I got to interview Noelle Stiles, nstiles on Ravelry.
You as a designer questions:
What is your design process?
Designs typically start one of two ways, I fall in love with the idea for a pattern and then find the yarn. Or I fall in love with a yarn and then come up with a pattern. In terms of generating the new pattern itself, I am inspired by my visual environment (there are patterns everywhere if you look) as well as a more methodical recombination of possible stitches in a trial and error type of process. Some of my favorite designs are not ones I thought of but stumbled upon.
What influences your style?
The Aran and Celtic style of cabling is my biggest influence. I have always loved the dense cabling of the Irish tradition, partly because it is gorgeous, and partly because it challenges me.
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 love coming up with patterns and making the new items. I do not treasure the pattern writing process, which feels like just work. The photography, posting, and promotion is less annoying but it is also challenging to get right. I have mostly learned from this process that persistence, and a growth mindset (always learning), is very important.
What do you find most important in photography?
Two features for my work are the most important in photography: highlighting texture from the cables and removing any brightness edges within the yarn. The best way to highlight texture from the cables is to have lighting from one side (like a window), and not to use a flash (as this removes shadows that define textures). The second element is to choose yarn that does not change in brightness but does have some depth of color. The change in brightness makes stripes and will wash out the shadow edges from the texture (you can see problematic brightness changes more clearly in black and white images, see picture below).
You as a Giftalong designer: What have you learned from the promotion?
It is lovely to have such a large group of people with the same interests work together. It has been fun so far.
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?
My patterns can start with any of the above. Sometimes I’ll have left over yarn and design a project to fit that amount and type of yarn. Other times a friend or relative will have a Christmas present request, so I will design something to fit them. And in the absence of either of these my process usually begins with the yarn or the idea of the pattern.
Does anything intimidate you in knitting or crochet?
Of course! I can crochet but I do not knit. Largely because I am lazy, I love relaxing after a long day with a fiber project, and working hard to learn a new technique is less appealing. Having said this, if I wanted to, I am sure any of those techniques are learnable with enough time and patience.
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?
Yes, all of those are useful to me. I tend to use books and patterns more than YouTube or real people.
Any repetitive motion disorders due to knitting or crochet? How do you deal with them?
My hands and right arm can get tired if I crochet all day (I occasionally do this on the weekend when trying to finish a project). I have found stretching, and taking occasional breaks can be helpful.
What makes you buy a pattern (lovely photo, the story of the project, it looks do-able, it looks slightly challenging…)
It is usually the photo of the pattern that draws me in. Before I designed, I would choose patterns that looked challenging, but now I mostly do that with my new designs. I typically buy patterns, if I want to make something for a gift that I don’t have a lot of expertise in. For example, I love Terry Kimbrough’s lace baby blankets. I am not an expert in lace, and I love her variety of stitches, and how quick they are to make.