As of Tuesday evening, the Dallas Handknitting Guild is 136 members strong, and growing. At least forty of those members were at the monthly meeting. I talked to the group about designing sweaters. “I’m not going to tell you how to calculate stitch counts,” I said, “because there are plenty of good books that tell you how to do that.”
Instead we discussed the process of design, which all designers (knitters, fashion designers, software designers, and architects, to name a few) go through, whether they do it consciously, or not. We talked about the design trio, time-budget-scope of work. Knitting Olympians, for example, have to plan their scope of work to fit within a strictly limited time frame.
Smiles, chuckles, and heads nodding in agreement made this great audience even more fun to talk to.
We talked about resources (guilds and other knitting groups being mentioned as invaluable resources), planning, and testing. Luckily for us, with a world of visual and intellectual stimulation around us, we can find much to fill our minds with inspiration: not once or twice, but regularly throughout our designing lives. Experience, accidental and purposeful, is a designer’s treasure.
“The only way to get twenty years of experience,” I concluded, “is to do a thing for twenty years.” So knitters, if you haven’t already begun, start designing now, and next year at this time, you’ll have a year’s experience as a knitting designer!
Earlier that day, my husband and I were in McKinney, Texas, to look at some equipment for his business. We were so close to the new INKnitters headquarters, we had to go see! Diane Piwko, the owner of Fiber Circle Publishing, showed us around the enormous old building that had once been the Odd Fellows Lodge of Farmersville.
Charles and I are fairly experienced old-house-renovators, so we could appreciate the work Diane and her husband have already done. We could see the incredible potential of the site.
Diane has named March 2, 2006, as the opening day for her new yarn store, which will feature cozy nooks for knitters on the balconies overhanging the ground-floor shop. Coffee, tea, and snacks will be on offer. Knitters are welcome to come and knit all day long. If they need to stretch their legs, they can stroll along the brick boulevard in downtown Farmersville, and shop at the antique stores.
The editorial offices of INKnitters and Crochet Fantasy are on the second floor. The third floor will be living quarters.
It was a great day! I look forward to being back in the area for the DFW Fiber Fest.