Oops, I did it again...Yes, I'm in Knitty Deep Fall 2013!

YES, I did it again! Exactly 1 year after my Knitty debut, I'm back in Knitty for their 2013 Deep Fall Issue.

Here I am with my oldest, Roo, during our Knitty photoshoot. She was Snow White. I was a lolita.  It was like Halloween in May!

Let me tell you all, it is hard keeping a secret. I started designing these lovelies this spring, I finished them in May, took photos, submitted the pattern to Knitty, and had to keep a lid on its acceptance all summer. Not easy, especially when you want to show off the really fun photos you took during the photo shoot :) 

Just before anyone gets the wrong idea, no I'm not really a naughty Catholic High School student...I'm a married mama of 2 in her thirties. I did get some strange looks when I was taking these photos, however, because I was 7 months pregnant at the time! 

It was tricky taking these photos and getting the right attitude while hiding my belly.  Not even the editors at Knitty knew I was pregnant in this shoot until I told them that was why there was no full body shots!
But enough about me, lets talk socks!

Ridley Socks were inspired by the character Ridley Duchannes from the Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures). She is a 16 year old siren chosen for the dark side, a misunderstood character who is not really completely dark or light in her actions or nature.






When I was reading the books, for some reason, I was imagining the combination of a Japanese schoolgirl/lolita and an All-American Cheerleader type.  I tried to reflect this idea in the design of the sock. Straight forward and demure in the front, sex kitten naughty girl in the back. Its like the mullet of knee socks. School girl stripes were a MUST, and of course, I couldn't resist making them in bright pink and gray!

I also designed two other lengths for these lovelies which I will have available for you all to download sometime later this week. Check back here for the specifics. Originally it was designed in two yarn weights, 4 sizes, and 3 lengths. I will re-release the full pattern next Spring after the rights revert back to me as a "for purchase" pattern (because that's a lot of extra work people, I need a little compensation). In the meantime, I plan on having available the Over-The-Knee and Mid-Calf versions of this sport weight stocking available as a FREE Ravelry download for the duration of this pattern's appearance in Knitty, a special "yay!" and "thank you!"  for all of you out there who want to give this sock a go. This will be a limited time deal, so I recommend you download it while you're able (it will most likely be disappearing as I get ready to release the FULL Ridley pattern for sale.

 In the meantime, enjoy the new pattern. Oh! and don't forget to visit my friends at Candy Skein to get some yummy sport weight yarn to knit these beauties up!

Some Ridley specifics:

SIZE

S [M, L] in three possible lengths:  mid-calf and knee-high and over-the-knee (Knitty's instructions are for the knee high version) go download my PDF for special mid-calf and over-the-knee instructions.

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Cuff Circumference: 5.75 [6.5, 7.25] inches relaxed and 13 [15, 17] inches at maximum stretch

Foot Circumference: approximately 6.5[7.5, 8.5] inches when relaxed 8.75[10, 11.25] inches at maximum stretch
Leg Length: 7 inches for above the heel for calf-length and 15  inches above the heel for knee high. Length is adjustable for fit and desired style.

Foot Length: adjustable to fit. Minimum length is 7.5 inches (US children’s size 13, Euro size 31)

MATERIALS

[MC] Candy Skein Juicy Sport [100% Merino; 274 yds/251 m per 100g skein]; color: Foil Wrapper; 1 [1, 1.25] skein(s) for mid-calf length or 2[2, 2] skeins for knee-high and over-the-knee.
[CC] Candy Skein Juicy Sport [100% Merino; 274 yds/251 m per 100g skein]; color: Watermelon; 1[1, 1] skein for all lengths and sizes.

US #2/2.75 needles for working in the round. If using circular needles, you will want DPNs for working the gusset and heel.

GAUGE

28 sts/37 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch

46 sts/37 rows = 4" in [K2, P2] rib (relaxed)

September is for New Socks!

Greetings everyone! Its been a while since I've written, but I've been super busy and I have lots of great new things to share with you.

Firstly, I am having a sale on Ravelry for the month of September. Two sales actually. The first sale is on my new Cinna Socks, just released last month:

Grab these lovelies at 25% off on Ravelry. Discount taken automatically at checkout. I'm calling it my Scintillating September Cinna Sale.

I'm also having a store wide sale on Ravelry. 25% off the purchase of any 2 or more patterns when you use the promo code SeptemberSale13 at checkout using your Ravelry cart.  You will need to type in this code at checkout in Ravelry before paying. NOTE: You will need a Ravelry account to view these sales and any other promotions.


I have lots of exciting news to share this month. I have another pattern about to go live on a CERTAIN site (I may share my own modifications to the pattern on this blog), and I also hope to have an Ebook ready for purchase by the end of next month! I'm currently working on a new pattern to add to that book right now, so I hope to have good pictures to share soon.

Also, I'm having a BABY. At some point. This month. Ideally. My due date is in less than 2 wks. So soon I'l l have exciting new little person news to share. We don't know the gender, and we're trying for a homebirth this time. We also haven't decided on a name yet, so be prepared for a BIG reveal.

