So You Want to Publish Your Pattern?

This year, I am finally doing it! I have been wanting to publish my own knitting patterns for a while and I think I am now ready to dive in. Having said that, it is only appropriate that it be one of the very first patterns I have written back in 2014. I called it the Ridges Button Hat.

Starting it out, I experimented with a couple kinds of yarn and discovered how different the finished garments can be:

• Lion Brand’s Heartland – 100% acrylic in colors Great Smoky Mountains and Black Canyon – Hats came out with a nice drape to them, not that they will hang since they were not slouchy hats.
• Lion Brand’s Vanna’s Choice – 100% acrylic in colors Kelly Green, Rust and Eggplant – Hats turned out to be a bit sturdier than the first ones and they felt thicker as well.

Now that I am trying to publish the pattern to share with everyone, I made some improvements on the pattern that I think helped define the design especially the crown of the hat.

The New Name

With an improved pattern, I have also changed its name to Alaska Ridges Beanie, inspired by Alaska’s gorgeous mountain ridges and beautiful terrain. This hat uses the basic knit and purl stitches and a few decrease stitches. With this revised pattern, I knitted a couple using Malabrigo Yarns’ Washted in color Sunset and Rios in color Azules, which are both 100% Superwash Merino Wool. I think these yarns best complement the design and texture of the pattern.

When I first started knitting, it never dawned on me that one day, I will write my own patterns, design my own knits and publish them. My own written patterns are scribbles on several notebooks and hard to decipher, most of them still are. So what changed? It takes a lot of work to be organized and it is quite a challenge for some of us. But I will admit that being organized is key. I go through my patterns one at a time and try to retest them, tweak and finalize them with appropriate measurements. Definitely the first step.

So stand by for future announcements. I am hoping to get through the final steps of this process and will be calling for knitters who are willing to test this hat pattern soon! I am so excited! Thanks for dropping by!

Happy making!