First week in LA with TriCoast and StitchHeaven

My first week of work at TriCoast Studios is coming to a close and it feels pretty great. 

To say the last month has been crazy would be an understatement. I don't even know if I can accurately describe the whirlwindy, crazy, state that life has gone into lately. I have been moving a million miles a minute... finished up my internship with Helen as best as I could, but not before I got an amazing job offer! One day I was thinking, I guess I can continue this internship as a job, but it's rather tricky to be over 2,000 miles away from my boss, and I don't like working from home nearly as much as I thought I would. The upside of that was I totally over my living situation, and with an online job the possibilities are wide open. 

We began bravely and carefully "city shopping," considering San Francisco, Monterey, Portland, and LA with some reluctance. Then one afternoon I got a call from Marcy Hamilton, my friend from my flight to Columbus for the TNNA tradeshow, which made the decision for me. She had heard about my internship, had told me she was interested in hiring someone like me and I never thought she was so serious. But three weeks later here I am, with an amazing job, and a new apartment in LA. 

The studio here at TriCoast is a pretty easy place to get acclimated to. Marcy and Strath and all the staff are amazingly friendly and have welcomed me well during my first week. It was a challenge to get here, but I already know it was beyond worth it. 

We're working on getting ready for Vogue Knitting Live, and most importantly anticipating the release of Knitting Video Stitch-Alongs Vol 1; StitchHeaven Salutes Barbara G. Walker, the first ever video enhanced ebook. Having the first eVbook on the market is hopefully going to make TriCoastONline and StitchHeaven household names in the knitting industry, which if you know anything about me, you know that floats my boat over the moon...

The StitchHeaven Salutes Barbara G. Walker DVD is an amazing resource for knitters, and it's very exciting to be working with an idol such as BGW. On top of that we're going to have the first ever eVbook! It's going to make DVDs old news; now you can carry the stitches and patterns around with you and reference them on your iPad or phone whenever you want. The format is just awesome. 

Enough gushing... what I really want to share are some photos from my journey and introduction to the city of Los Angeles: 

   

As you can tell from Bea's expression, it was a bit exhausting, but such a blast! :)

It's coming, it's coming soon! The FIRST EVER eVbook, presented by StitchHeaven!

The excitement is bubbling over here at TriCoast Studios....
We are days away from releasing a groundbreaking new type of publication; an eVbook! It is the first video enhanced eBook EVER, and it should be up on iTunes very very soon! I am ecstatic to say it is an amazing resource for my favorite activity: knitting!

You may have already seen the awesome new DVD: StitchHeaven Salutes Barbara G Walker. Now, we are anxiously anticipating the release of the eVbook that includes 5 stitches from the DVD.

It's a video enhanced eBook, with 5 stitches and 5 new project patterns included. The stitches demonstrated are from the DVD, but the eVBook offers the ability to view the videos on your iPad or smart phone, and gives you the video and the text instructions on the same page. The videos are integrated into the book, with a clickable index/table of contents, making the viewing experience SO convenient and fun!

The eVBook includes 5 new patterns designed by Betty Balcomb, one for each stitch demonstrated. It will be for sale on iTunes soon for $9.99, and we are hoping it will become a go-to resource for knitters of various skill levels. Keep your eyes on iTunes for the release of this groundbreaking new publication!

Friendship Color Stories

I got a little too excited when I saw Ruth of rock+purl's latest blog post about the friendship bracelet swap she's putting on. I got right up and went to my closet to pull down my box of miscellaneous rarely used craft crap. I rummaged through the fat quarters, pushed aside the beads and found the ziplock bag full of embroidery thread. TONS of it!

Enough for several embroidery and cross stitch pieces, many of which I put down sometime after the first ten stitches and never picked up again. Sharp needles aren't really my thing. I swear I almost lost a pint of blood to my blocking pins between yesterday and today. 

 I quickly realized that I have more color combinations than I could possible make friendship bracelets, so how to choose? After a few minutes of matching them up, then re-matching them, I decided I needed some way to document all of my possibilities. So I got out my camera and proceeded to take way too many pictures. 

I loved the tutorial from Purl Bee, especially how they say to do the ends. When I made these as a kid they usually were a one-time deal where once you tie a knot in in and wear it 'til it dies without ever taking it off. This makes it so I CAN take it off. :)  Now we'll see how many bracelets I actually get around to making. I gave one to the roommate already and am halfway done with one for the swap! Keep on knotting... 

