You as a designer questions:
What is your design process?
I’ll usually start by looking at inspirational imagery, either images I collect myself or ones provided by the company I’ll be designing for. I will then move onto swatching and working out stitch combinations. Next up comes sketching my design ideas before I start working out the pattern. This is usually done alongside knitting a sample. The final stage will be polishing the pattern and grading into different sizes.
What influences your style?
I love keeping up with trends on catwalk and social media, but mainly I love designing beautiful, timeless and wearable clothes i would quite like to wear myself!
Kari-Helene Rane, K-H on Ravelry:
What about designing and producing patterns are you most adept at, what parts are you most fond of, and what parts are challenging? (Pattern Grading, the last week of editing, coming up with a name for a project, self promotion?)
I definitely enjoy the creative process of swatching and designing the most. I find the maths side the most challenging and am always slightly relieved when I complete the grading of a new pattern.
What do you find most important in photography?
I love putting together fashionable outfits and think the way a garment is styled in a photo can determine the success of a pattern.
You as a Giftalong designer:
What have you learned from the promotion?
I have definitely learned that I am not making the most of Ravelry and I will aim to do better!
You as someone who likes to make things questions:
What is your usual process on a fiber project, for instance, do you start with a yarn, a cute pattern, a need you’ve noticed, something exciting you saw in a movie you want to copy, or a technique you want to learn – then what do you do next and then what?
It varies a lot! I don’t often knit something just for the pleasure of making but often, because the budget is a little tight at times, my starting point is something I already have. I love upcycling, whether it is turning an unloved jumper into a new garment or remaking my husbands shirts into a top for myself.
Does anything intimidate you in knitting or crochet?
Crochet intimidates me full stop.
When you want to learn something, do you look it up in a book, on U-tube, or seek a real person to teach you?
I do love YouTube for good video tutorials but nothing beats flicking through a book with beautiful and inspirational images!
Any repetitive motion disorders due to knitting or crochet? How do you deal with them?
I struggle a little with my right elbow so I have to remember to do stretches. It seems to be better when I also have time to work out.
What makes you buy a pattern (lovely photo, the story of the project, it looks do-able, it looks slightly challenging…)
It is not often I will buy a pattern,mainly I will make something up as I go along, but if I do buy a pattern it is usually a combination of speed and style. Right now I am knitting Norwegian Fir baby cardigan because I needed a cute cardigan for my daughter for a birthday party in two weeks. I’ll get back to knitting once I’ve finished writing these answers!
Thank you Kari-Helene!
