Fresh Designs Crochet: Toys

photo by Wouter Beugelsdijk

The color story for Fresh Designs Crochet: Toys is "treehouse" - as with the other inspiration boards, the color story isn't necessarily the theme, but if it inspires you, go with it!

Toys aren't just for kids - take a look at the Blythe Blythe Blythe! Flickr group, for example. I've got a Pullip doll myself - and an iPhone, which is really just as much a toy as a tool. These are all toys that can be accessorized and customized - and I'd love to see submission proposals for accessories and companion pieces for toys. Clothes for a teddy bear? A teddy bear for a doll? a sleeve that makes an e-book reader look like a teddy bear?

One of the thoughts I've had about Blythe and Pullip dolls lately is that it would be really nice to have custom-made wig stands, hat stands, and dress forms. I've got a couple of ideas about how I could crochet one - how about you?

Fresh Designs Crochet call for submissions

Fresh Designs Crochet: Inspiration Board (Hats)

Photo: "Foliage" by Robyn Jay

The color story for Fresh Designs Crochet: Hats is "Foliage" - which is a pretty broad-ranging color story, since that includes all the seasons and plants of all sorts. While the color stories aren't necessarily intended to be a theme, if the inspiration strikes that way, I say run with it. Hats are worn all year round in all kinds of climates; what kind of foliage evokes a hat for hot, humid days? a walk in cool, windy woods? sinking up to your knees in snow? a rainy season?

More recently, I read Turning Writers Into M*********** Rockstars on the Terrible Minds blog (FYI, the blog post title and body include strong language). It includes:

Writers are so polite. Their hobbies tend to match. “Oh, I collect first editions of classic American novels!” “I crochet!” “I have a sugar glider named Lord Byron!”

We’re done with that. It’s time to crank up the volume knob, break it off, and stab the shard of plastic into someone’s neck. Authors need bigger, badder, waaaaay more f*****-up hobbies.

Crochet is polite? The writer, Chuck Wendig, probably hasn't heard about yarnbombing/yarnstorming or the Crochet Liberation Front. It got me to wondering on Twitter what a crocheted Rockstar Writer hat could look like, and over the weekend, I started playing around with some ideas myself. I'd love to see yours.

Fresh Designs Crochet: Tips for Submitters (deadlines)

DEADLINES: the sooner you can get your submission in, the better. For the first call for submissions for Fresh Designs Crochet, more than half of the submissions that came in up to about a week before the deadline generated emails from me either to correct errors (like typos in an URL), to inquire whether Yarn X would be suitable, or to say ‘really like your hat design you’ve got on Ravelry, do you have more design ideas in that direction?’ Waiting until the last minute can also mean missing the deadline because of a technical difficulty. Not fun.

Deadlines for this call for submissions:

• Submission date deadline: 02 September 2011, Friday, 8:00 pm, Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time: Honolulu.


• Not sure when that is? The timeanddate.com World Clock Time Zone Converter can show you what that will be in your time zone.


• An email confirming that your submission(s) are/have been received for consideration will be sent within 5 working days of your submission. If that form letter does not appear in your inbox within that time, please check your junk/spam mail folder. If it's not there, please email me at mk [at] cooperativepress [dot] com.


• Acceptance notification deadline: 09 September 2011, Friday. That means final decisions will be made by Friday and you will be sent an email letting you know if your submission has been accepted or not. If you do not receive an email by 11 September 2011, Sunday, please reply to the submission confirmation email and let me know.


• Finished samples and pattern deadline: 20 January 2012, Friday. Finished project to be received by Cooperative Press in Lakewood, Ohio, USA. Finished written pattern submissions to be made via email or online form submission.

Fresh Designs Crochet: Tips for Submitters (Yarn)

If you are thinking about submitting to the Fresh Designs Crochet book series, I'm posting on a variety of topics related to the call for submissions that could keep your submission from falling to the bottom of the heap. 



