Now on to the interview!

Melissa Wehrle: As a designer flying by the seat of my pants, I wonder why it took so long for a book like this to hit the market. What was your inspiration for writing it and why do you think the subject hasn’t been tackled previously?

Shannon Okey: Honestly? Witnessing some really obnoxious behavior online gave me the initial spark. I list a few of those incidents in the book, but summed up, I was tired of seeing less-experienced designers behaving badly and expecting to be taken seriously. Their actions paints the rest of us in a negative light, too! Coupled with some conversations I’d had with yarn company owners about bad designer behavior (a tip: if a company is kind enough to offer or agree to give yarn support for a design, it is NOT ok to ask for 5x more than you need, or ask for a ball of every color…even asking for color cards is generally frowned upon since they cost a lot of money to produce), I had finally had enough. Why hasn’t it been tackled previously? Larger publishers tend to shy away from niche topics, and I’m not sure they know just how many designers and designers-in-waiting there are out there, so most would probably not be willing to bet the initial budget outlay on a book like this.

MW: Even though this book is written for designers, current or aspiring, I think a lot of the information might be of interest to regular old knitters too. What topics do you think regular knitters might be interested in?

SO: Not only is it suitable for “regular old knitters,” as you say, but I think there’s a lot to offer other creative people — if you have an Etsy shop, if you do craft shows, if you’re a musician or a stitcher — anyone who might want to sell their work for an additional income boost, or at the very least, get the word out about it. The chapters on social media and creative advertising don’t assume you have any experience in these topics, and unless you’re “digital native” like me (I used to work in the software industry and share a house with another computer geek), you might have no idea where to get started, how the software works or even what it’s supposed to accomplish. And if you really and truly have no interest whatsoever in the mechanics of making a living with your work, but you’re interested in reading how other people do, the interview section at the back is great all by itself. I deliberately asked a lot of the same questions to all 32 interviewees because I wanted to show the range of opinions — there is no one “right” way to do it, there’s no license to become a designer, and so people have taken very different paths.

MW: The book has a lot of current info and in the interviews the current economic climate (or lack of one) has been mentioned a lot. Where do you see the design and knitting industry going in these difficult times?

SO: I firmly believe that the old “up/down” knitting cycle has been, if not eliminated entirely, shortened into a series of specialist “bursts”! (See: the recent lace shawl trend, for one example, or more complex socks) Other designers who have been at this longer than I have tell me knitting used to go in 20 (or 10) year cycles in terms of popularity. The internet, and specifically Ravelry.com, has given people a lot more content to work with to sustain and even amp up interest in knitting. Look at the knitting book market — you literally could not turn around in 2005 without getting hit in the head with a knitting book contract. There was one year in which I completed something like four books. That is CRAZY. But the large publishers have had to come to terms with the overall economic downtown and this isn’t the case anymore — even authors who’ve done a book with one publisher aren’t getting picked up for a second, or in some cases, publishers are actually canceling projects outright.

Why? They’ve got a lot of overhead. Book and magazine publishers have a lot more bills to pay than individual designers or small publishers do. I think this is going to work to our advantage as both producers and consumers! I’ll give you an example: Liz Lovick, who’s interviewed in my book, lives on Orkney, so she’s relatively close to Shetland and Fair Isle. She knows that most knitters, even dedicated knitters who love Fair Isle work, are probably never going to get the chance to visit there. So she produces and sells these wonderful CDs with information and patterns from Fair Isle, Shetland, etc, as well as hundreds of photos of the island in question. They’re something you’re not going to find anywhere else — unless someone on Fair Isle starts doing the same thing! The equivalent major-publisher project would be a giant coffee table book, very expensive, and probably wouldn’t sell nearly as well as these CDs have for her. It’s great because she can earn a living doing what she loves, and the people who are fans of those topics can get something unique they’re not going to find anywhere else.

How does that relate to the current economic downturn? Think back to your Econ 101 class: comparative advantage. We designers (and small businesses of all kinds) have a more level playing field than ever before thanks to the internet and many other factors. If we are professional and do our jobs well (getting back to the original premise of the book), we’ve got an unlimited opportunity to succeed.

MW: Can you tell us a little more about Cooperative Press and why self-publishing is so important to you? Talk to me.

SO: See above. I’ve done 12 books with major publishers, but that doesn’t mean what a lot of people seem to think it does. I’m no Stephen King or Stephenie Meyer, royalties-wise! Of all the books I’ve done, I regularly get royalties on 2 of them, twice a year. About $600-800, if it’s a good period. Try living on $600 for 6 months! For the amount of work that goes into a book, it’s becoming less palatable for me to give up all rights. This book is for sale in print, digital and eBook editions. As new technologies come along, I’ll publish to them, too. Yet two years ago, I felt like I was shouting in the wilderness when I asked my other publishers to make sure my books were available digitally. Most of them still aren’t. Independent publishers can move faster and respond to trends more quickly than large publishers can. Instead of getting 10 or 12% of the book’s cover price (if you’re lucky), you earn a much higher percentage of the profits. The other authors who are working on books for Cooperative Press respect that, and that we’re willing to try new things, such as the royalty model we’re testing with our Fresh Designs pattern book series, where designers are getting paid on every copy sold instead of receiving a tiny one-time-only amount, etc. Not that it’s all about money, but let me tell you, it’s a lot easier to produce good work when you’re not struggling to pay your bills.

