It’s been a year since I launched my very first pattern, Perforate.
Sometimes it feels like time has really flown by, and at others, a year ago feels like another life. There was so much I didn’t know about this business back then, so much I’ve learned. It seems like a good time to pause and reflect a little.
A year ago, I had no idea what my design methodology was. I didn’t really have a plan for how I’d get from idea to pattern, just a huge list of ideas and the urge to dive in. So I tried different things with different ideas, and what I’ve learned is that I have two key approaches, which work for very different mindsets.
See, sometimes my brain isn’t very kind to me. I’m not good at not being good at things (how’s THAT for ironic), so when something goes wrong, I’m pretty hard on myself. If enough things go wrong around the same time, it can spiral pretty quickly into me feeling scattered, inadequate, and really just unable to make a decision because it’ll be the wrong one. That’s when I want a pattern that’s simple, achievable, that gives me gentle changes so I don’t get bored, that I want to keep looking at and squishing as I work, that I can make with something I already have in my stash that speaks to me in that moment. Something like Perforate, or Kodachrome.
And then there are times when I am in the zone, hyperfocused, everything is coming along beautifully, the numbers are adding up, the pattern just fits the shaping perfectly, and I am embodied entirely by that clip of Bart Simpson marching up and down his landing banging on a saucepan and shouting I AM SO GREAT.
That’s when I’ve been able to pull out some of my most original ideas – like the Kiss Stitch, which I used for Keighley.
(Yes, of course there’s also middle ground. But that’s a lot less interesting to talk about.)
So. To celebrate my first “birthday”, I’ve designed two patterns to release this July – one using each method, each embodying the mindset I’m in when that method works, and each showcasing the results I’ve been able to achieve. They’re kind of opposites, in that way: the high vs the low, the precisely planned vs the made-up-on-the-needles, the light and airy vs the dark and textured.
They’re called Zenith and Nadir, and they’ll be out on July 16th. I can’t wait to tell you more about them!
