“Christa Knits - fresh patterns for delightful knitting” is the phrase I have been using in my ads that have been appearing on Ravelry.

(Assuming that you’ve seen one of the ads) hopefully this made you curious: Who is Christa? Let me see some of these so-called “fresh” patterns! How do they make knitting “delightful” anyway?

I’ll address some of those questions further down the post. First, I want to share the story of getting into Ravelry advertising, how I came to create this tagline, and then provide any of you who are emerging designers with a tool for developing your own.

Oh, you’re not a designer? Just a knitter interested in buying patterns? Well, if you’re like me, then perhaps you’ll find this look-behind-the-scenes intriguing. I always enjoy reading the beautiful, glossy books in the design section of my favourite bookstores, and checking out the section where they show the first concept sketches and talk about the original vision and pitch to the client, then share the in-progress tweaks and final version.

Back to our story:

In December or January, I was toying with the idea of designing a hat that would be suitable for Valentine’s Day gifting. February 14th is still chilly enough in most parts of Canada that the gift of a new knitted hat would be appreciated. I didn’t want to cover it with red hearts though, because I thought that might limit its everyday wearability.

Heartbeat was the answer that finally came up: a simple beanie shaped hat, with beading or duplicate stitch in the classic rhythmic wave that we always see in TV shows on the little beeping machine hooked up to hospital patients. A bit of research in the medical sites online helped me get the chart right, and soon the knitting was done.

Next step: let people know about it!

I was looking at the Advertisers Caboodle group on Ravelry, checking out the pages with all the information on deadlines, pricing, and image requirements. Featured Pattern ads were listed for a half-month for $40, and one was available starting in mid-January. $40 for two weeks of exposure? That’s just eight patterns at $5.00 each to break even. I can do this! (A side note: I’m not really sure how I lucked into snagging that one so easily… I was more recently trying to get a Featured Pattern ad for April 1, and between getting in and out of the bathtub one morning, they had opened for sale and then sold out!)

Writing the copy (words that go in an ad) was easy for the Featured Pattern ad: Ravelry’s design guidelines stated that it could only contain the name of the designer, and the name of the pattern. “Christa Giles. Heartbeat.” Done.

Designing the layout (arranging the words and pictures within the given ad space) took longer. Ravelry supplied the required size (225×175 pixels), so I created a blank canvas in Photoshop and started playing. Out came the photos that my sweetie had snapped of me wearing the hat, cropping and colour tweaking occurred, and a picture was selected.

The words needed to be plugged in next, and colour and font selection were easy, too: I love Mixage, a font that I purchased a few years ago when I was getting started in my self-employment as a hooping instructor. It has good readability and still looks interesting when blown up to a larger size for titles. The words for this ad would be red, to match the hat in the photo and to reference Valentine’s Day.

Layout? The photo I selected has a bit of a ‘peeking’ effect: my head is tilted forward to show off most of the hat, and I had cropped out most of my body. I placed the photo so that its bottom edge was at the bottom of the ad (no floating half-bodies for me!) and aligned it to the right side of the space. Aside: did you know that when people view paintings (or ads), their eyes tend to travel in a clockwise direction as they take in the details? Second aside: does anyone know if this is still true in places where people read from right to left? The photo placement then dictated where my words could live: I wanted to leave a lot of white space for a clean look, and I wanted the shape of the words to relate to the shape of the image. The name of the pattern was most important (I don’t have much name recognition yet) so I made it the right size to fit the space, then made my name small enough to line up the first letters and still tuck into the space without overlapping the image.

Finished product:





End result? As of today, it has been favourited by 182 people, queued by 51, and there are 9 projects in the works. 12 people have bought the pattern so far, and I had more sales of other patterns while the ad was up than in an average month. Does the $20 profit cover the amount of time it spent putting the ad together? Not quite. Will those other 30+ people with it queued come back to purchase it? Hopefully, yes. Will I place more ads? You betcha!

Next up was something cheaper: $5 Marketplace ads that would go up in the Ravelry shop area for a whole month. The twist? There were less restrictions on what the ad could contain! I didn’t want to go overboard with “Sale!” “New!” “Check me out!”, but I did want to add something beyond the picture that would tell people what I was about, and what they could expect to find if they followed the link.





I needed help, in the form of a giant list of words that might be suitable. Something called “The Happiness Show” turned out to be an amazing resource: it offers an enormous list of positive adjectives! Click that link, then scroll down to check it out. See any words that resonate with you?

