Or how to get thrown out of a “professional group” run by a hobby organization.

Throwing all caution to the winds, (and having grown tired of responding every day or so to individual messages) here is the fateful message that caused me to be removed from “Professional” group

It has been edited it for clarity and to provide context where it was necessary to remove quoting since I do not have permission to post the writings of another.

It is very important to know that all this is in the context of what a serious fan of the work of the Craft Yarn Council for the Yarn business I really am.

Wheat is a HUGE fan of the Wonderful Information provided for Consumers and Hobbyist by the Craft yarn council at its many websites and particularly Yarn Standards

In fact, had the original post not complained about Yarn Standards was not detailed enough (although it turns out the info she needed WAS there, but she lacked the experience in pattern authoring to know it)

Along with the unwillingness to do what it takes to become a professional by investing in professional resources such as those offered by ASTM in thier 7.1 Textile Standards documents containing information that a well authored pattern should contain.

There is a reasonable chance I would have ignored the message completely.

Instead that message was a “trigger” to the following is really a reaction to a number of messages posted here and in other Designer groups and an out growth of conversations “off the lists”.

First, please understand – at least in my observation –

Yarn Standards is a “volunteer” effort, intended for use by “the average crafter”. Its content reflects the information needed by that audience to successfully complete a project based on the patterns and tools “generally sold” “in the chains”.

It never was or should be considered as anything more than a good starting point, not the place a professional should be looking for the kind of information that comes both from experience and education.

There are some excellent resources at YARNstandards STILL lots needed for good pattern writing are missing since they are not appropriate to the intended use of the site. So, its primary use by design professionals is to have some clue as to what the consumer may expect – a starting point, not the end of your research.

Education is very much available in books and other resources – about 90% of what I know about any of the NeedleArts was learned from books mostly borrowed from the library and often as not Thur inter-library loan.

Part of the path to becoming a professional in any field is the acquisition of the “tools of the trade” and there are many resources for those willing to make the effort.

Over the years I have developed my reference library mostly by haunting used book stores and today it is often easier to find must haves using the WWW.

All this while either working full time or raising children and for at least 15 years BOTH – not too mention acquiring a series of Association Degree in things of interest to me at the time.

Today my “business” time is about evenly divided between our other business interests, working in NeedleArts, and self-education because the world is always changing and what I learned 50 years or 50 weeks ago, may not be relevant today.

There have been many times in my life when financial resources have meant making hard choices based on available resources.

– Buy Yarn for a “charity ” project vs buy a book that I would use for my entire career (and I have many of those)

– Buy a range of hook sizes in utilitarian materials (aluminum) vs one “designer/collector hook”

– Take a 2nd job I did not like to have the $$$ to invest in attending my first TNNA a zillion years ago

Many times local Knitting & Weaving Guilds have extensive libraries – another resource I have been fortunate to avail myself of over the years… when I could afford the dues.

AND one of the reasons many of us fought so hard to see that CGOA did not sell of its library – the long term value to members far outweighed any cost to maintain it for the benefit of members today and in the future.

There is quite a bit more to the Business of Design then just working up a finished article or changing the colors or yarns used by someone else. So NO, while you may be quite artistic and creative, you are not a designer unless the project started with a blank piece of paper and possible a stitch guide ‘for technical reference’

If the work to obtain the education and other tools needed to be a competent pattern author are not part of your plans, then perhaps you need to reassess your current plan.

There are many paths in the NeedleArts Industry for those who love string.

Teching patterns requires that you have even more experience and background AND a love of the esoteric details of sizing – and not to mention access to a good technical library.

As someone who loves to teach, I know that can be just one of many extremely rewarding paths within the NeedleArts Community – although certainly those who are “good” spend a great deal of time developing their expertise.

Other equally important if less demanding of experience and education are the tasks of testing or model making. This, BTW, is not a bad way to “learn by osmosis” some of the fine details of what helps make a pattern a better product and lots of aspiring pattern authors start there.

Teaching… Just as you have apparently taken the time and devoted the resources to obtaining your
CYCA certification, you also need to be prepared to devote even more time and greater financial resources if you wish to publish in any form.

You might find it worthwhile to also consider obtaining the guidelines for TKGA’s Education programs for technical excellence or the

COE’s (Certificate of Excellence”) Guides offered by the Handweavers Guild of America – All very low cost self study programs. Certainly HGA’s COE’s are well worth the $12 I paid for each of the booklets JUST for the Bibliography of References and is where I probably learned more about YARN than any other single resource guide.

It is so truly wonderful that we have so many resources so reasonably if not free, available to us thanks to the Information super highway,

We are fortunate to work in a field where so many are willing to offer a Hand UP (but growing tired of those who expect a Hand OUT)

But like my daddy used to say,

The Best Place To Find A Helping Hand

Is At The End Of YOUR Wrist.

It is up to each of us to decide if we can afford the time and resources required to become professional in any of the areas of endeavor associated with our chosen trade, the Business of NeedleArts Design

JSTTA – Just Something To Think About

Wheat
The YARNandTHREAD Group

P.S, if you still reading, you may some of the leads helpful in my resource domain, FiberArt.Net and some have told me that the articles about the business of design entries in my blog have also been helpful.

Still somewhat obsessed with finding additional information, this is a

Lavor 4mm Hook Point for Portuguese Style Knitting

What I really want to find out is WHY it has both – Is there some technique,

or is it just practicality so that the tool owner can do either.

