Behind the Scenes of Patty Lyons’ Knitting ER, Part 1: Meet Illustrator Franklin Habit
There are a lot of talented people behind the look of a book. For my new book, Patty Lyons’ Knitting ER: A Step-by-Step Guide to Fixing Your Knits, Before and After Bind Off, I have had the same dream team for three books.
- Illustrations: Franklin Habit
- Book design: Anna Wade
- Technical Illustrator: Linda Schmidt
They are fully responsible for everything other than the words. I wanted to show you a little peek behind the scenes into what it takes to build a book. Their work is so amazing that I could not devote just one blog to it, so we’ll do a series.
First up, the one and only Franklin Habit.
Framing Our Journey
Franklin Habit was a huge part of creating the characters we would be following on our journey through fixing mistakes.
I knew I wanted to bring back “our knitter,” who book-ended both Patty’s Knitting Bag of Tricks and the workbook. There was a lot of back-and-forth with Franklin via email to clarify the visual framing of this book.
An Early Idea:
Franklin: Reading through the outline, I also wonder if perhaps the swatch itself could be the recurring character in need of assistance? (The knitter could also be an anthropomorphized animal, I’m quite experienced with those.)
But then he nailed it, and everything fell into place.
Franklin: The knitter from the book and workbook is, of course, back, in the role of the doctor. A ball of yarn (descended from the yarn-mojis in the workbook) represents all the things being diagnosed and fixed, the patient, as it were. Also, what is cuter than a ball of yarn with big, soulful eyes?
It is wonderful to work with Franklin. Not only is he insanely talented, but I’ve known him for so many years, and we have a lovely shorthand when we work.
Yep, we made it off the page! The yarn-mojis are now stickers and stitch markers! Click the links to grab them on my website.
The Process
Franklin will send me a rough concept drawing, and I either (usually) approve it as is or give some suggestions.
Rough of preface:
My feedback: Of COURSE, I’m drawn to the detail that I didn’t ask for and am now obsessed with, the cat reaching for the ball of yarn. Would it be too much to give “our bad kitty” those eyes when a cat is staring right at the person, to make sure they can do the bad thing?
Final: Added a second ball of yarn, moved it to the foreground, and had naughty kitty looking up at our knitter.
Rough:
My feedback: For “Off to Medical School” (again, tell me if it’s too much), but you know how I fixate on your details… is it too much to have the cat from the preface stow away in the medical bag? I was thinking the bag could be open in the corner, you’d just see maybe the tips of the ears, the top of the head with eyes (or one eye), some whiskers, and then an arm reaching out toward the yarn. Too much?
Franklin: OK, this is uncanny. I had the cat exactly there and took it out. I thought you might think it was too much! Back in it goes!
That is wild. Just wild. Wow. 🤯
Franklin is amazing at editing my over-the-top suggestions down to the single element that tells the story. The cat paw was all we needed.
He can also take an idea and run with it in a way I would not have thought of.
Rough:
My feedback: Do you think it’s too much to have one of those surgical trays of tools near the foot of the bed, but instead of scalpels and stuff, there’s balls of yarn, a few locking stitch markers and stitch holders, maybe a pin cushion full of darning needles?
You can always say “too much.”
Final: Not only added a tray of tools, but also changed the IV bag to a skein of yarn. Chef’s kiss.
But there are times when I’m totally stumped and I have no good ideas. Our original image for “The Doctor Is In” got rejected by the publisher because images can’t be edited if we have foreign-language co-editions (BTW, we already have German, Spanish, and Korean). I had no good ideas.
Then I got this email from Franklin.
Franklin: Okay, I think I cracked it! I went round and round (and round) and finally realized we could bring back the “patients” here, all sitting in the waiting room for the newly-qualified doctor to help. It’s a chance for some more yarn-based visual jokes, like a needle through the head (à la Steve Martin and his arrow) and the “yarn barf.” There is text, but it’s one layer, easy to replace, and even the signboard outline should be easy to shrink or stretch based on the language in any foreign editions, nothing that wasn’t done in book one. Let me know. Cheerio, pip pip, etc.
It is my favorite image. It also helped me find our cover.
Franklin’s work really helped shape our book design, but it was the wonderful Anna Wade who pulled it all together. In our next edition, we’ll look at the journey of a book designer.
Can’t wait to get your copy? Pre-order specials on Patty Lyons’ Knitting ER: A Step-by-Step Guide to Fixing Your Knits, Before and After Bind Off run through October 15, 2026!
My website is out of stock now, but never fear! I’ll be at Rhinebeck, so you can pre-order from Merritt Book Store for pick-up, or order for shipping from my Amazon author link, your LYS, or your local bookstore (upload your receipt on my webform either way).
