The St Ives Shawlette from the Definition booklet by Artesano.
I had designs published in The Scrumptious Collection 2 by Fyberspates, three designs in 'Shawls, Wraps and Scarves' by Classic Elite, Vogue Knitting, Knitting Tradition (Interweave), The Unoffical Downton Abbey Knits (Interweave), The Debbie Bliss Magazine, The Knitter, Knitting, Let's Knit, Knit Simple, The Crochet Project, Simply Crochet and Interweave Crochet. I designed for several yarn companies too, including Sweet Georgia, Artesano, Alpaca Select, and I did several designs last summer for West Yorkshire Spinners which are due to be published soon.
Talland Bay Socks from the Artesano Definition booklet.
My proudest moment this year was to be published in Vogue Knitting. Although all the magazines I design for are great, designing for Vogue Knitting is something special. Ask any designer!
My other very proud moment was to have a design on the cover of The Knitting Traditions Fall issue. This was my first US magazine cover.
A quick glance through my diary, I think I had between 70 and 80 design deadlines last year. Wow, no wonder I was busy! Many of those designs have not been published yet.
'Morag' which made the cover of Knitting was one of my favourite sweater designs of 2013.
Looking back at my goals for 2013, one of my main goals was to write and submit a book proposal. For most of the year I was too busy to even think about working on this goal. Then in October a publisher contacted me about doing a book with them. So I worked up a very quick proposal and .... I just signed the contract on Friday last week. I wasn't going to announce it till the publisher had received the signed contract back and it felt a bit more real but I am writing a book! That'll keep me very busy for the first half of 2014. Submitting a book proposal has been on my to do list for years now and I was determined to do it in 2013 but it only really got done because the publisher contacted me but I'm so happy I've finally gotten over that hurdle of writing my first book proposal. I don't feel at all daunted by writing another proposal now.
Another goal was self-publish more reguarly. Well, I failed massively on this one. I started the year off by knitting up several new designs but before I got the patterns finished, I got too busy and several of those designs are still un-published. I am aiming to start publishing some of those very soon.
The Lace Skirt I designed for the Debbie Bliss Magazine.
I wanted to design more for American magazines. I've been partially sucessful here. Getting a cover on an American magazine and a design in Vogue Knitting are huge successes but I didn't submit to as many magazines as I wanted to. Especially during the last six months, I've found it difficult to work on design submissions because my workload has been so heavy.
I wanted to teach more and I definitely did that. I taught a lot of classes last year including online ones and I loved it. And I'm teaching even more this year. Check out my classes for the next 6 months.
I was planning a new yarn venture but that never happened. It will happen by February though so I'm very excited about that. I also cut down to dyeing yarn for the Lace Lovers Club and shows only and now I've decided to stop dyeing yarn all together and with everything I've got planned for the next 6 months I'm glad I made this decision.
My new bike photographed on my first bike ride at Mount's Bay last August.
One of my personal goals for 2013 was to focus on health and fitness and I wasn't very succesful at this. I try to watch what I eat and to stick to mainly low fat food (too much fat upsets my stomach since I had my gall bladder removed). I've not lost any weight though which is kind of depressing. I wanted to get fit last year and I didn't really make much progress towards this goal. But in August I did buy a new bike and I've tried to use it a bit but I'm not very keen to cycle on the narrow Cornish lanes or in town. I do cycle in to town sometimes when it's dry and I don't have the car but it's not really long enough to make a bit difference. I really need to find a safe road route I can cycle twice during the week and then on the weekends we need to make an effort to load the bikes on the car and head off to one of the local cycle trails. We did this twice over Christmas and enjoyed it (well, we enjoyed the first ride, the second one was a bit wet and muddy).
I wanted to spin and knit a sweater for myself and to learn double knitting. I've made no progress on either of those goals at all! I still want to learn double knitting and I do have a DVD to teach me. I did spin more in 2013 than I did in 2012 so I'm pleased about that although I haven't touched the wheel for weeks. But I have learnt to sew which is something I never thought I'd do. If anyone had told me a year ago that I'd enjoy sewing and even get a sewing machine I would have laughed. But it's happened and I'm enjoying my new hobby.
The BFF Shawl for Interweave Crochet Accessories.
Finally, I wanted to design more crochet patterns and that did happen in 2013. I had designs publishd by Interweave Crochet, Simply Crochet, Let's Knit (Essen and Verna) and The Crochet Project (Sibleyback Infinity Scarf and The Berula Poncho).
So that was 2013! It was an amazing and very busy year. I'm hoping this year will be a little bit more organised as there were times last year when I felt a bit 'out of control'. I struggled with my workload at times and learnt that I can no longer say yes to everything. Which was an important lesson for me to learn and something I need to bear in mind during the next 6 months while I write my book.
2 comments:
Wow! Well done!
Thank you x
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