Meet Joji Locatelli of JOJI & Enter to Win 1 of her Patterns!

We have our three winners!
Emily won Pole

Sarah the Student Knitter won Penelope

Minkeswim won Fourinone
Congratulations & Please email me at sandrasingh@sandrasingh.com

so I can email you your patterns.

Earlier this month I introduced the work of the Argentinean knitwear artist Joji Locatelli of JOJI, its time I properly introduce you to her and announce her blog giveaway. Last month I discovered Joji's patterns on Ravelry, the Malabrigo Junkies group was hosting a KAL for her beautiful Pole cardigan and I immediately fell in love with its simplicity and versatility.

Joji has graciously agreed to be interviewed and to donate her patterns Pole, Penelope and Fourinone as the prizes for three lucky winners of this giveaway, information on how to enter below.

Pole

Sizes To fit chest:
30/32 (34/36-38/40-42/44-46/48-50/52-54/56-58/60) inches
75/80 (85/90-95/100-105/110-115/120-125/130-135/140-145/150) cm
Shown in size 34/36 with no ease.

Pole is knit in Malabrigo Merino Worsted, but my yarn Sandrasingh.com 1 Ply Merino Worsted can easily be subbed.

Penelope

Penelope is a fresh take on the old cabled cardigan we all love…A beautiful, modern cardigan, featuring cables and twisted stitches in the lower part of the body. This pattern is virtually seamless.

Fourinone

Unisex Fourinone is a reversible cowl that can be worn with any of its sides facing out. And if you pull the cord and tie the upper edge, you can wear it as a hat. It’s four accessories in one and looks equally great on a man or woman.

All JOJI patterns are sold as PDFs that are emailed to you after the purchase, no shipping charges. Now let's meet Joji!

Hello Joji, thank you for joining us, please tell us about yourself.

I live in Buenos Aires, capital city of Argentina, in South America. I am 31 years old, married for 7 years now, and mother of two very handsome boys, aged 3 and 4 1/2. I am a retired physician (I only worked 2 years as a doctor, until my sons were born) who decided to give it a go at working with yarn. And I made it! When I was finishing my Medical Studies, I realized I was not happy with my career choice. I know, it took me 6 years to notice it... And then it was too late to drop out! I finished my studies, got my degree and license, got married and started working as a doctor, like everyone does, right? But I felt sick every morning in my way to work. I really didn't like it. It hurt me.

When my first son was born, I quit my job to become a stay at home Mom, which was an amazing experience. Soon came my second son, so I spent almost 3 years at home without working.

Two years ago, our economical and financial situation was getting worse and worse, so we had to make a decision: I had to look for a job. And I convinced myself that I would do anything in my power to NOT work as a doctor again!

I currently work for a local yarn store in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am in charge of a lot of things -from making coffee to managing big overseas accounts. I got this job because of all the things I had learned from reading knitting blogs and forums... The yarn store was looking for new distributors and they found it very useful to have someone like me working there. They spoil me very much and treat me like a princess. What else could I ask for? I also work for them as an independent dyer. So what started as just a few hours at the shop ended up as an almost full-time job. A dream job actually!

How did you get interested in designing knitwear?

I enjoy writing patterns very much, although I rarely find time to do it. I don't think I have a philosophy. I just knit for myself or for my family, and if I think that what I achieve is worth writing up a pattern for, then I do it. I always try to design something that I would actually wear. Something that I would pay for if it was hanging at a store....

I usually think a lot about knitted garments when I am about to fall asleep. I think "I could design something like this, or something like that." The thing is that I have so little time to knit my own samples, that I usually end up forgetting my ideas! I know, I should get myself a notepad! Anyway, I think that what inspires me the most is what I see at the street. What people wear, what shapes are more flattering... I would have never thought a draped front cardigan would look good in any shape. And it does! It does flatter a lot of body types! A lot of people bought and wear that kind of cardigans, and I see them at the street all the time. That surely inspires you to design something like that!

I always say I am an amateur designer with no plans of becoming professional. I have a really good job which I like, so designing is something I do in my free time. I also find it very challenging to write something in a foreign language, so it takes me a lot of time! I just hope I can keep doing it as I did until now! No pressures... I just love to see what people make with my designs... It is a huge feeling of accomplishment!

How have the advances in technology and the internet helped you (or hindered) you as a knitwear designer?

Well, internet is a wonderful, wonderful tool. For a woman like me, living in a country so far away, it would have been impossible to work and design with yarn as I do now, without internet access. It has given me access to a public I never thought I would come across with. The first pattern I self-published for sale in ravelry was Pole, and I had such a great reply! I couldn't believe it! In Argentina, people don't buy patterns. There are a few very bad quality magazines, and people are used to buy those and just knit what they can with them... So I could have never made it as a knitwear designer here!

Joji thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us, it was a pleasure getting to know you and we look forward to seeing more designs from you.

There will be three winners for this Giveaway, the fist name drawn will win Pole the second will win Penelope and the third will win Fourinone, the pattern will be emailed to the winner as a PDF. No purchase is necessary to enter and the winner will be announced on April 23, 2011.

Enter this Giveaway:
The more ways you enter, the more chances you have to win and make sure to leave a comment telling exactly what you did to enter. And please make sure to include your contact information.

1. Leave a comment about your favorite JOJI pattern, under this blogpost.
2. Blog about this Giveaway on your blog and link it, leave a comment under this blogpost with the link back to your blogpost.
3. Join my Ravelry group Sandrasingh.com and introduce yourself in the "Welcome Tell us About Yourself..." thread.
4. Announce this Giveaway in your Ravelry group or in another Ravelry group that allows you to announce Blog Giveaways.
5. Friend me on Facebook: Sandra Singh and say you "Like" my post about this Giveaway.
6. Announce this Giveaway (with the link) on Facebook
7. Follow me on Twitter: Sandrasingh
8. Announce this Giveaway (with the link) on Twitter.
9. Sign up for my Newsletter on my Home Page.
10. Sign up to "Follow my Blog."