Until then, knit on, be happy!

Oakland Running Festival, 2013!

I had a great time with my family today at the Oakland Running Festival. Not only did I run my first (and probably last) half marathon pregnant (finishing time of 2:01:05!) but my daughter, Charlotte, also ran her first Kids Fun Run. She’s only 2.75yrs old, but tall and athletic like her mama.

Here we are at home before the start of the race:

Here I am still running strong at around mile 10:

And here is my daughter at the end of her race:

And here is my daughter chatting up a Raiderette (Oakland Raider’s football team cheerleader) getting a picture at the finish line:

Overall it was a great day for a race, if a bit hot. I was very surprised by my finishing time, as I assumed at 15 1/2wks pregnant, I would be closer to my 10:30 LSR pace. I wasn’t expecting to almost break 2hrs! I kept myself super well hydrated and fueled throughout, and was actually able to speed up during the last 3 miles, truly racing the last mile. I didn’t PR, I wasn’t expecting to--last year I ran this same event in 1hr 42min.

I love running this race because the people in Oakland are so friendly and so full of town pride and spirit. The mostly flat half marathon runs through some of the less picturesque neighborhoods in the city, but the people on the streets cheering us on more than make up for it. Overall, I think everyone in the family had a good time :)

I hope we can do it again next year. It might be challenging, however, as my belly dweller will only be 6 months old. Might be too hard on Daddy.

Wanna know what I'm up to...go join my group!

I know it's been a while since I've had any kind of update, and I promise to try to be good in the New Year, but for now, here is a mini update.

I just started a new Ravelry group to track my exploits in yarn and knitting mayhem: Watch Datenshi Design. It'll be the place to go if you want to ask me questions about any of my designs, get assistance from others who've worked on one of my patterns, find out about what I'm planning next, find out about testing one of my patterns, etc etc. It'll also just be a place to chat about our favorite books and movies and other items of high geekery. Anyone is welcome to join, you just need a Ravelry account. I'm more likely to post an update on Ravelry than I am to go through the process of making a new blog post, so if you are looking for a quick way to connect with me, I recommend joining the group. I promise, I don't bite :). I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Happy Halloween! A Tiger in Autumn~a new pattern for you!

In honor of all things pumpkin-y and good, I send out this tribute to my all time favorite holiday, and gift you all with a new sock pattern celebrating the season!

Presenting "A Tiger in Autumn" socks. I designed them for the Sock Knitter's Anonymous Ravelry Group October Self-Striping Yarn challenge. My goal was to create a fun, easy to work, fast knit that I could then give away as  a free pattern to give more people a chance to try out my designs.

The idea of "A Tiger in Autumn" came from researching the term "Indian Summer". We were having a bit of a hot spell at the time, and I thought a lace chevron sock would be perfect for this short, unique season. Unfortunately, the term "Indian Summer" has negative historical cultural connotations that I wasn't very comfortable with. I didn't want such a negative term attached to one of my creations...that, and it had already been used on 3 other pairs of socks (at least) on Ravelry. "ATiger in Autumn" is a direct translation of the Chinese term for the season. I loved the visual such a title created in my mind. I adopted it immediately.

Some of the fun features of this sock include:
--Afterthought heels to maintain an unbroken stripe pattern on your sock (instructions for a basic slip stitch flap style heel are also included)
--A super spiffy chevron patterned sole
--Instructions for making just about any modification you could think of and...
--Instructions for modifying it to toddler size!

That's a whole lot of extra love in one free sock pattern. I hope you all enjoy.

Oh and Happy Halloween~!

You Can Call Me Al...Yes I'm in Knitty!

Yes, its official! I'm in Knitty Deep Fall 2012!

I've been sitting on this secret for months now. I couldn't tell anyone about it when I was designing the sock. I couldn't tell anyone about it after it had been accepted. I had to wait until this moment, today, to finally tell everyone that I had finally made my major online knitting debut...as one of the many to be published in Knitty as part of their 10th Anniversary Issue for Deep Fall 2012.

Why is this such a big deal...well some of my favorite designers got their start from a well placed pattern or two in the archives of this great knitting e-zine, including one of my knitting idols, Cookie A. Essentially, you sell this pattern to Knitty for a small fee, and they in turn provide it for free download for the masses. If I'm lucky, people will then see my other patterns and I can gain popularity and see my other knitting pattern sales grow.


I'm still new to the whole pattern design world, and so I hope this little offering will help launch my stay-at-home mom career of knitwear designer extraordinaire. Or at least help me support my hobby.



This little beauty, You Can Call Me Al  is named for the demon Algalirept from Kim Harrison's Hallows Series.  I am a HUGE fan of Ms. Harrison's work and wanted to create a sock to represent one of my favorite characters from her series. Designed to be worked in either fingering or sport weight yarn, I created this bad boy in 4 sizes. I created a unique stitch designed to resemble flames. The shaping of the foot and heel is also pretty unique to this sock and took alot of work and effort. It has a ribbed gusset as well for added comfort and a snug fit. I hope you all try it out and enjoy knitting it up in a range of yarns and colors. I can't wait to see all the projects.

