Today we have another post in our Designer Spotlight series. Bristol Ivy is a knitting designer and fiber artist from
Portland, Maine. Her work focuses on the intersection between classic tailoring and innovative technique, and includes publications with Brooklyn Tweed, Quince & Co., Twist Collective, Knitty, Interweave Knits, Knitscene, and knit.wear. You can follow her adventures at her blog, on Ravelry, Twitter, and Instagram, and in her Ravelry group, Bristol Ivy Designs.
KP: How long have you been knitting, and how did you get started designing?
BI: I've been knitting since I was six, so around 22 years. I wasn't into fiber arts until I was about 16, despite the fact that I grew up with it; my mom was a quilter, knitter, and threadwork whiz all through my childhood. But just before I headed off to college, it felt like a little switch flipped, and the obsession became full-blown!
I started designing about five years ago. I've always been someone who likes trying their hand at the creative side of their obsessions, if that makes sense: if I read, I wrote; if I danced, I choreographed; if I knit, I designed. I sent in my first submission in 2010 while I was traveling around New Zealand, working on sheep and fiber farms, and published my first pattern a few months after I got back home. It's been a whirlwind since then!
KP: You work within the knitting industry for your day job and design
on the side. Do you ever get sick of talking about knitting, fiber, and yarn?
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| Kit Camisole by Bristol Ivy from Quince & Co. |
BI: Haha, never! Knitting and the knitting industry satisfy so many different parts of my brain; creative, analytical, logical, social. I don't think I'll ever be sick of it--though sometimes I do like not having to think about what I'm knitting so I can just zone out in the evenings!
KP: When you're not knitting (or sleeping) what do you like to do?
BI: I love cooking and baking, and the impromptu kitchen dance parties that go along with it. I also love other fiber arts--spinning, weaving, dyeing, felting--and am working on my sewing skills. I also go running when I can, which is a great way to shake loose any stuck ideas!
KP: Of all your designs, which is your favorite?
Oh, that's a hard one! There are a couple that just came together better than I could have ever envisioned--the perfect combination of yarn, styling, and photography doing more for my original idea than I thought possible! The Kit Camisole with Quince & Co., in their fingering weight linen Sparrow, is one of these, and Winnowing in Wool People 2, in Brooklyn Tweed's Loft, is another. It's always a good day when you see the pattern proofs and the photos for the first time and you get shivers of excitement!
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| Winnowing by Bristol Ivy from Wool People 2 |
KP: Do you have any knitting horror stories or mishaps?
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| Bristol's workspace
Giveaway Winner
Congratulations to Rachel Laughlin, you're our lucky winner! You've won a Karbonz Interchangeable Starter Set!
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