How I Finished My Second Holla Knits Design in a Third of the Time It Took Me to do the First

This is a cross-post from the Holla Knits blog, but I really wanted to share it here, too! 

I was really excited when I found out that I would be designing again for Holla Knits. I loved designing Finishing School, but in terms of timing, it was a disaster. I ended up knitting the sample while packing and searching for apartments in LA, and writing the pattern a week after the due date in a cafe, because I didn’t have internet at my apartment yet. Yup, I moved across the country right in the middle of the process.

So this second design would be a chance for me to do it right. To be more professional, and not turn in my pattern a week after it was due. And then I got my contract from Allyson, and realized that the due date fell right at the end of my planned 10-day vacation.

 

There was no way I was going to travel with my sample and try to write on the road. So that meant that I would have to design and knit a cable-heavy garment in three weeks.

I got it done in just over two, and wanted to share my tips:

1. Set Your Priorities – I’m a busy lady. While designing, I was also working two jobs, taking a Shakespeare acting class, and opened a new Etsy shop for WORK + SHELTER.  But I wanted to be able to relax on vacation more than I wanted to go out on Friday night, so I spent many a Friday knitting, sometimes until 2am.
2. Break It Down - We’ve heard this a million times before: in order to finish a huge task, break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks. For my design, my list looked something like this:
1. Research cables
2. Swatch
3. Knit
4. Finishing
5. Edit Pattern

That made it pretty easy to assign due dates for each step, and so as long as I met my mini due date, I’d meet the overall due date.

1. Don’t Procrastinate – I am the worlds biggest procrastinator. I even procrastinated writing this blog post! But when your goals are big, figure out a way to block facebook or turn off your phone, and just get it done.
2. Reward Yourself – The majority of my sample was knit while watching Game of Thrones, which is so addicting, it made the knitting time fly by. And when I was completely, totally done, I got to start a new project, my Lace Striped Sweater, which was a different kind of reward!

And now that I’m done with this blog post, I’ll reward myself with more Lace Stripes!