Norah Gaughan’s meticulous design work has inspired countless knitters to pick up the needles and cast on. Her unique vision and style make many of her designs instantly recongnizable. Her work is often characterized by geometric shapes and natural forms, often with detailed cabling or twisted stitches. Her designs have appeared in many of the well-known knitting publications, and in 2006, she published her first book, Knitting Nature. She is now the Design Director for Berroco, and continues to develop new and amazing techniques and patterns.

Recently, Knitting Daily, Interweave Press’s daily newsletter, asked readers to choose some of their favorite designs published in Interweave Knits magazine to supplement their recent book, Best of Interweave Knits. With dozens of stellar designs represented, readers chose their TOP 5 favorites. …and guess who had not one but TWO designs represented? Ms. Norah Gaughan!  The Top 5 design patterns are available now through May 14th for FREE download in a PDF.  To promote this Readers’ Choice Award, Knitting Daily is setting up the top designers with some bloggers for a little one-on-one. 

I had the great opportunity to chat with Norah and find out some interesting details about her work, her inspirations, and what else she likes to do with her time…

As a designer who is inspired by nature and natural forms, how much time do you actually get to spend in nature? Can you share some of your favorite outdoor activities and / or memories?

Well, I live in New Hampshire Thursday night through Monday morning, and the Contoocook river is in my back yard – that’s nature. I grew up in the country too, climbing trees, walking through the woods to school, catching frogs in the brook. I nearly went crazy my first few months at Brown longing for the smell of Fall leaves. Turns out, crazy as it sounds, that the best place to commune with nature on the East Side of Providence is in the Swan Point Cemetery. As far as favorite memories go, I love being in places that feel like another world to me, where the flora is alien to someone who grew up in the northeast. For this reason I am fascinated by the Sonoran Desert in Arizona with all of the Saguaro cacti and desert scrub. Likewise, I am totally enamored of Iceland. Geysers, waterfalls, moonscape like lichen covered lava flows, hexagonal basaltic rock formations, gorges, and glaciers – it’s so amazing.

Norah’s trip to Iceland, photo by John Ranta

At the beginning of the year, you wrote a couple of blog posts about your Top 10 indispensable knitting books. Can you share some of your favorite general titles and authors? What was your favorite book growing up? Do you have (or make) time to read for pleasure now?

The book I read over and over as a child was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. My grandmother (who lived with us) remembered loving it as a girl and bought me a beautifully illustrated edition original to her era. I also read a lot of Andre Norton. I had a writing correspondence with her too. My father illustrated Science Fiction and that’s how I made the contact. The best book I’ve read lately is The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and I’m currently making my way through Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea by Carl Zimmer. It’s so well written that it’s is easy to read, despite being a science book. It’s going slowly only because I’ve been knitting an awful lot lately and I can’t do both at once. I did ‘read’ Freakonomics on tape while knitting – that worked out really well and recently I listened to all three autobiographical books by food writer Ruth Reichl. I love hearing works in the author’s own voice.

Norah knitting, age 17

When you have a concept for a new design, do you think in terms of lines and measurements? or do you sometimes have a color or texture in mind first and build a design around that? With the Tweedy Aran Cardigan, the texture of the tweed seems to be a large element in the design. When you design for Berroco do you choose the color and/or texture of yarn?

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? It all depends. With the Tweedy Aran cardigan, the textured fabric came first. Then I had to dream up the best silhouette for that time and place. Color is almost always secondary for me, as a vehicle for showing off the pattern stitch or structure to it’s best advantage and to be wearable. There are times when the structure and shape of the garment comes before the swatch for me, like with the Sand Dollar Pullover from Knitting Nature. When I design for Berroco everything begins with the yarn – after all, [the reason] I’m there is to sell yarn and really, the same is true for editorials in Interweave and Vogue Knitting. I’m just luck that I get to express myself at the same time. [Photo: Alternate sketch using the sand dollar motif]

After a design is submitted and sent in for the photography shoot, possibly goes out for a trunk show exhibit, makes the rounds at the expos and markets, do you actually get to see it again? Do you know where the original Nantucket Jacket is now? Do you ever have the opportunity to wear your own designs?