First pattern on Ravelry

I've just uploaded my first pattern!

It's free (as it has only been tested by myself and my mom) and in the process of being edited by the very generous Jenn Wisbeck of Midnightsky Fibers, who already spotted an error and offered to fix it. So if you make it before the errata is posted, make the medium :P

This hat design is one that I came up with years ago, and has sold more FO's than any of my others, so it seemed like the perfect one to be my first published pattern.

Download it Now!

There's a lot more to writing a pattern than I realized before I set out to do it. I have been making hats in a "make it up as you go" fashion for years, but actually writing it down is a whole other animal. Having it all be mathematically and technically correct is so much harder than just designing something that someone wants to make. *light bulb* Maybe this is why they invented tech editors. Before attempting to publish this pattern, I was sure I could do it all myself. Hah. First error found within an hour. Think again Kelly.

The process of submitting designs to publications is still something I have to wrap my head around. Knitty wants a finished pattern, Twist Collective wants a sketch and a swatch. Print magazines seem to have the same divide: one says send us a generous swatch, one says a completed garment. In all cases I know they have people who are experienced in sizing or "grading" or whatever you wanna call it. I obviously can't submit a sweater pattern in S-3X when I can't get the sizing on a hat right...

But people have been telling me, and I have been telling myself a whole bunch... Nike agrees: I need to just do it. It's hard to deal with making mistakes, but it's even harder if you don't get around to making them.

Prayer Shawl Blessing Ceremony!

Over six months ago I started a Prayer Shawl Group at my church, the United Methodist Church of Santa Cruz. Since then the group has come together every few weeks to create shawls and other prayerful objects to be given to people in our community to provide comfort to those in need. 

The first blessing ceremony for the shawls that my group has made took place Sunday June 26th. At the end of service the Pastor introduced the group, I gave a shpeal, and then he said the blessing while we held our shawls. It was nerve-wracking... public speaking always has an uncontrollable effect on me. I swear I'm shaking the minute I wake up on the mornings I have to talk in front of the congregation. But overall I think it went very well, my constituents are happy and it attracted some new attention, so I think I can judge the ceremony a success. 

The group is made up of about 12-14 ladies, some of whom have never knit before, some who used to knit, and a couple who don't need much direction on my part at all. I worked around their schedules and held meetings at various times, since there was half the group that would not be able to attend daytime meetings and the other half that could not attend evening ones. As a result I have gotten to spend a lot of more individualized time with each of the members.

This has been a wonderful opportunity for me to get to know these members of the congregation, as well as work on my teaching of basic knitting skills. After having been the Sunday School teacher for three years, mostly everyone knows my name but in many cases that's all they know about me, so I am thankful to have an excuse to spend a good chunk of time with the adults. 

Life is busy... and then you croak.

I'm aware (painfully aware) that the last time I really updated was before TNNA...

I had an amazing time while I was there. I'm so lucky that I was able to go, and that my travel was surprisingly easy. Every single one of my flights landed early, layovers were short, and of course I had plenty of knitting to do.

The hotel I stayed in the first night I was there was snazzy, and my accommodations at Sherry's house were quite cozy and stocked with good company.  I enjoyed the people I met and I left with an impression that all of the people involved in TNNA, as well as the general public of Columbus, are all incredibly nice.

The geese in Sherry's beautiful backyard were very nice... from afar. Her yard is HUGE and her house is nonchalant from the outside and gorgeous on the inside.











The weather... well it was weather. That snazzy hotel and their pricey parking garage made it so I didn't have to go outside at all when it looked like that! Hah! I will pay $12 for parking if it means I don't get my $12 flats wet, cuz those are not comfy while soggy.




Said snazzy hotel also had a lobby cafe and bar, open late, which provided a surprisingly satisfying meal. It certainly made being alone and nervous about tomorrow a little more tolerable. That, and Beatles on my ipod.

I met an awesome lady named Marcy Hamilton, who is a movie producer and knitting teacher from LA. She struck up a conversation with me the second I sat down next to her on the plane on the way there.
    "You're a knitter..!" She happily informed me as I sat down with one completed sweater in my arms and one halfway knitted sweater sticking out of my purse. I laughed and said yes; instant recognition and fast friendship. We chatted for the majority of the flight, I'm sure driving the man in the aisle seat completely nuts, and she taught me a few valuable tips about how to hold my yarn in a more effective way.

