Design hurdles

The above image is direct from my design notebook.

I'm currently most focused on a simple openwork shrug made from Teva Durham's moss yarn. I'm using the turquoise and I am just loving it. I think that some people are turned off by the nylon content but it's not bothering me one little bit.

After that swatching that original chart a few times, I realized that I wasn't happy with the burst-/spider-like part of the motif. I left it alone for a day and then spent most of Friday in a downtown cafe re-working it. I finally settled on something and am now just finishing with ball 1 of two on the sample.

One thing I am really struggling with is the charting process. Not actually figuring out and drawing the chart, but making it look professional for the pattern. I just have no idea how to get it into the computer. There's one program I found that might work, but it doesn't look great for charting is expensive considering it has so many other features I wouldn't use. I also found a crochet symbol font, but it didn't look great in the preview.

I realize I could solve this by just writing the pattern out old-school, but you know what, I really like charted patterns for open work. I think they are much easier to follow and break apart if you're having problems. The other solution I'm considering is hand drawing and then scanning it. I anticipate this taking hours of my time, and not really ever feeling like it's "good enough to sell".

But otherwise I am feeling more and more comfortable with the design process. The shrug pattern will be done in 3 sizes and that feels like a step up from bags and scarves. I also feel like it's motivating me to take on more advanced projects for my personal crochet/knitting projects. So overall this is good. I feel like each pattern and project is something more than the last and I'm super motivated to keep in that direction.