Nice vs Professional

There is something so warm and cozy and friendly about being considered nice. It creates a warm fuzzy glow about the heart. Being called professional on the other hand seems a bit stand-offish, a bit more reserved and severe. But it is not necessarily so.

Submission Pitch for Mythology DAL

To start off my submission pitch work, I decided to try to do my sketch in Illustrator - to practice drawing and creating larger shapes so that I can eventually create sketches and schematics online. I am sure there are more efficient ways to do it (I basicaly used it like a glorified Paint program), but I persevered and came up with something maybe approaching halfway decent:

I then used the InDesign file I used for the last submission call I responded to as a template for the current pitch (though I removed my contact information as I planned to post it here on the blog. Initially I used the .pdf version of the sketch in the submission pitch, but I realised that I had read somewhere that if I link to the .ai file, then any changes I make in the Illustrator file will automatically update into the InDesign file if I open it and re-save. Seeing as I have already changed the file to simply read "Ribbing" instead of "SlStBlo Ribbing", because I want to experiment to see which sort of ribbing works best, I think that mutual updating ability will be key!

I stopped by Knit and Stitch in Bethesda looking for some Habu yarn for another project and also hoping for a summery sort of yarn to try with the headband. I found a linen cotton blend by Araucania called Lontue and purchased the green-blue colourway. I am hoping it looks good and reads as more green than blue when worked up *crossing my fingers*.

Here is the picture of my swatching:

Finally, I have put it all together into a one page submission pitch document:

What do you think?

Mythology Monday : Summer 2012 DAL Inspiration and Submission

I am going to try to actually participate in and complete a project for the Ravelry Group Design-A-Long (DAL) for Summer 2012. The theme for this quarter is "Mythology" and the Mood Board, assembled by Alyoops can be found here.

 I wanted to participate this go-round as I am trying to generate some self-published patterns and this seems a great way to practice those design processes! I am in the process of preparing some article and design submissions to various submission calls as well, though, so I am aiming for a relatively quick and easy project. An accessory of some sort should do nicely. I have decided to use an illustration of "Idun and the Apples" as my inspiration - specifically the crown of leaves she is wearing in her hair. I will design a full-circle headband with a branching leaf lace pattern in crochet - joined at the top (or bottom) with some ribbing to give sizing flexibility.

  "Idun and the Apples" by James Doyle Penrose via WikiMedia Commons 

 First, I took a quick look through Ravelry at some of the headband offerings and crochet leaf ideas - both to gather inspiration and ensure that I am not reinventing a recently created wheel. Now - off I go to sketch and swatch...

   

 That is my original sketch and my initial swatch to work out the leaf lace pattern using Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet Cotton Size 5 in pine and a G (4.00mm) hook. 

My next step will be to use InDesign to create a submission proposal in my design submission format... (practice makes perfect... or at least better... hopefully!) I will post on that process another day!