And what a teacher to have, she disclaims master knitter status, but she is responsible for the production of this beauty. A DVD of stitch demos with an interview with Barbara Walker. Marcy gave me a signed copy, and I have to say it's fabulous. I got her and her partner in crime sample skeins of Helen's yarn, I plugged her to the Interweave marketing rep who came by... felt like a huge networking win and hopefully they were just a sample of the wonderful people I will get to meet in this industry.

Before the show I was actually, really, honest-to-god, BORED. So much so that now I find myself referring to things in a before and after sense. Like, "before I went to Ohio I would have done xyz, but now I'm doing zyx."

Before TNNA, I knew I was interning for Helen but I had barely spoken with her yet so it felt as if I was on the outside looking in. There was a lot of time spent initially pouring over the website, trying to tell how I would be able to help her. Since I was able to meet her and help out in her booth at TNNA, my internship duties have exploded. For the past two weeks she has been cramming my brain with suggestions on building skills to become a professional designer, finding inspiration, and her need for marketing and administrative help. As I write this, there are people I should be calling and lists I should be updating. 

So despite the fact that I am just now writing this blog because my head has been in a flurry, I am enjoying this internship and I feel know I'm in the right place, finally. The year since graduation has been interesting, debating if I want to go to grad school or get a "real job" or... what. I think (I hope) I'm starting to get over my naivety about how to follow my dreams. There is no pre-determined path, everyone has a different story.

Definition of the "real world" as I see it now: nothing is defined or outlined for you... nothing is what public school prepares us for it to be. In the real world I can't bitch about other people's tardiness, but I can blame my tardiness on the frequency of their tardiness. That's how things work here in the real world. Nobody gives you detention for being late three times, and if you're good at your job you don't get fired either. In fact, showing up on time might mean you have to wait for your boss. I've been complaining about the electrician for months but I'm starting to understand the reason why he says he'll come at 10 and he shows up at 2:30: he lives in the real world.

A finished Vivian!

Pictures are worth lotsa words right? Well I hope it's obvious that I've got one happy camper of a best friend. 

 

I actually had a lot of unexpected fun putting in the zipper. I used Grumperina's tutorial, which I think was the one that Ysolda recommended. For one thing, it was a lot easier than I expected. Word-of-mouth on zippers had me thinking they were the bane of a knitters existence, with many people employing the help of their seamstress friends to do the finishing work for them.

Personally, I have no idea how someone could do that. I wasn't even gonna let my mother get her hands on this thing. Don't care that she's got the fancy sewing machine and a few decades of experience... that zipper was the cherry on top of my awesome project sundae and I am SO glad I just went for it and tackled it with confidence, because it came out swimmingly.

Of course, it is kind of silly to give someone the nicest, prettiest, most coveted, superwash merino on the market, and then go, "please don't put this in your washing machine, because then you'll probably be calling me to fix the zipper!"

Now in addition to working on the Cassis cardigan, I am swatching away for the next one that is a commission piece for a friend of my mom. Another Aran style, Vivian-esque with waist shaping that is incorporated into the big front cable.

I tried altering a cable from Melissa Leapman's Cables Untangled and wasn't very happy with it... so I ripped that sucker out. I've been to the library many times in the last couple weeks and my head is a sort of jumble of possible cable candidates right now. I have a tendency to not make up my mind until after a project is really in progress. This just means I seem crazy to my non-knitter spectators, because I always seem to be knitting and ripping out.

Lately it seems like I have an FO... like about as often as you see a UFO because hat designing has not been kind to my brain. If you look at my blog entry from back in May you'll see the hat I was trying to design... emphasis on the trying. It makes me crazy to not be able to just get a hat done in a few days, trying to make up a complex cable pattern for this one was biting off a bit more than I am capable of chewing... I think I need to stop trying to chart my cables with increases and decreases included BEFORE I knit it. I need to knit it and THEN chart it, and then knit it again to make sure the chart is right. I don't think I'm capable of knitting and charting at the same time even though I convinced myself it would work much better that way. What I do know is I can knit up a pretty damn good hat design fairly quickly if I don't think about it so hard, or spend the whole time telling myself not to let it get too complicated.