American Pride, Pattern Testing, & KAL/CAL News

Happy Independence Day, everyone! Here in the U.S. of A., I can hear people setting off fireworks. But most of all I hear music in my head, first of all, Lee Greenwood’s beautiful “God Bless the U.S.A”:

And then, as always when I think of patriotic songs, I think of growing up on an Air Force bases and hearing the National Anthem played every day all over the base at a certain time. Even as a kid, I remember stopping what I was doing and standing stock-still with hand over my chest for the duration of the song. Only when the song was finished did everyone on the base continue what they were doing. And, sometimes, I miss that here in civilian life, hence the video below (note the car that does not start driving out of the parking lot until the song is finished):

So happy Independence Day and thank God for our men and women in the Armed Forces who fight to keep this country free.

But this is a knitting/crocheting blog (with occasional book-talk and tea-talk thrown in). So let’s get on with the crafting. And it is on with the CAL/KALs.

Tortoise vs Hare has begun!

Yes, the Tortoise vs the Hare has begun. And, yes, the mug above is real and made for the cohosts of the CAL/KAL as well as two possible winners of the the CAL/KAL (one from the Crocheting Whovian podcast and one from PHN) at the end of of the CAL/KAL at the end of September. Actually, I am drinking tea from my mug right now.

Actually, I sadly just finished my cup of tea. I need to make another cup.

Anyway, the Tortoise vs. the Hare is going strong. I have a Bitty the Bashful Baby Turtle and an Oops the Bunny started. I think I’m trying to go for the Bunny record. I think I’ve made seven to date. I am strongly Team Hare. I need to make T-shirts. But when I release PHN’s Episode 214, I talk more about that idea. I’d love to hear what you think. I’ll try to add in the link when the episode finally finishes uploading. My computer has been kind of slow lately with the massive amount of video content on it between me being the techie for the PHN podcast (God help us) and all my tutorial videos for my patterns.

Oh, speaking of tutorials, the tutorial Sparkle the Unipony is done! Meet Martin!

He’s the blue unicorn with the orange horn. And I’m keeping him. Which means that I will eventually being selling Sparkle (the original unipony). I just don’t have the space to keep multiples of my toys, particularly the large ones like Sparkle.

So, anyway, Sparkle is now officially in testing (and thanks all of you who agreed to test for me and/or showed interest in doing so!). All that is left is for me to finish getting my tutorials loaded and embedded in the pattern. Which takes much longer than I really like to think about. Like I said, this computer is really slow.

I know that y’all have been waiting for Sparkle for a long time. I’ve only been talking about this pattern for about 2 months. So what took so long? Well, first of all, Sparkle is a large toy. Definitely a good cuddle-size, but that also means that there is a lot of crocheting involved. And I have a bad case of project ADD anyway. Or would that be AD — Attention Deficit vs. Attention Deficit Disorder? Anyway, not congruent to my point.

So most of that two months were taken with typing up the pattern, then doing all the actual crocheting. Once all the crocheting was complete, I (thankfully) had a night off of work with nothing else planned. From about 20:30 to almost 04:30, I worked solidly on piecing together Martin and recording tutorial videos while doing so. All the videos have been recorded, but now is the long process of getting them all loaded, the sound tweaked (my GoPro records sound really softly, so I have to amp up the sound in editing), and embedding the videos in the pattern. So, yeah, an inside look at the process of putting together one of my patterns. More than you probably really wanted to know.

Anyway, what other news is there to share? The Ami-Along is still going strong, so if you are making Tortoises and Hares, make sure that you also double dip in the Ami-Along for a chance for prizes. I don’t think I can make my own toys for a chance for prizes and so I’ll be crafting along in the spirit of thing. I really do hate working with plastic eyes and really enjoy working my particular (unusual) brand of eyes, so I pretty exclusively make my own toys. But there are plenty of really cute toys in the Ami-Along. Kate E. Hancock, Vivian Clotilde, Justyna Kacprzak, Megan Barclay, and Alyssa Voznak are just a few of the many awesome designers involved in the Ami-Along. So you should really check it (and them) out. And I have a particularly special place in my heart for PatchworkMoose (Kate E. Hancock) and Stacey Trock (Freshstitches) since I feel like their influence started me off on this designing journey to begin with. Oh, and Stacey is also involved in the Ami-Along. Like I said, many, many awesome toy designers are playing in this thing. It’s a whole lot of fun.

Well, I’m craving another cup of tea (my fourth for the day), so I’m going to sign off. I hope you had a great holiday (those of you in the USA) and that you might have a great week!

Happy knitting and God Bless,

Tahlia

Don’t forget to knit something red for the Cardiac Red-Along!

Pattern Testers — I salute you!

Ugh. Mornings. The hardest thing about being on vacation is getting up when the sun is up instead of going to bed when she pokes her head up over the mountains.

What is this thing shining through my window?

Anyway, now that I’ve had a few hours of sleep and am eating my breakfast — and more importantly drinking my American Breakfast tea (read: caffeine) — I hope to be able to write about testing for my patterns.

I take whatever excuse I can to practice with my camera — hey, look, caffeine!

Anyway, testing. How I run testing for my toys has changed quite a bit over the year that I’ve been writing toy patterns. With Barry (I resisted the urge to post a picture of Barry, aren’t you all proud of me?), I just threw up a picture of my finished toy in Pen, Hook, And Needles Podcast group on Ravelry and prayed that someone who watched Mom and my podcast would be kind enough to test for me. Actually, my rules for testing were barely a paragraph long. A lot has changed since then.

Awww. There’s hardly any rules at all. Isn’t that cute?

