Tag Archives: Designer Interviews

Get to Know Designer Takako Takiguchi

Our latest pattern collection Nature Walk: Lace Patterns is full of gorgeous patterns from talented designers, but we’re always particularly excited when we get to work with a skillful, experienced designer for the first time! In this collection, we had the opportunity to work with Takako Takiguchi who designed the Sumire Poncho, and since it is our first time introducing her work to Knit Picks fans through our collections, we thought we’d help you get to know her with an interview! Takako has been designing for a decade with over 100 published patterns to her name. She’s best known for designing patterns with clean lines, geometric motifs, and interesting shapes.

Could you tell our blog readers a bit about your background?
I am a Japanese woman and I live in California. My husband’s job brought me and my
daughter to the US. During my daughter’s infancy, I was looking for a hobby and discovered
my passion for knitting.


You’ve been designing for a decade. What inspired you to start designing knitting
patterns?

When I started knitting, I was living in China and sometimes I had asked the private tailor to
make some garments. The tailor was very professional and I admired his beautiful works. It
was the time I wanted to make my own designs with my knitting skills.


You’ve got an amazing selection of accessories and garments that you’ve
independently published. Do you have a favorite pattern you’ve written?

Thank you. With over 130 patterns, it’s challenging to pick just one. But I hold “Cosy Cable
Jacket
” close to my heart. I feel like designing a traditional cable sweater every winter season
and I love it the most.


What’s your design process like? Do you usually start with yarn and use that to find a
design concept, or do you come up with the design concept and then find the yarn to
make it? Or something else?

Both cases apply to my design process. Usually when I order new yarns I have some ideas
in my mind, then make the samples based on those. However, there are times when I’ll
conceive a new design idea that diverges from my original plans. Additionally, I find joy in
crafting designs using leftover yarns. It becomes a delightful mental exercise to design with
limited resources.


What was your first thought when you saw the Nature Walk call for submission?
The requirement was lace patterns, so I wanted to add lace patterns with a simple design.
So I designed a simple poncho but with two different lace patterns.


The Sumire Poncho creates a very natural feel with geometric stitch patterns. How did
you choose the combination of lace patterns you used?

Thank you for the compliment. I wanted a blend of complexity and simplicity, so I opted for
the Diamond Lace and the Diagonal Lace patterns. To make the pattern simple, I increased
evenly for the upper body and worked until the stitches that meet the lace pattern repeats.


How do you like to style knits like the Sumire Poncho?
A poncho is a very useful garment. It goes with either pants or skirt. Gloss DK is suitable for all
seasons. I love wearing it with skinny denim.

You can find more of Takako’s work on Instagram @takakoob, on Ravelry as takakoob, or on her Facebook page, Designs by Takako. The Sumire Poncho is available individually or as part of Nature Walk: Lace Patterns.


Behind the Felici: Fans’ & Designers’ Dream Colorways
On a white board background, the whole group of balls of the new Felici self-striping sock yarn colors arranged in a circle.

Surprise! Felici is back! This time, our favorite self-striping sock yarn boasts the dream colorways of some of our favorite designers and fans. Let’s take a minute to check in with these lucky colorway designers and get a peek BEHIND THE FELICI.

Who Designed the Felici?

We tapped some of our favorite fans and designers to help us design a fresh new color offering for this batch of Felici. A big thank you to Rosalyn (Roz) Keys, Violet LeBeaux, Allison Griffith, and Holli Yeoh—we couldn’t have done it without you! We’ll profile each of them later in this article.

Before we talk to the designers, let’s talk about …

HOW they Designed the Felici

First, we asked our designers to come up with colorways, but there are a few rules …

Felici Design: The Rules

The Felici colorway design process starts by first creating a color palette of swatches.

Two squares demonstrating the design process for Felici yarn. The top square is divided into six stripes of purple in gradated tones, from light to dark. The bottom square is six stripes with the top three being light purple graduating from lightest to dark, and then the bottom three stripes all the same, darkest version of purple. Text that says "Single stripes vs. blocks of stripes."

In giving parameters for designing our Felici colorways, we had a few rules.

