Friday, January 30, 2015

From sketches to the final pattern

Whew, I can't believe January is almost over! While sometimes I wish time would slow down a bit, I'm excited for February to fly by because my first crochet book is finally coming out in March! From the initial proposal to final release date, it's been almost two years so I thought I would share some of my work process behind the book.

sketches

Normally I don't sketch out any of my ideas out before starting a pattern, I simply start crocheting test pieces for the design and go from there. For the book though, it really helped do a quick doodle for each potential pattern so I could see what collection of designs would work best together.

pattern writing

Then I start crocheting, writing down every step in case I need to pull out any stitches that aren't working. This is a really great way to use up any yarn scraps I have left over from other projects and it can take several tries to get the pattern right so I end up with lots of test pieces. Sometimes the simplest shapes give me the most trouble and I can spend a few days on just an ear.

After getting all the patterns worked out, I sent the manuscript and projects to my publisher where it went through editing, layout, and photography.

sun
Image from Happy-Gurumi by Vanessa Chan, Martingale, 2015; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved.
The daisies, elephant, and sun are just a few of my favorites from the book. The other patterns are a fun mix of animals, food, and the occasional balloon! While Happy-Gurumi isn't coming out until March 10th, it's available for pre-order right now on Amazon. You can also check out the other designs in the book here.

Happy crocheting!

Vanessa
The Pudgy Rabbit
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