I was tagged in a blog hop by Julie from Little Woollie, about my creative process. I really enjoyed reading Julie’s answers to the different questions – it’s always fascinating to find out how someone else works, and the kinds of things they like doing. So, here are the questions!
What am I working on?
So many things! I’m a serial project starter, and always have far too many works in progress. I don’t even stick to knitting and crochet – there’s a half-finished patchwork quilt stashed away somewhere, a felt alphabet book that I started sewing seven years ago, a shirt that has been waiting for buttonholes since 2011, a cotton dress which is all cut out and ready to sew, and a felting kit that my aunty gave me over five years ago. All of these things will be finished at some point, but new and exciting projects keep catching my eye. At the moment I’m still knitting a cotton baby jacket, and I have two sweaters for myself on the needles. I just finished these little baby items, which have gone into a box to await new babies!
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
This is a hard question for me to answer, because I don’t feel that I design enough to have a clear style. It is something that I’ve thought about, from a marketing point of view, if it’s better to make things that people can easily identify as yours. However, I tend to make things that I love, and I have quite wide and eclectic tastes! Talking about my design work, I enjoy working with texture and colour, particularly cables and fair isle. I like taking adult designs and reworking them for children, and my notebook is full of ideas that I haven’t knitted up yet. My “Wicket” sweater is one of my favourites, and something that I’ve made for quite a few gift knits.
I’m also quite proud of my “Inishmore” cushion, which is published through Knit Picks.
Why do I write/create what I do?
This question was an easy one to answer – because I love it! If I could spend every day curled up in a big armchair, surrounded by yarn, design books and colouring pencils, then I would. There are too many ideas in my head, not just for knitting and crochet projects, but for scripts I want to write and artwork I want to create. I’m from a very artistic and creative family, and it’s something that I’ve always been encouraged to do from an early age. Sometimes I’ve been asked to design to a brief, which I find a lot harder, as I prefer to just wait for inspiration to strike!
How does my writing/creating process work?
As I said, I tend to have lots of ideas, but not enough time to work on them all. I have a big notebook where I will sketch designs, and I also have plans drawn out for two book submissions. Every now and again I will look through all these ideas, and move a bit further towards actually creating them, but it’s a slow process. When I create a design, I look up measurement charts if it’s for an item of clothing, and then plan out how my chosen stitch patterns will fit with the sizing. I tend to knit first, and then write down the pattern as I go. The maths of knitting is the hardest part for me – it’s not my strong point, and I really need to take the time to learn how to use Excel. Grading patterns is my idea of hell! Sometimes I’ll feel really inspired to create, and other times I don’t work on any new projects for a long time, it just depends. A lot of the time, especially for smaller projects like the cowl below, I won’t bother writing a pattern, as the design is a one-off to finish up yarn in my stash.
I’ve really enjoyed answering the questions for this blog hop, and now I’d like to nominate three more people to talk about their creative process –
Looking forward to reading your blogs!
Torya Winters Designs 