Speaking of Practicality, if you don’t have one of Andrea’s pins, it turns out, that depending on what I am wearing, that either

Clover Yarn Holders,

Or, the

No-Coil Safety Pins

are great for the yarn holding if you don’t want to wear the skein around your neck.

I even found a blog page with video on how to turn a paper clip into a safety pin

As TNNA approaches, where Andrea will be teaching, I am having “visions” of countless shop owners, walking the show floor, with glorious skeins of yarns around their necks, happily knitting or crocheting or Portuguese Knitting. Sort of like the year at Soar where Ed had everyone wandering around dropping spinning while walking

Ever since finding the Pony Double Ended Crochet hooks, about two years ago, I have been using experimenting with them for knitting – thinking this might be good for kids (and grown ups) to help in learning knit techniques. When I started tripping over reference to Portuguese Knitting and its use of crochet hooks, naturally I got curious but then and now, there just never are enough hours in the day to “research”.

Recently Abby wrote about Andean spinning and that reminded me of how often I wished I could ask her Dad, Ed Franquemont about this. He was such a fountain of historical information – usually with good data to back it up.

Well, the last few weeks, it seems I am on something of a tear attempting to find more info about “Portuguese Knitting” which seems to share some technique with the Andean poeples as well.

What I have been able to find “so far”, mostly surmised from YouTube Videos, vagure memories of watching Ed Franquemont showing some “Incan” knitting and pictures in a few books, is that some how yarn is tension either by wearing the skein like a necklace, or using a pin on one’s shoulder. (See the picture of Andrea Wong here

Thus the yarn is between you and the work “most of the time”. And the yarn is manipulated to form the stitches, using your thumb in a seemingly very efficient manner. BTW, if you are a “visual” learner, then you may just find that the YouTubes with the voice over being in Portuguese to be the most helpful/clear.

Although many have suggested Andean & Portuguese are the same, so far only “Portuguese” knitting seems to use crochet hooks and at least one of the more esoteric suppliers of fiber art tools, sells these needles – hook on one end, point on the other in a limited variety of sizes, in sets of four or five per size – suggesting use for in the round type project.

I have been told that

Andrea Wong’s Video is an excellent resource, but unhappily it will not play in any of our machines.

Several have suggested I might find more information in the out of print book, Andean Folk Knitting: Traditions and Techniques from Peru and Bolivia. by Cynthia Gravelle Lecount, ISBN: 0932394078, but so far I have not been able to find an affordable copy and/or library that has it.

I was able to find lots of sources for Marasha Lewandowski’s

Andean Folk Knits: Great Designs…

So Abby, (or anyone else) I’d love to hear from you – Or should I just resign myself, accept I can knit with crochet hooks and will never know the history

And Software Update in Progress, what better way to spend NewYearsDay than working out the details of Security Upgrades.
and then there are the upgrades to the plug-ins,

As is “normal” at this time of year, both our regular mail and email all seem to have new pricing information.

There is no question that all our suppliers to the independent shops, the “Brick, Click or DownLoad LSO’s” have been doing all they can to hold prices in all niches of the NeedleArts. Considering the escalating costs for production, delivery, customs and the new hoops created by HSA; it is VERY REASONABLE that our suppliers need to put increased prices in place.

This is about PUBLISHED Pricing and I truly believe it to be a serious disservice to the Independent Brick, Click or DownLoad Retailer when a price increase does not include a raise in the published Suggested Retail Price as I have seen in several received in the last 30 days.

This creates a perception problem for Retailers and it should be “addressed” immediately.

Consumers “assume” that Independent Brick, Click or DownLoad Retailers pay “only” 50% of MSRP.

Consumers rarely take into account (although some do) the many other expenses related to making these products available in the independent Brick, Click or DownLoad Shops for the convenience of the consumer/needlearts hobbyist. The more reasonable will often comment that they understand and are willing to accept a small percent over Suggested Retail for this convenience and availability.

Nor, is this about peripheral costs such as postage or shipping, which must be taken into account over the long term to know if the calculations are correct and if the increased sales generates enough cash flow to justify the some revenue loses.

This is about the appearance of a supplier undercutting the Independent Retailers by creating a situation where their direct sales give the consumer the impression that the Retailer is (notice IS not MAY) be “gouging”.

When a supplier is also offering their products directly to consumers, I believe it is imperative they not do so in a many which will be harmful to the industry in general and to the Independent Retailers specifically.

At a time when the “mega stores” are visible reducing their offerings for Sewing/Quilting & NeedleArts, our industry interests lie, as they always have, in supporting the Independent Brick, Click or DownLoad Retailers who continue to keep products for the NeedleArts readily available to the Consumers.

No matter how these products are delivered, Brick, Click or DownLoad, if the supplier is going to offer products directly, or through a partnership with their retailers such as the Shop-A-Tron network, it is imperative that their published prices do not require the Retailer to be guaranteed a lose for the costs of delivering the merchandise.

And, yes as a spinner and weaver of many decades, I do understand that when a product is produced in what can only be called a very labor intensive manner such as many fiber craft items often are, or in small production runs rather than in huge mega factory situations, the “discount” may not be full keystone – BUT THE SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE CERTAINLY MUST BE AT LEAST KEYSTONE and the really good guys will make sure their published pricing does allow for the additional overhead related to running an independent NeedleArts Business.

The simple fact is that if we do not work together to make it profitable for us all to stay in business, then everyone loses, and most of all it will be the consumer who suffers when the products they love and want are no longer available.

I do sincerely hope that those several companies who prices lists for 2008 I recently received will rethink and republish appropriate “suggested retail”

Best Wishes for a Peaceful & Profitable New Year