Sock Design Workshop, part 3

Welcome to part 3 of a 434 part series (joking) called Sock Design Workshop. I am always sharing tips I have learned about design with friends and at the yarn shop where I work, but only occasionally here. Sorry about that.

Today's message is about goals. I have them. Do you?

I keep a list going of ten design goals I am working on. When I achieve one, I add something new to the list. Examples of past goals I had and hit:

1. Get published in knitty



Fall 2006: My first published pattern is called Back to School and it was published in knitty here.

2. Write one of those hand-dying tutorials that gets used, blogged and shared freely on the web.

Fall 2006: I wrote up a Kool-Aid dying tutorial and a Wilton's Icing gels dying tutorial. I still get a lot of action from those pages, even though I hardly dye fiber myself anymore.

3. Start an annual spin-along. Summer 2006: Started the Tour de Fleece here on my blog. It blew up once Ravelry came into existence and that is where it mainly happens now. Funny, because I hardly spin, though I am still obsessed with the Tour de France.

4. Knit on TV?

Okay, not really a goal but I wanted to grow as a designer and this definitely pushed me into a new dimension. 2007: Guest designer on Knitty Gritty.

5. Get a pattern published in a book.



Spring 2008: Expectant Little Knits, Cabled Shrug Hoodie.

6. Get a pattern published in a magazine.



Knitscene, Fall 2008: Kimono Socks!

7. Get a pattern in Vogue.



Spring 2009: Lace socks, Vogue Knitting.

8. Teach at the Sock Summit... Coming soon - Summer 2009!

9. Write a sock book... Well, the proposal is done.

10. Um, well, I guess I better get cracking.

Okay, the last two aren't goals I've hit yet. But you get the idea. The point of sharing this list isn't simply to brag but to remind you that it's easier to hit a goal if you put some thought into it, then write it down and work towards it.

I encourage you to make a list of goals in your own knitting life. (or spinning or crochet, etc.) Then pick one and get to work! It's like my brother says: "The harder I work, the luckier I get."

So true.