Reaching in by reaching out

Since the beginning of the year, I've been trying to get involved in more plush, amigurumi, and knit/crochet communities as a way of learning more about what my customers want and exposing myself to new ideas and techniques. So far, my little experiment in "reaching out" has inspired me to reach in to my own creativity and come up with new designs like my dinosaur puppet.

The dinosaur puppet design is actually a version of the Clean Monster puppet I submitted to the Threadknits competition. Right now, the puppet is only available as a pattern, but I hope to have a few of his friends available in the shop very soon.

My next attempt at reaching out has been to submit my very first pattern idea to a magazine. I just did that today, so I can't tell you too much about the design or the results yet, but it goes without saying that I'm really nervous. Unless the magazine ends up rejecting my work, you won't be able to see this design until the fall, but I think it's a lot of fun and people are going to really enjoy it.

Now I'm trying to steel myself for one more attempt at reaching out. I signed up for the Schmancy Olympic Challenge. All I can say about this one right now is "eek!" I got my assigned category (c. Opening Ceremonies) and I have been having a dickens of a time coming up with my submission idea. I don't want to do a torch... I'm afraid that will end up being really overdone and dust kittens just don't lend themselves to Olympic sports... No, for this I'm going to have to come up with something entirely new.

Well, enough chatter for now. Wish me luck on the challenge and the pattern submission. And if you have any ideas on the opening ceremonies, I could be persuaded to offer small, fuzzy bribes.