Tag: handknit

New chance for test knitting +stash busting knits overview no2.

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This week didn’t turn out to be as planned, my mind was all over the place, so I couldn’t do as much (effective) work as I originally wanted. But I still have a few things to share.

Last time I showed you the stash busting knits that I am working on. I made some progress with those, weaved in a thousand ends and blocked (almost) all of them, here are those which are ready to wear:

I have also touched upon my new designs last week. And that is what I would like to share more thoughts about this time. In 2018-2019, before my family took the adventure of moving homes and renovating a huge house, I had many notes about new designs (some of which was already sampled) but I never had the chance to grade and test them. The closest to publication was the Tyche Hoodie, which we are already testing now with 5 incredible ladies. I hope to finish testing in a week, and release the pattern by the very end of January. We’ll see how it goes.

The second design closest to publication was the Pomona Sweater. It is a raglan sweater with some diagonal rib stitch pattern, that is mirrored on the cuffs and the fronts. It will be written in 3 baby/toddler sizes: 6-12, 12-18, 18-24 months, and 4 child sizes: 4, 6, 8 and 10 years.

The child sizes will include the option for short row shaping of the collar and the raglan, too, I am working on a sample with short row shaping now:

This pattern is graded and written up, so I will start to look for test knitters very soon. If you happen to be interested in test knitting Pomona, please read this page first. I would be very happy if you joined my group of test knitters!

There are a few more designs in the making, I started to organize them into a collection. I will share more and more information about these designs as I progress. Unfortunately progress is slow as I am working on my research for the knitwear design course in the meantime, but I try to keep my goal which is publishing a new pattern in every month as long as I can (I am incorporating the knowledge I gain through the course in my new designs, so hopefully my patterns will be better and better each time…).

That is it for this week, I hope to be able to show you more next time! I hope you’ll join me again! Until then…

Happy Knitting!

Mici

Looking back on 2021

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Although 2021 was not a full year of work for Gynka Knitwear, I would like to have a summary. Actually this will be a summary for the last 3 years, as I haven’t written one since.

After a looong (more than 2 years) break I returned to work at the end of October. When I stopped working in 2018, the situation was quite chaotic. First of all, a knitting/designing business needs some space, which we didn’t have much in our previous home. We lived in a 3 bedroom home, where all of the bedrooms were so small that there were barely enough space for a bed and and a small cabinet for clothes in each of them. I kept my stash yarn in one of the children’s closet and my needles in our bedroom. I didn’t even have a desk for a computer. I was basically writing and editing my blog and social media on my phone and sometimes I used a very-very old notebook on the kitchen table to write patterns. After a while yarns and needles were all over the place. I found myself dreaming about a workspace all the time where I can store my needles and yarn stash together, where I can sit down next to a desk with a newer/faster computer, a larger screen… and last but not least, a space that is only mine.

Little did I know in 2018 that our lives were about to take a huge turn really soon. In January 2020, after an incidental email exchange with a friend working in real estate, our dream home emerged out of nowhere. Well, it was not our dream home back then, it needed a huge transformation prior being livable, even… but it was cheap, so we could afford it, has 5 bedrooms (we use 3 as bedrooms and 2 as home offices – hubby uses the other one), a living room so big that we finally don’t kick the TV down while lying on the couch, and it is located in the suburb area with the downtown in a 10 minutes walking distance. So at the end of January we woke up one morning and put our small home on the market. The rest is history, and I have dedicated a long post to this before, so I don’t want to repeat myself. To make it real short and inappropriate, we went in even deeper sh*t for 2 years before we could finally came out.

Fast forward to spring 2021, when construction works were finished on the new home, I could finally took possession of my own workspace. Apart from some boxes of yarn and needles, and a very old cabinet I inherited from my grandmother, it was empty. But it was all mine. And if I closed the door, the world had stayed outside.

I wanted to start working immediately but I had to realize that in the meantime my very-very old notebook had completely died. So the restart of GK was delayed again with another few months, until I was able to buy a desk and a desktop computer with a larger screen. And this was in October, 2021.

As much as I hated these two years of being on hold with GK, I have to admit that it was for the benefit for my family and actually for my small business, too. We are living in a much comfortable space now, where every member of the family has their own private space and can keep the others out if they want to (let’s admit, in this new world we are living with the continuous lockdowns this is a must if we wanted to stay insane…). On the other hand, I had plenty of time to think about what I would like to do with GK.

When my workspace was ready, I started to accomplish many things right away. I made tutorial videos for my patterns, uploaded them to YouTube and updated all my already published patterns with them. I updated my website, my Etsy shop and opened a Payhip Store. I am writing a blog post every week to log everything that is happening to GK. I had overcome my concerns about Tyche and with 5 incredible ladies we started to test knit it.

All in all, I am really grateful for these things (GK-wise, of course… I am grateful for many things private, too but that is another list):

  • my workspace – because this is everything I could dream of
  • the fact that I was finally able to restart this small business after 2 really long years
  • that I feel I found my exact path and I am right there where I have to be
  • that I found new learning opportunities and I am looking forward to master my skills in design and pattern writing
  • my YouTube channel. This was also a dream coming true, I have been planning this for years.
  • last but not least I am very grateful for all of you, who are reading my blog, knitting my designs or watching my videos. Without you I wouldn’t be here.

These were probably the hardest years of my life in every way but I am really grateful that they are over and I hope they will be the foundation for much better years to come. I heard someone saying “if life gives you a lemon, make lemonade”. Let’s make that lemonade and drink it in 2022.

Happy Knitting,

Mici

The Week of the Broken Needles

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I don’t have luck with my KnitPro Symfonie and Nova fixed circulars. I don’t know what I am doing wrong but the cables keep falling out from the needle tips. I am not a big fan of knitting with wooden needles (though I love Symfonie for their color, I think they are one the most beautiful ones on the market). But Nova… it would be such a perfect needle for me… I am such a looser for doing this…

The same thing happened once with a Zing but never with Karbonz or any other circular needles of a different make. I wish someone could tell me why this is happening and what should I do differently to avoid breaking all my KnitPro circulars. I have quite many and it will be a financial disaster if I had to replace them all…

Besides the broken needles there wasn’t too much happening behind the scenes of Gynka Knitwear in the past two weeks. We are still working on the test knit for Tyche Hoodie, projects are coming together nicely. All of the ladies are really helpful and we made quite a few corrections by far. I am really grateful for their kind assistance. I also included two new tutorials in the pattern, both of them can be found in my Knitting Help Library, too: The Applied I-cord around the hood, and Joining in Round with an overlap. Both of the articles include video tutorials on YouTube as well.

I have started studying my knitting chart editor software which is not new for me but I didn’t have the chance to go in depth of its functions before. I have already created simple charts for my hat designs with it two years ago but my knowledge didn’t seem to be enough for creating a more complex pattern so now I threw myself into experimentation with the help of articles and tutorial videos provided by the developer.

As to pattern updates, I promised there would be an update to my most popular pixie hat design, and so here it is: Fauna is updated and available for purchase again! I am sure some of you are glad to read this :).

I have also updated Moth with the links to my tutorial videos:

Those of you who kindly purchased any of these patterns on Ravelry, you have probably already received an email notification about the update by now, and you have nothing else to do but to follow the instructions in that email to download the updated version.

If you purchased through Etsy, and would like to get the links to the tutorials, please contact me via this form, or send an email to gynkaknitwear@gmail.com (in this case I will ask for your Etsy user name and email address to be able to identify your purchase) and I will send you the updated pattern pdf ASAP.

These patterns are also available on Payhip and LoveCrafts as well from now on.

This is probably my last post this year, because as the holidays approach, I have less and less chance to get to my computer. I wish all of you a merry Christmas and a happy and successful 2022!

Happy Knitting,

Mici

This week on GK: test knitting a new-old design, new pattern updates and a new tutorial video!

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This week I continued to update my patterns with the links to my tutorials: the next ones on my list were the GK Cowl and the Eryx Double Pompom Hat.

If you purchased any of the patterns mentioned above through Ravelry, you probably already have the email about the update in your mailbox by now. Please follow the instructions in it to download the new version.

Both updated patterns (and a third one: the GK Beanie which didn’t need an update) are available on Etsy, Payhip and LoveCrafts as well from now on.

There is a new video included in these patterns: how to join your work in the round. I show you 2 ways for joining: the easiest and the nicest (well, in my opinion, anyway 🙂 ). You can read about it by clicking here.

I was really busy in the past week doing the pattern updates but in the meantime I also took some projects off the shelf that were left unfinished before GK was sentenced to a forced 2 years rest in 2019… I have a hoodie design that is really close to being published. You may remember the Tyche Hoodie, I wrote about it here.

When I wrote this post back in 2018, I had said I need a tech editor for this design but I struggled to find one eventually. After a while I got too tired of trying, I just neglected the topic and it slowly became forgotten.

Well, it is definitely not a beginner level design but I don’t think it is that impossible, so now I started dealing with it again. I am also thinking about extending the size range, because many of you asked for an adult version for this one. This may take me some time to figure out so please bear with me… I am trying my best to deliver.

