This month, we got to chat with Rachel Wolfe! She’s the designer of this month’s Caroline’s Skies and we’re thrilled to welcome her to the Knotions family.
Read on to learn a bit more about her!
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?
I’m originally from England, and moved to the US when I got married. I’m currently living in West Virginia with my husband, the cat and the dog.
Who taught you to knit? And when did you start?
I originally learned the basics as a child, but I don’t remember who taught me. Then I didn’t touch needles or yarn again until 2012, at which point I took it up seriously and haven’t stopped since.
What made you want to do knitting design?
I’ve modified almost every pattern I’ve ever knit, it was a natural progression to start making my own complete designs. Starting to publish them though, that didn’t happen until the owner of the LYS where I was working at the time told me “you have to publish that”. That design became the Rippling Streams Mitts, my first ever published pattern.
Do you design full-time or part-time?
Part-time. I also hand-dye yarn, and have another small business renting vacation properties.
What’s your favorite color?
Anything that can be described as jewel tones. I do tend to gravitate toward red in my personal projects, but you’ll see more variety in my published designs.
Get Ashlyn here:
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What are your favorite (other) things:
Yarn weights
Lace and fingering weight
Fibers
Natural, protein based fibers – I use a lot of wool, either on its own or blended with silk, alpaca, occasionally cashmere.
Types of objects (e.g., shawls, hats, etc.)
If I’m knitting for myself, sweaters. If I’m working on designs to publish, generally small accessories like hats and fingerless mitts.
Do you have a design that you think people should give a little love?
Fenella Shawl. It’s a big, snuggly DK weight shawl that’s great to bundle up in on cold days.
Get Fenella here:
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I’d love to give you a simple answer to this one, but it really varies. I often start with a general idea of what I want the design to look like, then go through my stitch dictionaries for something that’s close enough for me to modify. That general idea can come from anywhere though, it’s not a specific process that’s the same every time.
Can you tell us about your signature style?
I like classic, wearable items that have some interesting features to make them a little bit different, perhaps a cable or lace panel, or an unusual rib pattern that flows smoothly into the main design.
What is your nemesis? The thing that makes you want to run and hide when you think about it.
Size grading for garments. I have several ideas and even samples made up, I just haven’t calculated stitch counts for multiple sizes yet.
Get Clover Creek here:
Other than knitting and designing, do you have any other creative endeavors?
No, working with yarn is really the only place my creativity shows itself!
Do you have a stash? Or, once you buy it you make it up pretty quickly?
I absolutely do have a stash, and I’m trying to get better about using it up before I buy more!
And, most importantly – where can we find you?
My web site is rachelwolfedesigns.com and on Instagram I’m @rachelwolfedesigns. I’d love you to follow me!
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