We had a chance to sit down with Elizabeth Margaret – a smart knit designer and a great addition to a STEAM issue!

I hope you read a bit more about her and her great attitude as well as her knit designs!

Tell us a bit more about yourself. Where do you live?Who do you live with? How did you end up there? Where are you from originally?

Goodness this is a pretty big question at the moment! As I type this I am halfway through moving from New York City to Tampa Bay, FL.! Originally, I’m from Connecticut and have spent my whole adult life between the CT suburbs and the city.

Over the past year there have been a lot of reasons why I wanted a fresh start and was craving a big change. This past October, while a bridesmaid in my best friend’s wedding, I met my current girlfriend. Both my bestie and my new love live in Tampa and TOMORROW I am moving in with my girlfriend in a beautiful apartment only 10 minutes away from my best friend’s home.

Who taught you to knit?

My paternal grandmother taught me to crochet when I was 4 years old, and I made many many blankets. When I was 19 I taught myself to knit with YouTube which must have been some of the very early days because this was 2005 or 2006?

I typically ask about your favorite things. But CLEARLY pink is your favorite color. Is there a story behind that?

Oh boy! So on the one hand, I have always loved pink and been really feminine in my own perception of myself. On the other hand, I’ve got kind of an “edgy” vibe with lots of tattoos. I naturally started gravitating towards wearing pink because it helps me express my softer side. Then, the more I explored those natural inclinations I also realized that to me, it’s an act of defiance. In our culture, pink is often associated with femininity and also represented as a kind of weak color. To me, pink is empowering and has come to represent the strength of womanhood. Femininity and emotions are incredibly powerful and embracing them only makes us stronger. I feel all of these things when I surround myself in pink and it feels good.

You’re making size-inclusiveness a priority. Why do you think it’s so important? (and to be clear, we agree – we’re just curious why YOU think it’s so important)

It IS so important! One of my core values as a human is openness and acceptance. I want everyone who likes my designs to be able to make them. While it’s impossible to design one garment that works for every single person (because we are all shaped differently regardless of size), I am out here trying! It’s pretty revolutionary and radical to make your own clothes out of string in these days when fast fashion rules. If we want to be radical, I think we have to start with radical acceptance.

I’ve learned a lot in the last year of designing and I’ve made it a mission to find teachers and friends in this industry who can help me learn. This year I am planning to re-release my first garment patterns which didn’t represent the best range. I just didn’t have enough information back then, now I know better I do better. That’s how I approach all things in life and so far it’s gotten me where I need to be!

Do you have a design that you think people should give a little love?

I really love my Renard Silk Dress, it’s the kind of garment that could be lingerie, or you could wear it with a slip on a warm romantic evening out. I wear mine at home on days that I want to feel comfortable but also elegant. It’s almost better than being naked.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Having lived most of my adult live in New York City, I’m really inspired by high end fashion. Like the stuff I’ve never been able to afford but I see fancy women wearing in restaurants, or the kinds of things my private clients where when they invite me to the pool. Growing up where I did I’ve spent a lot of time around clothes I can’t afford. One of the things that knitting offers me is the opportunity to wear high end couture like fashions that I made for myself at a small fraction of what it would cost to buy a dress from a fashion house.

What is your nemesis? The thing that makes you want to run and hide when you think about it.

Making spreadsheets! There’s so much math in designing, and it’s not that I’m not capable of it, I just hate it. It takes me a while of pep-talks, walking through references, and sometimes hiring a little outside help so I can wrap my head around all the numbers and measurements I for a pattern. I do all that stuff first now to keep me motivated and then I get to knit my sample as a reward and first test of my work!

What does your typical Elizabeth-day entail?

I wake up early so I can have super slow mornings drinking coffee and taking my Frenchie for a long walk. I also might sneak in some video games before I start working. I usually have some virtual private yoga sessions in the mornings, if not I try to use this

time for the tasks I want to do least that day to get them out of the way. I exercise most afternoons, either yoga, running, or another long walk with my pup. After that I finish up whatever administrative tasks need to happen, often teach some evening sessions. I like to cook so I make dinner a lot, but I also love getting Vietnamese take out when I feel indulgent! The evenings are all watching movies or shows and knitting if I have no other plans. I take downtime very seriously and honestly I love the schedule I’ve built for myself it feels very natural and unhurried.

Other than knitting and designing, do you have any other creative endeavors?

Currently I’m working on a membership program for yoga and tarot students which I’m really excited about. It’s going to include community and live programs as well as lots of recorded lessons for folks to watch at their leisure. I’m looking forward to offering my teaching in a way that’s more financially accessible and enjoyable for people this way! (For anyone interested in my work as a teacher, my website is elizabethcrisci.com just be ready because it was done a few years ago and it’s all blue instead of pink!)

Do you have a stash? Or if you buy it you make it up pretty quickly?

I would say a combo? Nowadays I only buy when I’m ready to cast on, but in my early years knitting I did a lot of impulse buying. Some of my stash will still someday become something for me, otherwise I use it for gifts and I regularly donate yarn if I decide it won’t end up getting used by me. I don’t like keeping anything I won’t use!