I started deliberately writing some of my patterns down and made a promise to myself at the end of 2019 that I would be publishing my first patterns in 2020. During college I designed a sweater that I knitted for myself. It was the first time that I set out to make everything according to myself. The sweater became stunning and I wore it for many years. 

My mother was a knitwear designer and business person at the time and she asked if she could make my idea into a pattern to sell. It was very different from the designs that she made herself in terms of my color choice and modern fair isle pattern. I felt honored that she liked it so well and there was no question in my mind. She went on to make a pattern and knitted up her own model, then sold the pattern along with her hand dyed yarn.

This was the early 80s. Some years prior to that my mother had bought a book that had been translated from English into Danish and sold in Denmark. The book was, I forget the title, knitwear by Kaffe Fassett. I still lived at home with my parents at the time of the books arrival to my mother's library and oh, was it a mind blowing experience to sit and leaf through the book. I was awestruck. But how did he do it? I was puzzled because I knew how to knit fair isle colorwork and I knew how to do freeform crochet but I had never worked with the Intarsia technique that Kaffe Fassett used. My mother liked the gorgeous designs as well as I did but she quickly decided that she was not going to work in Intarsia. So I was stuck with having to do it on my own or not to do it. I can think of many reasons that I decided not to do it. Long story.

But after having seen Kaffe Fassett's knitwear my thoughts of knitwear and design were changed. You can not unlearn ispiration or unsee the colors and patterns, their boldness, the out of the box thinking behind the designs.

I was inspired by Kaffe Fassett when I designed the aforementioned sweater during my early college years. I studies computer science which I really struggled with - I struggled to find a place in me that was interested in learning it, thus I found it difficult to find the focus that is required for learning theoretical math etc. When my brain relaxed it started to design knitting patterns. I lay awake designing patterns in my mind and finally got out of bed to start charting it in order to better get a grip of the details. That is how it was designed. My best hours was when I sat down to knit it using the gorgeous yarn that my mother had dyed and that she generously shared with me.

Back to 2020 and the beginning of my own knitweardesign adventure. It took many years before I returned to knitwear design partly due to having to make money to raise two children and establish a brick and mortar business which we kept open 7 days a week with only one employee. I worked all the time, it seems.

As you know 2020 became a year of a different kind - a year with lots of time to focus on designing and knitting.

I have to run for a minute - will be back