Wish me luck!

I have looked and looked and could not find one single pattern anywhere for a convertable shawl/cape/bolero/shrug for my daughter to wear to prom on April 20th, so I decided to use my snooping skills and math to make one out of a beautiful lace pattern. It has taken me 10 hours so far, and I am finally on row 6! I have frogged and frogged and frogged! I now have the pattern down the way it should be, now just gotta finish the piece. When I do, if anyone has any suggestions on how to get it out there, with my name on it, since I worked so hard on it, I would be grateful.:knitting:

Glad you found a lace pattern you like and a way to make it into a shawl-shrug. Do put in lifelines as you go along so that you can always keep your place just in case you need to frog again.
Get it out there?

You mean to sell it? Maybe you could post the finished product on Ravelry and charge for the download. I don’t know how that works, though.

Kind of like on Ravelry, but not, I know more confusing. Okay, I had to use a TON of brain power to come up with this, it is going to be awesome, and over two weeks of planning, searching, trying to find something I wanted, and just gave up and literally did the math :). So, what I was asking was if anyone knew of a place to send the idea and picture into once it is done to have it published?

You could try submitting it to Knitty.com, knitting magazines, to the 365 knitting patterns calendar, and to Annie’s Attic to see if they might be interested in printing it (they sometimes do little leaflets, as does other craft publishers, which you’ll want to look up). In addition, you might contact yarn companies and see if they would be interested in having you 1) reknit your creation in one of their yarns, and 2) have it published on their site or in their publications.

You can find submission information online for all of these, plus the magazines themselves always include submission info, too.

You also might look on Ravelry to find people who have had their patterns published and ask them how they went about it. In particular, look for people who have just had their first pattern published. They probably have more recent info about how to get your foot in the door. Ravelry may already have a forum about this, too, so check that as well.

Congrats on your one-of-a-kind creation. I’m not sure if you should share it with us just yet–maybe wait and see if someone wants to publish it first. But [U]at some point,[/U] we’d love to see it!

thanks for the advice, heeded. also, put in my first lifeline, and just in time, two rows later, I messed up and had to frog, but at least this time not the whole thing

thinking maybe I shouldn’t have made it so long, lol

Just another thought to consider when you are to the point of submitting the pattern/design:

[ul]
[li]Is the design a ONE SIZE pattern? Have you included the numbers for size Sm, Med, Lrg?[/ul][ul][/li][li]Have any TEST KNITTERS (other than yourself)successfully knit this from your pattern as written? This is how errors in the pattern numbers are spotted before publishing.[/ul]I think these two points will be asked by any publisher or yarn company. [/li]
Over at Ravelry, I see several designers who engage “test knitters” for something they created. My BFF volunteered for to be a test knitter for a cowl. I can’t remember if the designer supplies the yarn. But I think so. A lot of ambiguities in the pattern language were hammered out, and errors were spotted and corrected before the design went “live” and “for sale”.

Even if a free pattern is offered on Rav…it’s nice if it’s been tested for errors and ambiguities.

Just sayin…there’s a reason we pay $6-$8 for a pdf. The designer has a lot of time and money invested in it.

Twist Collective is another website that regularly features the designs (offered as pdf) of well-established designers and new designers, too.

I buy pdf’s from Twist Collective all the time. One nice feature I appreciate…the pattern errors are on the website, and if the designer wants to publish a Revised copy of the pdf…I’m automatically notified, and sent a link for the new version. They keep their customers in the loop, and it makes me feel I’ve spent my money wisely.

Best Wishes on your project! It is like giving birth, isn’t it! :wink:

Yes, it is like giving birth! I have the pattern written, and since it is for a cape, it is pretty much one size fits all. But to make it bigger (wider) you would just add the multiples of 6 to increase. I have even made a fur collar for it (humane, don’t yell at me, repurposed from an old coat of my grandmother’s). I am about 1/2 way through it now, just had a heart attack moment (see general knitting for my post!), and am taking a break before continuing to get my blood pressure back to normal.

oh, and just so everyone knows, my grandmother’s coat is actually my great-great-grandmother, cherokee indian, this was her “bridal coat”, the deer skin she used to make it has deteriorated badly (mishandling by ancestors), so pretty much all that was left was the rabbit fur collar and leggins, they are still in excellent shape, but they were kept by another ancestor and taken care of.

Oh yeah, gotcha. A cape would pretty much be ONE SIZE fits all. I’d add a notation about the number of extra stitches needed for Queen Size. It would make your design more appealing to a greater number of customers.

already done, thanks!

And, it is gorgeous! now just to rewrite the pattern so that it is easy to read, have someone else knit and crochet it up to make sure they get the same result! Thinking of adding a peter pan type collar in knit to it, for those who don’t have a collar for it.

I fully expect it is gorgeous and I’ll absolutely agree when you post a photo! :wink: It sounds absolutely lovely. Good luck with getting your pattern finalized, it sounds like a lot of effort but worth it. I’d consider volunteering as a test knitter but I’m certain it’s way beyond my skill level, get someone who knows what they’re doing. :thumbsup: Thanks for adding the info for making larger sizes, it’s so frustrating not to find them for myself or someone else. You’re wonderful to think of us. :muah:

That made me think of Shandeh at Bernat, we both are a bit larger. I wonder if they’d be interested in it. She might be able to tell you how to get the process started too.

that would be awesome, how do I get in touch with her?

Shandeh? If you start a thread with her name it might get her attention. She’s one of the mods and hosts our annual New Year’s Eve bash here.

the pattern is written, all set, now to just find someone to work it, and not steal my design :slight_smile:

You can also send Shandeh a PM by finding one of her posts and clicking on her name in the box at left (the box that provides personal info about posters).

It sounds like you’re in the final stages of your pattern writing venture. That’s terrific! You might find some test knitters here, but you’d have to post a picture of your creation, which would “let the cat out of the bag,” so to speak. But on the other hand, you probably won’t get any volunteers for test knitters unless they can see what they’re supposed to be making. At any rate, if you don’t find anyone here, I’m positive you can find some people on Ravelry.

Congratulations!

I wish I could help with pattern writing stuff, but the only thing I would recommend would be to follow the excellent advice already here in this discussion. I’ve never submitted a pattern before. My job with Bernat does not involve work with the Bernat Design Team.

and should be done sometime next month (guessing). I have submitted it to Berroco because I am in love with their yarn, and plan to submit it to several other yarn companies, just getting in touch with them is the hard part!