As I scrolled through the GAL designs, I noticed the lovely colors and energetic photos of Paige Reisenfeld.
What is your design process?
My design process varies! Sometimes I see a stitch pattern and the design just writes itself (the first iteration of Quickdraw was done in a day), other times I’m inspired by a phrase or a photo (like “Dressed in Yellow”) and I try and find how to best depict it in yarn.
What influences your style?
I don’t even know what my style is! I suppose my goal is to always flatter the body, so I tend to stay away from big boxy styles as I find them unflattering on my very broad shoulders, thus most of my designs are going to flatter me…though I do try and make them easily customizable!
What about designing and producing patterns are you most adept at, what parts are you most fond of, and what parts are challenging?
Actually getting them out of my brain and onto paper is pretty difficult! I have a sketchbook with terrible drawings of what I’m thinking and I usually get to the sizing part, before I’m off again to something else. I’m most fond of the knitting and testing part, but pattern grading for the larger sizes can be very difficult: my fronts are usually larger than backs cause we have more body to cover there and it’s a challenge to keep those ratios correct as I approach grading size 44”+
Where you surprised at how big the giftalong became?
Nah, I participated last year and it was huge then too, but that’s so exciting.
Where you skeptical of the “abundance” ideas, or did they seem just right?
I actually don’t know what this is referring to..OOPS! Off to do some homework…
What have you learned from the promotion?
There are so many gorgeous designs from talented people!! It’s inspiring and humbling at the same time.
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?
I suppose it depends on my mood. If I need something quick, I usually look for a hat. For stashbusting or using scraps, colorwork hats or multi-color shawls. Sometimes the yarn calls to me and tells me it MUST be a particular technique (for example, all my Astral Bath Yarn wants to be cables).
Does anything intimidate you in knitting or crochet?
In knitting, no, not really. Crochet is SCARY though (my mom does it and she is magical)
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 usually seek out a picture tutorial on the Internet, so I don’t have to pause and rewind, though sometimes I need a video to see the actual motion.
Any repetitive motion disorders due to knitting or crochet? How do you deal with them?
Sometimes I get some wrist pain, but that actually stopped happening as much when I started lifting heavy things. Occasionally I get really bad finger cramps, but that’s if I’m knitting a very tight gauge.
Do you frequent a particular yarn store?
Sadly, most of the LYS’s near me have closed; I find that I tend to buy more directly from dyers themselves, though I did frequent ESK awhile back.
Do you usually finish things? If not, does it bother you?
Yes! Having more than 2 things OTN drives me crazy.
Do you get to do any “selfish knitting?”
Most of my knitting is completely selfish!
Is knitting a seasonal activity for you?
Absolutely – every season!
What makes you buy a pattern (lovely photo, the story of the project, it looks do-able, it looks slightly challenging…)
All of the above! And often construction is a determining factor – I dislike knitting bottom-up sweaters, so I tend not to buy those patterns unless I just LOVE it and must have it.
What gives you the feeling that you got your money’s worth out of a pattern?
If I love the FO and use it a lot…which is odd, since I’m particular about my preferred processes and techniques! I tend not to knit things more than once, so if I enjoyed it and the FO, hurray!