Armed with my first pattern design ever, I started knitting in November of 2016. I wanted to finish by spring so that once I posted the pattern to Ravelry, anyone who wanted to try the pattern themselves would have time to finish it before the next winter (yep knitters got to think waaaaay ahead!) And I found that I flew! I had no idea when I started how different it would be to work on something that you designed yourself. I felt amazing!

I got a taste for how people might react to “Always…” when I posted an early work-in-progress photo to the Addicted to Knitting Facebook page over the holidays and got 500 likes and reactions.  My knitting group was super supportive, praising my efforts, and asking to see my progress each week. And all told, I finished that puppy in 2 ½ months…….And it turned out better than I could have ever hoped!

I uploaded the pattern in Ravelry and posted it to Facebook and Twitter and the outpouring of support was overwhelming. My post to the Addicted to Knitting Facebook group garnered over 1300 likes and reactions, as well as dozens of amazing comments. Ravelry forums discussed it and my tweet was liked by none other than the Queen, JK Rowling herself!

My friend who owned The Yarn Mart sold kits with yarn in Hogwarts House colors, needles and pattern and I taught two double knitting workshops to help those who’d bought the kits to get started.

I’ve sold over 50 copies of the pattern to date and have been able to donate $75 to JK Rowling’s charity Lumos so far- And I hope I’m just getting started.

While working on “Always…” I got the idea to make an Outlander themed scarf for my sister.  That led to the cowl design “Through the stones”.

Then before those were cold I wanted a Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them scarf for myself since Newt Scamander is basically my Harry Potter Universe soulmate.

Emotional interlude: I was a zookeeper for 11 years and know the intense desire to protect the creatures you take care of and to educate those who may misunderstand and threaten them.  You don’t often get thanked in that job but seeing a sweet, passionate, magical zookeeper/ conservationist on the screen as envisioned by your “#1-person-I’d-like-to-meet”, JK Rowling, does just that:-)

“The Magizoologist’s Menagerie” incorporates large, individual designs of the beasts and other symbols from Ms. Rowling’s magical screen play.

Then I had an idea to do a cowl inspired by Narnia and Lucy’s travels through the wardrobe (still in planning stages). I have designs for a Little Prince cowl for me and a Star Trek Next Generation computer screen design. And the ideas kept coming: Fiona the preemie Hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo (published as “Happy Husky Hippo“), unicorns, the Hogwarts castle silhouette, insects in all of their diversity, Jane Austen and her regency style, dwarves, elves and hobbits, Nessie the Loch Ness monster, three-toed sloths, snakes, the mighty TRex and the adorable tawny frogmouth (awesome Australian bird reference, Huzzah!) to name a few.

I love the process and I’ve found it gets much more streamlined as I go. For many patterns I don’t even bother sketching anything; I just go straight to Excel and start designing. No need to make the same mistakes twice!

For the majority of my crafting existence I’ve politely brushed away the compliment of “You’re so creative” whenever it has been applied to me. Until just recently I was only making a copy of someone else’s amazing pattern and I didn’t feel creative. I may have been skilled enough to follow the pattern or capable enough to choose that pattern but the creativity was all theirs. “Always…” has finally let me feel creative. I took my toolbox of skills and my love of a magical world and designed something that I’m very proud of. A very kind Raveller said “The more I knit this, the more I’m in awe at the level of thought and love that was put into this pattern.” They are right. There was so much time and passion put into “Always…” and the feeling of accomplishment is deeper for me than for any other crafting project I’ve ever done because it was mine from start to finish. The fact that others like and appreciate it enough to commit that kind of time to make it themselves is tremendous!

I have jokingly dubbed this epoch in my knitting life “The Purlocene”, a play on knitting and geological epochs like the Paleocene (which my husband refuses to find as funny as it OBVIOUSLY is. I mean look at my pattern notebook!). It is the era of pattern design, of truly creative endeavors and of the freedom to take a spark of an idea and unravel how to make it a reality. I hope others enjoy the fruits of my mind and the labors of my fingers but even if it was only ever for me it would be worth it.

So now I have enough ideas to keep me going for years and my one complaint is that I can’t knit fast enough!