Hello everyone!
If you’ve visited before, you know I write a lot about knitting, the process of tech editing knitting patterns, style guides, sizing for handknits, and more.
Recently, my posts seemed more like essays than a conversation. They may be informative but less interesting at the same time.
To help break my essay posts habit, I’m exercising my blog writing muscles by sharing what a Tuesday in the life of tech editor with a pattern to tech edit looks like.
Does that sound interesting to you?
I want to note that my day, as written in this post, may be very different than yours. That’s okay!
Our lives are different and that’s good. I would be suspicious if your life is exactly like mine.
I hope you walk away with new insights on tech editing and other tasks I work on in the midst of daily life.
Please don’t compare my life to your own in a way that causes you to be discouraged with the circumstances of your own life.
Take away what encourages you and improves your daily habits.
I still tried to write a post that was informative and not a complete waste of your time, but I’ll let you be the judge.
5:00-6:15 a.m. – My alarm went off. Most mornings, the first thing I do is pick up my Bible and read a portion to get my mind fixed on the encouragement and exhortation written there first thing. Today, I enjoyed Psalm 145. As you can see, this is a very slow process. I like that as the rest of the day can be more fast paced.
“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.”
-Psalm 145:3
6:15-6:30 a.m. – I got out of bed and got dressed for a 6:30 meeting. While I wait for the meeting to begin, I knit some rows on my Buttonside Sweater designed by Jennifer Dassau. I worked on the short rows to create a sleeve cap.
6:30-7:00 a.m. – I had a meeting which I have 4 mornings of the week during this time.
7:00-7:15 a.m. – I checked my email and messages on social media. I don’t do this every morning. Today, I’m glad I did since a designer I tech edited for was releasing her pattern. I messaged her to see if she would like me to repost and share about the pattern’s release!
7:15-8:00 a.m. – During this time, I checked on the garden. Some morning I have more garden tasks than others. Today, all I needed to do was make sure the plants from peas to lettuce to garlic and more got watered.
Also, I made a latte and got to spend some time with my youngest sister.
8:00-8:30 a.m. – Today, I had a knitting pattern to help a designer tech edit. I downloaded the pattern and updated my Trello board.
I took this time to look over the pattern and edit what I call the pattern introduction. At the beginning of the pattern, the needle size and lengths, yarn information, gauge measurements, and more are listed to get a knitter organized to knit the pattern successfully. I like editing this section early on to get myself mentally organized as well as if I’m following the same process knitters will when reading the pattern to notice any areas that can be clarified or improved.
Also, I took a moment to set up my spreadsheet with the design’s gauge measurements and included sizes.
8:30-9:30 a.m. – It was breakfast time, and more meetings happen in this time.
I squeezed in some knitting on the sleeve cap during this time as well. I find there are limited “perfect” times to knit so knitting some stitches when I can helps projects progress.
9:30-11:30 a.m. – Now, I got to spend focused time on the knitting pattern needing a tech edit. I work through the pattern checking every step while adding and checking stitch counts and measurements in the spreadsheet as I go. I printed any charts that aren’t colorwork that I needed to check as my brain does better when a chart is on paper. I’m always amazed at the creativity of designers as I work through their patterns.
11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. – I got a cup of red raspberry tea and headed to the garden. As the title stated, it’s spring, and there is always a garden task to do. I love these tasks. Today, I made soil blocks to plant winter squash in later on.
12:15-1:45 p.m. – I needed to work on more tech editing. Before lunch, I was able to check the stitch counts, patterns, and calculations for the final decreasing and binding off of the pattern.
1:45-2:30 p.m. – Next, I had lunch. You may notice that I have long meal breaks. No, I’m not eating this whole time. I’m often doing some tidying around the house or catching up with my family who are breaking as well. It’s a blessing to have this time with my family in life right now.
2:30-4:30 p.m. – After the lunch time break, I began the late afternoon tasks of this day.
First, I reposted on Instagram of a new hat knitting pattern that was published. I had the pleasure of tech editing this knitting pattern. Part of my service is to help designers promote their patterns. It’s so exciting to see these patterns launch into the world. It reminds me of the many reasons why I love my job of tech editing patterns.
Next, I planted seeds. Today, I put Galeux D’ Eysines and Table Queen Acorn squash seeds in the soil blocks I made before lunch.
Finally, I looked over the tech-edit-of-the-day’s final two charts. I needed to check that they were correct and as the designer intended.
4:30-5:30 p.m. – Never stop learning! It may be a moto you live with too. For me, I’m taking a course in UX design that I hadn’t devoted time to yet today. I spent this end-of-the-day time to get some learning in.
5:30-6:30 p.m. – Time to make dinner! One of the blessings of living and working with your family is when you have a heavy load, there’s often someone else who can help you. Tonight, my brother and I were able to make dinner together. He gets to learn a new recipe. I get to make memories with him. Plus, the results are yummy.
Conclusion
Do we have anything in common? Do we both enjoy planting winter squash seeds? I would love to hear!
I’m excited to freshen up this website for Works of Our Hands in the upcoming weeks. I want you to enjoy and benefit from your visits here.
I’ve noticed areas where improvement is needed. I’m hopeful these changes will help do that!
Have a blessed day, friends! I will be back with more to share soon.
Works Of Our Hands 