Category: Designer Spotlight

I always have fun finding new patterns to explore on Ravelry. I keep an eye out for great designs that I can share with you on Mondays and Thursdays (for the Updates) and great designers that I can share with you in the Designer Spotlight. Today, I’m happy to introduce you to Michelle, from Leah Michelle Designs. Be sure to get in on the special offer at the bottom of the post!

Loopy: Hi Michelle! Thanks for sitting down to talk with us today. How long have you been a knitter, and who taught you to knit?

Michelle: Hi Loopy! I’ve been a serious knitter for 12 years. I learned form my grandma when I was young and started a scarf with a lightweight yarn and small needles. I eventually gave up, but I still have it! I became serious about knitting when my kids were 2 and 5. I wanted to knit hats, scarves, and mittens for them. I bought a knitting magazine, needles and yarn, and have been adding new knitting techniques to my repertoire ever since.

Loopy: What is your favorite type of item to knit now?

Michelle: I like knitting everything! If I had to pick one favorite item, I guess it would be cowls. They are quick and easy to knit, they don’t require much finishing, and because I live in a cold climate, I can wear them a lot.

Loopy: I like making cowls for those very same reasons. One can never have too many, and they’re easy to wear. What is the most challenging thing that you have knit to date?

Michelle: Hmm. I think each new technique I attempt to learn is my biggest challenge at the time. I’m knitting Jane Richmond’s Grace pattern right now. It’s the first top down sweater I have ever done, so I’d say it’s my most challenging project to date. I love to knit patterns that challenge me with new techniques, so whatever new technique I’m learning at the moment is my biggest challenge.

Loopy: That’s a nice way to move to the next project – finding a new technique you’d like to learn. When did you start designing, and what got you interested in that?

Michelle: I started with simple dishcloths about 4 years ago and I designed my own because I wanted dishcloths that didn’t look ‘homemade’. I wanted edges that were straight and square and didn’t curl. I wanted clean and simple lines. That desire has transferred into all of my patterns. I like clean, structure, and linear designs.

Loopy: Do you have a favorite pattern that you’ve designed?

Michelle: My favorite pattern is probably my first paid pattern – Just a Little Twist. It’s a beautiful little scarf designed in Malabrigo Silky. It’s so soft and luxurious and I’m still wearing it after knitting it two years ago.

Loopy: I like that pattern! And I think I have just the yarn for it. Beautiful in semi-solids, but I also think it would be fun in a variegated. So what are your favorite and not-so-favorite parts of designing?

Michelle: My favorite part is the thrill of releasing a new design and watching it (hopefully!) become popular. I really can’t think of a not-so-favorite part. I like it all!

Loopy: Do you have other jobs outside of pattern designing?

Michelle: Yes. My ‘real job’ is in an elementary school. It’s fast-paced and sometimes stressful, so knitting and designing is how I relax and also how I express my creative side.

Loopy: So you do the designing business on the side. Is that hard?

Michelle: I only self-publish my patterns right now so that I can work at my own pace. I don’t always have time for designing, so I can’t commit to deadlines. I guess the hard part is that I wish I had more time to design.

Loopy: Does anyone else in your family knit?

Michelle: The only person in my immediate family that doesn’t knit is my husband. Even my 16 year old son knits (okay, it was one time, but still). He recently knitted a scarf for his girlfriend for Christmas! My 13 year old daughter knits, and my sister knits, too.

Loopy: I hope your son’s girlfriend appreciates that handknit scarf! Are there any other hobbies you enjoy besides knitting?

Michelle: When I have time, I love to bake. I also love to read.

Loopy: So what would be your favorite way to spend a day off?

Michelle: Knitting, of course!

Loopy: Good choice. And one last thing: Coke or Pepsi? Coffee or Tea? English or Continental? Solids or Multicolors?

Michelle: I’m trying to kick my Diet Pepsi habit right now. I need my daily morning coffee, but I’ve recently discovered David’s Tea. I still don’t know which is English and which is Continental. I hold my yarn in my right hand. Which one is that? I’m learning to embrace all types of color. I was always a neutral and beige kind of girl. Knitting is slowly opening my mind to the possibilities of color.

Loopy: It sounds like you knit English. Now you know! Anything else you’d like to add?

Michelle: Thanks for interviewing me – this was fun!

Michelle is offering our blog readers 20% off any one of her patterns, with the code “loopyewe”. This offer is good today through next Friday, March 7th. Hop on over to her Ravelry pattern store and pick a fun one, then pop over to The Loopy Ewe to get some yarn to go with it. 🙂 Thanks for the offer, Michelle!

Sheri temptedbythecowls,butalsotheLittleTwist

One of the first pattern lines that we carried at The Loopy Ewe was Heartstrings FiberArts. Jackie has so many different projects and patterns, and they’re all fun to work through! I asked if she’d like to be a part of our Designer Spotlight and she was happy to do so. I hope you enjoy getting to know her. Be sure to read through to the end for a special pattern offer.