YARN CHOICES: It is immensely helpful if you provide at least two choices for yarns, with information that includes the fiber content and the number of skeins (yardage is fine, until it’s 11:30 pm and I’m filling out a yarn request form and having to go look up the yardage of a skein so I can calculate the number of skeins to request…let’s just say you don’t want to be that kind of memorable). In the description or one of the yarn choice slots, providing a more general description of a suitable yarn can be very helpful (e.g. “fingering weight smooth wool or wool blend in self-striping yarn with long color changes, about 400 yards” or “bouncy, bulky single-ply roving-style yarn with halo, about 200 yards”).

In all the juggling of working out yarn sponsoring, having a Plan B (and Plan C, and Plan D, and Plan E…) helps your editor and can help you get your yarn support as soon as possible so you have more time to crochet the sample and work out the written pattern.

We do like to support indie yarn companies (see list of yarn companies, with links, in the Cooperative Press Fresh Designs Crochet call for submissions); we are also delighted to be able to team with large companies including Berroco, Knit Picks, and Lion Brand. If you have a working relationship with particular yarn companies and prefer to use their yarns, please mention that in the comments section of the submission form. We are also seeking indie yarn producers to sponsor yarn for Fresh Designs Crochet patterns; if interested, please fill out this form.

If you have questions about yarn, please use the comment form for the Cooperative Press Fresh Designs Crochet call for submissions, or email  me at mk [at] cooperativepress [dot] com.

Fresh Designs Crochet: Tips for Submitters (Step One)

If you'd like to improve your chances of having your submission accepted to the Fresh Designs Crochet book series, the number one way to get that to happen is...submit a design proposal. I'll be posting more tips for submitting over the next several days.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS INFO: The call for submissions post over at Cooperative Press is a pretty long read, isn't it? I did that on purpose. Along with using a form for submission, that long read is a filter for me. All the information you need is there, so if you skip over something - like the request to ask questions/add comments to the Cooperative Press call for submissions blog post, so we can keep it all in one place - and have asked a question on Ravelry and are tapping your fingers waiting for me to answer, well...you might be waiting for a while.

• Keep a copy of the information you've put into the form; once you hit submit, you won't be able to see it anymore.


• Confirmation that your submission has been received will be emailed to you by me. If there is anything missing or not working (like a broken link), I will mention that in the email so that it can be corrected. Please allow up to 5 working days for the confirmation email.


• If you've never used Flickr Guest Pass before and would like to, I recommend trying it out a couple of times before you use the Cooperative Press online submission form. I've put together a tutorial with screenshots so that you can see where to click and what your screen should look like.


• This Pixie Purls post (Photography for Knitters: Photographing Yarn) by Brandy Fortune and these It's a Stitch Up blog posts by Suzie Blackman (Photographing Your Work Part 1 and Part 2) can be very helpful for photographing swatches.


• What I am looking for are design proposals - sketches, swatches, and written descriptions. The sketches don’t need to be fine works of art – I just want to know the general shape and dimensions of the piece. Swatches are especially helpful for lace and very textured stitch patterns. Finished projects/patterns can be submitted, but I generally prefer design proposals that have more potential for being modified.


• For the yarn amount, when specifying a brand, please estimate the number of skeins or hanks needed. If you are not specifying a brand, estimated yardage is fine.


• For garments, estimate the amount of yarn you will need to make the sample in at least the middle of the size range you can offer, and include that information in the comments section of the form.


•  The Fresh Designs format is one design per designer per book. If you’ve got several ideas for, say, Fresh Designs Crochet: Hats, I’d like to see them all. Giving me more to choose from is a good thing, and there's enough overlap between the books so that a submission to Mittens & Gloves could wind up in Designs for Men or in Kids.

If you have questions about the submission form/submission process, please use the comment form for the Cooperative Press Fresh Designs Crochet call for submissions. If you've got questions you don't want to ask in public, you can email me at mk [at] cooperativepress [dot] com.