I got to interview Ukeeknits, Faye Kennington again, and she included 2 free charts and a sneak peak! I feel like I got a big scoop here.
Did you know you were my first (ever) GAL interview?
No, I had no idea. Thank you for the inaugural opportunity.
Back in 2013, you mentioned a re-ignited love of colorwork, with Off With Their Heads and Cathedral Grove this year, it seems that color work is front and center right now, what principals guide you in your design choices in color work?
Wait, you’re looking at comments I made in 2013? Geez. Be careful what you say on the internet!
Not that I want to limit you – you do lots of other pretty patterns in other techniques!
I do love colourwork. My first knitting project ever was a classic colourwork Mary Maxim cardigan. I was lucky enough to have my roommate as my knitting teacher, so she was pretty much always available to hold my hand through the hard stuff, like casting on. The project used intarsia and flat stranded pieces and I didn’t learn that those things were intimidating to others until much later.
I love colour. I find a colour that’s beautiful on its own can be enhanced by introducing a few more hues, shades or tints to the mix.
I think I’ve put together what makes colourwork enjoyable to produce: reasonable floats and repetitive rows. Of course, I like to keep it interesting and bend rules from time to time. Done right, it so addictive. Just. One. More. Row.
You mentioned that your geographic location is both inspiring and (can be) isolating as a designer. How does the GAL help out with community and inspiration?
Totally. I live on the West Coast on Vancouver Island near the Pacific Rim National Park. We’ve got the most amazing temperate rainforest and all the wildlife that one would associate with it. The air here is incredible.
We don’t have a local yarn shop or a very large population, so connecting to a local crafting community can be challenging. I’m so grateful to have been involved with The Indie Design Giftalong since 2013. Over the years, I’ve had a chance to work with many of the same Designers again and again and I feel like I’ve forged some great friendships.
Do you ever have difficulties between the you as a designer and you as a businesswoman? Who wins?
Yes! Typically, the Designer in me wins. I have a new pattern for a Pacific Northwest inspired pullover, Pinewave, coming out in January that is totally self-indulgent. Why? Because it requires flat stranded work and seaming. Both of these techniques are not popular, so I doubt I will recover my tech editing and yarn costs, however, I feel like the design is a real opus and I couldn’t resist making it.
Can I hear a collective “Oo-Ah?” That is so pretty!
Tell me about the bear!
Way back in 2011, I designed a Christmas stocking, Bret’s West Coast Stocking, for our (now closed) LYS, using colourwork motifs based on the Pacific Northwest. While the inspiration for the design endures, it was one of the first things I designed and I no longer love the pattern: the finished object is too big, there are too many long floats required and because I didn’t have charting software, the actual charts, and pattern layout in general, are sloppy.
When you keep doing something, you get better at it, and/or your style evolves at the very least. I’ve heard other creatives talk about it. The lyrics a singer might write as a love-sick teenager don’t resound with them same way when they’re 35, even if the anthem is a crowd-pleaser. The cupcake recipe perfected by an 8-year-old, which is really just a thinly-veiled opportunity to use all the sprinkles in the cupboard, isn’t even that appealing to a 12-year-old.
The same idea applies to knitting pattern writers. I’m always proud of a pattern at the time I publish it, but over time, I get ideas as to how it could be done better. Sometimes I have the passion to go back and make it better, sometimes I don’t.
At some point, I quietly discontinued Bret’s West Coast Stocking. But people loved the concept and I kept getting queries as to how one could buy it. So, I re-designed the pattern and published The PNW Stocking: better size, shorter floats, and a more professional lay out.
One of the most popular charts from Bret’s West Coast Stocking was the bear motif, which required 16 stitch long floats. Elizabeth Zimmerman would have rolled her eyes, at the very least, I’m sure. However, some people that bought Bret’s West Coast Stocking used the bear motif in non-stocking projects and kindly gave credit to the motif source. And people that love those projects have asked me how they can buy the pattern because they want to use the motif in their non-stocking project, too. I’d love for you to make the chart available to your readers so they can access it without hunting for the discontinued pattern.
The bear motif in The PNW Stocking requires a 12 stitch float, so it’s still unreasonable by some people’s standards, but it is easier to knit than the original.
Because I love bears, there is a chart for a bear that is even more similar to the one from Bret’s West Coast Stocking Used in my Christmas Stockings pattern. Probably most people won’t notice the difference, but there are a few. This is probably the best source for knitter’s bear chart needs because it also includes a photo tutorial for ladderback jacquard that can be used to better tame those floats than standard stockinette.
While we’re at it, I recently designed a colourwork hat with leaves on it and thought it would be cute to hide a bear in the forest. Some of the crowd on Instagram agreed, but most people preferred Alder without the bear.
Alder was just released this November!
Maybe it was too cartoonish for the pretty backdrop? So, for the folks that liked the bear, I’d also like to share that here.
Will I ever stop designing bear motifs? Maybe. But I hope not!
Lastly, on the bear issue, here’s a photo of a buddy that was eating dandelions out front of my house last June.
Look across the road by the white cones – yikes!
Thank you for gracious moderation, mentoring, and organizing in the GAL Faye!