A very productive year...

If you have been following me soou mewhere else than my blog, then you probably know about all this...  But unfortunately, my blog got very neglected this year.  And it was a very fantastic one!  So I thought I could write a post to catch up and tell you all about it.

It started while I was writing my very first (and only) ebook: April Showers.

 

This ebook was a comission from Malabrigo, as a part of their Freelance Pattern Project.  It was the first time someone from a yarn company contacted me to work for them.  It included 4 patterns, and I loved every single one of them.  It was A LOT of work, more than I expected.  Suddenly, I realized that writing an ebook required more than just writing 4 patterns and publish them at the same time!! Hahaha...

After starting to work on this, Malabrigo asked me to contribute for their new book (coming in November to your LYS): Malabrigo Book 4.  This was huge for me.  It was and still is the first time a pattern of mine was published in print.  Malabrigo was quite specific with the request: It needed to be a pullover and I needed to use one of their most lovely colorways: Cumparsita, a deep red with black spots.  And this was my design:  Alcazar.

This became even more exciting when I discovered who the other designers featured in the book were... Imagine my suprised when I learnt I was going to be published in a book together with Gudrun Johnston, Stephen West, Kirsten Kapur...

At the middle of the year, we decided to remodel our house.  This took a big part of my day and for some months there was not much designing done over here...  But just before Fall (I mean Fall in the northern hemisphere) I could release some of my favorite sweater patterns so far, on which I had been working for quite some time:

Boxy, which soon became a favorite among my friends:

Dragonflies Jumper:

Lemongrass:

Meridien:

 And 2012 was a year of collaborations too!  I had the pleasure of working with 2 amazing dyers for 2 different projects: a Shawl Kit, and a Yarn Club.  My designs were:

The way from Brighton: offered as a Kit in Lioness Arts Etsy shop.

 Autumn Blush: Part of Sundara’s Yarn Lovers Luxury Yarn and Pattern Collection.

As you see, it was a very productive year!  I couldn't be more happy with all the support I have received from all my ravelry friends.  I created my group last year, and this one it has over 1000 members!
Go check it out here if you like, to read about my work more often... This blog is not properly taken care of by this designer ;)

-Joji