Skills
During my time working at Jaime Creates, I have deepened my understanding of knitting patterns as well as the various types of work involved in running a one-woman show in a small business. Some of the skills learned and developed in securing the placement and working in the role include research and presentation of ideas and knowledge on knitting past the surface level.
There were two cases in which I had the opportunity to research and present my findings and ideas during the hours of the placement. The first is being able to research short-form social media formats and content trends that can be applicable to the niche market that the small business is positioned in. The research included finding out the type of content that similar creators were putting out as well as contrasting creators’ content and presenting ideas in a way that is very much aligned with the aesthetic and concept of the business. Some of the content ideas were under categories such as daily updates, personal pattern recommendations, caring for knitwear, knitting tips and tricks and other ideas such as progressional knitting videos, styling knits, and sharing opinions on certain yarn types and pattern designs of other knitwear designers.
Similarly to the first research opportunity, the second case was also the presentation of ideas but in regards to the design of the knitted garments rather than social media content. This task was brought up during the last weeks of the placement when there was an opening for submissions at a well-known Nordic publishing company called Laine Publishing. They announced an upcoming new knitting book featuring 52 chunky knitting patterns from designers all over the world and had reached out to my placement workplace to submit a design idea. I was given the chance to provide some of my ideas in this and did research into Jaime’s current pattern style and the mood board provided by the publishing company. From this, I generated some ideas that blended the two aesthetics with main points focusing on potential textures, colours as well as silhouettes that may be suitable.
In addition to skills learned and developed, I was given the task to format 11 patterns onto the platform Ribblr. This provided further development and an in-depth understanding of pattern making and the formatting of patterns including the different types of abbreviations as well as the language used to clearly articulate steps in the instructions to knitters to create the garments. I was able to learn more about the various yarn types and how it is used for different projects, understanding more about the fibre content, weight, and properties of it to be suitable for certain types of garments. Lastly, I learned about the sizing differences that can influence the pattern of the garment, and how it is important to have test knitters to help give feedback and make changes to specific sizes in accordance with that.