“Delightful” came out of that list, and I started playing around with ‘delightful patterns’… but it didn’t feel right, so I kept looking around for a better fit. “Fresh” may actually have come out of one of the many Project Runway shows that I watch while knitting - I can picture Rita Silvan, one of the judges on PR Canada, using it to describe one of the designers’ pieces. So, wording now in hand, I tried it on: Do I feel comfortable saying that my patterns are fresh? I don’t see a lot of ‘classic’ or ‘inspired by history’ in my work, and when I look at my designs I do see clean, modern styling that is in line with current knitting trends, so yes, ‘fresh’ fits.

What about ‘delightful’? This one was easier to answer, as I continually get feedback from my customers about how much they enjoy following my patterns, how pleased they are with the finished result, and that they really were tickled by a new technique that they learned while working through the project. “Fresh patterns for delightful knitting” worked.

(That Marketplace Ad? 1,767 people saw it, and 67 clicked through to visit my site!)

There is my latest, a finished Forum Banner ad, a bit smaller than real life to fit into a centre-column blog page instead of a full-width Ravelry page, but you get the idea. For $10 a month, it will rotate with others into the space at the bottom of each page when members read the forums in the top 6 boards. Some of the discussion in the Advertisers Caboodle group seems to say that these ads get a great response, as do the Notebook ads (I’m doing one of those in April, too), better than the Featured Pattern. Since I wasn’t able to get a Featured Pattern this time, I thought I’d spread the same $40 budget around into other ads, and see what winds up being the most effective way of bringing knitters to my patterns, and to this website.

Advertising through Ravelry feels good for a number of reasons: this is the place where my target market goes pattern shopping, the ad rates are good, the statistics they provide in terms of sales and clickthroughs vs impressions are helpful, AND I get to support Casey and Jess and the rest of the Ravelry gang so they can continue providing this amazing service without having to hold down other full-time jobs to cover their costs.

Interested in design and layout for producing your own ads? (and patterns, for that matter?) The reference book that I read years ago, and stuck with me, is The Non-Designer’s Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice by Robin Williams (I’m guessing NOT the comedian). I dug out my copy when I was making the latest batch of ads, to see how well I was doing at following her basic guidelines. While I’m still not fully happy with my designs (better photos would go a long way), I think they do look decent, and are hopefully eye-catching enough to garner a second look.

Do you have feedback for me about my design and layout of these ads? I’d love to hear it! Questions about some specific details about their production? Bring it on! First-hand experience with successful ad campaigns? Please share! I would particularly be interested to hear from those of you who are NOT on the seller’s side of things: as a consumer, what sort of advertising do you want to see? What will attract your interest, and earn a few moments of your time for a second look or a click? Thanks in advance for your input, I really appreciate hearing from you!

Several months ago, a shipment of Koigu arrived at Three Bags Full. Luckily I was working that day, so I got to spend most of my five-hour shift unpacking the boxes and rearranging the new colours up on our Wall of Glory (which is what I call the Koigu section in my head)!

We have a Charlotte’s Web shawl in the shop, so I began playing with combinations of colour, in groups of five skeins each. I started adding extra skeins (since that shawl is a bit undersized for me), and wound up with a group of nine that I really loved. Turning to Francesca, I asked if I could design something using the nine, in a beginner-friendly pattern. She gave me the go-ahead, and off I went! About a week later, the wrap was complete and blocked, and it was AMAZING!

Did I mention that the project is all-knit, all-the-time? Yes, NO PURLING!

The double-stranded Koigu blocks out to have a lovely drape, but still springy and stretchy and cozy and full of OOOOHness! (technical term there, “oooohness”) Since the sample wrap has been living in the shop, many of our customers have put together their own colour choices, and getting to see each new wrap has been a lot of fun!

Some hints for choosing nine colours: pick a skein you love, pick another one that you think will look good next to your skin, and pick a third that will be a darker anchor at the hem of the shawl. Now, fill in the gaps: find colours that bridge the gap from one to the next, sharing a few colours in common with the skeins on each side. Don’t be afraid if one colour seems to jump out a bit - this adds a visual sparkle to your wrap!

This is a free download, available through Ravelry (though you don’t need to be a member). If you ARE a Ravelry member, it would be great to see your completed project photos! If you aren’t on Ravelry, what’s keeping you?!

Click here for Free Download of ColourFlow Wrap pattern.

Go here to see the Colourflow Wrap project page on Ravelry. Hopefully others will post their projects quickly so we can all ooh and aah over the glorious colours!

