognized that there are lots of knitting ladies that need bigger sizes. Currently I write patterns up to 3 x if possible (it's a question of the design!).

Do you look at other designers' work or are you afraid that you will be influenced by their designs?

I can' t close my eyes to other designer's work. Why not find inspiration from them? The whole fashion world is inspired by each other. That's not a fault. Trends develop out of this fact.

How many sample/test knitters do you have working for you or do you do it all yourself?

I knit the samples myself, I must, because I'm designing while knitting, mostly. I make a design sketch, however not all the details that I draw look good when executed in the knitted style. My best test knitters are my friends, because they are not perfect knitters and they call me whenever something goes wrong or they do not understand. When I'm working for a yarn company they have their own test knitters.

Did you do a formal business plan?

Not really. I'm not at all efficient. A big fault in this business, because it is hard enough and you should have a plan. But, I'm working on it….!

Do you have a mentor?

Yes, I think I have. It's Mr. Zitron, the owner of Atelier

Zitron. All their yarns are German products, produced on highest Oeko Tex standards. I've been working for this yarn company for many years. Mr. Zitron has allowed me to work as I liked. I was and I am free in designs, colours, whatever. We produced different magazines together. The last photo-shoot for the next publication was just a few weeks ago. I have worked for most of the German yarn companies.

What impact has the Internet had on your business?

It took a very, very long time I before I made my first step into the Internet. Just last year, I decided to establish a website.

Last year I heard of Ravelry! I couldn' t imagine knitters on the Internet. What a big mistake that was. Some weeks ago, I submitted for my first time to a US magazine and it's unbelievable, I'm in! Two days ago I released my first pattern in English on Ravelry. The Internet gives me a new platform to work - no question about. And I would not be here…

Do you use a Tech Editor?

Yes, for working in a foreign language it's a must.

Although I've written hundreds of pattern instructions, it's important that a second person reviews the pattern to catch errors in it. Sometimes you are blind to your errors while writing.

How do you maintain your life/work balance?

Sports, sports, sports, to move is the most important thing in my business. Sitting long days and often long nights, it's a must doing sports: walking early in the morning (4-5 times a week) with two of my best friends, laughing and discussing and chattering- wonderful! I also do step, aerobic, a body work-out (all in a sports club) and a fitness circle in a studio. Too much? Not for me!

How do you deal with criticism?

Who likes to be criticised? Nobody, I think, but I try to

learn from it. If someone doesn't like my design, I could

argue that nothing is as subjective as fashion. If somebody criticizes my work, I think about the criticism and try to make things better.

How long did it take for you to be able to support yourself?

Perhaps never ever, I don't know but I'm working on it. Until now I've been happy that I have a husband who has a really good job and earns enough money. It would be the best thing ever, if I was able to support myself one day. Who knows?

What advice would you give someone who wants to pursue a career in knitting?

I live my dream, I can't imagine ever working in another job!

But, it's a very hard business and it's very hard work. To support yourself you must have many good ideas and be very efficient. Or you must have somebody in the background…

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Plus Size Knitting

Front and back measurement is the same

I'm currently working on a pattern for plus size knitting with another designer. We've spent a lot of time discussing the fit issues and I realized in my previous two posts on the topic of bigger bust lines that I missed covering part of the explanation of why these methods work in place of short rowing. Short row shaping is a problem to execute in highly textured or detailed stitch patterns so having other techniques to use expands the possibilities for an appropriate fix on multiple design variations.

If you read through this article by Kathryn Brenne on adjusting for a full bust you will notice that the alteration does not just add length, it also adds width. This is a standard type of adjustment in the sewing world. My Garment designer program has two design variations, simple fit and refined fit. Refined fit means that you use separate measurements for the front and back of the body. Simple fit is the form that knit design typically uses, making the front and back one half the total measurement ignoring that many people measure larger at the front. While women with bigger girls are what we normally think of as having bigger fronts, apple shaped torso's and men with the beer belly shape also benefit from a larger front.

When the wearer's front is larger, more of the available ease is used up on the front of the garment. Side seams are often pulled forward and may not hang plum. Good fit standards say that seams should be perpendicular to the floor.

Front is larger than the back

If you take a knit and stretch it horizontally it cannot stretch vertically as much as gravity would normally allow it to. If you make the front bigger to accommodate the body shape with the appropriate amount of ease the knit will be relaxed enough to stretch vertically and will stretch to provide the extra length that would normally be introduced by short rows.

The post on increasing at the bust-line and easing can be found here.

The post on knitting bigger fronts can be found here.

Monday, July 25, 2011

A Field Guide to Knitters Part 5

Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 4 is here.