Rule #1: 6 colors total: We allowed a maximum of 6 colors in a straight repeat. The stripes had to be all the same size – however the designer was allowed to double or even triple a color stripe section to create larger blocks of color.

Rule #2: Prepare for the unexpected: There are some challenges around dyeing yarn. The yarn colors will never come back looking exactly like the swatches we send and typically results in a more muted color than the ink-on-paper swatch we create.

Rule #3: Give us several options to choose from: We asked designers to make several colorways so we could have options to choose from. Because of the aforementioned challenges, not all palettes look like what we think they will, so options are good!

Phase 2: Send Color Palettes to the Mill

Once the designers got their color palettes together, we converted the colors to Pantone and shipped them off to our mill to produce some tests. We received the test swatches about 8 weeks later, and made our final selections.

HOW DO FELICI COLORS GET THEIR NAMES? It’s at this point that the colorways get their names, too. We lay the swatches out on a table and call out name ideas until we land on names that “feel” right. That’s our scientific process!

From roughly 30 final-round submissions, we narrowed it down to our 10 limited-time offerings:

  • Roz Keys designed Carrot Cake and Vampire Vibes.
  • Allison Griffith designed Fiesta and Dragonboat.
  • Violet LeBeaux designed Whatsits Galore and Cupcake Karaoke.
  • Holli Yeoh designed Currant Mood, Animal Cookies, Hotshot, and Windbreaker.

Now let’s check in with our illustrious designers and see what they have to say about it:

Meet the Designer: Rosalyn (Roz) Keys

A headshot of Roz Keys

Rosalyn Keys is a Knit Picks superfan, known for being very familiar with all the Felici colors, since she uses them in her business. We consider her the biggest expert on Felici outside of our office! You can find Roz’s knitted sock tubes in her Etsy shop, RozKnitz, and follow her yarn adventures on her Instagram account.

Roz designed two of our new colorways: Carrot Cake and Vampire Vibes.

Text that says: "Carrot Cake, colorway by Roz Keys, felici summer 2020" on a white background with a ball of Carrot Cake Felici, next to a knitted swatch of the same yarn. Colors are yellow alternating with orange, green, and hot pink.

Tell us about yourself!

I have always loved crafting. From my earlier years of cross stitch and crochet. To more recent crafts such as knitting, weaving, spinning, dyeing and sewing.

Text that says: "Vampire Vibes, colorway by Roz Keys, felici summer 2020" on a white background with a ball of Vampire Vibes Felici, next to a knitted swatch of the same yarn. Colors are bright red, violet, dark purple, and light purple.

Where did you draw your inspiration from when designing your Felici colorways?

Since this batch of Felici would be released in the summer, I thought why not have Christmas in July (this ended up being Carrot Cake). The other one was mixing up colors and seeing how they played with each other.

How does it feel to see your colorway in a skein?

It feels AMAZING to see colors I put together on one of my favorite yarns. The smile is ear to ear.

Do you have a favorite pattern to use with Felici?

My favorite item to make with Felici is SOCKS!!! So soft and comfortable.

What will you make with your colorways?

SOCKS!!! My circular sock machine is about to get a good workout.

Meet the Designer: Violet LeBeaux

A headshot of Violet LeBeaux. She's wearing a knitted beret, a pearl necklace with a crown charm, and a pearl hair bow in her blonde braid.

One of our favorite knitwear designers, we’ve featured Violet LeBeaux on the blog before: “she has quickly become one of our favorite designers for collections, with her meticulous pattern writing and signature design style.” We were thrilled when Violet agreed to try her hand at designing some Felici colorways. Follow her at her Instagram account: @Violetlebeaux.

Violet designed two of our new colorways: Whatsits Galore and Cupcake Karoke.

Text that says: "Whatsits Galore, colorway by Violet LeBeaux, felici summer 2020" on a white background with a ball of Whatsits Galore Felici, next to a knitted swatch of the same yarn. Colors are overall green toned, with stripes of aqua and bright yellow.

Tell us about yourself!

