Thursday, May 24, 2012

Writing About Knitting by Leanne Dyck


Todays post is a labyrinth—circles within circles. But please bear with me.

Thanks to the Mayne Island library book sale, my collection of books recently grew. And thanks to a friend’s keen eyes and fine taste in literature, one of the books I captured was Jane Urquhart’ s The Underpainter. Jane Urquhart is one of my favourite authors. Away, a book she wrote prior to The Underpainter, is one of my favourite books. 

Last Monday Ms. Urquhart was a guest on The Next Chapter. On the show, she disclosed that she crawled from book to book under a dark cloud of self-doubt. I was surprised when I heard this prolific author say that she consistently doubted her ability to produce a book—a doubt I share about my own writing.

Ms. Urquhart also confessed that she never re-read past work. 

There is danger there—as I recently learnt when I re-read some stories of my own. Will the old work measure up to my present standards? Will it exceed it?



I’ve been writing since I was a pre-teen. I’ve been writing about knitting since 2005.



It all started when my knitting pattern designer website went live in 2002. My web designer, Monica Hogg, was a font of knowledge regarding this new venture. Monica explained that I needed to create new content for my site. Failing to do so would mean that my site would be buried by the suffocating mass of sites that exist on the Internet, she told me.



Fearful of this outcome, I asked Monica to add a blog to my site. On this blog I posted tutorials, personal essays and short stories. To my surprise you did find me. Encouraged by your support, I continued to write.



Last February, overcome by the fear that I wouldn’t be able produce another book, I was hit by an idea which felt like a semi trailer.  I’ve already written another book



I unearthed and steeled myself as I prepared to re-read my collection of writing about knitting. Separating the cream from the milk took courage; polishing the writing required work but I persevered. Then I surveyed my collection of patterns—I choose the most popular and my favourites to accompany my other writing. (Photos of some of these I’ve scattered throughout this post).



In January 2011, upon the publication of The Sweater Curse, I closed my knitwear design business.           



Recently, I’ve received emails from knitters interested in purchasing my patterns. Unfortunately, I was forced to tell them that the patterns were no longer available because I’d closed my business.



I view Writing About Knitting as a way to continue to share my patterns with knitters and to celebrate my years as a knitwear designer.
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Next post:  Please welcome Author Colleen Cross