MW: Can you give my readers a little hint as to what is in store for Cooperative Press in the future?

SO: Oh yes! We’re trying out new compensation and revenue models, for one. I am firmly convinced if we put out good books, knitters will buy them. (Seems fairly simple, no?) And if you buy from us, you know that more of your money is going to the author — see also the post Sister Diane did on CP’s website the other day. YOU the reader are essentially our sales staff. You help us create more fair working conditions for designer-authors. You help ensure that we can put out quality books even if someone locked in a marketing department somewhere thinks the idea sounds crazy (I am not the only person this has happened to — often, the marketing department decides a book topic is too “weird” and so it never sees the light of day…or it comes out at the same time as three other books that are the exact same topic because one of the big chains like Barnes & Noble started asking for books on that topic).

As for subject matter, we’ve got some great stuff on the way — a book on technical editing, one on “extreme” double knitting, a sock book that will make you cry it is so amazing, a book on a type of sweater knitting that’s never been covered in depth (or in an entire book, so far as we can tell)…join the mailing list over at cooperativepress.com and we’ll let you know when the new stuff comes out!

MW: Thanks Shannon! I wish you much success in all your endeavors!

Now the fun part! Leave a comment below to win a copy of Shannon’s fabulous book. You have until July 28th 8:00pm EST to enter. Good luck!

I just happen to have a design in the issue too, the Elementary Vest. When I designed this vest, I wanted it to be an easy introduction to colorwork that anyone could accomplish. The squares in the plaid are done with stranded knitting and the dotted raker stitches are added later on. While the extra finishing may seem to be a daunting task, carrying 3 colors in one row isn’t really the best way to ease yourself into colorwork. Trust me!

With the promise of cooler weather coming soon, what are you planning for your needles?

The next night, I went back to Knitty City to see Joanna Johnson and hear her talk about her new book Phoebe’s Sweater. I had met Joanna at TNNA, but we didn’t have much time to chat and I wanted to hear more about her newest project. Her illustrated childrens book is totally adorable and comes with a pattern for a Phoebe doll, clothes, her sweater (of course!) and a matching sweater for that special little girl.

Joanna also helped me narrow that difficult color choice down to the Lichen. Thanks Joanna!

I’ve been itching to start my new design, but I had to finish up another project for a friend first. I’ve been working on my swatches on little breaks here and there and I’m almost ready to cast on. I blocked the below swatch last night, but I’m not totally sold on this lace pattern. I think I have to try out one more I have in mind before I make my final decision. What do you guys think? I guess it’s hard to comment if you don’t know what it’s going to be, but I just want to concentrate on the stitch pattern right now. I can tell you it is not going to be an all over pattern, it will be mixed with stockinette stitch.

neoknits will be hosting one leg of the blog tour for Shannon Okey’s new book The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design on July 23rd. I will be doing an interview with Shannon and would like you guys to send in any questions you may have for her. If you could get those to me by July 9^th, that would be much appreciated!

Want to check out some other stops on the tour? It’s already underway! (There will be giveaways!)

3 July: Annie Modesitt
5 July: Diane Gilleland
7 July: Natalie Zee Drieu
9 July: Marnie MacLean
11 July: Daniella Cortez/Craft Culture
13 July: Kim Werker @kpwerker
15 July: Marly Bird/Yarn Thing
17 July: Ellen Gormley
19 July: Kerrie Allman
21 July: Vickie Howell
23 July: Melissa Wehrle
25 July: Julie Holetz
27 July: Donna Druchunas
31 July: Jasmin Canty/Knitmore Girls

For the Twitter tour with Kim on the 13th, you’ll want to visit them at @kpwerker and @knitgrrl from 7:00-9:00 p.m. — don’t forget the #knitgrrlguide hashtag! What’s a hashtag? (Well, it is explained in the book…)

My contribution to the issue is the Aryn Tunic Cardigan.

Designing this cardigan was a lot of fun. This time, I started with the stitch, which was actually from a store bought sample. I was able to reverse engineer it and adapt it for hand knitting. Then I decided that I wanted it to be big and lofty……with pockets! The pockets were so much fun to knit, don’t be surprised if you see more pockets on my designs in the future. There are two ways to knit pockets, as patches sewn on top of the sweater or in one with the garment with an inside pocket bag. To keep the stitch pattern intact, I chose the pocket bag method which is really easy to work. Basically you knit to where you want your pocket opening to be and bind off across those stitches. In the meantime, you’ve already knit your pocket bags. On your next pass, you knit to the openings, knit across the stitches from your pocket bag and go on your merry knitting way!

I really, really love the way it turned out. All that texture + pockets + big wood buttons = LOVE!