Competitive Knitters (Compto knitcreo)

Description

Competitive Knitters come in several variations, design and speed competitors. The speed Knitters are the cheetahs of the knitting world. Their fingers move faster than regular Knitters believe could be possible. They have been known to engage in Sock Wars as well as The Knitting Olympics.

Habitat and range

Competitive Knitters are likely to be found at special events, showing their skills off to large groups of amazed observers. One of the most well known events is the Back to Back Wool Challenge.

A little history about the event appears in a document on the International Back to Back Wool Challenge site:

In 1811 at Newbury in Berkshire, UK, a one thousand pound wager was made to make a coat from the sheep’s back to a mans back in one day. Watched by 5000 people, the coat was completed in thirteen hours. The sheep was eaten with much quaffing of beer to celebrate.

Today's Challenge began in 1992 when Richard Snow, a keen young spinner at the Scottish Wool Centre at Aberfoyle in Scotland, developed thyroid cancer. His desire to raise funds for cancer research sparked off their Back to Back Challenge, a competition very similar to that run almost two hundred years ago. The event created enormous interest in the UK, not only because of the clever wool promotion
but also because of the funds raised for cancer research.

There will be a special version of this type of event for the first time this year at Sock Summit. The Fleece to Foot Challenge.

Vocalizations

This Knitter often answers to the name "Wannietta" or Toronto Spider. At least they do in Canada! As Wannietta says on her blog she is "the 3-time and reigning champion of Canada's Search for the Fastest Knitter with a personal best of 245 stitches in 3 minutes, and 3rd fastest in the world at the '08 Knit Out"

As part of the Toronto Spiders Team she and the other members (Julia Lee, Lorraine Smith, Judy Comfort, Karen Richens, Denise Powell, Barb Aikman, and John Steele), proudly shared their time of 5hr 52min 48sec 5hr 55min 50sec A NEW CANADIAN RECORD 2010!

You can read about this years Back to Back event here.

Field Guide to Knitters:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Friday, July 22, 2011

An Interview with...Karen Crouch

Once a week I post interviews with interesting Knitting Professionals about their insights on their experience of working in the Knitting industry. I’ve noticed that everyone makes their living in a slightly different manner bringing their own unique presence to the Knitting world.

You can find Karen of Shall we Knit? here.

Tell me how you got into the business of running a yarn store?
I had talked about having a yarn shop for close to 20 years and in 2006 my husband basically said to put up or shut up - in the nicest way, of course. Like most knitters we would always scout out yarn shops in our travels so I knew what I wanted and liked. It’s not just about the product but about the atmosphere. I wanted my customers to have a good time while they were here.

Just as we were starting to get in gear to ponder a location a beautiful old Victorian house went up for sale 3 doors away from where we were living in New Hamburg. We bought it planning on renovating the upstairs for an apartment for us
and have the shop on the main level. We had a few hurdles with the township for various reasons and I had been starting to order stock and getting the shop ready when we realized that it wasn’t going to work in that location. And, as they say,
timing is everything – just about that time an old building right on the main downtown corner in New Hamburg was sold and the owner was bringing it back to its former glory. We rented a spot right away. The location was originally a bank for 140 years but the whole corner had been a bar for the last 30 years and then had sat empty for 3 years with loose cats in the building. Needless to say the renovation was extensive!

How long have you been in business?
We officially opened in August of 2007 so this August is our 4th anniversary. Wow is it only 4 years?

Do you run the store by yourself or do you have employees, if you do how many people work at your shop?
I worked by myself for the first year and then I hired Lynne who is my right hand and the other half of my brain most days. Since then we have hired 4 more and they are all still with me. We have an amazingly talented staff and they are all a lot of fun.

How did you choose the yarns that you carry in your shop?
I like natural fibres so that was one of the things I focused on originally. Also, because we were a little off the beaten track with the shop being in New Hamburg we wanted something to make the trip worthwhile. So I really wanted yarns that were a little different or that you wouldn’t see regularly. It’s really hard to sell a yarn that we aren’t excited about so we tend to LOVE our stock and stock what we love.

What have done to create a sense of community in your store?
Every Friday night is Knit & Chat night and we might have 3 people out or we might have 20. At our new location in Waterloo we have a lovely front porch so quite often we have 2 groups going. We have always told our customers that if there isn’t a class going on in the classroom they are more than welcome to pull out their knitting and relax and we have a coffee station set up so they can be even more comfortable.

Classes – we get knitters coming back regularly for classes and then they come back to show off what they have made.

We also like doing events! World Wide Knit in Public is one of our big ones.

Some years we do a Breast Cancer fundraiser with knitting contests with our 6 foot bright pink knitting needles – that’s a lot of fun.

