Designing Knits

General Knitting
1

So I have caught the designing bug and I wanted to ask any knit designers out there:

  1. Do you sketch at all? If so, do you know of any good books on design drawing?

  2. Do you try to write a rudimentary idea for a pattern first, or do you just start knitting away?

  3. How do you choose fibers/needles, etc?

  4. Are you inspired by the materials (a certain yarn) or by an idea for a finished product?

I realize there are no right answers to these, but I am curious what other people experience during the design process.

2

I have no tried and true method for anything! I’ve not done that many designs, but I can tell you what I do.

I often sketch before I put needles to yarn…lol, my sketches leave a LOT to be desired! This kind of helps me in getting the design that I envision from my brain to the fingers :wink:
I just start knitting, then frogging, tinking and re-knitting. I try this or that design over and over until I hit the st pattern, design, etc that makes me say :figureditout: "That’s It!"
I choose yarn and needles sometimes thru experimentation and sometimes the yarn (Malabrigo, for example!) inspires me.
Inspiration comes from different areas, sometimes yarn, sometimes I see a st pattern in a garment that makes me say…“That would make great socks!” there is no “one” inspiring thing…everything is inspiring…garments in stores, yarn, magazines…everything!
I remember when I wanted to knit a pair of socks with loops on them that I saw in our yarn shop, I asked the owner and she said she didn’t have the pattern in stock, but I could just crochet the loops on the socks. LOL, I said…“What?! Crochet?! I don’t think so!” and I was looking thru a book that I have at home, Folk Bags and I saw a bag that had loops on it…I then read over the pattern over and over and Loopy Socks were born…my 2nd design.
Then, there was early last year my sister asked me to knit a scarf for her that would go with her ski jacket that has a leopard collar…I was like, “What?!” and after experimentation the Leopard Scarf came about…my 1st ever design (that I want to redo and knit correctly :wink:), so, you see…inspiration comes from everywhere.
GO FOR IT :cheering: :cheering: :cheering:

3

Thanks for the inspiration. Like I have said in many posts before, I never thought of myself as creative. Maybe I just found my medium. I have always wanted to have an “artistic side” and am happy that I am willing to give it a go!

4

:cheering: :cheering: Me, too…I’m happy that you are ready to go for it! You are going to find that it’s fun and that the Design Bug bites quite often :wink:

5

I usually do some rudimentary sketches just to get an idea of proportions but the most important tools for me are the Barbara Walker stitch treasury books.