Interview: Megan Wilding
Megan is a UK-based crochet and knitting technical editor and designer. She an eternal lover of all things crafty, loves creating wonderful things with yarn, and is passionate about the process, especially when it involves learning new ways of working with yarn. She's always had a great eye for detail and her love for knitting and crochet has led to her career in technical editing and designing.
Work with Megan: https://calmhousecrafting.com/
Follow Megan on IG: https://www.instagram.com/calmhousecrafting/
Let’s get into the interview!
(This interview was conducted by Sarah Walworth and has been edited for length and clarity.)
What were you doing before you became a technical editor?
I was doing something quite different, I was working within the NHS. I'm from the UK, and I was working in healthcare, which is great—I love the NHS, we're very lucky to have it—but it is quite stretched at the minute, and it's quite stressful. I was doing shift work and when when my eldest started school, and then COVID started. It was all crazy.
And that was when I decided to step out and focus on the family a bit more. My priorities changed during COVID. I loved working in healthcare, and as much as it was good work, it wasn't right for me at that time, and I knew I wanted to do something else.
I didn't really have a clear plan, but I knew it just wanted to be something that I loved, something that I enjoyed. Obviously, thinking about my focus, my priorities were very much about family and love and being happy at that period. Being happy took me to my crafting passions really. I love to knit, I love to crochet, I love to sew as well. So that's why I left healthcare.
You can do anything with yarn, being crafty. There's a lot of options for careers. What made you decide to become a technical editor?
Well, to be honest, I didn't even know what a technical editor was or that the role even existed really. I found Carol Ibbotson, who runs a tech editor course here in the UK online. I came across her and discovered this whole world of tech editing. And I've always been quite nitpicky, yes, that's the right word. I can spot things and am quite detailed. I would always be the one to read through my friends' essays and things, and I quite like maths. I've got quite a mathsy brain, I suppose.
When I found out more about tech editing, I was just like, this is it. This feels like an amazing way to create a career out of something I love, which is, you know, yarn and knitting and crochet. But for me especially, it was the working from home on my computer, having the flexibility of the work because I've got young kids and for me very much family is my big priority. So the fact that I can do the tech editing around my kids, around family life, and still be there as and when they need me is just amazing and fantastic.
But yeah, it was just about carving a career out of my passion which has been amazing. The last few years has been a fantastic journey and I loved it.
You work from home, so what's your workspace like?
So I have a designated space which is purely for work. I think that is quite important to get me in the work zone and get rid of the distractions. I would love to say it's lovely, neat and tidy, but the honest answer is it's probably not as neat and tidy as it should be. There's often little scraps of knit or crochet samples around if I've just tried to double check something.
There's often little post it notes with ideas as well. I'm trying to expand on my sort of designer journey, and very much that's about being creative. And when things pop into my head, I write them down. I've got like a pack of my crochet hooks and stitch markers and little bits of balls of yarn around as well.
What has been the hardest part of tech editing for you?
I've always been employed, but I freelance now so I'm in charge of my business, running it. Certainly in the initial stages, getting used to putting myself out there when I was looking for my first clients and touting for work, it didn't come naturally to sell myself. I am probably on the more introverted side. That was really tough in the beginning: putting myself out there and learning about the business-side of things.
The actual tech editing side of things is absolutely fine. That came quite naturally. It's more the other side of working for yourself and freelancing.
And social media—I very much have a love-hate relationship with it. Like it is great that it’s there and you can promote yourself, but it doesn’t come naturally to me. As I said, it’s been a bit of a journey over the last few years.
Has social media gotten easier for you?
Yeah, I would say so. I know I'm very lucky. I have a few regular clients who I work for regularly, and that's quite nice because I don't need to tout so much. I'm definitely more confident I think generally in front of the camera.
What references and tools do you find yourself always reaching for in your work?
The ones I use I a lot, especially if I’m grading is the Craft Yarn Council sizing charts, as well as Ysolda Teagues' chart. She has a sizing chart which is super helpful when I am doing my own designing as well. One of my favorite books for knitting is the Vogue Knitting book—I use that a lot actually. And I’ve got a crochet book that I use as much like a reference guide: Complete Crochet Course. I did have Ann Budd’s Book of Patterns recommended to me, but that is more for size charts for grading references.
I just love a physical book. The internet is great but I still have loads of notebooks and things.
What's the best piece of wisdom you've heard or read lately?
Just keep going. You can do this. Anybody who's just starting out, it can be really daunting, especially the running the business and putting yourself out there and touting for clients and saying “hey, can I tech edit for you?” It’s tough, but you will get there. Just keep going one step at a time and believe in yourself.
It can sometimes be a little bit lonely, which is why it's fantastic to have the Community, really. Just join communities and get social and keep going. That's probably what I'd say to myself, really and to anyone, you got this.
What is something in your business that you're happy worked out differently than you expected?
It's been the type of work that I do regularly now. When I first started tech editing and learned about it, I just assumed that I'd be working for individual designers and that would be my main work. But actually my regular work now is with big yarn companies, and I also work for a magazine, which has slightly more of an editing role within it as well, which has been really interesting. And it's made me think more about the finished product of a whole magazine or book put together. Not necessarily just the knitting and crochet technical editing.
It's the general editing as well and layout and design concepts which I wasn't necessarily intending to go down that route, but that's how it ended up. So I still do the tech editing, which I love and enjoy, but just the the other stuff around building a collection of work and how it all fits and ties together has been really interesting for me. The grand plan is to build my own designing business, which because I am a tech editor, that amazingly helps, because I have to have that inherent understanding of construction.
And I know if you asked me when I started this, I would have said, well, no, I'm not going to design. I'm quite happy just sitting here and editing. But actually as my confidence has grown, I'm thinking, yeah, I can do this and I have loads of ideas. It has been a whole journey and it's not over yet. Life is exciting.
What do you like to design?
I'm starting with accessories: hats and hand warmers. I'm starting out small but eventually would like to do some sweaters down the track. But I'm just starting out my designing journey, so we'll start small and work away.
I don't get the Sunday blues anymore like I used to. I used to think on Sunday, oh, I don't want to go tomorrow. Now, it's Monday and I don't have that anymore. Which for me is amazing.
What is your favorite way to take a break from editing?
Sounds a bit silly because I am obviously working on the knitting and crochet patterns, but I do love to knit and crochet. The whole reason I love to knit and crochet is I find it calming, I find it relaxing. But when I'm not doing that and if my family's home, then I will probably go and spend time with my family. As I said, family time is a big priority for me: family life and doing things with them, playing with the kids, going for walks.
Yeah, probably if you were to ask any of my family, they'd be like, oh, just knit and crochet, knit and crochet, and then edit, knit and crochet.
What are your hopes for yourself?
I hope that I continue to tech edit, and I would love to step more into a designing role as well, alongside my tech editing. I really want to continue editing, but I suppose to go lean onto more of my creative side as well.
I hope to continue to be happy and to build a life that brings me happiness and joy. And that's how my business name came about because life was crazy and busy during COVID, and everything felt really stressful. And I was like, I just want to be calm. I want to be at home, and I just want to be knitting and crocheting.
I think I remember sitting around the table with everyone and discussing what I wanted to do. And the name Calm House Crafting came up and I was like, that sounds amazing. That's it. So that's where my business name came from. And it was more an aspirational thing. I have a normal life, I have stresses, but for the most part, life is relatively calm now, which is good. And I'm at home, and I am, for the most part, crafting.
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Thank you for being here, dear tech editors! Leave a comment below (I read each one!) ~ Sarah Walworth