When I saw this Knitty surprise pattern in the Summer 08 issue, I knew I had to have it. I went out immediately, walked down to Habu on my lunch hour and picked up some gorgeous silk/stainless steel yarn in an eggplant color. I cast on right away and it was a bit slow going getting used to the large needles and tiny thread-like yarn, but I was making progress. Then life and designing got in the way. I was only able to pick up my project in between deadlines, knitting a row here and a row there.

Well, considering I’ve been on a hiatus for a little while, I was able to make some time to finish this project up. It still took a little while, but I think the result was well worth it.

The sweater was really easy to knit once you got a hang of the yarn and it the pattern format was fascinating. Every row was written out in an Excel chart and the numbers were completely random. Every time the file is opened, the numbers scramble and change. Since everything was totally random, it also gave me a free pass to not have to follow the numbers exactly. If I lost count, missed a twist, or dropped a stitch, who cares? It was quite liberating!

For blocking, I just pulled each piece into shape the best I could. I started to pin them out on my blocking board but lost patience pretty quick. I just tugged in each direction til each piece looked about the same size.

The seams were done with a simple whip stitch. Again, not really being too exact. I pinned everything together to make it easier to work with and seamed it up fairly quickly.

I absolutely love it! Now I just need to wait for the temperature to drop below 90 so I can wear it!

Market opened up at 10am on Saturday and I didn’t know quite what I was in for. No matter how much all the yarn distracted me, the first stop on my agenda was to drop off a few samples at the Stitch Cooperative booth and meet some of the designers involved. I got to peek at Shannon Okey’s  new book The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Sweater Design (which I make an appearance in the interview section), Miriam Felton’s new book Twist and Knit, and the Stitch Cooperative’s look book featuring all of the co-op’s patterns. I popped in and out of the booth all day and had the chance to meet fellow members Annie Modesitt, Shannon Okey, Miriam Felton, Dora Ohrenstein, Kristi Porter, Robyn Chachula, and Stefanie Japel.

Across the aisle, the talented Ysolda had a booth featuring a preview of her new collection that I have been told should be ready by September. Her booth was cute, colorful and fun – everything you would expect from Ysolda! It even included a small photo booth and of course tea and cookies were served promptly at 3. Ysolda’s booth became the comfy hangout place for many of us designers. There was a nice large couch and chairs where we could relax, knit, and catch up with old and new friends.

For most of the day on Saturday, Connie and I walked the market floor checking out all of the yarny goodness. It was a little exhausting, but it was nice speaking to a few of the companies, having the opportunity to see what’s new, and see everything up close and personal. A few of the stops included The Fibre Company (fabulous natural yarns), Anzula Yarns (lovely hand dyed yarns), Manos of Uruguay (they have a new lace weight yarn that is great!), Blue Sky Alpacas, Madelinetosh (picked up some yarn for swatching a new design) and Bijou Basin Ranch (gorgeous yak yarn). We also stopped by the Interweave booth to check out Cecily Glowik MacDonald and Melissa LaBarre’s new book New England Knits.

Throughout the day it was just one big meet and greet! There were so many designers and yarnies that I got the chance to meet and put a name to a face. I kept my cool through all the introductions for the most part, I only came close to losing it when I was introduced to Norah Gaughan. I’m sure you all understand.

Sunday was a little more relaxed. I spent a lot of my time relaxing on Ysolda’s couch knitting and catching up with friends coming in and out. Towards the end of the day I stopped being lazy (either that or the caffeine kicked in) and I spoke to a few more yarn companies, then before I knew it, it was time to go.

Overall TNNA was such a wonderful experience. I was hoping that it would give me a much needed shot of design energy and I really feel it did the trick. Now it’s time to wind up those sample skeins and get back to work!

I also have a very exciting announcement to make. Neoknits patterns are now a part of the Stitch Cooperative! The Stitch Co-op is run by many talented indie designers and distributes patterns to yarn shops and online stores. If you would like to see neoknits patterns in your LYS, please tell them about us! If you happen to be at TNNA, please drop by our booth, #158.

I made a few sizing mods to the pattern. When Connie had first finished her cardigan, I had the chance to try it on for size. At 34 1/4″, it was a little roomier than I generally like. I tend to knit everything I make for myself at 0″ or negative ease. So I took the bust in to 33″ and revised the waist and sweep opening accordingly. I also made the muscle a bit smaller and the sleeves a tad bit longer. I love long sleeves that just graze my knuckles. Surprisingly enough, this is the first pattern I have ever altered! Crazy right?! I have to say that it wasn’t too hard, although it was a bit more challenging than starting a design from scratch. I was careful to maintain the overall look of Connie’s design and stuck with one of her two yarn choices, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Douglas Fir. The Lorna’s made a fabulous lightweight and drapey fabric.

Now I just need to finish my pesky Sea Tangles in between working on a top secret project for a friend. Now that I have caught the “finishing a project for myself bug”, I can’t go back now!

Even though I have taken a design hiatus, that doesn’t mean the needles have been put down. I finished my Mountain View Cardigan about 2 or 3 weeks ago and just need to put on the buttons. Once I am able to chill for a second and take some pictures I will share. It came out really lovely and I hope to wear it out and about soon!