Free Course for Aspiring Knitwear Designers

Lots of knitters have design ideas they’d like to see published, but they might not know how to get started publishing patterns with third-party publications like yarn company websites, magazines and books.

Knit and crochet designer and mentor Tian Connaughton has produced a free six-part video course with Knit Picks and We Crochet that aims to help new and aspiring designers get started.

Get Published covers the following areas:

Things to do before submitting a design proposal
How to submit a design proposal
What to do when your design is accepted
What to do when your design is rejected
How to communicate effectively
How to receive yarn support

The course is free and open to all but was specially designed to empower Black, Indigenous and People of Color who might not see themselves in the knitwear design industry.

It also includes interviews with new and established designers to help inspire aspiring designers to get started.

I’m watching it right now; if you check it out I’d love to hear what you think!

Next Pattern:

I’ve been enjoying knit amigurumi animal patterns lately (see also: this adorable knit pigeon) and of course being a knitter I love llamas.

So when I saw this little llama pattern I knew I had to share it.

The appropriately named Llama patter from Annie Ahn calls for fingering weight yarn, and it uses two colors for the body and three for the little blanket. The pompom can be made to match or in another color. All of these parts take tiny amounts of yarn so you can use whatever scraps you have left over from socks or other projects and change colors whenever you need to.

It might also be fun to use some mohair or other fuzzy or textured yarn on this one to give your llama a different look. In all the project uses between 100 and 150 yards, or 91-137 m, of yarn and the llama comes out about 10 cm/4 inches tall.

The body of the llama is worked in one piece, so this project is suited to intermediate knitters or those who have comfort working in the round and with all those little pieces.

This one is made to be small so you can carry it around with you (it would be super cute on a keychain or as a zipper pull) but I think it would be a lot of fun to knit this in larger yarn, too, to make a bigger llama. You could even make a whole family in different sizes just by using different weights of yarn and corresponding needles.

The details are so cute, from the shaggy hair to its little accessories, but you could make it plain or change it up by knitting a tiny scarf or even working a little fair isle pattern on the legs or body. So many fun possibilities!

The pattern is available on Ravelry in English and Korean.

[Photo: Annie Ahn]

Next Pattern:

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