At Berroco, after a design is photographed it first spends time with the tech editor and the pattern checker, then it’s shipped off to the TNNA trade show. After a few relaxing week’s sitting about the office it travels to yarn shops for 6 months, a year, or more. We are having second samples made in a larger size these days so many of the trunk shows have both the model size and the size that fits me. So, after the pieces have made the rounds, I do occasionally get to wear my own designs. I have no idea where the original Nantucket jacket is now, but somehow I managed to snag the Tilted Duster [Photo: Original sketch for the Nantucket Jacket]

Many thanks to Norah for sharing her art and design in so many mediums, and for taking the time to answer my questions!

…and be sure to check out the other stops on the blog tour!

Mon. April 14: Sandi Wiseheart interview on Smoking Hot Needles

Wed. April 16: Kate Gilbert interview on Moth Heaven

Thurs., April 17: Stefanie Japel interview on Chez Aristote

Fri., April 18: Evelyn Clark interview on The Panopticon

Have you knit one of Norah’s patterns?  are you currently working on one?  Tell us about it!  Leave me a comment and let me know!

I studied some preservation techniques in graduate school – primarily paper and photographs – but never learned more about the science of conservation. As my interest in textiles grew over the years, I was interested in meeting a textile conservator and learning more about the amazing and meticulous work. I met Jane through a mutual friend – Avice had told me about Jane’s fascinating work in textile conservation, and her knitting and spinning. When I got the opportunity to meet Jane last May at the Sheep and Wool festival, an idea started percolating…

…and this is what came of it:

“Knitting for Keeps: Jane Hutchins” Interweave Knits, Spring 2008

Many months in the works – and my copy of the magazine finally came. It is quite satisfying to see my name in the byline. That’s me: Lauren Weinhold. Page 16.

I had a series of phone interviews with Jane, who lives in British Columbia, in late October and early November. One of the most memorable interviews was conducted while Kris and I were away for the week in Williamsburg: I sat on a rock near the James River on Jamestown Island and learned all about textile conservation, raising Icelandic sheep, and the importance of caring for your textiles now.

Cover headline!

This is a big step for me. I have written since I was a child, and I was encouraged by family, teachers, and friends to write more. While I primarily wrote fiction as a child, I have switched to writing primarily non-fiction since college. I enjoy the in-depth research and putting the words together. I even enjoy the editing process… maybe this is the beginning of something bigger, but in the meantime, I am just going to be happy that Jane’s story and her work could be showcased in this way. I hope that you are able to take something away from the article too: you spend so valuable money and time to make your textile crafts beautiful – why not ensure that they will last? on that same note, you can learn how to better care for the textiles that have been passed down to you!

Thank you Avice for introducing me, Eunny for accepting the pitch, and finally to Jane for the amazing work that you do!

… … …

Another big first: I am nearing a landmark comment number over the next few posts, and I am thinking that it would be really fun to celebrate it by thanking you with some presents from my yarn and book stash! So, for three of you – the -999, -000, -001, – I have three gifts. The -000 comment will get first choice, and the -999 and -001 can decide which items they like after that. I do hope it works out

1) My favorite sock yarn in a gorgeous red colorway – so pretty and perfect for Project Spectrum! 450 yards of Tess Designer Yarns‘ Super Sock and Baby yarn. This yarn has held up so well for me in the two pairs of socks I have made with it. I think you will love it too!

2) Denyse Schmidt Quilts and a Quilt-It Kit by Denyse Schmidt – the book is full of inspirational quilts sewn with beautiful fabrics. The kit is complete with items to make a log-cabin style pillow with a cute yellow and aqua fabric. A perfect place to start your quilting adventures, or to continue with your hobby! (You can see some of her designs made by some of my Flickr friends)

3)Yarn Place Graceful in #3627 colorway – if you scroll down on the website, you can see a knitted lace sample of this same colorway – so pretty! I bought this yarn a few months ago but I still have no idea what to do with it – I don’t knit lace very often – but I know that a lot of you do.

