Obsidian Designer: Lisa Mutch

The new Obsidian kits will be released on 15 August. This series of collaborations have been so inspiring and exciting and I'm glad people are enjoying them as much as we are creating them. Lisa is a distinctive designer who works hard to make clean lines, simple shapes and stunning hand dyes work up into moody designs and satisfying accessories to both knit and wear. I invited Lisa to answer some questions for the blog so that you can get to know her a little better. Here's what she had to say:

The stage is yours, tell us a little about yourself!

Well, besides knitting, dyeing, designing and spinning, I'm a mom to two wonderful and very active children, Brooklyn, 7 and Brodie, 3.  I also love reading, vegetable gardening, red wine and bubble baths.

What’s your knitting journey so far?

My knitting journey began roughly 10 years ago when I quit smoking and decided knitting would be a great way to occupy my hands. I bought 'How to Knit' by Debbie Bliss, a set of needles and some terrible acrylic yarn and taught myself how to knit. My specialty was scarves, or really anything rectangular or square with absolutely no shaping until I stumbled upon the Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's blog. Reading her hilarious stories about knitting disasters gave me the motivation to teach myself a few crucial knitting skills allowing me to graduate to hats, socks, shawls and eventually sweaters. 

How did you start designing and what is your favourite part of the process?

I began designing very quickly after teaching myself to knit. I never seemed to have the right size needles or weight of yarn and I could never, ever get the correct gauge. (Which continues to be a problem for me to this day, I'm a notoriously loose knitter. Ahem.) So I started making up things as I went along with what I had.

Was there a particular inspiration for this design?

 I love garter stich at a loose gauge, it has such a wonderful texture and I've always wanted a sweater with a giant cowl neck so this idea of mine has been brewing for a while now. Ce's BFL Sock is such a wonderful yarn for sweaters, being tough and resilient yet soft enough for next to skin wear. I've used this base before for sweaters, cowls and shawls and it's one of my all-time favourites, especially in the 'Charred' colourway.....so dark and mysterious!

 

What drew you to working with TUT yarns and a collaboration?

Ce and I met on Ravelry a few years ago and since day one, I've adored her gorgeous yarn. I very quickly acquired quite the collection of TUT yarns and have tried almost all of her fabulous bases. My favourite colourways are all of her wonderful, smokey greys and charcoals, her warm neutrals and of course, I love to sneak in a bit of Debauchery here and there. ;)

What else can we look forward to from you in the future?

I have so many ideas for new designs, if only I could knit as fast as my mind dreams them up! I've been swatching with some heavier weight bases lately for a few squishy, warm winter garments, and of course, more shawls, cowls and scarves. It seems like I can't leave the house without something handknit and fabulous around my neck.

A huge thank you to Lisa for supplying such lovely answers that shows her gentle and warm nature. If you would like to purchase your own Obsidian yarn and pattern kit, you will find them listed on my Etsy shop on 15 August or check out the Ravelry Group News thread for regular update news.  

Not One But TWO KALs...

Have you visited the TUT Ravelry Group lately? We're very busy chatting about our favourite skeins, projects and suggesting Knit Alongs. It seems everyone is as addicted to knitting as I am!

We have a great KAL for those who aren't very good at sticking to plans or perhaps haven't knit along with a group before. This summer we're hosting the Lazy Summer KAL which means you can knit whatever project you want, as long as it's in TUT yarn. So that's work in progress taming, cast on mayhem or something you have been meaning to knit for ages. There's even a spin off West Knits KAL from this for those people having a go at his second mystery shawl knit along.

We also have had a lot of chatter about the Occitan kits which were a huge success. There was so much excitement in fact, that another KAL sprang up! So that's a lot of different ways to participate in the group which is great as you can count any project you're working on like the Occitan, WestKnits shawl or perhaps your Ravellenics project, towards more TUT chatter. 

Enjoy!

Occitan Designer: Beth Kling

The Occitan Kits have proved incredibly popular and have generated lots of interest in both Beth and TUT yarns. It is the first in a series of collaborartions that I am very excited about. Beth is a wonderful designer whose accessories are stylish and a joy to knit. I invited Beth to answer some questions for the blog so that you can get to know her a little better. Here's what she had to say:

The stage is yours, tell us a little about yourself!

I grew up in a suburb of Chicago and from early on, developed an abiding love for reading, writing and dance, which led to my getting my BA with a double major in English with a Creative Writing Focus and Dance Choreography/Performance.

