About WLS Makes Stuff
Tech editor, graphic designer, and crafter.
Welcome! I’m Whitney, owner and operator of WLS Makes Stuff. I have been a crafter my entire life, and knitting became my primary craft in my early college years. After years of thinking tech editing sounded like the perfect job for my skillset, I took the Tech Editor Hub training course in 2022 and have been taking on both independent designers and commercial publishers as clients ever since. My experience in digital illustration also lends itself well to the creation of schematics and charts (including crochet charts), and over a decade of experience producing nonprofit and graduate school newsletters has helped hone my skills as a publication layout designer, which I now put towards designing knit and crochet pattern layouts and my own craft-themed stationery line.
I believe crafting should be an inclusive space for everyone regardless of their racial, cultural, or gender identity and that knitting and crochet patterns should strive to reflect the diverse body shapes and accessibility needs of this community. I also believe generative AI has no place in my editing, writing, or design work; nothing you see on this website is AI generated. I’m so thrilled to be able to translate my decades of experience to supporting the fiber arts community that has given me so much joy.
You can view my portfolio of patterns I have tech edited here. My graphic design portfolio is available upon request.
Questions? Please don’t hesitate to email me, or schedule a free 30 min project consultation.
Want to make stuff together?
When you hire me as a tech editor or layout designer, you get:
A tech editor experienced with both US and UK spelling and standard knitting abbreviations.
A digital illustrator with experience creating schematics and charts for both knitting and crochet patterns.
Nearly 30 years of knitting experience in all kinds of garment, accessories, toy and houseware patterns. As an editor, I specialize in toys, garments, and accessories with a special interest in textured stitches (i.e. ganseys) and colorwork garments, with or without charts.
Twenty years of professional experience in content layout, proofreading, and copyediting in Adobe Creative Suite, including matching to style and branding standards and prepping files for print production. I am also experienced with Affinity Creative Suite if that better suits your needs.
A trained writing tutor with an MFA in Creative Writing capable not just of finding ways to improve your pattern but providing clear explanations.
A writer and editor with experience translating technical subjects with specialized terms for a general audience – I can help you spot places where a less experienced reader/knitter might misinterpret a pattern as well as technical terms that might need clarification.
After 20 years of editing work by academics from all over the world, I am also practiced at editorial support for writers for whom English is not their first language. Note: I do not offer translation services, but can assist with common errors such as word order and verb tenses.
Learn more about my services by clicking the buttons, email me, or schedule a free 30 min project consultation.
“Whitney’s tech editing is a lifesaver for a slightly chaotic designer like me! She ensures that my patterns are consistent with my style guide, that all my math checks out across all 10 sizes, and that the instructions make sense. Even on a seemingly simple pattern, Whitney caught a lot of little mistakes and found room for improvement. I feel so much more confident sending my patterns off to testers knowing that Whitney has worked her magic on them.”
“Thank you, Whitney, for being such a pleasure to work with... and for being more than willing to make change after change when I couldn’t make up my mind. You created such beautiful, clear charts for each design and I’m so proud to show them off. Your unique skill combination of crochet and graphic design was exactly what this book needed.”
Author of Summer Crochet
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