Knitwear Designer Interview - Deborah Tomasello plus GIVEAWAY

Hi Everyone, I am so excited to have the opportunity to interview Deborah Tomasello 

She is a very talented designer and loves colorwork. Since the first time I saw her designs I knew I wanted to get to know her. I asked her some questions and she was so wonderful at answering them all. 

Please comment in order to enter to win a chance to receive one of her patterns free. The giveaway is open for 1 week. Be sure to leave your Ravelry Username in your comment. 

1. How did you start knitting?

My grandmother, who lived with us, taught me when I was very young---about five yrs. Old. I would knit small bandages for leper colonies…just knit, back and forth, row after row. It was fun. Gramma and I would sit and chat and knit away the hours, year after year. I equate knitting with Gramma, still.

2. What is your inspiration for your designs?

Wow…it can come from anywhere and anything. It can come from an art piece, colors in nature, even food or smells. I don’t look for things to design. The ideas just pop in, and I am compelled to chart them. It’s all about color for me. Sometimes, I wake in the middle of the night and I have to get an idea down while I am thinking of it. If someone says to design this or that, I can’t do it. It’s more a heuristic process. Ideas flow or they don’t.

3. What is your design process like?

It starts, generally, with vague color itches that need scratching, if that makes sense. I might dream of clouds of turquoise (which I have done) that stay with me, and I sit down with my aquas and wait for the form to take shape. Sometimes the result will not be Turquoise at all. In this case, the turquoise clouds became Brilliant Twilight. Again, when I force it, it seldom works. 

4. Who are your favorite designers?

Alice Starmore, for sure. She started  the whole colorwork thing for me. When I saw her Mardi Gras sweater, I was blown away. Knew I had to learn how to do stranded knitting. It was a life-changing moment. Kaffe Fassett is also brilliant. I am also intrigued by Prudence Mapstone and her freeform designs. 

5. What is your favorite thing to knit?

Wow. That’s like asking what’s my favorite food. It changes from time to time. I get on these jags. Sometimes it’s socks , sometimes mitts. Right now I am loving designing shawls and my wowl cowls.

  

6. What is your favorite brand of needles and yarn and why?

I really don’t have a favorite brand. I guess I would say anything that’s inexpensive with a sharp point, for needles. Yarn? I love so many! But I am partial to anything (Merino) with a hard twist, fingering weight,Hardtwist yarns yield great stitch definition. And a wide color range. I love that indie dyers are doing neons. Yay for neons!

7. If someone asked you how to be a designer what advice would you give?

First and foremost, do what you WANT to do. I don’t think someone can become an artist, for example. It’s either who you are, or it isn’t. Love it, and it will happen. If you don’t love it, and if it isn’t who you are, you will probably get frustrated. If you want to see what you have in you…start with your thoughts and graph paper and sketch some ideas.

8. Do you have a current WIPs?

OK. I just really LOL’d. Do I have “a” current WIP? Off the top of my head, I can name 23. I have projects going all over the house. If I get a design idea, I have to abandon one project and get moving on the fresh idea. I have had a great baby sweater on the needles, waiting to be published, for a year and a half! Life is good!!!

9. What do you enjoy most about designing?

I am so very lucky to be able to get up each morning and indulge my desire to design and knit. I “work,” if you can call it that, about 10-12 hours every day. It’s like zen for me. Pure bliss. I like the whole process, from the thrill of getting an idea, to choosing the colors and the yarns, to see it take shape on the needles. And then, to present the pattern. I am thrilled when I see others knit my designs. I am always fascinated with their color choices. And I am amazed at how merely changing up the colors can change the whole design. I am just so very lucky.

10. How has knitting changed your life?

Knitting has always been a part of my life. Now, in mid-life, it has become my life. I have never been happier than I am now. I sometimes look over my shoulder, waiting for the shoe to drop (pardon the mixed metaphor). I just feel so fortunate to live here, and now, and to be able to be so thoroughly immersed in the world of knitting. I have a large group on Ravelry---Colorworks By Debi, and we have monthly kals with designs I come up with just for them. We have a lively group of great, like-minded women from all over the world. Where would we be without Ravelry, by the way?! 

I get to teach knitting and colorwork. I love, love, love teaching. And, because of knitting and designing, I have also been able to indulge in another of my passions, which is writing. I have published several eBooks and recently released my first book, Wrapped in Color: Stranded Knitting in the 21^st Century.

 

 I also have to thank technology. I have been able to post YouTubes. My husband, Andrew, has been so supportive. He does the videos for me, and he is my Swift. He loves to untangle yarn knots. Isn’t that great? I really want for nothing.

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT TO WIN A FREE PATTERN. GIVEAWAY WILL BE OPEN UNTIL NOVEMBER 8th.