Now I have a full form. Partially because now I know what I need from my testers (thank you, Creative Yarn Entrepreneur for your guidance on your podcast!) and partially because other testing groups I’ve been in have helped me develop a form. Oh, and I also allow people to post their finished objects on the Ravelry pages or show them on their podcasts. Because, seriously, I can use the publicity. The more people who are showing off my toys, the better.

Looks almost official, doesn’t it?

I’ve discovered, now that I am on my 7th design test, what it is that I really need from my testers.  Oh, and I’ve now added a #7 to that list — What hook and yarn did you use and how much yarn did you use?

As mentioned in previous blog posts, I am a rather tight crocheter, so it’s important for me to know how much yarn my testers use. If most people more yarn than I do, the amount of yarn I suggest for people to buy, is going to be more than if everyone uses the same amount of yarn I do.

Why compensation? Well, my testers are valuable to me. They catch my mistakes, give suggestions, and provide pictures that get my patterns out there for others to see. I want to reward them for their time and support.

It was because of my testers for Barry the Cardinal that I have so many close-up pictures (for placement of limbs, etc.) at the end of pattern for my toys. It was because of my testers for the Tilly the Springer Spaniel pattern that I added video tutorials that have now become such an important part of my designs. It was because of my testers for the Selina the Cat pattern that I’ve streamlined my pattern writing. And many other small changes have come about in my pattern writing from each test.

My testers help me grow as a pattern designer and help me to make my patterns better. A year from now, my tests may look different, based on what I’ve learned and what I need for my patterns. But I will never cease to need testers for my patterns.

Pattern testers out there, I salute you — and whole-heartedly thank you for all your help!

God Bless,

Tahlia

Kitties! Because I can’t have a post without a picture of one of my toys.

Michelangelo vs. DaVinci?

It has been probably a good month three months since I started my current design-in-progress and it has been a little over a month since I released my most recent design. To those who watch my podcast, it probably seems even longer, since, every week, without fail, I show off two “secret” bags containing designs-in-progress. Designs they can’t see until some unspecified date.

No doubt, they are beginning to wonder if there is even anything in the bags. After all, I design toys, I’m not carving Michelangelo’s David or painting the Sistine Chapel, for crying out loud. And we won’t even compare to Leonardo DaVinci — I’d like to think that my track record for finishing things is slightly better than his. The man was well-known for being… easily distracted, shall we say. He had so many interests and such great talent in so many areas that he was notorious for just dropping projects to move on to the next one. Something that most knitters and crocheters can sympathize with. I think that most of us have a hoard of project bags filled with lonely projects that have not seen the light of day in forever. My cross-stitch can attest to suffering from this fate.

But I digress. My point is that it probably seems to those following my progress on my designs that I am taking an inordinate amount of time on this most recent design.

There is a lot of time spent, but that’s because there is a process that I have developed for my toys to get them as close to perfect as I can before the date that I reveal them and hunt for testers. This process has been tweaked throughout the year I’ve been designing, but I will cover it as it is in it’s most current form.

1. The List. Every design starts with an idea. That idea then resides on The List. Yes, capitalized letters. The List is filled with potential designs. Once a toy makes it to The List, it has great hope of being created. I hope to cover The List in greater detail in a later post.
2. The collection of pictures. When I get really excited about a potential pattern, I build a folder on my computer with the name of the toy-to-be and with a collection of pictures of that kind of animal that I find online. These pictures are what I use as a guide while I am making The Sketch.
3. The Sketch. This is probably one of the most integral parts of the design process for me. The List is the basic begetting of the idea. The Sketch determines that, yes, this toy will become reality, and this is how it looks and will be posed. Usually there are notes written around animal in The Sketch, helping me to determine how the toy is to be formed as I build it. I have one notebook that contains all my sketches for my designs and just my sketches for my designs.                
4. Active Design. This is the part that makes me feel like Michelangelo creating David. Using my sketch and the pictures on my computer as a guide, I sculpt each animal body part with yarn as my marble and my hook as my chisel. If you wanted to continue with the sculpting metaphor, that is. This is probably my favorite part of the designing process. At this part, the toy builds for the first time under my hands, although it is a lot easier to change my mind and alter my plans than it was for Michelangelo when he dealt with marble. While I am building my toys, I am also writing down in a notebook exactly what I’m doing. These notes will be used to type up the pattern later.
5. Typing the pattern. This is when I not only format the pattern, but also check to make sure my math and wording makes sense.
6. Photo shoot. This part will be done many times, although it usually occurs the first time during the process of typing the pattern. Photos are then placed in the pattern to help with placement and to indulge my love of taking pictures of my toys.
7. Designer test of the pattern. This is when I try to work the a replica of the toy I just designed, using my newly typed pattern to guide me. I catch a lot of my own mistakes this way, before the pattern even reaches testers.
8. The video tutorial. Every single one of my toy patterns have a link to a special video tutorial to help with placement of toy parts and with the more unusual techniques in my patterns. This a second reason for the second toy I make. That toy is my tutorial toy which I end up putting together on camera.

And all this has to be completed before

9.  Testing. My toys are usually in testing for about a month in a half before I release them for sale. More on that later.

So it takes a long time when I have one secret projects going. Sometimes, I may even have two or more, in various stages of testing. At one point, I had one toy in testing, one in the active design phase, and one in the sketch phase. So sometimes it can take awhile to get a design out for testing.

I don’t know if my process is unusual or not. I do know, however, that it is what works for me.

So beware, if you are seeing this,

it does not mean that the finished design is just around the corner. I may even have the prototype done, but until I announce a testing, I could be anywhere in the steps of my design process.

I do hope, however, that you will find that the finished pattern and toy are well worth the wait.

God Bless,

Tahlia