It’s time for another round of Post Mortems!  I have to admit, I’ve dropped the ball with the last two releases – so while I’m away you get a double dose.  Witchlace today, and Devil at Crossroads later this week.

I tried to go back and look and see if I could find the design call for the Knit Picks Collection, but it’s been lost in the email transition, more than likely.  So you’ll have to do with my recolection.

Witchlace was a natural extension of Newport.  In Newport I used side to side shaping to create a ribbed effect.  In Witchlace, I wanted to push the idea  little bit further.  What else could I do with side to side shaping?

I also really wanted to make a yoked cardigan, mostly because I was pretty burnt out on figuring out shoulder shaping when working a design side to side.  I’d been swatching in the round with broomstick crochet for a while.  After I finished with Sunburst, I wanted to do more with broomstick, but I didn’t want to weave in nearly as many ends!

A yoked cardigan seemed like the right answer.  Plus, I love little glimpses of collarbones – that hint of skin is both very feminine and sexy!

At this point, I was still proposing with my old letterhead.  I’m really proud of the sketch here – I think it conveyed very well what I was going for.  I dithered a lot about cutting out her head or not, but I’d really messed up on her face and didn’t want to do the sketch over, so I just cropped it out.  I don’t think it hurts the sub too much.

I’m not sure what I’d write about things I’d do differently or well.  As I mentioned before, I think my “hooks” (the little intros I write that frame the piece) are well done, but I don’t have much proof that they influence the publisher’s choice or not.  I think that the hooks matter a little more in magazines (where I find they are sometimes used) more than design collections like this one.  Shortly after this submission I went to my new letterhead and logo, which I think was a good improvement.

Have a Post Mortem?  Are you talking about your design subs and what you think you did well, or not?  Let me know, I’d love to feature you, or do a writeup!