Today's Design Your Biz segment is about something super fun: collaboration in the fiber arts industry!
So today I'd like to tell you about how our collaboration came to be and why it works.
A few years ago, I was doing some regular designing for a knitting magazine. The editor at the time had this idea that she wanted to assign me a yarn company and I would work with them directly each issue on picking yarns for my design ideas.
I'll admit, I was skeptical. I hadn't done this with any other magazine before. What if I didn't like the yarn? Or the person running the company? But, at the same time, I was intrigued. So I said yes.
And I was matched up with Done Roving Yarns.
Turns out, I had nothing to be skeptical about and what happened next is exactly what this editor hoped would happen - that we would establish a good working relationship and it would possibly lead to other opportunities of working together.
Yes, yes it did.
Paula and I continue to work closely together to this day. When we first branched out from just working together on the magazine designs, she was looking for designs for her innovative Frolicking Feet Transitions line.
I created Savanna.
After this one pattern, I think we both realized that this collaboration was going to really work. Since this particular yarn was a different than most things out there at the time, Paula really needed pattern support to show people what to do with it. I created some of the first patterns that called for Frolicking Feet Transitions, and as a result, many knitters who bought the yarn, also bought my patterns that used it.
It turned out to be win-win. Done Roving had patterns for their specific yarn and I had great pattern sales. My patterns that call for Done Roving Yarns continue to be my most popular patterns today!
Since Savanna came out in July 2014, I've created more designs using Frolicking Feet Transitions:
Want to know more about collaborations in this industry that work? Tara Swiger recently has shared some stories:
