I love it when I pull a last and the boots sit up nice and straight and balanced. Some boots seem to be born under a dark cloud and they fight me at every step, while others are happy and cooperative from very beginning (like this pair).

It’s easy to call this fate or luck, but you know the real reason? Patterning. Patterning. Patterning. When you take the time to get your patterns correct, when you know how to pattern properly, when you’re comfortable with your patterning system and you understand it — that’s when the magic happens. I spend a whole lot of time thinking about my patterns and how to improve and understand them better.