A big welcome to Sandi Wiseheart of Knitting Daily!

LollyKnitting Around is the third stop on Sandi’s tour, and I was excited to hear what she had to say the newest knitting venture of Interweave Press. Read on…

What prompted the formation of Knitting Daily?

We started planning Knitting Daily about a year and a half ago, when a group of us at Interweave started dreaming about ways that we could bring the Interweave sense of community, technical excellence, and style to the web in a more accessible, more fun-to-visit sort of way. We did our homework, looked at a zillion other sites across all industries, and had a lot of fantasy brainstorming “what-if” sessions. It was a lot of fun, and we gave ourselves permission to dream big! One of the most important things we all wanted to do was to build a place online where we could have conversations with our Interweave readers in a more direct, more immediate, and more fun, sort of way. We constantly refer to ourselves and our readers as “the Interweave Family,” and we felt very strongly that we wanted to provide an online “home” for the knitting branch of that family. Then we set about furnishing that home with a library, a newsletter, and made sure we built in room to grow so we can build on additions and make improvements as we go along.

What can Knitting Daily offer to a beginning knitter who may be intimidated by the projects in the magazine?

In the Knitting Daily blog, as well as in the Techniques section, we have the ability to really break things down into smaller steps–I can post step-by-step photos of how to do a particular stitch, for example. Beginners can also search the site by skill level, and find patterns and information that is suited to their knitting comfort zone.

Plus, they can ask questions, and the Knitting Daily staff can answer back! Right now, there are some beginners asking questions in the comments on the blog, and as you read through the comments, you can see the more seasoned knitters answering them back! I love that part. I can’t wait until we get our forum installed and ready to go…..

Did I mention that one of our KD staffers is a beginning knitter? Yep. Kat, our graphics guru, is just learning, so she’s particularly keen on making sure that we have plenty of good stuff for beginners. I’m hoping to have a whole series of posts especially for beginners in the not-to-distant future.

Knitting Daily is still in the new stages; what features will the site offer in the future?

We have so much on our to-do list! We joke about it in the office: “Oh, that will have to be a Phase Ten addition.” We are sooo excited about the possibilities that a site like KD affords us. First up is going to be the Knitting Daily Pattern Store, which will be going live sometime this month (July). We’ll be able to offer patterns from sold-out issues, as well as new patterns exclusive to KD…. Interweave has a very large “catalog” of knitting patterns spanning all our publications, and with the Pattern Store, we will be able to provide wider access to all those treasures. Now we will! High on everyone’s list here is a forum, where we can have discussion threads for each of the Interweave knitting patterns (and other hot fiber topics!). This will make it so much easier for everyone to be notified about corrections, receive help with a particular pattern, and just share photos and tips. I love watching everyone talk to each other in the comments, so I am really looking forward to seeing folks be able to “talk” with each other in a more organized, more direct way soon.

We’ve all got long wishlists, as I say….and we welcome hearing what the readers’ wish lists are–because ultimately, it’s all about our readers! What our readers want is very, very important to us. That’s part of the joy of Knitting Daily right now–being able to respond so quickly to give readers what they ask for, without having to wait a full press cycle of six months or more. I love that!

How will Knitting Daily integrate with Interweave’s other new media approaches, i.e. the television show?

KnittingDailyTV came about when Interweave bought the Shay Pendray Needle Arts Studio (opens to a .pdf) show on PBS. Starting with the 2007-2008 season, we are giving it an “Interweave makeover”– new sets, new show website, new graphics, new content, and a new focus on knitting. The TV show’s website will be a sister website to KnittingDaily.com, just as InterweaveKnits.com is a sister site to Knitting Daily. And just like sisters talk about each other, and share the best of their lives, we online Interweave sisters will talk about each other and share good stuff between ourselves. But we’re very new sisters, so we’re still getting to know each other. I have to confess that I am really fascinated to see what Interweave does with its first TV show–so exciting!

The recent modifications you made to the Tomato sweater intrigued many readers. Do you plan to offer more personal tips and tutorials like this on the site?

