Posts

Reviews

-
"Heather has won a client for life in me. She took on my first garment pattern, with a full nine sizes, and was endlessly patient answering my endless questions. What I appreciated in particular is her willingness to walk me through any changes, explaining why she was making the change and how it would result in a better end product, accessible to a wider range of knitters. I deeply appreciate her ability to catch every tiny detail -- and her sense of humour! I came away a better designer as a result of working with Heather, and cannot recommend her highly enough to other knitwear designers." - Harper, Disyarning Designs "Heather is a fantastic tech editor to work with. Her grading and editing is excellent, and she communicates clearly through the whole process. Never once have I felt dumb asking her questions or double checking work, which is a must for an anxious designer like me! I'm so glad to have found an editor who puts me at ease, is logical about her work, a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Test Anxiety: Helpful Hints for Test Knitters and Designers

-
  Oh, heeeey!  Look! It’s a blog.  It’s only been…. *counts fingers* a bit.  Honestly, I’ve stopped and started any number of blog posts and I never actually post because it seems like the wrong time or I’m worried that I’ll make some HORRIFIC grammatical/spelling mistake and you’ll decide that you can’t bear to have that idiot tech edit your pattern anymore. So.  Post brunch, here’s where I’m at: A couple of my designers asked me to write this blog and I love them and my own opinions. Copy editing your own work is borderline disastrous (especially post brunch) and I’m not hiring a copy editor to check my blog posts.  My tech editor will probably contact me and tell me to fix some things and next time I’m in Europe I will be buying her every meal to pay her back.  You can handle some misplaced commas. This isn’t technical writing.  I was a Lit major with a Chem minor and now I have a doctorate in pharmacy so I’m accurate in discussing pharmacokine...
1 comment
Read more

What Teaching Knitting Has Taught Me About Pattern Writing

-
I've been teaching knitting for a little over 10 years.  I started just teaching my friends while I was in pharmacy school (big shout out to Ashley for being my first guinea pig) and then I began showing up and helping people at the local yarn shop in town (Village Wools in Albuquerque, NM).  Soon they gave me a beginning knitting class spot called "Friday Night Knitting with Heather" (it was not child friendly).  I really loved it and worked there for two years until I graduated and had to leave my beloved Albuquerque to pay off some school bills.  By the time I came back and got settled my second home, Village Wools, closed its doors forever.  The closing of my LYS's doors was not, however, the end of my teaching career.  I had established myself well in the knitting community here in Albuquerque and our other LYS, The Yarn Store at Nob Hill , has been kind enough to give out my name to people wanting private lessons.  I also have a fiber arts group ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How I Fell In Love With Tech Editing

-
My journey to technical editing was a very natural journey.  I started knitting in 2005.  I come from a long line of makers, but my Mom is a jack of all trades.  She paints, she sews, she quilts, she crochets, she knits... I've never seen her pick up a craft she couldn't handle.  For me, knitting was the most intuitive.  I would not, however, call my knitting intuitive.  Every pattern design I have ever written has been heavily based on pages full of math.  For me, math and knitting are irreversibly tied.  I honed those skills writing knitting patterns for commissions, teaching knitting, and knitting fun things for my friends and family.  While I refined my knitting techniques I was busy going to school.  I was a literature major, which gave me a strong background in composition, and I graduated with my doctorate in pharmacy, which has given me a solid background in math. In 2017 I decided it was time to finally start writing patterns a...
Post a Comment
Read more