My story as a technical editor parallels many of my colleagues: an experienced knitter gets hooked on test knitting, gets super interested in structure, consistency, and the math behind the scenes, and transitions to a technical editor role to make patterns more accessible and understandable.
I have been a knitting technical editor for the past two years and have worked with many designers from the Spanish landscape. But I wouldn’t have stepped forward if I didn't have my customers' support, especially Lucía Ruíz de Aguirre (@luymou), independent knitting designer and author of six books, and Soraya García (@yedraknits) knitting designer and chief editor in the bilingual knitting publication YedraKnits.
Working for independent designers or knitting publications is quite different. In this article, I will discuss my experience as the technical editor for the international publication YedraKnits.
Clear guidelines for keeping the designer’s fingerprint
Working for an international publication encompasses the challenge of working with many designers worldwide that will unite their effort to coexist in a printed publication forever. A publication must be consistent and share a clear style, abbreviations, and sections across the pattern. The style, if correctly applied, is an invisible thread that connects everything. YedraKnits has the most complete style sheet and abbreviations list in Spanish I have worked with so far. Soraya made a progressive effort to file all the bits and pieces that make their patterns consistent, clear, and reproducible.
The challenge in every publication is that we aren’t editing a single person but a collection. Every designer has their own style, and it’s critical to keep their spirit because patterns are a conversation between creators and makers. Even though we have to stick to certain guidelines to make “style invisible,” YedraKnits has a firm policy of keeping designer style, details, explanations that permeate through the patterns.
Division of tasks to keep your eyes fresh
Another big difference between working with individual customers or publications is the task division. When I edit for private customers, the team comprises me and the designer. Period. At YedraKnits, I am not alone. Soraya is the team leader and keeps track of the progress of the different tasks, talking with the printing house and the distribution, contacting designers, and shaping the extra content such as interviews.
Pablo takes care of the journal's technical layout, ensuring the publication's visual identity. Inés (@sheepdays) is the dedicated crochet technical editor with huge attention to detail; she is the main guard of the designer's style. Sara (@sara.blackshire) is the English-Spanish/Spanish-English translator. Her experience in the knitting publication industry is very valuable for YedraKnits, as she can relate Spanish terms with well-established expressions in the Anglo-Saxon language. There are also proofreaders, sample knitters, test knitters, yarn support, and sponsors that make it possible. A different game!
We don’t have direct contact to keep the conversation clean and centralized in Soraya, which helps to focus on the tasks and maintain a tidy work pipeline. Still, we are working as a team, and our effort is preserved to look at the patterns with fresh eyes to catch the most tedious and slippery double spaces.
Challenge accepted: reward collected
In conclusion, working as a technical editor for an international bilingual knitting publication like YedraKnits requires clear guidelines, attention to detail, and excellent teamwork. The challenge of working with multiple designers from different parts of the world while preserving their unique style and keeping a consistent style across the publication is immense. However, YedraKnits' team's well-organized task division helps them maintain a tidy work pipeline and catch even the most tedious mistakes. It is impressive how everyone's efforts combine to produce a cohesive and beautiful publication that celebrates the knitting community worldwide.
