Does this count as my first design commission??!!!

I was chatting with my Dad on the phone yesterday. He's in the process of organising some charity fundraising events to benefit Beaumond House hospice in Nottinghamshire. He hasn't done anything like this before, but the main event he's planning is a dinner-dance with a 1940s theme. This year marks 70 years since the end of World War II so he thought he would go with that as the theme for the charity dance. He's got a venue booked, and a band, and he's also trying to put together a raffle to be drawn on the evening. He was asking me for some ideas for prizes that would appeal to women. He has been pledged some vouchers for "experiences" that would appeal more to men but, aside from a spa voucher, he's not had much that might tempt ladies to buy raffle tickets. I suggested what I know best - knitting! So we have agreed that I will design and hand-knit a lace shawl or wrap to offer as a raffle prize.

Now I just need to make a few decisions. Yarn weight, colour, shape, style, it's quite a list. Dad is leaving the design decisions to me - all he asked is that I attach a label with the care instructions and saying that it has been designed and hand-knitted by me.

I have no intention of branching out into commissioned hand-knits. For me, the business side of things is in the design. The knitting itself I do for love, which is mainly why, so far, I design items that I want to have myself, or that are intended for a specific, special individual. Knitting takes time and lots of it, and if I'm going to use my precious time to knit I want to get an item I love at the end of it. I work, I have a family, there just aren't the hours in the day to add in commission knitting as well. But commission designing? I can do that! And for my Dad, I'll find the extra hours to knit it too. He's worth it!