I live in Melbourne, Australia and I’ve been knitting since I was a kid. My favourite way to relax in the evening is curling up with some tea, some knitting, and a good TV show. Lately I’ve been bingeing old Unsolved Mysteries episodes! My style is generally very soft and cute, and I love to design wearable pieces that reflect that.

Text that says: "Cupcake Karoke, colorway by Violet LeBeaux, felici summer 2020" on a white background with a ball of Cupcake Karoke Felici, next to a knitted swatch of the same yarn. Colors are bright and poppy: purples, blues, mint green, and pink.

Where did you draw your inspiration from when designing your Felici colorways?

Whatsits Galore was inspired by ocean colours in winter; the deep greens are offset with a pop of bright yellow.

Cupcake Karaoke was a little bit of mid 90’s nostalgia! It reminds me of my childhood bedroom.

How does it feel to see your colorway in a skein?

It’s crazy exciting! When I started designing patterns, I don’t think I even imagined I would be designing the yarn to go with them!

Do you have a favorite pattern to use with Felici?

It’s perfect for basic socks like the Secret Ingredient Socks. They are comfy and wearable and really great to show off the colour transitions. I’ve been rocking them all through our winter lockdown!

A model wears a cream knitted shaw with yellow-orange-pink-red striped accents.
Violet’s most recent KP design: The Prism Shawl

What will you make with your colorway?

I’m really excited to try it out with some garter shawls. They are my favorite patterns to just turn out and knit when I need to de-stress. I’ll be starting with my recent pattern the Prism Shawl as I think it will look fantastic in the ribbing.

Meet the Designer: Allison Griffith

A headshot of Allison Griffith

Allison Griffith has been a longtime member of the KP family, and has popped up in tons of our knitting patterns, KP blog posts, and wrote one of our most popular books: Socks for Everybody! Follow her at her website, On the Needles, or on her Instagram account: @ontheneedles.

Allison designed two of our new colorways: Fiesta and Dragonboat.

Text that says: "Fiesta, colorway by Allison Griffith, felici summer 2020" on a white background with a ball of Fiesta Felici, next to a knitted swatch of the same yarn. Colors are bright: Peppermint green, gold, aqua, drab green, hot pink, and purple.

Tell us about yourself!

Hi! I’m Allison, and I’ve been designing patterns professionally for almost a decade. I especially love knitting cozy, practical, gender neutral items, especially sweaters and socks. In my opinion, the more cables and garter stitch the better!

Where did you draw your inspiration from when designing your Felici colorways?

When I’m not knitting, I’m working in my garden (mostly fighting back the weeds). The colors of my favorite zinnias were the inspiration for Dragonboat, and my neighbor’s amazing dahlias and hydrangeas were the inspiration for Fiesta (she’s a much better gardener than I am).

Text that says: "Dragonboat, colorway by Allison Griffith, felici summer 2020" on a white background with a ball of Dragonboat Felici, next to a knitted swatch of the same yarn. Colors are bright: red, yellow, red, light green, dark green, light green.

How does it feel to see your colorway in a skein?

I’ve dyed my own yarn before, mostly with Kool-Aid, but this is the first time I’ve done anything like this on this scale. It’s super exciting to think of all the socks (and other things!) that will be made with my special yarn! I can’t wait to stalk my colorways on Ravelry!

Do you have a favorite pattern to use with Felici?

I love making socks, improvising as I go. My favorite socks are made using my system of sock knitting that I wrote about in my book, Socks for Everybody!, and plan on using that to make a few (dozen) stripey socks.

Knit Picks Socks for Everybody Collection
The socks of Allison’s book: Socks for Everybody!

What will you make with your colorway?

First, I’ll make a pair of vanilla stockinette socks to really show off the stripes, and then I’ll make a crazy pair (or two or three) with textures, slipped stitches and all sorts of nonsense. I think everyone in my family is getting a pair of Felici socks for Christmas!

Meet the Designer: Holli Yeoh

A headshot of Holli Yeoh, looking to the right and snuggling up in a pretty taupe knitted cardigan with a diamond pattern.

