3rd Time's the Charm

Just like for writes, knit and crochet designers have to deal with (sometimes lots of) rejections.

IT IS NOT PERSONAL !!!

Even though I am a long-time knitter and crocheter and I get lots of uhs and ohs for my designs from family and friends (advice: take it with a grain of salt), I am a newbie at the publishing side of things. And when some of my first designs got accepted right off the bat, I thought, this is way too cool!

I can tell you, it was quite a shocker when the first rejections started to trickle in, especially for designs I really believed in, took a while to develop and were cute.

For example, one of the rejected designs were my "Bed Buddy" hot water bottle cozies that my two boys were totally crazy about... a sure sign that the design is viable.

Turtle, Lady Bug, and Bear hot water bottle cozies

After a few days of being bummed out, I gathered my wits and tackled the rejection note to see if I could use it to improve on my design:

• I carefully re-read the rejection wording to get a better understanding for why it might have not worked out
• Made a short list of possible design improvements
• Took stock of the yarn color choice for my swatch
• Switched from a hand-drawn schematic to a computer drawn one
• Took a critical look at the photo quality
• Re-evaluated the magazine or website style to ensure (a better) fit for my design idea
• Decided to spend more time on developing a story to "sell" the design 
• ... and resubmitted

Just to be rejected again! Dang! And now I've missed the window for the gifting season as lots of magazines work way ahead of the newsstand release date...

So there I watched my boys enjoying their Bed Buddies and being constantly reminded that this design has failed me so far.

Bed Buddy prototype

When the next winter/gifting season rolled around, I took a deep breath and went at it again. And my stubbornness was rewarded: the 3rd time's the charm! :D

And what a hit it was! It not only got accepted by Knit Simple Holiday 2010, but it also made the cover!!! And it was selected for a kit as well!!!

Made the cover of Knit Simple Holiday 2010!
(Knit Simple Holiday 2010, photo by Paul Amato)

That just shows you that if you believe in your design and have gotten some good feedback, don't give up and keep going. It's just a matter of finding the right match...

All the best to your design efforts.