Loopy: Hi Jackie! Thanks for being in our Designer Spotlight today. Can you tell us how long you’ve been a knitter and who taught you to knit?

Jackie: I am still learning to knit! lol Discovering one thing only opens up avenues of new discovery. I first picked up the needles when about 5 years of age. No, I wasn’t a child prodigy and didn’t learn knitting on the spot, but that was truly when I believe the stone was cast. I loved watching my mommy knit socks for my daddy. One afternoon when I was supposed to be taking a nap, I saw a sock-in-progress on the bed and picked it up and started knitting. Of course I made a mess of it, tried to fix it, and then laid it aside as if nothing had happened! Then when I was 8, they taught us to knit at Brownies (i.e. little people Girl Scouts). I got one ball of blue (donated) yarn and knit 2-needle mittens. There wasn’t enough yarn to finish them, so I unraveled it many times over and just kept re-knitting different things from the same ball, learning something new each time.

Loopy: It sounds like you made good use of your first ball of yarn. What is your favorite type of item to knit now?

Jackie: I am inclined to knitting lighter-weight garments and accessories that can be layered. There are so many advantages to extending a basic wardrobe, as well as wearing just the right amount as you move between climates.

Loopy: That’s true. I love knitting accessories and shawls for that very reason. What is the most challenging thing that you have knit to date?

Jackie: I guess I would consider that to be a wedding ring Shetland shawl I knit several years ago. The knitting was not difficult, but the challenge was just the magnitude (to me at the time) of a large lace shawl in fine yarn.

Loopy: I don’t know about that not being difficult. It looks like there are a lot of different patterns going on in that beautiful shawl! When did you start designing, and what spurred that interest?

Jackie: My formal designing for sale began in 1994. I had been getting requests for years to write up some of my designs, but it was finally through prompting from the owner of a local yarn store in New Orleans, Bette Bornside, that I finally made the commitment to proceed.

Loopy: Do you have a favorite pattern that you’ve designed?

Jackie: I designed “Cascading Hearts Faroese Shawl” in 1995 and it is still my premiere signature piece. “Thinking of You” is a modified version for simpler knitting (initially designed in 2006 for Women Heart, to which I contributed sales proceeds in support of friends and family with heart disease).

Loopy: There are pretty hearts in both of those designs. What is your favorite part of designing? And your not so favorite part?

Jackie: Favorite … Seeing people knit the pattern and use it for their own creations. Not so favorite … All the business stuff. It takes up at least 90% of my time vs. what I can devote to designing. Who would have thought that there is more to designing than just to design?

Loopy: I think that’s especially hard for creative people like yourself. It’s much more fun to deal with the design side, and a much better use of your talents! Do you have other jobs outside of pattern designing? Or do you do this business all the time?

Jackie: I took early retirement from my full-time corporate work-a-day world in 2001. I guess you could say, I now do my HeartStrings design business “half-time”. It is not unusual for me to work 12 or more hours in the 24-hour day! That is fine, though, when it is somthing I enjoy. If I ever get to the point of not enjoying, it, I will turn to something else that interests me.

Loopy: That still sounds pretty full time. Are there other hobbies that you enjoy?

Jackie: I love all things yarn and fiber. Knitting is just the one that I focused on for post-retirement from my computer-oriented career. I also enjoy spinning, weaving, dyeing, crocheting, and embroidery. Non-yarn-related: I enjoy cooking, hiking, playing cards, and music. Obviously I can’t get these all in on the same day, or even month. But I keep trying, lol!

Loopy: What would be your favorite way to spend a day off?

Jackie: If it’s in the warmer weather months (when I am in Colorado) – hiking in the Rockies. For the colder weather months (when I am in Louisiana) – going to a music festival.

Loopy: Coke or Pepsi? Coffee or Tea? English or Continental? Solids or Multicolors?

Jackie: I can’t even remember when I last drank a soda, but when I did I definitely preferred Coke.  I’ve lived in New Orleans too long not to be a coffee convert, lol! But I don’t pass up a good cup of tea, either. I am primarily an English knitter (although I do not throw; instead I use the “lever action” method to reduce movement). I do use Continental with 2-color knitting, and also for demonstrations in classes where needed to accommodate students using that method (and to prove to them that what I am teaching does work while holding the yarn in either the right or left hand, which is basically what it comes down to). Solids or multicolors? I love them all. Bring ’em on!

Loopy: We love all types of yarn here, too. 🙂 Anything else you’d like to add?

Jackie: I loved visiting your shop last summer and was really impressed with your lovely, organized presentation of yarns and other delights throughout. You happened to be traveling then, so I hope there will be a next time soon when we will get a chance to meet in person.

Loopy: I hope so, too!

Jackie is offering a 20% discount to our blog readers, on one of her patterns between now and next Friday (2/7 – 2/14). Pop over to her Ravelry pattern page (code LOOPYHEARTS) and pick the one that you’d like to make and tell us what you chose!

Sheri thinkingIwillgetoneofthoseprettycowlpatterns