Many thanks to Megan McPeak for allowing me to take photos during the final stage of her project!

Now, the tutorial! Please note that this does not include enough information to create the wrap, you will need to download the PDF and read through the pattern to get started. This WILL help you out when it comes to the final stages of cutting and fringing. Enjoy!

After you unravel the final 10 stitches, the 11th loop should be at the top of the column of twisted stitches.

The tail end of yarn has been threaded through the last live stitch, so all cast-off stitches are now secured and will not unravel. Live stitches on the left will be unravelled after cutting, to become the fringe!

The white arrows indicate the columns of wrapped stitches. The cut line is 10 stitches away from each of these columns.

The pink line shows the column of knit stitches that you can follow as you cut. Untie any knots as you come to them, and trim these after the fringe has been knotted.

Starting at the end with live stitches, pull out one row of stitches at a time until you have reached the cast-on edge (which gets pulled out, too!)

Whee! Isn't it nice to have this happen on purpose, instead of by accident?

Make the first layer of knots close to the knitted fabric, using 8 strands for each knot. Fudge the number of strands as you get close to the end if needed (your row count may differ from mine). You can see how the first bundle in the second row of knots is thicker than the rest - this will be true of the first and last bundle, as they will have all the strands of the edge bundle plus half of its neighbour. You can choose to knot all of the first row before beginning the second row, it won't affect the final outcome.

PS - wondering about the spelling? You say Colorflow, I say Colourflow - ’cause I’m Canadian, eh?

Along with finishing the bottom portion of my Laminaria top-to-be (photos are coming), I have been spending the weekend setting up my new loom, and building gear for it.

Saturday was going to be Measure Warp Using Upside Down Kitchen Chairs day, but instead Chris suggested that it wouldn’t take long to put together a proper warping board.

The two books and various magazines I checked all showed similar designs, but didn’t appear to have any hard and fast rules about the sizing, so we set about figuring out what parameters we’d use.

1 - I wanted to be able to wind a warp long enough to do a bedspread, so at least 7 feet plus loom waste (yes, I think in Imperial measurements for many things)

2 - I wanted to be able to wind the warp standing up, possibly with the board attached to a door (since the doors are some of the few areas that don’t get things piled on them, much)

3 - I didn’t want to bash my knuckles as I passed through the pegs (my recently-dislocated finger is still a bit swollen and doesn’t like getting knocked)

Scribbling, measuring of doors, and placing mugs a few inches apart to figure out minimum hand clearance requirements all led to the successful design, with fabrication to follow, of my new warping board. During production, I learned how to use a stationary belt sander to round off the edges of the pegs, and revisited the drill press to half-hollow places for the pegs to sit.

(It just occurred to me that in the way that other people murder knitting lingo when they try to describe something they don’t really know enough about, I’ve probably just done the same to woodworking language. Sorry.)

Glueing up and clamping done, the board rested overnight and then I started warping this morning.

Things I learned about warping:

1 - Do crosses at both ends so if you figure out a better way to warp without having to tie extra knots, you can implement it without having to rechain all of your warps.

2 - As a beginner warper, mohair is not your friend.

3 - You know that part in the books where they remind you to pull the back apron up over the back beam before you start lashing on? Yup, they mean it.

4 - If you’re going to ask your partner to help you wind on the warp, have all of the various warp threads under control BEFORE giving him the 5-minute call. Also, be prepared to spend some time discussing the wisdom of the method you are following.

5 - Venetian blinds appear to make great lease sticks for popping inbetween warp layers to keep them from imbedding in each other. They may, however, not be needed at every 1/4 crank.

In total, I think measuring the warp and warping the loom took around three hours. Cast On, Its a Purl Man and Lime n Violet’s podcast all kept me company during the process. Chris came back to help out during the heddle-threading and tieing to the front beam, and it was so much easier to have a second set of hands - one could seperate the yarn from its neighbors, and the other could do the threading or sleying.

First impressions on weaving with the floor loom? (A Leclerc, made in Canada! I was tickled when I found the maker’s mark.)

1 - Whoa. Totally cool having my hands free to just manage the shuttle instead of holding the rigid heddle up or down.

2 - Crazy! I was making weft-faced fabric without trying - the beater is a crusher if I don’t hold it back a bit!

3 - Sweet: Chris was having a turn at the loom, weaving twill, and just as I said, ‘I wonder if you can switch…”, he was about to try reversing the treadling directions to make the twill slant the other way. This synchronized thinking happens fairly often

Old knitting needles make great lease stitcks to work a quick header.

