I’m very happy to present you an interview with Kaitlyn Yeager, known on Ravelry as FantasyFlyte, today! She’s also taking part in the GAL 2014, check out her patterns here!
I’m totally in love with her Tart Shawlette!
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1.How did you come to knitting / crocheting?
Although I primarily knit now, I came into crocheting first. My grandmother crocheted, and I always loved the blanket she had made me. Several years after her passing, I was wandering around Michael’s with a 50% off coupon looking for something to do on my college spring break. I saw the “I Taught Myself Crochet!” book and decided to try that, remembering the things my grandmother had made.
I tried to learn knitting on and off for a few years, thinking I could use the same kind of book that taught me crochet, but I had trouble catching on. It was actually thanks to Ravelry and someone in the forums mentioning the KnittingHelp.com videos that knitting finally “clicked” for me, and I’ve been enjoying it since.
2. How did you come to designing?
I started designing a few years ago when I was having trouble finding designs that matched what I was picturing in my head for a project. I started off modifying existing patterns for gifts and things I made for myself, which eventually turned into creating my own designs from scratch.
3. What inspires your designs?
My designs tend to start when I either see a stitch pattern I like, or start thinking about a specific type of item I’d like to make (shawl, hat, etc.). Or I’ll get brilliant ideas when I’m either driving or about to fall asleep, and hope I can remember them later.
4. What is your design process?
My designs tend to go through multiple iterations while I’m dreaming them up. I’ll usually start with an idea of the type of object I want to make and a general type of stitch pattern I’d like to use, then develop and mix and match stitches as I go. For example, for the mitts I’m currently designing, I intended to create some fingerless mitts with a beaded lace cuff, but after looking through stitch dictionaries and having trouble finding something that fit what I envisioned, I ended up winging it and came up with a beaded picot cuff instead and a simple lace pattern on the body of the gloves.
I like to design as I knit, because I often change my mind about what will look good, or don’t like the way something is coming out as I’m watching the prototype form. As I was designing the cuff of my current mitts, I ripped back, changed my mind, and tried at least 3 different stitch/bead pattern ideas until I found something I liked.
5. Do you have a favourite fiber?
I mainly like working with wool, but I’m also fond of alpaca and alpaca blends. I like to get as soft as I can while still having good stitch definition.
6. If you could only knit/crochet one type of item, what would it be?
If I could only make one type of item, I’d probably go with neckwarmers. You can get some really interesting construction and stitch patterns with them, and they’re so useful in cold Connecticut winters.
7. Which of your patterns make for really great gift knitting?
I think my Fully Convertible Mitts would make for good gift knitting because they’re a pretty quick knit and they’re multi-functional.
8. Do you have any new patterns coming out during the GAL that you want to talk about?
As I mentioned earlier, I’m currently knitting a prototype for a pair of fingerless mitts that I’m hoping to get into testing by Nov. 20/21, but they probably won’t be able to be released until near the end of the GAL or early January.
Update: The mitts are currently in testing and Kaitlyn’s hoping to release them around Christmas!
Thank you very much for the interview! 🙂