Crochetville is sponsoring a great blog tour this month for National Crochet Month AND National Craft Month.  As a part of the tour, I thought I would share with you what a “day in my life” looks like. Keep reading until the end for a special surprise.

What do you mean, “a typical day”?

Some days I’m mostly a writer, some days a math geek, some days a fiber artist, some days a knitwear producer, and some days a teacher and fiber-arts cheerleader. Most days I’m a little bit of all those things, and some days I’m none at all. I work for myself as a self-published designer, and I get paid by others as a crochet and knit designer, writer, teacher, and technical editor. Earning a living as a freelancer means taking on many roles and maintaining the self-discipline to balance them all.

A “typical” day depends on what’s on my work schedule. If I’m on deadline for a book, for example, I’m not doing much more than working on the book, eating, and sleeping and my studio is a mess.

Other times I may be traveling to shows, going to a book signing or a photoshoot, or teaching on a cruise. (BTW, all that is not as glamorous as it sounds.)

When I’m at home, however, I do a mix of things throughout the day, and I try to maintain some sort of schedule. If I really could stick to a schedule, it might look like this:

6:50am Get up, have breakfast, get dressed.

8:00am Be at my desk ready to work. Mornings are usually spent on tech editing or pattern drafting, i.e., Brain Work. I do my best math in the morning.

Too much sitting at the computer is a Bad Thing, so I set a timer and take a break every 50 minutes or so throughout the day. Ten minutes or so to stretch, put in a load of laundry, make a bed, play with the dog, or something semi-active makes a huge difference in my overall productivity. Two or three times a week I take a (much) longer break to attend a yoga class.

1:00pm-ish Spend about 30 minutes for lunch. In reality, this “lunch break” often happens about 2:00 pm when I’m starving, but I’m trying to actually stop work and eat before I get quite that hungry. I try to eat standing up, since I spend so much time sitting.

1:30-2:30pm-ish Answer emails, arrange teaching gigs, do bookkeeping/office work.

2:30-4:00pm This my the low point of my day. My brain gets fuzzy and I lose focus. This is the time to walk the dog, go to the gym, run errands, or do some productive but mindless stitching while listening to an audiobook.

4:00-6:00pm Design or write or edit or knit/crochet or create a new class….Even though it’s late in the afternoon, this seems to be my most creative time. Most days I’d keep working through to about 7:00 pm if there weren’t family obligations.

6:00-8:00pm Family time

8:00-11:00pm I usually spend this time actually crocheting or knitting on the couch while listening to audiobooks or watching TV. Our dog loves to lie on my closed project bags and he seems to have a knack for knowing exactly which bag has the curent working yarn in it. Once he decided a whole box of yarn was a nice place for a nap. I snapped a picture, then told him in no uncertain terms that that was NOT ok. But he did look comfy, didn’t he?

11:00pm Bedtime!

Wow. Having read that over, it makes my life sound so tidy and organized. Believe me, it’s not quite that squared away, but we all have to have goals, right?

Donate to Project Night Night

This blog tour is asking that you donate to the charity Project Night Night, a 503(c)(3) organization that provides over 25,00 packages containing a stuffed animal, a book, and a security blanket to homeless children each year. After you donate, please visit this form to add your donation to the group total, so we can see how much we can raise to help.

National Crochet Month and CGOA

The National Crochet Month is sponsored by the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA), a national organization dedicated to crochet.  It’s a good way to connect with other crochet professionals and to discover educational materials to further your knowledge of crochet.

Blog Tour

To learn more about this blog tour, visit the introduction on Crochetville. Yesterday the tour visited Mary Jane Hall and Lindsey Stephens, today it is with  Shannon Mullett-Bowlsby and me, and tomorrow you will get to hear from Jennifer Cirka and Annette Stewart.

Special Offer Just For You

To celebrate Nattional Crochet Month, and to encourage you to enjoy my crochet patterns, I have a limited-time promotion in my Ravelry store. Use the discount code MARCH on any of my patterns from today until the end of the month and receive 20% off your new purchase. (Previously-purchased items are not eligible. One use per customer.)

Please also join me on your favorite social media outlets: Facebook, Twitter, and/or Ravelry.

Happy stitching!

Connect the Shapes Crochet Motifs

I’ll be doing book signings at Stitches East all weekend, so if you’re there come by and I’ll sign your copy. You can also join the Ravelry group to discuss the book and let me know your thoughts.

Junior, my UPS guy, brought me an early advance copy, so now I know it’s really happening, and I’m so happy to be able to share my enthusiasm with you. (Yes, I am on a first-name basis with my UPS driver.)

In Connect the Shapes Crochet Motifs I take advantage of all the things people love about crocheting motifs: the colors, textures, geometry, architecture, portability. Then I address the things that people dislike about putting them together–things like seaming and weaving in ends. I tried to get rid of those stumbling blocks that might keep people from working on projects that involve individual pieces.

What do you get with Connect the Shapes Crochet Motifs?

• seaming and join-as-you-go methods (JAYGo) that maintain portability

• the continuous motif method that looks like individual joined motifs, but is in reality just a single strand of uninterrupted yarn

• ways to adapt motifs to create versatile yet sturdy, non-holey fabric

• ways to plan your arrangements − ”planned freeform” for those control-freak types who can’t just relax and let it flow

• 30 different examples of connections

• 101 individual motifs

• 11 projects that show these techniques in action.

