This time I was lucky enough to interview Beverly S. (Yarnintercept). She is another participating designer in the Indie Gift-a-long.
I personally am intrigued by her pattern for the Dark Passage Socks, picture bellow:
photo by Beverly S. |
1.What inspires you to
design?
I find inspiration in
lots of places. architecture, friends and family members, movies, the yarn
itself, or stitch dictionaries. Sometimes I just want to explore what I can do
with a certain kind of stitch.
2.If you could knit/ crochet one thing - anything in the world what would that be?
If time and my own lack
of fortitude weren't a factor, I'd make a blanket with the world map on it or
flags of the world. There's a flags blanket on Ravelry that I'm fascinated by.
(I have a thing for Geography!)
3.Describe your ideal day as a designer, what would you do and what would you prefer not to do?
First, coffee! Then l
would browse through stitch pattern books and do a few small swatches of a
stitch pattern or stranded design - or I'd just cast on and start knitting.
Swatching isn't my favorite thing...so I might get two or three rows in and
decide I know what I'm doing! Creating charts for colorwork or cabled designs
is fun. Grading sizes is not so much fun.
4.How do you start a project, with yarn, pattern, idea or what?
It depends. Sometimes
a yarn decides it needs to be made into something, now. With my
Wednesday Night pattern, I knew the yarn had to be a shallow, asymmetrical
shawl. Other times, I have an idea of how to use a stitch or combo of
stitches and start playing around - In Reverse (the mitts came first) started
with the stitch pattern and then I got wrapped up in the technique of knitting
top down - that is, from the fingerless end to the wrist cuff. And sometimes, I
am inspired and want to represent that inspiration - my Dark Passage socks were
inspired by the movie of the same name, but then took off from there. It was my
most technically challenging design - a two color cast on, two color cables,
and a deceptively easy looking sole design that took a lot of time, and math, to
get just right.
photo by Beverly S. |
5.What inspires you to pick up needles and start on the project?
The need to create. To
turn a "ball of string" (as my husband calls it) into something
beautiful.
6.What do you enjoy the most about the designing and what you dislike the most?
I love when a pattern
just happens effortlessly. Sometimes it comes off the needles with no problem
and minimal reworking. I hate when I have to fight the stitches, the yarn, or
my own stubbornness to make a design work. I dislike how much time it takes me
to get a design out there. I'm not prolific because I have a full-time job as a
math teacher, and sometimes, I just procrastinate. I currently have a design in
the testing phase now that was photographed over a year ago. All I needed to do
was finish typing up the pattern!
7.Are there any particular techniques you find challenging or impossible to work with?
I've never tried
steeking or brioche. I'm also not a fan of intarsia. I've knit it out of
necessity, but I'd never design something using intarsia as I find it way too
fiddly.
8.What is on your needles now?
So.many.things. For
the gift along, I'm currently knitting Claire Slade's Midnights Owl and
crocheting Rachy Newin's Heart of a Rockstar Cowl. I also finished YOUR
pattern, Cecile! Besides the two current projects, I have a mitten design that
needs finishing, a sweater vest, a few pairs of fingerless gloves, socks, a
shawl or two, a cowl design with just the ribbing done....I could go on and
on.
9.Do you work on multiple projects at the same time or single project?
Do people really knit
one thing at a time? It boggles the mind! I am most definitely a multiple
projects knitter. I am easily distracted by new yarn, a new pattern, a new
stitch and I always have to cast on RIGHT.NOW.
Wednesday Night
Where to find Beverly S. (Yarnintercept):photo by Beverly S. |
Beverly S. on Ravelry
Beverly S. in Twiter
No comments:
Post a Comment