Holli Yeoh is one of our most popular designers, and has had patterns in 19 Knit Picks collections, and counting! She’s been designing knit patterns for over 15 years, and is known for her casually elegant aesthetic, interesting techniques, and clear instructions. Follow her at her website, Holli Yeoh or on her Instagram account: @holliyeoh.

Holli designed a whopping FOUR of our new colorways: Currant Mood, Animal Cookies, Hotshot, and Windbreaker.

Text that says: "Currant Mood, colorway by Allison Griffith, felici summer 2020" on a white background with a ball of Currant Mood Felici, next to a knitted swatch of the same yarn. Colors are in the red-pink family.

Tell us about yourself!

I’m driven to design patterns that capture knitters’ imaginations and make them want to drop everything because they just have to make it for themselves. I like to know what makes knitters tick and in discovering their knitting hangups, I problem solve by teaching them new skills both through my patterns and when I teach in person and virtually.

Text that says: "Animal Cookies, colorway by Allison Griffith, felici summer 2020" on a white background with a ball of Animal Cookies Felici, next to a knitted swatch of the same yarn. Colors are frosting pink, light blue, and white.

Where did you draw your inspiration from when designing your Felici colorway?

I went down a rabbit hole designing 34 colourways! Each was inspired by the previous one. Of the four chosen, two in particular are near and dear to my heart as they represent and honour my daughter. Animal Cookies and Currant Mood are my versions of the trans and lesbian flags, respectively.

Text that says: "Hotshot, colorway by Allison Griffith, felici summer 2020" on a white background with a ball of Hotshot Felici, next to a knitted swatch of the same yarn. Colors are alternating bands of 2 shades of pink-red and 2 shades of light blue.

How does it feel to see your colorway in a skein?

It’s pretty thrilling to see my colourways come to light! I can’t wait to hold them in my hands and begin knitting with them!

Text that says: "Windbreaker, colorway by Allison Griffith, felici summer 2020" on a white background with a ball of Windbreaker Felici, next to a knitted swatch of the same yarn. Colors are bright: light blue, medium blue, bright orange, magenta, and yellow.

Do you have a favorite pattern to use with Felici?

I began my designing career creating kids and baby patterns that make the best use of self-striping yarns. They will be perfect with Felici. My all-time favourite kids patterns include Ruby, JoJo, Candace, and Avery. Oh! And I recently designed a new one called Debonair which will be awesome in Felici.

Holli also has a lot of patterns that call for self-striping yarn.

What will you make with your colorway?

I’m going to begin by knitting my Tip Toe Up sock pattern, maybe a pair of Arrow Gloves, and then I’ll launch into baby sweaters!

Thanks to all the designers for taking the time to talk to us!

All of this talk of Felici has probably made you hungry… for Felici. Go shop now!

A family shot of all the Felici self-striping sock yarn new colors. Text that says "It's finally here! Felici. Shop Now."

If you enjoyed this peek behind the scenes of Felici development, you might also like these other fascinating Felici exposés!:


Designer Showcase: Claire Slade

We’ve just released a couple of new pattern collections—Sojourn: A Knit Lace Collection and Best of Knit Picks: Pullovers & Cardigans—and the wonderful Claire Slade has patterns in both! In the Best of collection is a re-release of her adorable Professor Meow, a fan favorite for sure, and her beautiful new shawl Crystallize is in Sojourn:

Model wearing Claire Slade's Crystallize lace shawl design
(more…)

Designer Interview: Tian Connaughton

One of our most versatile designers, Tian Connaughton is responsible for some of our favorite patterns — both knit and crochet. We’ve happily worked with her for 8 years, and look forward to many more collaborations.

Designer Tian Connaughton at home in her studio.

Tian is all things crafty. She is a designer and technical editor working for major brands such as Knit Picks, Interweave, I Like Knitting, and I Like Crochet. She also spends time working with independent designers. She is the author of two books, Unlock Your Inner Designer: How to start designing and Pattern Launch Plan: Sell more patterns consistently without being sleazy. Learn more about both titles here – http://bit.ly/booksfordesigners.

What do all these roles have in common? They are all helping knitters and crocheters imagine the possibilities beyond simply practicing their crafts.

Recently, Tian sat down to answer a few questions so we could get to know her better.

