Alexander's purple sweater

So it turns out that I forgot to blog Alex's purple sweater.  If you know us personally, then you've seen him wear this sweater a few times by now.  It has quickly replaced his green sweater as his go-to sweater. 

The pattern is from Knitting Pure & Simple (the child's top down v-neck pullover) knit with three skeins of Cascade 220 superwash.  I made the size 6 so that he can wear it next season too.  I'm rolling the sleeves up right now and it's definitely big on him so I think it's safe to say that he'll have it for at least one more year.

In other news, there is an opening for a Design Assistant with Berroco, which is conveniently located in North Smithfield, RI...and as I happen to be a Rhode Islander, and an amateur designer, and I think that I qualify for this job in all areas except for the college degree (the degree type was not exactly specified and I am one year away from completing my degree), so I went ahead and tossed my resume into the pile.  My husband is really proud of me.  I'm hoping that the fact that yesterday was my birthday and I found this posting about five hours after it went up will be a sign and turn out to be lucky for me.  I know that I am a good knitter.  I can knit on DPN's, use the two-circular method, and use the 'magic loop'.  I know about 'jogless jogs'.  I can read charts.  I can knit lace and do lace knitting (and I realize that there is a difference between the two).  I can design patterns.  The only thing I haven't yet done is write a pattern for a sweater because I am still learning about pattern grading, but I have designed a few sweaters.  I can knit socks.  I can knit pretty much anything because I have a wonderful talent for following directions (a recent discovery about myself, lol).  I have learned to alter patterns.  I am generally considered to be a fast knitter and have been told that my work looks machine knit.  I teach classes at the yarn shop, and I take in repairs and finishing work.  And I'm 6' tall so I'm great at reaching things without a step ladder.


So why am I justifying all of this?  Because I am still new to design and I'm just starting to find my place in the world of pattern writing.  I don't have a large following.  I am still trying to get my name out there.  I don't have a design background, or any formal training in textiles, but I have been working with yarn in some form since I was 11 years old.  I learned to crochet first and I did that exclusively for years.  I also learned to latch-hook, needle-point, and cross-stitch, but none of these really stayed with me.  I discovered knitting when I was about 25, and I've been knitting ever since.  During that time I have challenged myself to knit things that were beyond my current skill level.  I've stalked knitting blogs and surfed Ravelry for years.  I've sketched ideas into a sketch book and have been trying to balance knitting for my family and the shop with school and working on my designs.  The ideas come so fast and so often that I have to take the sketch pad with me everywhere I go.  I don't have the background or the body of work that many of my fellow designer have, but I know that I learn quickly and I have some great ideas.  I have submitted patterns to major companies twice.  Once I was awarded honorable mention, and would have been chosen as a winner if it weren't for the delay in getting permission to use one of the motifs (there just wasn't enough time before the contest ended).  The other was accepted and I am awaiting the yarn to knit the sample.  I think those are fantastic odds.  Two designs, two favorable outcomes.  What I really need is to be able to work under someone with more experience than myself so that I can get a feel for how things work and can come into my own.  For that reason, I went ahead and submitted my resume to Berroco because stranger things have happened, right?