Step into Spring- on Knotions!

Last year I made a commitment to myself to actually write out some of the patterns that I was creating when knitting for friends, distant family, myself and my kids.  As a test knitter I had seen how a few designers approached creating and finalizing a design, given input into wording and proof read patterns and charts, so I thought that I had a good grounding in what I wanted to accomplish.

Writing clear, concise, patterns that knitters who do not have instant access to me to find out what I meant to say, rather than what I did say, proved to be harder than I thought, and I have learned a lot since I started.  I have learned enough that earlier this year when a submission call went out for Knotions Magazine  I looked at the submission guide and decided to give it a try.  I told myself there could only possibly be a blow to my ego when I got the (hopefully politely worded) No in response to my submission and maybe I would get some valuable tips on how to make submissions better.

Having never gone through the submission process before I sent a "pre-submission" email to the editor and asked if the way I was presenting was what the magazine was looking for and she emailed me right back telling me I was on the right track, but my photo's needed some work.  The pattern wasn't complete when I sent that pre-submission, so I finished it up and we started the round of photo shoots that I hoped would get me some good pictures.

I had some time to get everything together, but TDQ is the usual knitwear model around here, and between her school and work schedules it seemed like every time we were both available to do the photo shoot it was dark, which doesn't make for good photos at all!  Every time we hit a day where it was possible to be out in natural light to take pictures it was raining, snowing or just plain cold.

TDQ was a trooper!  On the coldest day we had in a long time she was sitting on the deck rail so I could try and get some good pictures of the socks.

 (We also took some pictures of some other pieces that are coming up, but more about them when the time is right!) A light dusting of snow on another day and she was also out there in her "stocking feet" so I could take pictures. 

While we were doing that there were lots of giggles and comments from both of us about having to edit the pics so that the blue legs and goosebumps didn't show, or that we could claim Mystique from X-Men was the model.

When all was said and done, the pictures edited to the best of my ability and the pattern fully written, it still took a bit of courage to hit send on the actual submission.  During the time between my pre-submission and being ready to actually submit I had heard that the editor had been inundated with sock patterns, so there was going to be a lot of competition for the slots available.

I hope you can imagine how happy I was when instead of a politely worded rejection I got a "we would love to have your sock be part of the Winter/Spring issue" email one Sunday morning!   Definitely an ego boost rather than a blow to my ego!

Step Into Spring Socks are a cuff down sock with a heel flap and rounded toe knit in a dreamy alpaca blend sock yarn from Unplanned Peacock.  I found this yarn when we were at Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs and bought two different colorways. This one is a "mystery" color, an early version of  moss agate, but there are lots of colors available on their site.  There is a very generous yardage in the skein, which means I have some left over, which I might have plans for later!

Nestled inside the cables are some little lace eyelets, when I was working out the pattern they reminded me of snowdrops when they are just barely starting to peek out from under what is left of the snow.  A little ribbing between the cables helps give the sock some stretch, which I like in my socks!

You can grab the pattern here, along with a lot of other brilliantly written beautiful designs!

I love seeing what other people create from my patterns.  The best way for that is to share your projects on Ravelry.

I'll be back tomorrow with another tidbit of news!

~M