English or Continental?  I can do both, but English is my preference as it’s what I learned first and am fastest with. I mostly use the Continental method for colorway.

Cardigan or Pullover? Definitely cardigan to layer up and transition between seasons in the Northeast.

Cables or Lace? Both, and together if possible.

DPNs or Magic Loop? Magic Loop. I learned my lesson after dropping a DPN on a flight, never to be found again.

Serin Crochet Tee, designed by Tian Connaughton. A woman is shown standing in a wooded area wearing a delicate lavender sweater.
Serin Crochet Tee, designed by Tian Connaughton

Yarn: Solid or Variegated? Variegated because it provides so much interest within a simple stitch pattern.

Socks: Toe Up or Top Down? While I’m not a huge sock knitter, second sock syndrome is real; I just started with toe-up socks a little over a year ago, and I’m loving it. I’m enjoying playing with different heel constructions and pushing those single 50gram skeins in my stash to the max to eek out a pair of socks.

Needles/Hooks: Wood or Metal? I used to hate wooden needles because the yarn dragging against the needle and hook would feel like fingernails on a chalkboard. So for years, I worked only with metal. Then I discovered Knit Picks’ wooden needle and hook sets. These are what I use primarily now.

Wool, Cotton, Acrylic, Alpaca, Cashmere, or Silk? All fibers have a place and play different roles in our knitting and crochet. While I do enjoy the luxurious feel of silk and cashmere, my go-to fibers these days are the standard wool and acrylic for their durability nature, which are perfect for the types of projects that are holding my attention these days.

What was your first design, and how do you feel about it now? Embarrassingly, my first design was a pair of fingerless gloves. At the time, I was so thrilled to have created the pattern. While this design is more than 10-years old now and my writing and design style have evolved significantly since then, I’m very proud of the design and all it represents – taking that very first baby step towards designing full-time.

Freeport Cardigan - a knitwear pattern by Tian Connaughton for Knit Picks. A woman is shown standing in a wooded area wearing a brown knitted cardigan.
Tian Connaughton’s Freeport Cardigan pattern

What is your favorite design of yours with Knit Picks, either with IDP or in a collection? Why? Ooh, tough question. Can I pick one knit and one crochet? My favorite knit pattern is the Freeport Cardigan because it reflects so much of my style – classic shape with classic cables. You can make this today and it will still be in style well into the future. My favorite crochet pattern is the Simple Cowl Neck Shawl because of its interesting construction, which is something I like to bring into crochet.

A woman is sitting on a couch modeling a deep blue crocheted neck scarf. It's the Simple Cowl Neck Shawl, a pattern by Tian Connaughton for Knit Picks.
Simple Cowl Neck Shawl, a crochet pattern by Tian Connaughton

What is your favorite current Knit Picks yarn? Why? My favorite current Knit Picks yarn has got to be, without a doubt, Hawthorne. The weight (fingering) is perfect to just play with one or two skeins for a knit or crochet project. But what I love most is the wide range of colors available that you can mix and match easily. The versatility of the colorways make this a fun yarn to design with, but most importantly, it is a lovely yarn to just sit on the couch and stitch on a project just for fun.

Chevron Pop Shawl - a crochet pattern. A woman is shown wearing a shawl with black and white zigzags and hot pink stripes. Designed by Tian Connaughton for Knit Picks.

Check out Tian’s most recent crochet pattern, the Chevron Pop Shawl, knit in Hawthorne yarn, and featured in our new book Color Crush: Crochet Wraps.

When/how/why did you first learn to knit/crochet? I learned to crochet in 2001 from a co-worker during my corporate days right after getting married. We would sit in the break room at lunch and after many weeks of watching the fascinating ways her fingers would glide effortlessly over the stitches, I asked her to teach me. Immediately I was hooked (pun intended). Years later, I found knitting while watching HGTV’s Knitty Gritty.

When/how/why did you first start designing? I’m never satisfied, so once I learned the basics, I needed more so I sought out more information and stitch patterns. After seeing an episode of Knitty Gritty with Shirley Paden, a black knitwear designer, the seed of designing was sown (representation matters). I was inspired by seeing her do this thing I didn’t even know was possible. Within a year of learning to knit, I was designing. From there, this whole journey stemmed into tech editing, teaching in person, creating online courses, and writing books.