Yes! I come from a long line of storytellers in my family, and I almost can’t help myself, as far as personal stories go…and the explosion of popularity of knitting blogs tells us that knitters connect deeply with stories and storytellers. All that aside: I personally have been floored by the outpouring of enthusiasm in the comments! I read those to myself in the evenings after work, and it’s a huge treat. Since I am really committed to listening to what the readers want, if what the readers want is more of the kind of thing I’m doing with the Tomato, then more they shall get.

Free “Tomato” pattern (from the new Interweave book, No Sheep for You) and Sandi’s modified version with bust darts!

What is your background? How were you prepared to take on a big project like Knitting Daily?

You might say I have a varied background Craft-wise, I have been knitting since I was tiny–I knit my first cardigan at age ten. I also crochet, spin, weave, do beadwork, and I was so obsessed by quilting at one point that I had my hand-stitched quilts in a show. I learned to sew and customize sewing patterns from my mom and a really awesome home-economics teacher (Mrs. Sweet, yes, that was her real name). Handcrafts are as essential to my life as good coffee and chocolate. As a child and teen, whenever someone asked where I was, my family would say, “Oh, she’s probably off making something somewhere.”

I went to grad school to train to be a clinical therapist–I joke that this was perfect preparation for being managing editor of Interweave Knits, the job I had before becoming editor of Knitting Daily. Managing editors are kind of the air traffic controllers of the magazine crew–I worked out the schedule for each issue, made sure that all the sweaters for that issue traveled from designer to editor to stylist to photoshoot to tech editor to editors again, coordinated the work flow between editors, authors, graphics folk, and production people…plus I was designing things for the mag, writing intros and articles, doing some tech-editing, and knitting socks in meetings. Oh, and I was also managing editor for Interweave Crochet and Knitscene during that same time period, so our team was doing 8 issues a year at that point. It’s a very hard-working team! There were days I wished I could wear roller skates to work so I could move around the office more quickly. During that time, one of my favorite things was to talk to the web people and come up with ways we could put little bits of the magazines online….so Knitting Daily is really an organic outgrowth of all of those conversations.

Wow! Did you learn as much as I did?! It is such an exciting time! The TV show, the pattern forums, the free patterns: so much to look forward to as an avid knitter. Since Knitting Daily went “live” in the middle of June, I have looked forward to the daily emails from Sandi. It usually hits my inbox after dinner, so it is almost like a dessert

You can read archived posts (I found the Sock Survey particularly intriguing!) and some beautiful free patterns. Two of the recent releases were already added to my TO-DO list…

Intricate Stag Bag and the Ballet Twinset

…and Sandi offers one last tidbit…

Just a sneak preview ahead… I’ve gotten tons of emails about the Summer Shawlette and the Comfort Shawl. Lots of those emails are from breast cancer survivors or family and friends of survivors. Since there are some technically intriguing bits about knitting those shawls, and since lace is endlessly fascinating, AND since both shawls are fairly good introductory lace projects for beginning lace knitters, I want to write about those shawls next.

I also have an exclusive Teva Durham pattern that we will feature on Knitting Daily in August….there’s so much good stuff ahead. So if you like what I’m doing on Knitting Daily, let me know….and if you have some suggestions or ideas, let me know those as well! Email me at knittingdaily@interweave.com!

THANK YOU SANDI!

Monday Ready, Set, Knit! Podcast

Tuesday Crazy Aunt Purl

Thursday DoggedKnits

Friday CRAFT Blog

Mona Schmidt is another lucky soul: she designs and crafts for a living. Originally hailing from Deutschland, Mona now lives in Montreal, Quebec, where there is plenty of cold weather to keep her knitting to stay warm.

Mona's fabulous pattern Embossed Leaves was featured in the Winter 2005 issue of Interweave Knits, and immediately became a hit in the blogosphere – Embossed Leaves were everywhere. Mona recently published another sock pattern in the Fall 2006 IK, and there is more to come in the Holiday 2006 edition! She has also had designs in Knitscene.

