The Evolution of Annie

I am so happy to tell you that our new children's story, Annie and the Swiss Cheese Scarf, is now printed and our shipment of books will be on the way to us shortly. I can't wait to hold the final book in my hands and start shipping it out to all of you who have pre-ordered!

What a fun project this has been for us as a family. Starting out this project, I of course knew quite a bit about knitting and pattern writing, but nothing about the process of creating a children's book. I have learned so much about what all of this involves, and I found it fascinating to watch this project take shape.

As you heard in my latest podcast episode, I have Neesha Hudson to thank for the amazing illustrations in this story. She worked so hard on this book for us and I am amazed by her talent. 

The character development was really interesting. I would give Neesha a general idea of how my daughter and I envisioned the characters, and she would sketch out different options for us to choose from.

Here is Annie.

I wanted Annie to resemble my own daughter somewhat, but still be her own unique character.

After a direction was chosen, she refined the sketches more...

and more...

and more... until we settled on a final version that we were both happy with.

And I think she is so adorable!

If you are interested in learning more about the extensive process that Neesha went through for each and every illustration, be sure to check back soon for a guest blog post from Neesha herself.