Interview
Designer, writer and teacher Bronagh strives to
inspire and support the creativity of other knitters
Bronagh Miskelly
ORIGINALLY FROM
the north of Ireland,
Bronagh Miskelly is
now based in London,
where she works as
a knitwear designer,
technical editor, writer and teacher.
Bronagh has created many designs
for The Knitter, and her elegant
shawls are always a delight. We were
interested to discover how Bronagh
finds ideas for her shawl patterns,
so we caught up with her to explore
her design process.Can you tell us the stories behind
some of your most recent designs?
“Inspiration, especially for shawls,
usually comes from a combination
of the yarn I want to use, and images
from nature, landscape or other areas
of d e si g n. T h i s go e s b a c k to on e of my
earliest shawl designs, ‘Salmon Net’.I saw a turquoise laceweight yarn in a
display with more muted shades, and
immediately thought of pieces of
bright blue fishing net among the
pebbles on the beach below my
childhood home in Donegal. I bought
the yarn, and by the time I got home
I had some sketches of mesh lace and
c a bl e s on t h e b a c k of t h e re c e ip t.
“With my shawls ‘Firebird’ and
‘Héloïse’ (which appeared in The
Knitter issue 145), I picked out
self-striping yarns which made me
think of tropical flowers or birds. I
wanted to find a way of using long
colour changes in an interesting way,
so I developed what I call my radial
semi-circular shawls. These are
worke d i n shor t-row we d ge s w it h
a w i d e l a c e oute r s e c t ion. I t h e n
sketched and swatched lace stitches
to find a pattern that worked with the
colours. In ‘Firebird’ this reminded
me of plumage, and in ‘Héloïse’ I used
a vine-like lace as the colours made
me think of climbing flowers.
“With my ‘Bethesda’ design for The
Knitter 137, it was a different process.
I was watching the Wonder Woman
movie and loved Lindy Hemming’s
costume designs, with all the
overlapping and diagonal lines on the
Amazons’ armour. The challenge was
to find a lace yarn that had a hint of
steel or bronze about it, rather than
a bright colour. I eventually settled
on Fyberspates Gleem Lace in the
Smokey Joe shade.
“At the moment I am working on
a set of shawl designs inspired by the
woods near where I live. A particular
skein of red yarn was the kicking-off
point for these, because it made me
think of Grimms’ Fairy Tales. This led
to the ‘Into the Woods’ shawl which is
being published on Ravelry. The next
two – based on the dappled lightthrough the leaves, and on changing
leaf colours – will be in The Knitter.”Have you discovered any special
yarns lately?
“The yarn that I have used to make
the ‘Into the Woods’ shawl, and am
using for another of my woodland
shawls, is a recent discovery that I am
really enjoying. It is Banshee Yarns’
C a sh m e re L a c e. It i s a love ly b a s e for
lace stitches, because it blocks and
drapes beautifully and I like the rich
semi-solid colours this dyer is using.
“I am also looking forward to
swatching for some garment ideas
in the new Exquisite 4ply from West
Yorkshire Spinners. This is a blend
of Falkland wool and silk, so I’m
expecting it to work well for vintage-
inspired sweaters and lacy cardigans- both staples of my design style.”
How do you manage to juggle all
your different roles and jobs?
“Luckily, I am also trained as a
theatre stage manager and a TV
pro du c t ion ma n a ge r, s o I h ave pl e nt y
of organisational skills. However, the
basic ones are often the best. I have an
A4 week-to-two-pages diary, which
I divide into columns for different
tasks, and I like my to-do lists. I put
all my deadlines and regular tasks in
the diary in different coloured pens.
I’ll also set progress points for when
I would hope to have, for example,
the back of sweater sample knitted.
“If I am at home at my desk, I tend
to work at t h e c omp ute r i n t h e
mornings – doing social media,
writing and pattern editing. After
lunch I usually spend a couple of
hours working on samples, sketching
or doing photography, and then I go
back to the computer for a few more
hours. Working on patterns means‘Bethesda’
appeared in
The Knitter
issue 137Meet
The Knitter Issue 149