We also have a Knitting Registry – it works like a Bridal registry. Customers can fill out a card to help us help their family and friends get them the perfect gift for birthdays, Christmas or maybe just because it’s Thursday. We also have had different contests – socks, Baby Surprise, even Tea Cozies. Then there is the bag draw – any time a customer doesn’t need a plastic bag they get in our monthly draw.

What is the biggest lesson running a yarn shop has taught you?
I can’t do it all. I have been very fortunate with the people that are on my team (and the unofficial team too) so I need to delegate and let them do it. Letting go has been one of the hardest lessons, it is my baby after all.

What is your favourite part of what you do running the shop?

I love the light-bulb moments we see in our classes. Whether it is a brand new knitter who thought she would never be able to knit or someone who has knit for years and just learned something new. LOVE those moments and love hearing my teachers relating the stories after class and seeing the joy the teachers get from those moments too.

We've seen many cycles in the yarn industry of the market increasing and then falling again. What are your thoughts on where things might be headed now?
It’s exciting to see how knitters are braver than they used to be. We are no longer handcuffed to the patterns. Knitters are changing, adapting, designing. I think as we get busier and busier knitting is one of the things that gives us a bit of control of our time. And because our time is so precious, knitters are using better quality products so that our time is totally enjoyable – it’s all about the right tools.

Do you have a mentor?
I don’t have a mentor but I have been very fortunate in having people come alongside me to answer my questions, make suggestions or just let me brainstorm. Some of these people are other yarn shop owners, designers and friends.

Did you take any courses in how to run a business before you opened?
I didn’t take any courses besides some basic accounting courses but I had managed a variety store and they did a lot of management training that has come in very handy. We do go to the trade shows every year and take advantage of any classes that may pertain to us.

I also am blessed with an amazing partner and husband. He works full-time but is my tech guy evenings and weekends.   He does all of my website stuff as well as looking after set up of books and is my question guy too.

What impact has the Internet had on your business?
The Internet is huge! The majority of our knitters are very internet savvy so it really makes us work hard to stay on top of what is going on out there. We have always had access in the shop to look up things for customers and now with Ravelry and other vendors doing the online PDF sales to shops it is changing some of our pattern thinking. We have an extra computer and an iPad to get on line in case the main computer is busy.

How do you maintain your life/work balance?
Things always work out for a reason. I live 20 minutes away from the shop now and that is perfect. It is really hard when you are self-employed to keep that separation but having the distance helps. I think if our original plan to live above the shop had happened I would have had a real problem keeping life and work separate.

What advice would you give someone who wants to pursue a career in running a yarn store?
Have patience and have fun!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

It's obvious....well no not really

My husband and I recently returned from a vacation and we got lost going to the car rental return at San Francisco Airport. The concierge at the hotel told us it was easy to get to and the route would be obvious.

We also got lost last year trying to find the car rental return at the Rome airport. That time we thought that the amount of signage in four different languages was the problem. Trying to read them and go at the speed of traffic is definitely a challenge.

This time for San Francisco I asked for the address of the car rental so I could use our GPS. The concierge said to me "but that's not the way we do it" and gave me a little card with directions. After I pushed back a little she gave me the address, unfortunately I didn't notice that she did not include the town name and GPS doesn't work with only a street name. I've also since discovered that the street address was inaccurate. In many cases the airport is not in the city that it serves so I thought that was the problem as to why I could not program it in the GPS. I've since then figured out that I could have found it by using the landmark section of the GPS. We missed our turnoff and then back tracked on the highway, started over and found the correct signs to guide us on the second try.

What does this have to do with Knitting? Well it makes me realize that what is obvious to one person isn't obvious to another when you are in unfamiliar territory. There are so many distractions to deal with that are not pertinent to your goal and we are limited by how many things can have our attention at one time. Have you ever noticed that putting key information in the subject line of an email creates questions by receivers who only read the body? Some Knitters skip over the pattern notes and go straight to the instructions making assumptions about project construction that causes them a great deal of confusion and frustration. The way to fix this is to slow down, back track and start over from the beginning. That's the way we got to Hertz to return the car. We got off the highway, reviewed the instructions and backtracked to start afresh.

I find knitting is an allegory for almost everything in life including finding your way when you are lost.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Knitting on Planes

Like all Knitters planning for vacation, knitting is at the top of the list when packing. I usually like to take a fine weight yarn and to plan a project to be worked with circular needles. I also like to choose something with either an easily remembered stitch pattern or very small charts taped on a piece of cardboard that will be easy to prop up in a convenient location.

