OPPORTUNITIES FOR TEXTILES CRAFTERS

I have plenty of paid work going for textiles people who would like to make my designs or other designers' work to be used in publications. Due to the confidential nature of the work I can't put up specifics here but if you would be interested in working with me and getting about £25 for a project that can be done in half a day then contact me through my email address erssiemajor@yahoo.co.uk.

I will be delegating the work to people who can knit or crochet up to a professional standard and I would have to know your work or have proof of your competence.

My Links

Just updated my blog and rather unprofessionally have lost my links. If you would like to do a link exchange or you can see I have suddenly cut you off, then do contact me!

My latest Project
Just a quickie to post a pic of my latest project. Here it is, it took a lot longer than expected to finish. It is for a 2yr old, see 'How to put motifs onto charts' in previous posts for more details.
I am still learning photoshop and xl so I can put my own artwork onto charts. It took me all morning to put a tiny sun motif onto the chart and adjust it so it works!


Good News and Bad News.............................................


I did promise myself I wouldn't bring 'medical' stuff to Erssie's World of Knitting but I have that creepy feeling my knitting days are numbered. Some of you may know about the massive hole in my arm, won't go into details as it is far too unpleasant.

Good news is that the skin is healing, the sides are pulling together. Bad news is that my hand has gone weak and numb and I am unable to grip a needle in that hand. This is the problem I normally have in the other arm! I'm guessing that some scar tissue is restricting tendons or pressing on the median nerve. I can balance a needle on the hand but it isn;t helping me with colour work where I need to swap coloured yarns frequently. This time its the bigger needles causing a problem so I might even get back into small dpns, sock projects and lace. I cannot entertain the idea of not being able to knit at all, what would I do then????However, I am not taking on any jobs for the New Year.

As far as designing goes, I do need to take time out to just experiment with shapes ad I am getting exhausted with accessories one after the other and still haven't got round to tackling grown up garments this year. Although I have designed the odd pattern here and there, I wouldn't really regard myself as a 'real designer', the idea of designing is new to me because I come from a family that always knitted what they wanted and thought that working without patterns or adapting patterns was standard.

I am still having a think about Anticraft projects I might submit for their first book mmmmm.................................................................................

Men...I'm looking for men.....
Oh yes, I'd like to hear from Men, do you knit? What do you knit? If you don't knit, what do you like to wear? if you are not a man, what about the men in your life? More than anything else I am asked for advice on patterns for teenage boys or young men. There is a shortage of patterns that are subtle enough to avoid seeking attention (Look at me I am hand knitted!), you know what it is like, you knit for your man and I bet it has to be a large piece, perhaps a ribbed tweedy number and you daren't knit him a hat as he just won't wear it if he thinks he looks like a girl!

I am going to put together a collection of patterns (my own) of very simple beanies in plains stripes and surfing themes. here is a man I know that doesn't mind being a bit more adventurous with knitwear. What a shame he is 6'4"! It is like knitting two duvet covers to make him a full sweater!




Looking for Women too
Also I am keen on the idea of designing for larger women, I am quite large on a small frame (I used to be too thin before steroids but thats another story!). I don't really go in for knitwear myself as far as full garments go, partly because it takes so long to do with my disadvantages but also because I rarely put a sweater on and feel good about my shape.

This is wrong, there are some ladies out there who are really curvy and sexy and they are looking good in knitwear that drapes, skims accentuates the good etc. However, all the articles in magazines just describe the type of knitwear we larger people should wear but they rarely show an example.

So, if any of you are on the larger side I'd like to know what do you knit for yourself, do you restrict your colour and style for yourself, are you self conscious in big gauge knits. got any pics of you looking lovely and curvacious? I promise it is for research.

So many projects I hadn't planned for!
and still looking for good knitters to help me out................

I had been planning to have a bit of a rest from knitting so that I will be fresh and perky on my trip to New Zealand. It hasn't worked out that way and at the moment I have been knitting from dawn to dusk to get projects finished in time. Luckily all of these projects have involved a designing element and a couple of them have been proper print magazines so by Christmas I will be well and truly published.

As I keep saying, I am looking for knitters who can work to a specific gauge, it hasn't been easy. A lot of people have beautiful neat knitting but it just doesn't work for me if I have designed something for a specific size and the knitter doesn;t sue the same gauge. I've got a bag project that requires an experienced Fairisle knitter and I'm willing to pay £40 plus for a knitter to knit it up to go into the Anticraft (www.theanticraft.com) magazine on line. It involves working to a detailed chart although there are only 2 colours and there is stranding not intarsia.

All my knitters have to take a little test, it involves swatching and filling out a short questionnaire. If you;d like to see it just for your own amusement then drop me a line in an email and I will forward it to you. I've also got info sheets on how to work to gauge and instructions on increasing and decreasing. I am planning to put together sheets like this for an Erssie stitch library involving photographs or video clips. It will go on my new website which is still under development.