It’s an odd thing as a designer; the basics of what I do stay the same (knitting something, writing the pattern, editing and photographing the pattern) but how I tell you about that new pattern keeps on changing. Some of the changes are great, others I’m not so fond of. They longer I’m doing this the more pressure I feel to keep everything polished and professional Do you know what though, for the most part that’s not me. I’m just me, I love knitting, love writing pattern and I love teaching people to knit my patterns and work through any problems.
I find that often social media can put up a professional ‘barrier’ and I’m determined the break that down so that I can still be just me. I think that’s why I like knitalongs (KALs) so much; everyone is pushing along through the same pattern and you have time to roll up the sleeves and get all the problems sorted out. I find that once knitters get past the first week or two of the KAL they fly along with little to no problems. Starting something new and figuring out what you’re doing is the most difficult part!

Live Videos

I’ve just started experimenting a bit with live videos and I’m really enjoying it. So far it’s just been on Instagram but if my internet connection will allow I’ll try it out on Facebook as well. Often for live video my internet can let me down but I really like how casual and interactive it is. I get to be just me and you can chat with me in real time. It’s pretty amazing!!

KAL videos

I’m starting to work a bit more with little video clips to go along with my KALs as well. I think that often a complex technique can sound overwhelming in written (or even photograph) form but watching it visually can be much more accessible. It’s also faster for me as well to record a few minutes of video than it is to write the directions out and it’s usually much more obvious what I’m doing. I want to keep each of the video clips short so that even if you don’t have great internet access you can still watch them. It also means that you can jump right to the part you need rather than trying to figure out where it is!

Setting Up

Now that I’ve decided that I want to do more videos the next step is setting it up right! I changed my phone back to an Iphone to make editing easier as I’ve got Imovie on my computer. The video quality from the Iphone is excellent but for all phones I find the sound lets it down. After a lot of searching I decided on this microphone and I’m really impressed by how much better it makes that sound for the video! The final piece for my video puzzle was tripods and holders. I’ve got a few little small tripods that stand on the table and use a phone grip and the most recent addition is this big metal arm that has a clamp to attach to the side of the table.

 

So do you like live video and short KAL videos? What would you like to see more of?

On Saturday 19th of August I’ll be launching the pre-sale of my Camira KAL and I’ve going to do a live video on IG (and later FB if it works!) in the afternoon (Irish Time). If you follow me it will pop up when I’m doing a live video. Come drop in to watch and if you want ask a few questions as I’m talking. Should be a lot of fun!

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