Design = Inspiration + Desire

There are two questions I am often asked by knitters and enthusiasts:

1. Where do you get your inspiration?

2. What is your design process?

This month on the blog we will reveal our pattern design and development process, speak to other knitting pattern designers about their relationship with design, and provide some tips and tricks for knitters who want to branch out into design!

INSPIRATION IS OMNIPRESENT

The question “Where do you get your inspiration” is total bollocks.

Inspiration is all around us, omnipresent.  In the architecture of the nearby church, in the waves of the ocean, in the retro shirt I discovered at a thrift shop, in the precise green of my husband’s eyes. In the autumn colours on my morning run, or the bright contrasts of neon lights.  I could go on, well… probably forever.  I find inspiration just by looking around and observing the beauty in my world (and I’m sure you do too… although you may not recognize it as such).  It is simply always there, and everywhere!

The difference between designers and people who say “I’m not creative” is that designers recognize the beauty in the world around them as inspiration for things they want to make.  It’s not such a great leap… let’s look at the process.

INSPIRATION + DESIRE = DESIGN

For me, inspiration translates to design through the vehicle of desire.  It could be the desire to own a beautiful handmade object, or the desire to make something exquisite and unique for a loved one, or simply the the desire to challenge yourself creatively, or answer a ‘what if’ question.

EXAMPLE ::: wave lace > estuary > low tide

Let me tell you a story about a few of my favourite designs.

I love my Mom, and I wanted to make something really special for her 60th birthday (this is the DESIRE part of the equation).

wave lace stitch pattern

Where did I begin?  My INSPIRATIONS: my mother has the most beautiful blue eyes, and looks great in blue that brings them out.  She is an avid sailor, and loves the ocean, and we have spent some of our best times together out on the water and walking along the beach.  So I wanted to use the colour blue and design a lace stitch pattern inspired by the ocean.

Many hours of swatching later, I had developed an organic and original lace stitch pattern, which (with the help of my fav lace yarn, SweetGeorgia Cashsilk Lace), became a beautiful lace scarf.

ESTUARY shawl

There was a simplicity to the wave lace scarf, but I decided I wanted to re-use the lace stitch pattern in a larger scale, more complex piece.  Starting with the structure and logic of the little lace pattern, I created a larger-scale, more detailed lace stitch pattern, and combined the two stitch patterns to make the Estuary Shawl (free pattern, perfect for challenging your lace skills).

Low Tide Cardigan

While creating these two knits, I noticed that the wave lace pattern had a strong bias to it; and I held it up to my body, and imagined how, as a bodice, it would make a really great v-neck neckline.  And so I asked myself “what if this were the bodice of a swoopy, lacy, lightweight cardigan?”.

We were working on Pacific Knits at the time, and I was feeling nostalgic for the beautiful beaches and ocean scenes of my childhood home on Vancouver Island.  These inspirations and a desire to challenge myself lead to the design of the Low Tide cardigan; which I knit in a silvery grey reminiscent of the graphic wave patterns left in the sand at low tide.

What does the design process LOOK like?

Once you have your INSPIRATION plus your DESIRE, you can generate a BIG IDEA.  When the big idea strikes (often in the shower, or just as you are drifting off to sleep), you must capture it by getting it down on a bit of paper… a sticky note, an index card, a napkin… it doesn’t matter, but don’t let it get away!

BIG IDEA in place, the development of the design is all about details!  Picking a yarn (if you haven’t already), making swatches, determining the details that will support the ‘big idea’, the technical process of writing the pattern, calculating stitch counts for an extensive set of sizes (this is called ‘grading’ the pattern), testing the pattern, and getting it professionally edited and photographed!

Stay tuned for our upcoming post about the nitty gritty specifics of the pattern development process – we’ll be giving you a behind-the-scenes peek at what our job really entails.

What inspires YOU?  What would YOU like to create?

Everyone, even those who deny their creativity, have the capacity to find beauty and inspiration in the world.  What do you find beautiful?  If you felt like you have the skills and ability, what would you like to create?

A few of Emily’s favourite Tin Can Knits designs :::