Buyer Beware: Shrinking packages

Good has a great infographic on the amazing state of American goods. If you're paying the same price for a product as you were last year, odds are the product itself has gotten smaller. Thanks big business! I'd love to pay the same money for less reward while still earning the same amount of money. Isn't this partly why Egyptians are rioting?

Knitting Needle Packaging {Designs by Heather Walpole}

Here's a fun photo I forgot to post from TNNA 2011. This is Dick Power, the owner of Plymouth Yarn, and your favorite graphic designer! I had the opportunity to create a fun package design for their new line of Japanese bamboo knitting needles. This is the first time I had seen the finished product and I seem pretty happy with the outcome!

Documented theft: Forever 21

Copyright infringement is a serious issue that small designers often don't have the resources to fight. Jezebel.com has a shocking, but not surprising article on about how the clothing chain Forever 21 doesn't develop their own fashions they just rip off the small, creative designers. Beware artistic friends! This kind of thing is happening in fashion, art and design. Get informed and choose where you shop carefully.

Article here: jezebel.com

Gypsy Garden Collection {Designs by Heather Walpole}

Remember when I showed you this sneak peek?

Well here it is, the Knit Collage Gypsy Garden Collection pattern booklet and I had the pleasure of designing it!

I worked with Knit Collage to design a line of six fun and easy patterns using their Gypsy Garden yarns. The booklet debuted at TNNA 2011 and will be in yarn stores very soon! Here's the Tinkerbell Mobius Scarf worked up in the stardust garland colorway and Kinari Bolero in kinari bazaar.

And here in the trade show booth you can spot the Secret Garden Pillow knit in color bubblegum twist and the Bundled Up Beanie Hat crocheted using mermaid café.

Tucked into the left corner is the Sweet Pea Baby Sweater knit in emerald rainforest. Knit Collage yarns are handspun in India and each skein is a beautiful work of art making each knitted piece unique. The project ideas are endless!

I had so much fun creating this booklet, I can't wait to get my hands on some new yarn!

Click here to visit knitcollage.com and see all their amazing yarns and a list of retailers. Happy knitting!

New look, better shopping

Can I say that NobleKnits launched my career? It very well may have. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I went to college, I was about to sign up for Business Administration. My sister sat there with me at orientation and gave me this stare that could have frozen the sun. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Business Administration?

LOOK AT THIS MAJOR!
Graphic Design & Illustration

Um, ok? Should I take that instead? I mean it sounds fun, but what will I do?

You get to buy art supplies! Look at this list: erasers, paint, tracing paper, markers... you LOVE that stuff!

Do I?

Yes! That's your major.

I am a graphic designer through and through and my sister knew it before I did. And she's used that knowledge to the fullest. When Nancy started NobleKnits in 1999 who was the starving college student she bribed with dinner and clean laundry facilities to design her first logo? Who cropped her photos? Who did the pattern layout?

Me. The budding graphic designer. Here's what we made and we loved it.

So here I sit on my MacBook Pro with the full Adobe suite surrounded by sketchbooks, Pantone swatches and inspiration, many years after my college orientation and many NobleKnits logos later launching a brand new website. Look at this!

We've come a long way, baby. A small pattern company that started in a condo is now a mulit-person operation that sells yarn, patterns, needles and a love of knitting. My first client, my favorite client. Cheers to you and all your hard work not only on your website but on me!