When I asked Mona about a blog interview, she kindly agreed… she is just sweet like that! She has even prepared TWO tutorials, hosted on her blog, that help with the Embossed Leaves pattern.

Two-Strand Tubular Cast-On (Part One and Part Two)

Adapting the Embossed Leaves pattern for different sizes

Can you tell me more about your design process?

Designing socks is more an intuitive conception – often I just start with the yarn I feel like knitting with and cast on. Sometimes I have a certain stitch pattern in mind, other times I just start knitting and get the idea for the pattern while still working at the cuff. I do design other things than socks, but since this is Socktoberfest let’s concentrate on those.

Where do you find your design inspiration?

Especially for socks it is often a stitch pattern I like and has a stitch repeat that’s good for socks – and if it doesn’t fit right away, I’ll make it fit. Funnily enough I do think of people, too, when designing. It’s rather like: If I would knit a sock for so-and-so, what would it look like?

Your Embossed Leaves socks are so intricate and beautiful – how did this idea come to you?

I had seen the leaf pattern on the cover of a book (I actually bought that book just because of the pattern! It’s called Beautiful Knitting Patterns, by Gisela Klöpper) and knew right away that I wanted to use it for socks. Then Regia Silk came my way and I had just tried the tubular cast-on. It was an easy calculation. The kicker was of course the toe. My Mom had just written the instructions for me. I had never used it before. (Admittedly, I was a one-trick pony when it comes to socks, same heel and toe forever, till I realized that there are so many possibilities to mix it up!) Once the foot had the length I thought would fit me I just started knitting the toes as instructed. It really was a lucky coincidence that the star fit the pattern to portray the whole leaf at the end of the sock. Honestly, I couldn’t have planned it any better. Now it sounds preposterous even to me but I only realized that it looked like a completed leaf once the sock was done. The reason it was knit in Koigu (lovely, lovely yarn!) for the magazine is that at that time Regia Silk was not readily available in the US.

When did you first knit socks?

I only started to knit socks when I was 21. I knit my first pair to match a wool sweater I owned (store bought, from ESPRIT). I still have the socks while the sweater is long gone. After finishing these there was a long break and no sock knitting for me. When I started my second pair I was studying and living away from home. Came the time to turn the heel I couldn’t remember how for the life of me. I never had written any instruction down, because if I had a question I would ask my Mom, who was always available and she was and still is pretty much a walking talking knitting dictionary. She’d say: “now you knit 2 together and knit to the end, next needle knit to the last 2 sts and do ssk…” That’s how I learned from her even when I was little, she’d let me knit a row or round and then tell me how to go from there. And I would find afterwards that I had turned a heel, knit a gusset or, when I was like 11 years old, knit a vest for a doll. Strangely enough it worked. Well, most of the time. She had to explain the heel turning once more.

My most precious possession to date is a pair of socks my then boyfriend Rolf knit for me. One of the socks has hearts knit into it and the other my name. Makes me smile every time I think of or look at them. Oh, and no, he hasn’t knit a thing since.

Do you have any designs in the works now?

Oh, there are always designs in the works. Finished are the “Bells and Whistles Socks” in the Holiday '06 edition – and I do have some socks at home that might get published one time or another. Then there’s my work for JCA where I did and do design garments, published this Fall, next Spring and hopefully a lot more seasons to come.

Thank you so much, Mona, for being a part of Socktoberfest!

As you can see, your design is quite popular!  These are a random sampling of Socktoberfest participants who have made your Embossed Leaves – so many colors and adaptations!

If you see yours, let me know   I did a random search and came up with all of these!

*****

Now you have to help me decide which of these lovely yarns I should use for Mona's amazing Embossed Leaves socks, one of my next projects in the queue:

Let me know what you chose by leaving a comment! 

I will knit the socks in the yarn with the most votes

Cookie A made her debut on the design stage last year, with the online publishing of her Pomatomus socks on Knitty.com.

Cookie's design aesthetic clings to traditional motifs and patterning and adds a very modern edge. Cookie agreed to share some of her inspirations, the story behind "The Leg", and gives a tutorial on her lovely new sock-in-progress, the German stockings, in honor of Socktoberfest!

