I got my laptop back, completely repaired this time, and was happy to see that my Tea Time Hat was published and available for purchase on Knit Picks. As excited as I am about it, telling you that it is published and available doesn’t make for an interesting post so I thought I’d tell you about the process of putting this guy together.
First things first, I got the idea while in the shower. I always seem to get good ideas in the shower. After that, I fiddled around on Photoshop (because this was before I had Illustrator) and made a sample chart. I decided to submit a proposal to Knit Picks IDP because I wanted to try something new.
I made a really terrible proposal. This was the first time I put anything together in InDesign so it turned out pretty bland looking. I also forgot to save as I worked when I was making a sketch on my computer and my computer decided to teach me a lesson. It crashed and I was angry. I decided to hand draw some crappy little sketches because paper doesn’t crash and eat all of your work. I attached my sample chart and a description and crossed my fingers. I was really nervous because I didn’t include a photo of a swatch. I didn’t think I had anything to swatch with, but in retrospect, I probably could have just used worsted weight yarn to swatch.
My proposal was accepted, but some of my colors were discontinued so I came up with a couple alternate color schemes. I ended up with a big box of yarn to pick from. I chose my colors and got swatching!
That’s when things got a bit difficult. I had a hard time getting the colors arranged right and my sample chart was just too tall for a beret.
I thought I had everything worked out and got to this point when I realized that the hat was way too huge. I had to frog and rework my chart. I decided to get rid of the saucer part of the chart because no one could tell that they were saucers until I explained it. Version 2.0 was a nice size and looked right to me.
I used Marnie MacLean’s tutorial to figure out how to make charts with Illustrator. Then I put together my pattern with InDesign. I had finished Miette by this point so I had an idea of what I was doing. I needed photos to finish Tea Time’s pattern layout so I braved the heat and tried to get some decent pictures. The above picture is hilariously bad. I didn’t even get the hat in the frame, let alone in focus!
I got the pattern test knit and edited and I e-mailed it to Knit Picks. I boxed up my sample, contract, and unused yarn and mailed it off as well. Now it is all published! It was a really pleasant process except for when I had to restart the hat after I was almost completely finished. That always sucks. I enjoyed working with Knit Picks. I would send them more proposals if they shipped to the UK but since I am moving there in a month, it will be awhile before I can work with them again.
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