Entering the world of designing knitting patterns

Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been “designing” sweaters – whether it was explicitly doodling designs or just the outfits on the people I would draw. The main reason I taught myself how to knit was to be able to create my own designs. Now that I’ve been knitting from other people’s patterns for a few years, I feel like I have a sense of different styles of knitting patterns, what I’m looking for in knitting patterns, and what I would like to contribute to the world of available patterns.

I have tried designing + writing a couple of patterns so far, and already I’ve developed a few guidelines:

I will only do it as long as I enjoy it.
My favorite types of patterns to knit are complex. I will not water-down patterns to make them easier or “more digestible” knits (goes hand-in-hand with item #1). Already I found myself feeling bored with one of my designs because I was trying to keep it simple to write, instead of focusing on just creating what I wanted.
I want to create things that feel like myself and feel like they are worth adding to the literal thousands, if not millions, of knitting patterns out there (also goes hand-in-hand with item #2). I have no interest in designing things that look like elevated basics you could buy at a nice store.

Currently, I don’t have a very large following on Instagram or other platforms, so test knitting would be very hard. I think in order for me to get some things out there and just try, I will have to put out a few patterns without test knitters to start, and hopefully there will be enough interest to have a test knitting group going forward. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

As for what to expect from me in terms of design…

In all of my creative endeavors – whether that be drawing, photography, or now knitting – I’ve always drawn inspiration from sci fi, witchcraft, horror, but also elements of nature such as rock formations, the ocean, and flowers. And mixed in with that is a lot of inspiration from growing up in New England (think Shaker chairs, fishermen from Maine, and barn looms). A lot of the ideas I’m hoping to explore with my patterns relate back to these themes – delicate black cables in natural black Hebridean yarn worn by girls trying out witchcraft for the first time; women in cults wearing psychedelic colorwork; textures inspired by granite; and chunky cables inspired by ship ropes on the sea.