For a recent vacation as I was planning my knitting for the trip I checked the Air Canada site. They showed on their site that accepted items include:

Plastic knitting needles with rounded tips (except for itineraries including the UK)

I started looking around on the Internet as I have mainly bamboo and some Addi turbos as well as old metal needles that belonged to my Mother and Grandmothers. I was thinking I'd buy a set for my vacation project. It was a lace shawl BTW.

I found Boye has plastic circular knitting needles and they are available in a size range of 10.5 to 19 US (Too big). I also found Crystalites which are acrylic and start at size 8 US (Too big again). Even the Denise interchangeables appear to start at size 5 US. I'd never noticed before that small sizes of plastic needles only come as DPN's. I'm guessing that it is because they would break too easily.

In the end I took a bamboo set which is what I always do and put a life line through all of my stitches just in case I had any problems.

ETA: I had no problems and no challenges from security. I guess they don't read their own rules. I knit on both flights there and back.

Friday, July 15, 2011

An Interview with...Stephannie Tallent

You can find Stephannie here and here.

Where do you find inspiration?
Sometimes I find it while learning new techniques, stitch patterns etc – I’ll learn or see something really nifty and want to incorporate into a design. What I’m starting to do more now, since I’m focusing on collections as opposed to single patterns, is to decide upon an overall theme, create a mood board (this part is really fun for me), then go from there. The themes come from all sorts of things, but of the three I’m currently working on, one is an architectural and design style, one is inspired by a particular film director, and the other an area and time period.

What is your favourite knitting technique?
I love cables and Bavarian twisted stitches best – no surprise there! But I also like stranding and lace.

How did you determine your size range?
For women’s sweaters, I try to offer XS-3X. That sometimes means having a multitude of charts & stitch pattern variations to keep things proportional. I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback on having larger sizes (and for modeling the sweaters in larger sizes).

Do you look at other designers’ work or are you afraid that you will be influenced by their designs?
I sometimes do. I don’t worry about being influenced. It’s fun to see what other people are coming up with. It’s gotten to be more a matter of lack of time. I am trying to do more book reviews and participate in more blog tours, so I do get to see more that way.

How do you feel about the so called controversy of “dumbing down” patterns for knitters?
Hm. I get the impression that the more popular patterns are simpler (as well as free), at least when you look at Ravelry and the popular projects. However, I hope and believe there’s a market for intermediate patterns. Having said that, I really don’t like classifying patterns as beginner, intermediate, etc. I try to list skills required for my patterns rather than classifying them.

How many sample/test knitters do you have working for you or do you do it all yourself?
I just graduated to having sample knitters! Right now I have 2 fantastic people giving me a hand with samples. I also have a group of people who’ve tested for me in the past who are actively testing new patterns.

Did you do a formal business plan?
I have a plan that outlines goals, design plans, etc. It includes some information regarding advertising and marketing, but it’s not a business plan per se.

Do you have a mentor?
Not formally. I had one assigned while AKD was still around, and she was very helpful. I have several other people of whom I can ask questions.

Do you have a business model that you have emulated?
No. I think this business – designing – has so many options right now. It’d be nice, honestly, to have some resources with specific examples on this. Shannon Okey’s book (The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design) is extremely useful, but it doesn’t (and can’t) cover everything (and it’s already 254 pages!).

What impact has the Internet had on your business?
Well, I can honestly say I wouldn’t have gotten into this without Ravelry, let alone the Internet.

Do you use a Tech Editor?
Absolutely. I tech edit myself, and I swap tech editing with a couple other designer/editors. I would never dream of releasing a pattern without it being seen by an editor. I think when you’re designing a pattern, you get into it so deeply that your eyes just gloss over errors, typos, etc. Maybe, just maybe, if you sit that pattern on a shelf and don’t look at for several months, then work on a bunch of things in between, you can go back and edit it, but…

How do you maintain your life/work balance?
Not very well; it’s something I need to work on. I consider myself a ‘laidback Type A’ – kinda like in Harry Met Sally, when Harry’s telling Sally she’s the worst sort – high maintenance who thinks she’s low maintenance. Working from home, if I’m home I feel like I should working, and there’s an endless list of things to do ancillary to design work, let alone all the designing and knitting.

How do you deal with criticism?
Ugh. Not well. I take it to heart.

How long did it take for you to be able to support yourself?
Hah. I’ll let you know in a couple of years, if ever. Honesty, I make more in a couple days of vet work than in a month of design work and tech editing.

What advice would you give someone who wants to pursue a career in knitting?
Learn as much as you can about your chosen area, and keep learning.

Be in a situation where you don’t need to rely upon any income from it (whether that means you have a second job, someone who supports you, you’re retired otherwise with enough savings, etc).

How to become a Professional Knitter - Robin Hunter Designs