Neither of these particularly helped me in my first real job out of college: Assistant Production Manager of the local newspaper’s advertising department, which required me to do graphic design and ad layout. I’m still not sure what made them think I was a good candidate for the job, but I’m grateful that they did, because I loved that job, and now I can’t imagine not knowing about and paying attention to good graphic design. Ever since, all of my jobs have involved graphic design to varying degrees, though most have also had a liberal dose of writing thrown in for good measure. However, I make a lousy office drone. Corporate America is not for me. Fluorescent lights and corp-speak buzzwords (synergy, anyone?) make me twitchy. Which could explain why I now work from home…for a yarn company.

Next month (July) I will have been married for 12 years. I met my husband when we worked in the same coffee shop over the summer after my junior year of college. The story goes that I won him over by asking him if he’d like to split a piece of chocolate cake with me after our shift.

Also, I have an unreasonable affection for garlic.

I also have an unreasonable affection for red wine, and for finding good ones that taste like they ought to cost more than they do.

I think my affection for our two retired racing greyhounds Ronan and Quinn is perfectly reasonable.

Oh and also, my name is Beth, and I’m a yarn-a-holic (see comments about Ravelry and Etsy, below).

 What’s your knitting journey so far?

My mom tried to teach me knit when I was about 7, and I recall I produced some pretty unwearable, 3-foot-long, “sampler” style scarves, but knitting didn’t really stick until much later, because 7 year olds are not particularly good at sitting still. I picked it back up again after college, when I was looking for gifts to give that were inexpensive (little did I know), but still handmade.

I discovered Knitty and then I discovered Ravelry..... Ravelry led me to Etsy and indie yarn dyers. And lo, an addiction was born. 

How did you start designing and what is your favourite part of the process?

My first official design was for Dream in Color’s February 2011 Dream Club – that was the Pleiades Shawlette, and I did it because they asked. But, I’d say I was already leaning in that direction, because for years, I’d been modifying existing patterns and designs to adjust them to my personal style and aesthetic.

Was there a particular inspiration for Occitan?

Ce and I knew we wanted something that would be both appealing from a design perspective, and approachable from a knitting perspective. A shawl with a stockinette body and lace edging seemed to fit the bill. I wanted to play with increase methods that were a bit unusual (for a shawl, anyhow), which led to the swirly increases in the body of the shawl and working to find a way to make those increases flow organically into the lace.

 What drew you to working with TUT yarns and a collaboration?

TUT was one of the first indie dyers I knew of to start using what I’ve been referring to as “the new luxury bases.” MCN blends had been around for a while, and don’t get me wrong, I still use a lot of MCN blend yarns, but Ce was (and still is) dyeing up these stunning, subtly-variegated colors on other bases too. Bases that had blends like alpaca-silk-cashmere. Divine. Truly. So, in short: beautiful, useable, wearable colors on unique bases is what sold me on the yarn. And Ce is such a warm, genuine, easy-to-work with person, that the whole collaboration was just a natural fit [edit: thanks Beth].

What else can we look forward to from you in the future?

I have a couple of hat patterns waiting in the wings that should be published sometime late this month, or early next month, and another shawl design on the needles as well. But what I’d really like to do sometime in the next year is venture onto sweater design. It feels very big and scary to me right now, but I have too many ideas brewing for sweaters not to give it a go.

A huge thank you to Beth for supplying such great answers, so full of her character. If you would like to purchase your own Occitan Kits, you will find them listed on my Etsy shop or check out the Ravelry Group News thread for regular update news. 

Occitan

I'm so very excited to be kicking off a series of collaborations this Tuesday. The first pattern is Occitan, by Beth Kling and it'll be available as a pre-order yarn and pattern kit from 4pm BST (check your timezone here) on Etsy.

Occitan is a semi-circular shawl with a stockinette body and a pretty lace border. It’s a really fun and easy knit, as we have come to expect from Beth. It has an unusual construction, which will keep experienced knitters interested and a straight forward lace border, which won’t intimidate a novice knitter. I hope you love it as much as I do.


There will be six colourways to choose from each week and the colours will change a little each week. Each kit will comprise of one skein of Posh Fingering and a black and white printed copy of the pattern. If you give us your Ravelry name, we can send you a pdf copy there ahead of time.


I had lots of fun knitting my Occitan, especially as Jody (aka Sabinaknits) suggested I use beads and I think they worked really well with the pattern. If you’d like to bead your shawl, you might find these notes handy: using a crochet hook, I beaded the second cdd in chart A. Had I had enough beads, I would have also beaded the purl stitches which are snuggled between yos in the increase rows - if you’d like to do this, I reckon you’d need at least another 10g. I also beaded the cdds in the final row. Out of my 10g packet of beads, I had 2 left when I finished the shawl. Well, you might find another 2 or 3 under the sofa…

Catrina, Nadia, Jody, Teresa and Vera all test knit this pattern (thank you!) and made gorgeous versions of it too :)