What's your first memory of knitting or learning to knit?
"I don't really have a first memory of knitting because I can't remember a time when I couldn't knit. My mother and grandmother were both prolific knitters but each assumed the other must have taught me because neither could remember doing it themselves. I think I must have been about five years old when I learned. I do have a memory of Mum teaching my younger sister to knit. She was about five or six, so I'd have been seven or eight. She used to chant, 'Down the rabbit hole, round the tree, up the rabbit hole, out of the wood'. "
What was it that prompted you to start designing?
"Designing wasn't anything I had ever considered until June of this year. I've always been one of those knitters who follows a pattern to the letter without modifying a thing, except perhaps to make sleeves a little shorter if needed or maybe to add stripes to a plain garment. Then, one weekend morning in June, I woke up with an idea for a shawlette. I knew exactly which yarn I wanted to make it with and I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like. The problem was I hadn't the first clue how to go about making it. I grabbed some spare yarn and the first pair of needles that came to hand and cast on. The first few attempts just weren't right but I started to see what I needed to do to make it how I wanted it, and after frogging and re-starting a few times I cracked it! I had to write down what I was doing, so I could do it again on the "real thing" instead of on this spare yarn I was using, and it occurred to me if I was writing it down for myself I could try offering the pattern on Ravelry as well. The pattern became my Yarnshine shawlette."
Which pattern are you most proud of, and which means the most to you?
"Of my published ones, I'm most proud of my Fairy Ring socks. It's the first design which has had people asking for the pattern before it was published.
The one that means most to me is my Fossilised Ferns set of mitts and scarf. They were designed as a gift for my sister and the mitts have proved to be my most popular pattern. I think it's pretty cool that my sister has the original version of my most popular design."
What do you enjoy most about designing, and are there any bits that drive you mad?
"My favourite bit of designing is making the samples. Some of my designs have come pattern-first and others have been sample-first (and then written up according to what I've knitted) but I do love the knitting part of it. It makes the pattern real when you've got the finished object in your hands. The bits that have driven me mad up to now have been grading sizes that I'm not actually making a sample for. The neckband on The Clock Struck One had me practically tearing my hair out. I ended up on the floor with a load of my son's Lego bricks, one for each stitch, facing up for a Knit and down for a Purl, trying to work out the effects on a 2x2 rib of the decrease to form a V-neck in three different sizes at the same time!"
Where do you get your inspiration from?
"My inspiration usually comes from a texture. It might be a stitch pattern in a stitch dictionary or something like a plant or an architectural feature. Something will catch my eye and I'll think "that will make great socks, or mitts, or a scarf"."
What do you like to knit when you're not designing?
"I like to knit socks and shawls. You can never have too many socks, and there are so many great patterns and yarns out there you could knit socks for the rest of your life and never have to knit the same pair twice. I like shawls for the challenge. I love complex lace. It holds my interest while I'm knitting it and always gets admired by other people!"
Do your kids like to wear what you've knit, or can they be difficult to please?
"My five-year-old will happily wear any hat or mittens I make for him, but he won't wear hand knitted sweaters any more. We did some Kool-Aid dyeing a while ago. He dyed the yarn and I turned it into mittens and he loves them. He has asked if we can do that again but with sock yarn this time so I may find myself making him some socks very soon. My nearly-two-year-old can't dress himself yet so he wears whatever he's put in! I made The Clock Struck One for him last summer and even though he's outgrown the vest now, he still takes the mouse out and about with him."
Which are your favourite yarns to design in?
"I like Wollmeise's sock yarn for socks and for scarves and shawls. I love the colours and the drape. For DK weight there are a few brands I tend to come back to. I like Patons Diploma Gold and Rico Design Essentials Merino DK."
Why did you design to join the GAL & how are you finding it?
"I wasn't aware of last year's GAL at all. Back in the summer there was a post in one of Ravelry's design forums asking if it was going ahead again this year so I looked into it and it just sounded like a lot of fun, and a great opportunity to join in with 'real' designers. For someone who is a newbie like me, it's eye-opening to be able to participate alongside established designers and to be able to learn from their experience."
If you like Kirsten's designs why not join her group on Ravelry?
