Happy Friday, y’all! Today is super special for me, because not only is it Pattern Release Day, but THIS pattern was designed by my extremely talented daughter! This is her first pattern of 2020, and as a mommy, I am just delighted by it! The good news is that she admittedly never reads my blog, so I can gush over her all I want and not have to hear any “Moooooommmmmm” about it, hahaha!
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So a little bit about my finest masterpiece: She is 19, and has been crocheting for about 4 years. She is left-handed, so teaching her was a little tricky, but she picked it up fast and blew me away with her talent. Her first ami project was a bear that she found the pattern for online, and modified so his head was removable and one could keep trinkets in his body. After she completed that one, she immediately went into designing her own creations. She started out by creating her favorite video game characters, and initially wanted to produce patterns for them, but… copyright infringement. So she set out to come up with some other ideas, and has created some very adorable characters!
Disclosure: while most of these are her own inventions, there are a few in the gang from fellow talented crochet designers
She has written this about her new pattern:
“I’m super excited for my first 2020 pattern release! I impromptu made this little guy about 2 weeks ago, after simply saying “I’m going to make a penguin” and running with it. I designed this ami with the sewing in mind. I know one of the struggles of ami can be getting the placement of all the different pieces just right, and even with detailed written instructions, it doesn’t always come out right. From the exposed loops on the bottom of the body for the feet, that align perfectly with the little white belly, to the flippers matching up just at the edge of the belly, to the start of sewing the body right where the penguin’s “mask” begins, visual guides for sewing on the ami itself, and not just the pattern, were a big part of the design. There are a lot of color changes, adding some complexity, but it gives such a clean look to the penguin that I’m super proud of! I hope you enjoy creating this ami as much as I did!”
Isn’t my Finest Masterpiece a beauty?
As you may or may not know, a LOT goes into publishing a pattern. From the initial design process, to writing it down, translating your chicken scratch into something legible other people can decipher, then taking tutorial photos, formatting, testing, and finally publishing the completed pattern. All of that work makes releasing a pattern a very daunting task, and the kid works full-time plus at her job which she loves. So while she is not releasing patterns at the same rate as her mother, I’m still pretty impressed with her.
I believe it was 2 weeks ago that she showed me a picture of Pen and said, “I’m writing this pattern up. Can you help me find testers?” I told her of course I would, and that she needed to make another so she could take the tutorial photos. Two and a half hours later, Gwen came flying up the stairs with Pen behind her, and I staged them up for some photos. A couple days later, she sent me her typed up pattern and all of her pics, and I got the Word document ready for her test.
We found her group of testers, and they all worked so fast! We were intending to release this pattern next month, but Mommy has been on a roll lately and has 3 patterns in queue to be released, so surprise for you- a May pattern!
I am so proud of my daughter. She juggled tester questions and working almost every day the test was going, and made sure that all questions were answered and errors were fixed. Now I know, if she actually reads this post, she is going to be embarrassed and annoyed at me because like we all were at 19, she’s an adult and doesn’t need her mommy going on about her like she’s 5. Sorry, kid. I will ALWAYS be older than you, and I will ALWAYS think you poop glitter!
Seriously, though: LOOK at how cute these penguins are! As I mentioned last year in another post, I am not ami-talented. I love them, and I wish I could make them, but they just aren’t my forte, and I’ve come to accept that.
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Until next time,
Happy Hooking!
~Malena
