Ginkgo Collection

The Ginkgo Collection is finally here!

It has been a while since the patterns were tested and tech edited. I was enjoying the summer so much that I wasn't too motivated to spend much time on writing or putting the final touches on patterns. But procrastination no more. Here they are.

They 6 patterns, sweater, cowl, scarf, cardigan, shawl, and stole are available individually as well as a collection.

This is my very first knitting collection.  I'm really excited about it. I had great fun playing with ideas in various designs. It was quite a wonderful thing to figure out how to place the leaf motif in various items. The design and the knitting part was a joy. The production of the patterns, on the other hand, felt very tedious. Getting the pattern to the ready for publishing stage took at least 20 times longer than designing and knitting. But I did learn a lot from making the collection. Hard to believe it, but I'm actually begin to like the publishing process from grading 9 or 10 different sizes, writing and editing, coordinating testing, to working with tech editor. There were steps I enjoy more than the others, but I'm finding it not as dreadful of a big process after having done this collection all at once.

Now that I don't mind the process as much, I even took the time to re-shoot the photos for a more cohesive look to the collection. But I was till to lazy to go far, the pictures were all shot right outside our house. We bordered our neighbor's yard with no clear marker of property line.  We have no real yard acreage ourselves with our condo unit, except for the piece in the back with a lot of sage and pine trees that we'd rather keep it natural. But the neighbor kept the piece they have in the front and a bit of the back like nice little gardens. And there is a lot of common land with foliage surrounding us. So I took advantage of all these and did my photo shoots right outside our house. When the neighbors came home during my photo session, I chatted with them and informed Irene and Ron, a really nice retired couple that only stay at Tahoe in summers, what I was doing.  Hopefully they didn't think I was too nutty. They're kinda baffled by the idea of making patterns available online.  I know, even I'm still amazed that I can do that.

Yes, I still find it hard to believe that I can publish knitting patterns  It would be unthinkable 3 years ago for me. I wasn't even thinking about making my own designs just few years back, and now it's one of the true joy for me. I'm seriously grateful to Ravelry for allowing knitters try out designing as well.

Much thanks to my wonderful testers, Donna, Anj, My Anh, Emma, Bao, Magda,  Irina, Julia, Amy, Sandra, Masha, and Sara for their tremendous help.

My deepest gratitude to Judy Kaethler (judyka on Ravelry) for working with me so patiently and tech edited all 6 patterns. I can't say enough about what a wonderful tech editor she truly is. I've come to learn a lot about writing patterns from her.

Now that the patterns are finally completed, I can focus on my next knitting project.  And I have started one last night...