But it’s about more than just ways to put motifs together! It’s about ways to morph from one motif to another, shape-wise and design-wise. There are some really cool motifs, including many original motifs that are internally connected–layered, inserted, reversible and worked in more unusual ways. And I didn’t forget the traditional granny “square” in many of its forms!

As in my previous books, for every single motif there are both text and charted instructions, as well as detailed close-up pictures. There is a chart for every set of connections.

The book will be available in early October and can be pre-ordered now from your local bookseller (please support them!) or from Amazon. It’s also available for your Kindle or other ereaders.

As the weeks go on, I’ll be telling you about various events that we’ll be doing to promote the book, including crochet-alongs and other interactive fun!

The Stitches and Craftsy classes are the same, but different. At Stitches I talk about the need for a style sheet and some of the things you might need to think about in terms of who your audience is. We discuss different wording options and why you might choose one or another. I provide a pattern template and in the afternoon, you get a chance to work through the process of writing a pattern for a simple pullover. Crocheters are not forgotten in this class, as I use specific examples of crochet language and offer crochet designers the opportunity to write a crochet pattern. We also spend time talking about how to approach publishers, preparing design proposals, and aspects of self-publishing.

Crochet is not specifically part of the Craftsy class, nor do I cover design submissions there, although crocheters would benefit from the Craftsy course. The in-person class gives students an opportunity to throw ideas around in “real time” and feed off each other, as students ask questions and discuss their concerns.

Craftsy also offers a platform for discussion, and I’m available to answer questions on a daily basis. On Craftsy, I go into detail on how to develop a style sheet and pattern template for your audience, and we go step-by-step through the process of writing a more complex pattern. Because there are fewer time constraints (you can watch at your pace, and you have assignments to do between lessons), the level of technical detail is greater. You have a chance to do more practical hands-on work. While I do say some of the same things in both classes, they are not exactly the same, and I really think students will benefit from both venues.

In celebration, I’m giving away an ebook copy of Unexpected Afghans! Today, tomorrow and Sunday I’ll be posting a question each day on Twitter. Reply to me (@edieeckman) with your answer and you’ll be entered into a drawing for the copy of the ebook! You can answer once per question until 6pm on Sunday. If you don’t have a Twitter account they are free and easy to make. While you’re at it, you might want to follow me on Twitter so that you’ll be in the know when I share information about where I’ll be teaching, when my new books and patterns are out, and when I find some really great knitting or crochet stuff that you’ll want to know!

Finally, take a look at the other designers from the book featured in this weekend’s blog tour.

• Robyn Chachula, Crochet By Faye
• Dora Ohrenstein, Crochet Insider Newsletter
• Ellen Gormley, Go Crochet  
• Carol Ventura, Tapestry Crochet
• Linda Permann, Lindamade
• Diane Halpern, Three Rivers Crochet 
• Drew Emborsky, The Crochet Dude
• Annette Petavy, Annette Petavy Design
• Jill Wright, Wool Crafting
• Simona Merchant-Dest, Stylish Knits
• Doris Chan, Everyday Crochet
• Mary Beth Temple, Addicted to Alpaca   
• Kristin Omdahl, Styled By Kristin
• Marty Miller, Not Your Grannys Crochet
• Tracie Barrett
• Annie Modesitt, Modeknit 
• Megan Granholm, Loop de doo
• Kim Guzman, Wips N Chains

Happy stitching!

How to Say It: Pattern Writing for Knitters is a class I love to teach, and now I’m able to share information from the class with knitting designers everywhere!

If you aren’t familiar with Craftsy yet, it’s time you heard about it. Craftsy is the fastest-growing craft community on the web. It offers online courses in many crafts, and once you buy a course, it’s yours forever! You can watch the hi-quality videos over and over, at your own pace, and the instructor (that’s me!) is available to answer your questions. Plus, it’s a real community, so others taking the same course can join the discussion and you can give each other feedback and support.

And you can do it all sitting in your jammies at home, if you like.

Please join me for How to Say It: Pattern Writing for Knitters!

I’ve gotten a few big projects completed, and then spent some time figuring how what’s going to be next on my list of Things to Do.

One of the things I’d like to concentrate on is having more dialogue with others–students, potential students, fans, or maybe just friends and family! I plan to stop in to my Ravelry group on a more frequent basis, and start some conversations about various things. We might be talking about your favorite things to stitch, your least favorite projects, or the fastest gift you’ve ever made.  I’ll be sharing with you a little bit about my upcoming projects, and maybe giving you a sneak peek, as I’m allowed.

I’m always interested in hearing from you what types of patterns and workshops you would like to see. Please join me on Ravelry at Edie Eckman Stitchers. Knitters and crocheters are both welcome!

After each class, I’ll be posting resources related to the things we discussed in class. Sometimes these will be links to software or other topics that came up in class. Other times, it may just be completed spreadsheets from a pattern drafting class. In other words, the content of that particular class will determine what the resources are. It will be like the “links” section that goes with a good podcast, although this “podcast” will be a live class, and you’ll have to take the class to find out the password. The occasional class won’t necessitate a follow-up, but if rest assured that if it does, you’ll get the password in class in order to be able to access the content.

I’ll do my best to get content online within a few days of the class, but sometimes internet connectivity while traveling is less than ideal. If you’ve taken the class and don’t see the material up within five days or so, send me an email.

And let me know what you think!