The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design

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About the Book

The Knitgrrl Guide To Professional Knitwear Design is the first-ever book targeted to designers of all experience levels who want to create, communicate and sell their work professionally to magazines, publishers, consumers and other markets.

Written by an industry insider, the Guide takes a comprehensive, unflinching look behind the scenes that no knit or crochet designer can afford to be without. Includes interviews with top designers, editors and professionals who tell it like it is so you can hit the ground running, a guide to responsible social media use, information on distribution, printing, online publishing, book and magazine proposals and much, much more.

Just the Facts

254 pages
ISBN 978-0-9792017-1-4

This book is available in both print and digital format. Please note that the digital format is listed separately. You will receive a PDF download of the book with your print purchase.

Meet the Author

Shannon Okey is a professional knitwear designer, the former editor of a UK knitting magazine and a frequent contributor and columnist for craft-related TV shows and magazines. She was named one of six "New Guard of Knitting" in Vogue Knitting's 25th anniversary issue. She is also the founder of Cooperative Press.

Read Reviews

There a lot of knitters right now who are making the leap from knitter to designer. It's a natural progression of the craft-one starts out following patterns, figuring out how they're structured, and then adapting them and finally making up their own. This book is written at the perfect time to help those people get themselves all set up and established in a professional way. But it's not just for the newbies! The Knitgrrl Guide is for anyone who's trying to navigate through the craft publishing world, and is written by a woman who really knows her stuff. Stefanie Japel

This is a well-overdue book. The author, who has a first-hand experience in becoming a successful designer, who taught the subject of making it in the business world, is sharing with all of us the details that all beginners are dieing to know. How to become a published designer? Where to get the information on submissions? How to get in touch with other designers? What are all of the components that are involved in the process of designing? These and many more questions are addressed in this book in a way that you feel that you already have one friend in this industry: Shannon Okey. In a tone that seems more like a conversation between friends she takes you by hand and walks you through the aisles (chapters). She is leaving it up to you to decide either you really want to do it all or not, but if you do, she is your guide. I loved that in addition to her take on things, Shannon interviewed about 25 designers of different ranks. I think it gave a different dimension to the book. I am already on my second run through it and I am still finding new information for me. If you are considering designing as a profession even part-time, this book will save you a lot of time and confusion.åÊFaina Goberstein

I really wish this book had been available five years ago! This book is a MUST for any new knitwear designer looking to break into the business. If you're an old hat at this, there's something for you, too. I picked up so many helpful tips on contracts, using social media, and marketing just to name a few. The interviews with industry professionals are very interesting and gives a peek inside what's really going on behind that curtain. The book is organized well, is a quick read, and Shannon is quite funny.åÊMelissa Wehrle

Shannon clearly breaks down so many of the walls that aspiring designers find themselves running into. Social media, printing, stylesheets, professional organizations; it's all here (and so much more) in full detail. If this book just had the chapters on social media, marketing and contracts it would be worth the cover price. But it doesn't stop there. Besides the excellent overview of the professional aspects, Shannon literally takes us into the studios of industry professionals. How today's big name designers got there, what editors look for in designers, creative directors' viewpoints; it's all put together in this tidy package like a gift just for you.Theresa of Little Turtle Knits

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