CiD Hanscom at Open Knitting

I try to make it to open knitting at Double Ewe on Friday afternoons whenever I can. Last Friday I was sooo glad that I was able to go – Kelly e-mailed me to tell me that CiD Hanscom, the designer of Felted Rudy and many other cool patterns was bringing her trunk show and would stay and knit with us for a while. Squeee! Having knit Felted Rudy I was so impressed with her pattern writing skills and I was glad that I’d be able to meet her and talk to her. (You have to understand that I’m really shy about meeting new people so this is a measure of how much I wanted to meet her.) I did have a few worries that she’d be all stuck up – you know – being a famous designer and all, but she was gracious and funny and nice of course! She brought in samples of all her fabulous cleverly designed critters and she also has some accessories and bags too. I asked her about the design process and she told me she’s only been knitting for four years and she just wings it. She did design crochet patterns before she started knitting and she said that helps. Apparently crochet people don’t buy patterns like knitting people do. So now we knitters get the benefit of her skills! She has a background in graphic design and obviously has great ability to think in 3-D. She also said that her patterns are written just the way that you would knit the pattern and not necessarily like someone who has been knitting (and following patterns) would do it. After all she’s only been knitting for four years. Her advice about using her patterns is to just trust the pattern and keep going, it will work out. I found that out myself when knitting Rudy. There were a couple of places that didn’t seem intuitive to me but I just blindly followed and it all worked in the end.

CiD also did an impromptu demo of how to wear a scarf. She was wearing a scarf that she designed and showed us several ways to wear it. Of course now I want to make a long scarf for me. I’m thinking that I could wear it around the house and look glamorous and all (while wearing my sweats) and also keep the heat lower during the winter. Ha! How’s that for justification of knitting! As if I need any excuses to knit (and do all the other crafts that I do).

I love Cid's patterns. I've made two of them so far - the Change your Socks Purse and Felted Rudy. I'm going to make the mouse next (Thora Lee). Cid told me about a gal that made Thora Lee, named him Luke and went on a trip around the world. She has a blog that tells of Luke's adventures. I'm not going to take my mouse (whatever I name it) on a trip around the world but I'll sure enjoy making it! And then I want to make the wristers pattern and the snowman and......