Yarnplay Blog Tour
My turn! Last stop on the Yarnplay Blog Tour. As many of you know by now Lisa Shobhana Mason has an amazing new book out titled - Yarnplay: Colorful Techniques And Projects For The Creative Knitter. I have talked about it a number of times already and if you have yet to pick a copy up I urge you to do so. It’s so good that we got five copies in at the store and within 5 minutes if it being on the shelf they were all gone. (And I only had a little bit to do with that….ha!) Oh wait, one was hidden and Adam was lucky enough to grab that one today. But really. It’s that good. You know it’s good if it gets Scout thinking about knitting a garment. Because Scout don’t knit garments!
A week ago at Stitch ‘n’ Bitch we passed around the book and here are some of the questions the girls had for Lisa. We’ll start with mine.
| Scout - I’m curious to know more about your design process. What comes first the pattern or the yarn or something else? Does it vary or are you very systematic in how you come up with a pattern?
Not systematic at all. It’s pretty intuitive. I begin with a general idea for a design and then choose the yarn. how the yarn looks and feels after it’s knit up heavily influences the design. I tend to make it up as I go along. Often, the finished design is very different from the idea that I started out with. |
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Noelle aka the little hedgehog - In your book you mentioned that one of your influences was Southern Outsider Art. Which particular artists or artwork are your favorites or most influential?As a direct influence, definitely the Gee’s Bend quilters. I’m constantly looking through ‘Gee’s Bend, The Women And Their Quilts‘ for inspiration. I love the idea of having to create something using only the materials at hand. I think about that a lot. If they could create these amazing works of art with limited fabric scraps one should be able to do the same thing working only with the yarns in one’s stash.One of my favorite painters is Jimmy Lee Sudduth. I’m kicking myself because I passed up on an opportunity to purchase one of his more affordable (i.e. less than a month’s rent) paintings. Now they’re beyond my budget. |
| Jody aka Javaem - I am totally in love with the sweater on the cover, Poppy. I have never made a sweater before so I was wondering if you would recommend this as a good “First sweater” project?I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a first sweater because it’s not constructed in the traditional way and you don’t really get a sense of how a sweater ‘works’. I think it’s a better 2nd or 3rd sweater. Chelsea is a good first sweater. |
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Carole aka strangelittlemama Which designers/fashion houses inspire your knit wear or design savvy? Vivienne Westwood, Comme des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto, Alexander McQueen. I like it pretty over the top. They inspire and excite me, but I wouldn’t say that their influence is necessarily reflected in my own work. |
| Molly aka baby finds kazoo Your sexy Poppy sweater came just as I was casting on to make another sweater and I am totally charmed! I’ve ditched the other pattern in favor of yours! Thanks for the prettiness.Yay! Poppy! I can’t wait to see what colors you choose. |
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Monica - Is the Lorelei Tank named after the Lauren Graham character in the Gilmore Girls?No. I just thought she (the sweater) looked like a Lorelei. |
| Ashley aka Ashabee - Is there a color that you tend to use in a lot of projects without realizing it at the time? Since I’ve started designing for publication I’ve really branched out and started using a little of everything. prior to that I probably used a lot of blue. as a rule, I tend to stay away from neutrals and earth tones. I find them pretty boring. |
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Domesticat What are your favorite color combinations? Are they well represented in your book or do you try to come up with combinations you might not necessarily wear yourself?My favorite color combinations tend to change. When I was working on the book I was really into blues and greens. I did try to come up with some combos that I wouldn’t necessarily wear myself. The colors I chose for Chelsea is an example. These days I really like scarlet & charcoal and navy & cream. |
Thanks to everyone who played!
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ScoutJ, posted on
October 28, 2006 at 8:34 am, filed under
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8 Comments
hey, I love Vivienne Westwood, too!
It just may be my browser (Internet Explorer), but the text after the Scout Q&A
extends behind your sidebar, actually it is also happening in this comment box, and
I can’t read most of your lovely post!
Mine too! Help us, we want to read!
Hey, I actually have a late question for Lisa if she has any
time to answer. I started knitting manta ray this week
and the first thing I noticed was that there was
not a picture showing the whole shawl. I went to your
website and you had posted a picture showing all of
manta ray. My question: I was wondering how much
editorial control you have when creating a knitting book?
By the way-I love the book!
ramona - i don’t think the stylist & photographer had ever shot a knitting book before. so, a couple of the projects ended up without proper photos. hence, the manta ray situation. it is really a beautiful project and it makes me sad that you can’t see that in the book. please send me a photo of your completed shawl. i’d love to post it to the Yarnplay blog!
FUN! where did you get this idea?
It is a great book!
I want that book, it looks soo good!
Great interview. I can’t wait to pick up the book.