What does your stash look like? (I know, this is a personal one!) My stash looks like the inside of a small yarn store. I could probably knit for the rest of my life without having to buy another skein … but that won’t happen. I have a home office/craft room with shelves in the closest with a large quantity of yarns organized by weight with single skeins of fingering weight on bookcases and in wire bins on my desk for inspiration and decoration. I don’t think yarn should be tucked away but be on display like pieces of art.

What is your favorite thing to knit/crochet? Why? My favorite things to knit and crochet right now are shawls because I can just grab a skein or two from my stash and go to work without worrying about not having enough yarn or matching colorways.

A woman is shown looking at the camera and modeling a light green lacy shawl, the Lenox Shawl, a knitwear pattern by Tian Connaughton for Knit Picks.
Lenox Shawl, a knitwear pattern by Tian Connaughton

What is your favorite thing to design? Why? I don’t really have a favorite thing to design. It mostly depends on my available time and the time of year. Right now, as we’re heading into warmer weather and summer vacations, I’m playing with new shawl and accessories designs – small items and single skein projects that are easy to pick up and put down, perfect for traveling.

Your biggest yarn/knitting/crochet-related pet peeve? My biggest pet peeve is not having enough time to knit and crochet all the designs in my head and all the great patterns put out by other designers.

What do you wish you had known when you first started knitting/crocheting? When I first started knitting and crocheting, I wish I’d known about how obsessed I would become, not only with stitching, but with acquiring yarn.

What do you hope to design in the future, or where do you want to go with your designs? In the future, I hope to design a whole book of patterns. I’ve tech edited whole books, so I understand the basic structure of the process. I’ve created digital collections containing 4-6 patterns, but a whole book in print on the shelves of the local Barnes and Noble is where I want to go next.

Anything else we need to know?

To keep up with what I’m doing, check out the blog (bit.ly/knitdesignsbytian), see designs on Ravelry, learn about tech editing services for knit and crochet (bit.ly/TechEditorForHire), follow on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/knitdesignsbytian/)

A woman is shown with her back to the camera, standing in a wooded area, modeling a gray knitted hat and knitted arm warmers in gray and neon yellow. The Brightwood Hat & Mitts pattern, a design by Tian Connaughton for Knit Picks.
Brightwood Hat & Mitts, a knitwear pattern by Tian Connaughton

Thanks for the interview, Tian!


Cupcake Fingerless Mitts on the go

I have inched up to SpillyJane’s Cupcake Mittens like they were a wild tiger. I fell in love with the design, bought the pattern and even chatted with SpillyJane on one of my podcasts. Of course, while we were still in Mexico, I didn’t easily have access to Palette yarns. I decided that I could wait until I could try making a raid on our office yarn stash.

Last week, that is exactly what I did – pawed through our bins of extra Palette yarn. We didn’t have every color SpillyJane used in her design. But, thanks to the selection of 150 colors, I was able to find substitutions that I like.

Haze Heather (replacing Bluebell)
Custard
White
Rouge
Doe
Bison (replacing Bark)
Lipstick (replacing Pimento)
Blossom (replacing Cotton Candy)
Garnet Heather

Cupcake Fingerless Mitts - Balls of Yarn

Once I had the balls of Palette gathered, I began having a little trouble figuring just when I would knit my fingerless mitts. The balls of yarn took up a lot more space than the mittens themselves!

There are some projects that I find easy to imagine as my “sit-at-home” knitting – sweaters, for example. But, fingerless mitts clearly fall under my definition of “travel” knitting.

Cupcake Fingerless Mitts - Tiny Skeins

Ta Da!! I wound up tiny balls of all the colors except for Haze Heather. Now my project will fit easily into a Knit Happy Take Along Tote. These tiny balls will probably not get me through a pair of Cupcake Mittens but they will certainly get me through an evening of knitting in a restaurant or at a friend’s home. I can easily wind up new balls as needed.