I'm not sure how pedals are normally tied up. These cords came attached to the upper thingys (though some weren't in the right place for plain weasve), so I used some split rings to attach them to the treadles.

Hot Man Weaving Action Shot!

I’ve just realized that there is probably a jog in the shawl pattern that makes the blossoms nest into each other… and in working in the round, I didn’t account for that, so my blossoms stack in vertical lines with what may or may not be ‘dead space’ between them. I’ve got the last half of the final edging chart to go, and once I finish that tomorrow then the bottom half of this top will be ready for blocking, and I’ll start to plot out the top half!

Photos to come! Cross your fingers with me that the vertical blossoms will look cool anyway!

I'm ignoring the fact they look like aliens

I love the K3tog-and-get-9 blossom gentres!

Dad made me the cone holder back when I worked at Knitwear Architects, where we sold chunky cotton on cones.

Transition-to-blossom and two repeats of the Blossom chart complete! Next I need to dig out my favourite-fitting knitted summer top and check the length from bust-shaping downwards so I will be able to figure out how many blossom repeats I’ll need to do before switching to the edging charts.

I also did some spinning! Those are braids that I picked up at the Sweet Georgia studio opening, and they’ve been sitting at my side asking to be spun for a while… (next up: the Yummy Yarns braids that are draped over the side of my desk/shelf support, that I’ve been collecting for a year-and-a-bit, to eventually be spun and knit into a sweater or coat)

Soon it will be time to go back to pattern designing… deadlines are looming (especially if I want to avoid crazy rush-shipping-to-the-US charges) and I have goals yet to be met.. but this has felt like a much-needed break, and I’m glad that I am taking it!

Download and listen to Episode 8 now.

“Juggling” is the first episode I’ve produced since June 2007, and it is all C’s fault! (okay, not quite… )

In this episode:

Patterns:
(all links lead to Ravelry)
Adult Surprise Jacket
Baby Surprise Jacket
Shalom
Veronique
Cambie

Other mentions:
Three Bags Full blog
Habu
Stitch Cooperative (sorry for the name botch while I was recording!)

2009 Year of Goals participants:
Candi (rav) (website)

Elizabeth (rav) (website)

Jenna (rav) (website)

Eleanor (rav) (website)

Leave a comment here, or join the discussion in the Christa Knits group on Ravelry!

When the Spring 2008 issue of Knitty with Laminaria appeared, I fell in love with the lace edging of this shawl. I tried swatching it, using some fingering weight hemp. It didn’t go well. (I’m sure you are surprised.)

I did have other yarn possibilities in my stash, of course, but nothing that was the same teal-green as the hemp… and the whole seaweed-like look of the shawl was what I found so appealing. So, this project didn’t really get off the ground.

Last night I was browsing Ravelry, looking at patterns for tank tops and camisoles (and having a good laugh at the other projects in the ‘Naughty’ catagory). A few caught my eye, but I realized that I would probably have to strike out on my own path to make the lacy summer top I was searching for: large, graphic motifs with an interesting border. Hm. Sound like a shawl we know?

Today wound up being a vacation day for me: no work, no commitments (”no, honey, you go buy seeds for the garden.. I’m going to stay in bed and read until I feel like getting up!”), just doing whatever amount of puttering through chores I felt like (which means the studio is much closer to done, but not done, and the living room hasn’t fully recovered from the Triple C craft night on Thursday), and making stuff for ME! (okay, I admit that the spinning has had more photos of it taken than usual, while I ponder whether I want to write something for Knittyspin, and I swapped a few emails about pool work back and forth with my supervisor, but that was it)

The result? I’ve got a generous swatch of the blossom and border charts knit up on 4mm needles in SeaSilk (in a off-white, cream and pale gold mix, possibly destined for overdyeing) and now blocking overnight. The last few rows seemed to take forever, but the pattern looks awesome, and I’m looking forward to plotting my summer top.

Veronique? Well, she got a few more inches done during the Triple C, but I’m a bit fed up with having to pay attention while I knit. Knitting, all knit stitches, I can usually do without looking. The lovely boucle yarn is unfortunately too easy to snag, so I would catch a loop instead of a stitch if I dared look away, so… it may become a second-string project for a while. Then again, watching knit stitches is still easier than reading a chart line-by-line, so it may not be fully doomed after all.

I guess we’ll see! Oh, PS: new episode of the ChristaKnits podcast is out - check iTunes (it has been so long, I wouldn’t blame you if you had unsubscribed) or visit the Podcast page for the link!