That's it for this post. Come check out all my other designs over at RAVELRY. Hopefully I'll have more to post soon about this and other projects. :) I'm so glad I can finally share this with you all

The Power of 3

An explanation of my design process

For some, my reasoning may seem a bit illogical. Why produce 3 different patterns from one initial idea? To explain my reasoning a bit better, I want to discuss my design process and vision and how one idea can evolve over the course of 4 months...from initial design to final product.

It all started with an idea and a sketch.

For me, any kind of design starts with my initial concept, then moves quickly to paper. In ink or pencil I sketch my concept, write notes, and try to figure out how I want to actualize this vision. I then try to decide what fiber/yarn would be the best choice, the color, and also the design elements I want to incorporate.

In the case of Primrose, I wanted to play on both the nature of a fictional character from a piece of literature as well as incorporate aspects of her name, its literal meaning. For every sock in my Hunger Games inspired "Tribute Series," I have tried to incorporate both aspects, the actual definitions of the characters names or some other element of their personalities as tied to nature or some other obvious design element. For Peeta, the boy with the bread, it was wheat. With Katniss, it will be the katniss flower, and with Gale it was a storm.

I wanted these socks to have a simplicity and strength and childlike innocence to them to reflect Prim's character. But I also wanted it to be a pretty, delicate sock, something a young woman might covet. Not too fancy, but just fancy enough.  I tried to work elements of the Evening Primrose Flower into the sock design as well. It has large, delicate, petals with a heart shape to them. I tried to add this shaping into the toe, and cuff. I also added optional floral details.  If you look at my original sketch, you can see I was trying for a delicate feminine silhouette, a sock that seemed almost ribbed but also lacy (I wanted to have a wide range of comfortable fits) and has a pretty, curved cuff.

As I continued to develop the pattern, I realized that in order to create the sock of my initial vision, I'd have to make a pattern that might be to complex or intimidating for a lot of knitters. It was also harder to get a really wide range of sizes as the cuff shaping really limited how many sizes I could do. I didn't want to compromise on any of the design elements, I wanted to give people options. As I started to put together the options, I realized I really had designed two different socks, possibly 3, to accommodate both my needs and desires for this design. 

So, should I compromise design for simplicity, or compromise simplicity for design? I then end, I decided to treat this like any design project and consider my audience. Who was I designing for? Did I want to alienate anyone with this pattern? 

Instead of making one massive sock pattern with so many options it would confuse all but the most advanced knitter, I decided to break this pattern into three--three different customers, three different markets, three different products spawned from an original idea. 

We do this in apparel design all the time. Lets say that for Fall what's really hot beaded leather miniskirts over tights. For the designer/couture market that would be a real leather skirt with hand embroidered and or beaded elements and a very limited size range (think Neiman Marcus). The mass market/contemporary version might have a small bit of machine embroidered elements, the skirt may be smaller and have less involved in the overall construction. It might have also have larger range of sizes and cost significantly less.  (Think Banana Republic or J.Crew). The budget version would be made of imitation leather, come in a huge range of sizes and colors, and of course the cost would be significantly less (think Target). In some rare instances, you might have one designer working for a company that has 3 or more distinct markets designing in this manner. A company like GAP Inc, that has a Bridge, Contemporary and Budget market might have a lead designer start with a concept or sketch and then turn that concept into three different garments at three different price points. That's why you can find similar items at Banana Republic, GAP and Old Navy...they are essentially the same original idea, reinterpreted for the needs of that company's three distinct markets.  Its more than just the price that is different. Its also the materials, the care, the construction....

PRIMROSE is my designer sock. It is a narrower sock with fewer sizes. It has a fancy floral motif and a more complex heel and arch and foot. The $6 price point reflects the extra work that went into the pattern drafting and development of this sock. On a difficulty scale of 1-5, I'd say this sock is a 3.5-4

PRIM is my mid-range contemporary sock. Its got a lot of sizes, two different options for foot and toe, no fancy floral motifs. A basic sole and heel and foot. In general, this sock is fancy, but not as fancy as Primrose. It is also much more versatile than the other two patterns with mix-and-match options. It has a clear, easily understood description and a pattern that was written with a more beginner knitter in mind. The $4 price point reflects the level of difficulty for design, as well as the amount of charting created etc. On a difficulty scale of 1-5, I'd say this sock is a 2.5-3

SIMPLE PRIM is my budget version. No fancy toe. No fancy heel. But almost unlimited sizes for width and length. Its more of a "preview pattern" than a full pattern. You can knit a complete pair of socks, but it is a very basic sock. Probably the most plain vanilla sock I've created so far.  A great, no commitment, first lace sock project with a lace chart that is super easy to memorize and a sock pattern that doesn't require much as far as technique and skill. On a difficulty scale of 1-5, this is easily a 1.5-2. And its free. 

Because in the end, I wanted to create a sock that everyone might knit. I just realized that not everyone would want to pay the designer premium for the designer sock.