#1 Peppermint Mocha Moma
#2 Lori
#3 Blessedspeedy
Please email sandrasingh@sandrasingh.com
to claim your prizes!
And Thank You to everyone who enter!
The second thing that impresses me is Lisa is always pushing her knitting boundaries and challenging her skills by learning new techniques. Her patterns reflect her love of learning and often feature new and unusual textures and patterns that you'll enjoy knitting, just may teach you something new and you'll love wearing! She specializes in breaking a technique down into it's smaller components and writing step by step tutorials.
And third I'm blown away by how much Lisa loves to knit! I knew this had to be true by her career choice, but over the last few months as we emailed back and forth while she designed the Hooded Scarves and Cowls pattern her love became more evident. She was excited from the moment she received my yarn to designing a piece that included buttons and it was a real celebration when she finished the garments and wrote the pattern. And I found her love infectious and enjoyed every minute of the process too.
Lisa was taught knitting by her mother at a young age. In college, she spent a year studying in Spain and France. There, her Spanish host mother re-taught her to knit but without a pattern. She simply would drape the sweater over Lisa's body like a mannequin to decide where decreases should go. Then in France, Lisa noticed a young Norwegian sitting in back of class knitting daily. This Norwegian never used a pattern and rarely looked down at her work. This is where the idea of knitting without a pattern became embedded. After taking designing classes and upgrading her yarn stash, Lisa became a designer. 6 years later, she became a knitting instructor at a local yarn shop in Gig Harbor and began self-publishing her designs. Lisa now has 2 exclusive publications with Leisure Arts and has graced the pages of 5 other books as a contributing designer as well as 2 knitting magazines. When Lisa isn't drinking tea and knitting, she's either gardening, cooking or teaching these skills to her 2 daughters.
1. Please tell us about yourself and what got you interested in knitting and designing knitwear.
I've knit on and off my entire life but it wasn't until I had maternity leave that I felt the need (and had the time) to knit baby sweaters. I would literally spend hours trying to find the right pattern with the right yarn and right children sizes. That's when I started knitting without a pattern. I had actually learned how to knit without a pattern back in college while studying in Spain but quit knitting once I returned back to the states.
2. What is your design philosophy?
Nothing too trendy, flashy or overly complicated. If I'm going to spend all this time, effort and money on quality yarn, the sweater has got to be in style for at least another 5 years! Besides, I live in the Northwest and we dress very casual, very earthy here.
3. Who or what inspires you the most in your design process?
I think it's the yarn that speaks to me first. Sometimes the design comes first but if I can't find the right yarn and color, the design falls to the wayside. Solid colors inspire me more than variegated yarns. Variegated yarns need no introduction whereas solid yarn needs a great design to catch your eye and to bring the yarn to life.
4. What direction do you see yourself heading in as a designer?
I would really like to get into publishing books down the road. I have two booklets with Leisure Arts (Fun Time Knits and Wardrobe Favorites) which have been very successful and I would like to venture deeper into the publishing world.
5. How have the advances in technology and the internet helped you (or hindered) you as a knitwear designer?
The internet has definitely helped me be more visible to the knitting world. My first 5 years of designing were confined to my local yarn shop. My designs were well received but my audience was 200 knitters at most.
There will be 3 winners for this giveaway, no purchase necessary to enter, and the winners will be announced May 14, 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 Lisa Ellis Designs' 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.
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