Are there design themes which you
find yourself being drawn to?
“Absolutely. I keep thinking about
how we embed stories into our making
and how textiles and texts are
intertwined (and just how many
textile-based metaphors we have in
English). Sometimes we don’t have
words to describe our feelings and
we turn to knitting to find solace and
a way of expressing ourselves: I think
a lot of us have knitted in a hospital
waiting room or found our way
through grief by knitting a scarf we’ll
never wear. I recently mended a
cardigan that my gran had knitted for
me before she was diagnosed with
dementia. I cannot fix her, but I could
fix the holes in the garment.”
“I am drawn to lace design. It is
probably my favourite thing to design
and I find it very intuitive. The
challenge is always this: how do I keep
this lace pattern from being too fussyor overworked? How do I pare it down
to its essentials? And how can I place it
in a context that adds to its beauty
rather than detract from it?”What yarns have you seen lately that
you’re keen to swatch and design with?
“At the moment I’m really drawn to
two types of yarns. First, yarns that
comes from specific farms and flocks
(it is the story-telling element again as
well as my obsession with landscapes).
I recently worked with Whistlebare’s
Yeavering Bell, which is a gorgeous
mixture of Wensleydale and mohair
from their own flock. Hawkshaw
Sheep, New Leaf Yarns, Lammermuir,
South Downs Yarn, Croft 29, Uist
Wool... there are so many incredible
small yarn producers out there.
“And the other type of yarn comes
from UK indie dyers. There are some
dyers out there who produce fantastic,
distinct work. Brambles & Me, MintBee, Ducky Darlings, Phileas Yarns,
River Knits... again, I have a list so long
that I could fill the entire magazine
just by listing the wonderful dyers
I have spotted!”What’s on your needles today?
“Right now I have a jumper in some
stunning undyed yarn. It’s a slow
project because it doesn’t have a
deadline and I love taking my time
with the yarn. It has a slightly
unusual-for-me silhouette and I’m
excited about wearing it this winter.
“I am also working on a shawl in
GamerCrafting yarn. Angie dyes yarns
inspired by geeky pop culture, and
we thought it would be fun to try a
collaboration because people don’t
tend to know how geeky I can be too.
I do have a strict deadline for that one!
And it does have a story.”http://www.kariebookish.net1 ‘Incunabula’ is a design from
Karie’s first book, This Thing of
Paper 2 ‘Burnet’ was inspired
by tenement tiles in her home
city of Glasgow 3 ‘Mahy’ uses
a traditional Shetland hap
construction 4 The ‘Lindgren’
colourwork mittens pay homage
to Karie’s Danish rootsKarie loves to
design shawls; this
is ‘Béton Brut’The ‘Vedbaek’
shawl from Karie’s
Doggerland e-book‘Vinterskov’ is
worked in a special
Danish yarn1
2
3 4
Interview
The Knitter Issue 144