I would like to be proactive on this design, so while I am working on updating my patterns that have been already published, I would like to start gathering test knitters for Tyche. I add some details for you below in case you happen to be interested 🙂 :

Tyche has raglan sleeves and it is joined in the round after reaching the armhole. It has a kangaroo pocket and a hood both of which have an I-cord hem. The pattern is written in 5 sizes: 3-6 mos, 6-12 mos, 12-18 mos, 18-24 mos and 2-4 yrs and it includes both chart version and written instructions. It requires the following skills: knit, purl, increase, decrease, kitchener stitch, I-cord edging. Because of its complexity, it is a design for intermediate and experienced knitters. Application is open from now until Wednesday December 8. 2021. Deadline for the finished pieces: Monday January 31, 2022. Please only apply if you can meet deadline.

You find further information about this test knitting project by clicking here. If you are interested in test knitting GK designs in general, and would like to get ear-burned by me every time I have something available, please apply in my Ravelry Test Knit Ear-burn Group! I would be very happy to welcome you there as well 🙂 !

Finally I would like to thank all of you, who are here and reading my blog – whether it is a one time read or every single week! I probably don’t say this enough but it really means a lot to me! I enjoy writing for myself, too, but it is definitely better if I have company 🙂 ! I am really grateful for everyone of you ❤ ! Have a nice week!

Happy Knitting!

Mici

Why I quit knitting for order? Part 2

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A new GK knitting help is out now, in which I show you how I do the 3 Needle Bind off Method. You can read about it here or watch the video here. You can find all of my knitting helps here. I plan to make one more episode to this series about creating an I cord and joining it to another piece of work and with that a big part of my bonnet patterns will be covered with help, so I will start to update those patterns in Ravelry and in my Etsy shop before making any new videos. If you purchased your GK pattern through Ravelry, you will get an automatic notification about the update but I will keep you posted about the process here on the blog as well.

But the main topic of today’s post would be continuing the story from where I stopped last time. And that is what I had learnt from the two years when GK was on hold. Finally I came to the conclusion that I have to follow my husband’s advice which was working with my brain and leave my heart to my family and don’t try to be successful in both fields controlled by my emotions.

This is the hardest thing for me. So far I have been working in a manner that if I don’t do something with all of my heart, I am not doing it at all. Now I have to think first and decide if something is worth the time doing it or not.

I have very limited hours to work. Kids are in kindergarten from 8 to 12 in the morning, so after coming home I have about 3 hours daily from Monday to Friday until I have to go back to pick them up. That is not much at all, so I have to be really efficient. If I wanted to continue working, I had to peel down the most time consuming parts of the job. So I have broken my whole business down to tasks, and I gave every task an indicator according to how much time is it consuming and about how much revenue does it bring. It turned out that knitting for order and the administrative tasks that come with it took about 80% of the all the tasks in GK, and about 50% of the revenue. It would have been nonsense for me if I wanted to continue that part, so I crossed those tasks down from my list. And all I was left with writing knitwear patterns.

To be honest, I don’t mind it at all. As surprising as it may have sound, I find the designing of something new just as pleasing as knitting. It is definitely more challenging than knitting by myself in front of the tv. It has a huge advantage because I am free to decide when I do the work. And last but not least, knitting remains a leisure and pleasure activity for me and not something that is compulsory.

I mentioned last time that with running a business came the editing of a website, listings, studying SEO and stuff like that. And I had to admit that I love that part, too. I have learnt so many interesting things in the past years…

The only thing I had to get used to is writing in English. Originally, this blog was written in Hungarian, and I wanted to publish my patterns in my mother language as well. After a year I realized no matter how hard I had tried making it more popular, it was not working. Looking into the statistics of the blog showed that most visitors are from English speaking regions (but they were probably leaving without understanding a word…). And I also knew that most of my Hungarian readers speak English anyway because we were already using English for communicating between ourselves in Ravelry, too (this way we don’t exclude everyone else from the conversation). So I woke up one morning, and guided by a sudden idea I archived all the Hungarian posts on the blog and started to write in English.

Long story short, GK has come a long way and is far from where I started. Everything has changed in the last 5 years. The theme, the language, the target, the materials… me… But I guess this is what life is about. We have to let go of things that doesn’t bring us joy any more and turn to something that does… I hope I answered all the questions that emerged in the past 2 weeks… and I apologize if any of the answers are disappointing for some of you.

And that is all I wanted to share about the topic in a “nutshell” 🙂 . Now you know why I chose to close down the online shop of GK and also why I don’t have my patterns in Hungarian. I can’t say for sure that I will never write anything in Hungarian again but for now those times are definitely over for a while.

From next week on I am going to concentrate on updating my patterns with tutorial links and I will go through all of them one by one in a short introduction post, so stay tuned 🙂 Until then,

Happy Knitting!

Mici

Putting the knitter to sleep mode – here comes the designer!

