Designer Wendy D. Johnson is a multitalented sock-knitting guru, the author of Wendy Knits Lace, Socks from the Toe Up, Toe Up Socks for Every Body and Wendy Knits.
She designed the amazing Maple Leaves Gradient Cowl for our Fall Collection, which graced the cover!
1) How did you choose the kind of project you designed?
Lately I have been all about colorwork cowls. Being a woman of “a certain age” a stranded colorwork sweater is just too warm for me to even consider wearing, but I love knitting stranded colorwork. Cowls are the perfect solution, because they are incredibly handy and versatile in the winter. I like them better than a scarf for outdoor wear because they stay put better, and they are easily popped on indoors if the room is a little chilly.
2) What was the biggest challenge of designing this project?
My biggest challenge was charting the large leaf motif so that it actually looked like a maple leaf!
3) What was your favorite part of the process?
I love, love, love knitting colorwork with a gradient and a semi-solid because it makes the finished piece look far more complex than it really is. Watching the pattern emerge as I knit is always my favorite part of knitting colorwork, and it is why I can knit it so quickly: I’m so eager to see the design come to life that I knit faster!
4) Your favorite thing about the finished piece?
I love how perfectly suited the yarn is to the design. The finished cowl has an almost velvet look to it because of the depth of color in the yarn.
Here’s a snippet of one of the charts that reveals my dark secret: I chart all my colorwork designs using an Excel spreadsheet and a dingbat font! I never sketch with pencil and paper first, I always start with a blank spreadsheet!
–Wendy D. Johnson
Links:
Wendy’s website Wendy Knits
Maple Leaves Gradient Cowl pattern on Ravelry.
Maple Leaves Gradient Cowl Kit on the Knitcircus website.