Who are your knitting gurus? Do you admire the designs of someone in particular?

Eugen Beugler and Lew Deyong are two knitters I turn to for inspiration and advice.

• Gene showing off one of his many lace pieces
• Lew carrying around The Leg!

They are both avid lace knitting octagenarians and are an invaluable source of information. And they're charming to boot! Gene has quite a few designs under his belt, including the Frost Flowers and Leaves shawl, and Lew is into "big things" on itty bitty needles. For example, he even knit a bedspread on size 1 needles!

I love Gene and Lew! Besides the two of them, my favorite handknitting designers are Marianne Kinzel and Herbert Niebling for their intricate and organic lace patterns. I also love knitwear designs from Delphine Wilson, Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen.

Your Pomatomus socks and Hedera socks are quite the hit! Do you have some other interesting designs up your sleeve?

I have tons of design ideas! Unfortunately most of them are still in my head because I can think faster than knit. I recently finished a couple designs for Blue Moon Fiber Arts using their wonderful yarns. There is a new pattern in the upcoming Winter Knitty. And I am working on a few things that I hope to publish through my blog. This coming year, I would like to get off my butt and submit some designs to the print magazines.

I already posted on the blog about two of the patterns I hope to write up–a short sleeved sweater and the German stocking.

The other one is this previously unseen sock:

What's with the mannequin? It seems like a great prop! Where did you pick up this random leg?

I actually feel very bad about the leg. I borrowed it from a friend for the Pomatomus pictures, and I haven't seen my friend since. I am a horrible thief! The idea came to me when I was trying to think of a clever way to photograph Pomatomus without making it look obvious that I had only knit one! I later bought a full body mannequin, but the legs on that are horribly misshapen with ginormous insteps and flat calves. So in all, I have three fake legs (one of which is not mine) and two real ones.

Where do you get your design inspiration from?

The main inspiration for my designs come from fashion (non-knitwear) and intricate traditional knitting. I am drawn to complicated stitch patterns and finer gauge yarns. At the same time, I find that modern ideas of shape and form can be visually striking, but the structure is often emphasized by use of plain fabric or materials. My general goal is to combine new ideas of shape with the more intricate detailing of traditional knitting. I like to play with spirals, curves and traveling panels along with texture and stitchwork.

What's in the future for handknit socks?

I am hoping to see more knee high socks. I especially like them because there is just so much more you can do, design wise. But at the same time, the shaping and placement of everything gets much more complicated, which can be difficult to write a pattern around. I also hope socks get more creative, with different constructions than the standard toe-up or top-down. And, of course, I hope to see more twisted stitches in everything!

*****

Cookie's newest design, called the "German stockings", is a perfect combination of these intricate traditional cable motifs, and the modern shaping techniques. Although still in the works, Cookie plans to write this pattern for distribution. I can hardly wait! This beautiful design really speaks to me!

Cookie shares an in-depth tutorial of her design process on her blog, Knitters Anonymous. In conjunction with that wonderful tutorial, Cookie answered a few questions about this specific design.

Where did you find the inspiration for this cable pattern?

The inspiration came from traditional German stockings that are very intricate and detailed. I am also drawn to asymmetry and curves or travelling panels. I wanted a sock that captured both elements. And of course, I wanted a knee-high sock.

How did you adapt the cable patterning to the sock?

After looking at pictures of several German stockings, I had an idea of what shape and elements I wanted to use and how I wanted to simplify many of the main features of the traditional German stockings. I don't know how to give a quick answer to this question! I think looking at the tutorial I wrote up will give a more in depth explanation.

Do you do all of your cabling without a needle?

It depends on the yarn and the cable. Whenever I can get away with it, I avoid the cable needle because it's just one more thing for me to lose! But I do use a cable needle for cotton or other slippery yarns, cables that require two cable needles (the double crossing kind), or when I'm knitting laceweight yarn.

Click on the picture below to take you to Cookie's tutorial

Thank you Cookie for being a part of Socktoberfest!