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Last Sunday I was attending a craft show in Budapest so I’ve had a tense week before it. I’ve sold out quite many beanies and bonnets before Christmas and I was in lack of my most popular hats but was too tired to restock them in January. On the other hand I wanted to destash a huge pile of yarn because I needed space for the newly arrived ones which were lying all around the house in baskets like this:

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So I was knitting 24/7 for some days to catch up… The craft show went fantastically well, we sold almost all of the hats that I knitted the week before (only 1 hat and 2 cowls left…) which fully compensated me for my 7 days knitting-marathon with oceans of coffee and without sleep… 🙂 Here’s is our table at the beginning of the show (I’ve rearranged it later as we started to run out of things – but unfortunately I forgot to take photos of it…):

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My newborn props debuted at this craft fair and they were surprisingly popular. I was overwhelmed with kind comments, everyone stopped by to admire them at least. I was happy to find out that it had been a good idea to put newborn props on the palette.

Finally I think I can declare that the hat season here in Hungary is officially over. At least from the perspective of a knitter. To tell you the truth (and please don’t share this secret to anyone… 😀 ), I don’t mind it’s over. Knitting is my life but until January I was knitting 12-14 hours a day, often with my wrists in bandage to kill the pain… I was counting the hours until Christmas, I knew I have to hold on and it will end on Christmas Eve… 😀 Anyway, my inner-knitter goes for a well deserved and loooong vacation until August and my designer-self takes her place in the next few months.

I have many designs in progress but the one closest to publication is Tyche (Tike-ee), a textured hoodie for toddlers. The sample is almost ready and I am beyond satisfied, it turned out just the way I imagined:

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I will show you sneak peeks soon but I still have to write and edit the pattern and I need a tech editor for this one (since it is not at all a beginner-level, to be honest…) If you are interested in test-knitting this hoodie, please join my Ravelry group here: –> GK Test Knit. I would be very happy to welcome you in there! I will start a thread for Tyche test knitting as soon as the pattern was tech edited.

Until then, here’s a little history of the hoodie: I was knitting Rililie’s Diane cardigan (link to her Ravelry pattern here: –> La Maison Rililie – Diane) for myself at Christmas (it’s so embarrassing but I still haven’t finished it… two words: sleeve island…). I purchased the pattern because I really like Rililie’s designs and I needed to knit something other than hats. Diane was love for the first sight and when I read through the instructions, I found the techniques and implementations so phenomenal, I had to cast it on right away. As I was knitting, the idea of this hoodie struck me, so I started to draw sketches and along with the Diane cardigan on my needles, Tyche was born.

I named it after the greek goddess of good luck and fortune. Tyche has raglan sleeves and it is joined in the round after reaching the armhole. It is knitted mainly in seersucker stitch (which is one of my favourites at the moment) and it has a kangaroo pocket (which is my 3-year-old son’s favourite 😀 ). The top of the hood is grafted with kitchener stitch and has an icord hem, just like the pocket. I used Lang Yarns’ Merino 120 for this project.

More photos and details coming in the next few weeks! Happy knitting!

KNIT. WEAR. SHINE.

Mici

 

Turning a page

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Language has been a huge dilemma since the launch of the GK blog. I insisted on Hungarian for a long time for many reasons. One of them was that that English is a foreign language for me – and I am sure I am not alone with the fact that blogging in a language different from my first one is not so comfortable…

The other reason for the Hungarian blog was that handknitting is not yet as popular here in Hungary as it is in other countries and my mission was to bring people closer to this fantastic world of handknits… I was quite successful I think but I soon realised that I have so many orders, I am knitting 24/7 and still can’t keep up with my endless to-do-list… Hiring help was not an option since I am one hell of a perfectionist… Well, I don’t want to talk about that, really 😀 … I am sure you know what I mean… 😀 

But times change, so GK is changing, too. Designing and knitting new things was always a bit closer to me than simply knitting them. Last year my main profile was knitting and selling finished products, mainly in Hungary but as soon as the Enchanted Forest Collection went live in September, I received quite many inquiries from all over the world about selling my knit patterns. Due to these referrals and the huge success of my very first knitting pattern, the Aurora romper, which had over 400 downloads on Ravelry in a few months, I decided this year I will be putting a little more emphasis on writing patterns and this blog will be an integral part of it. Since my patterns are written in English, I must let go of my doubts and continue my blog in English. I am sorry for the mistakes in advance… 😇

This change doesn’t include closing my webshop of ready-made items or stop showing up at local craft markets. Oh, no! I love doing those, too. It only means I will be concentrating more on writing patterns and less on taking custom orders. In fact, I am closing up for custom orders forever. I am hoping this one little step will solve my time schedule issue.

So let’s roll the dice, here is GK only in English from now on! I still need a few weeks off from work to spend with my family after this really tough 2017 but I promise I will be back soon with the patterns of the Enchanted Forest Collection!

Until then, grab your 15% discount on your first GK digital download by signing up to the Gynka Knitwear U-knit VIP e-mail list HERE and don’t forget to follow me in Instagram 🙂

KNIT.WEAR.SHINE.

XOXO,

Mici