An Interview with Anne Hanson

When I first began Shivaya Naturals, one of my desires was to highlight other artistic people who have created businesses that bring their talents to light. To that end, tonight begins our Artists at Work series. To start us off; an interview with Anne Hanson of Knitspot.

I was lucky enough to meet Anne this past October at a retreat in Abiquiu, NM. Anne and I had corresponded for many months, and she was kind enough to knit with our yarns when we first opened. I know scores of knitters who have used her patterns, and everyone seems to agree on a genuine love for her designs. Technically Anne's work is virtually flawless; her ability to create a gorgeous flowing piece is remarkable, and her constant innovation is always inspiring. Recently, Anne was nice enough to sit down and answer a few questions and grant us a glimpse into her design process. Enjoy!


(SN)What inspired you to become a knitwear designer?

(Anne) well, i have always been a person who likes to explore different ways of doing things, so creating with fabric and fiber (or wood, or paint, or paper!) from my own ideas has been part of my life ever since i can remember. i always drew and painted, and learned to knit and sew as a small child. i began creating "unique" items pretty much right away for my dolls. by my teens, i had a good understanding of how most garments were constructed and began designing things that could actually be worn. so it was more of a growth process for me, which i continued through adulthood in a private way for many years. then, about 10 years ago, i started producing patterns to use in my classes as teaching tools, and from there sprang a full-fledged career in knit design.

(SN) Tell us a little bit about the process that you go through when designing your patterns?

(Anne) i take a lot of moments in my day to notice what's happening around me, so i get plenty of visual inspiration from nature, weather, light and shadow, and various textures in my environment. i encourage those visuals to stew in my head, periodically combining and reimagining them in different ways. my conscious inspiration almost always comes from looking at stitch patterns; i am addicted to stitch dictionaries and spend a lot of time leafing through them to absorb the contents and pick up threads that connect to any of the visuals i have stored in my head. often i swatch here and there while pulling the idea together. once i make a strong connection, i look for a yarn, color, or fiber that will make the idea come to life. sometimes this entails collaborating with a dyer to get just the right fiber/color combination; other times the yarn is already in my hands.
sometimes, especially when designing for club projects, the yarn comes first and i search for a stitch and an idea to go with it.

once i have the big decisions out of the way, i go into production, which is a lot more technical. i make a working swatch of the whole composition, draw some charts, and get the sample on the needles. that way i can test and tweak the charts as i go, before i write a pattern for the test knitters. when i feel good about the sample, i write a pattern and send it to some test knitters, and we all look for problems. making a good pattern that is useful for knitters of varying levels is really important to me; almost to the point of being an independent process from the design. we get really picky about how the sections are charted and written, and test knitters of different skill levels contribute input.
after that it goes for proofing, photography, and finalization. i am extremely lucky to work with people in this process who are both good at what they do and who love participating in the process.

(SN) What is your favorite part of the design process?

(Anne) hmm, that's a tough one because i like all of it, and at the same time, any one thing has potential to give me trouble, depending on the project. i do love the initial stages of putting an idea together, though that often takes place over a period of time and is more amorphous. i also really love the problem-solving that goes into engineering a good pattern; meeting the challenges that crop up in the process gives me a feeling of accomplishment. and of course, i love the knitting too!

(SN) Where do you see your designs going in the future?

(Anne) i am desperately trying to carve time in my schedule to produce sweater patterns in addition to everything else. it's a real challenge to find the time to put in to them, without compromising the design of lace projects, but that's where i want to go next (can someone please hurry up and invent that 36-hour day?)

(SN) What is your favorite fiber to work with?

(Anne) i have always loved wool; it's a humble but incredibly flexible material. it's practical and plentiful enough to use without reservation in a variety of ways. i'm really excited by the range of wool blends available now, too; they lend complexity and depth to any fabric. don't get me wrong; i adore luxury fibers, but i obsess over them a little too much because of their specialness.

(SN)Do you have an all-time favorite pattern that you have created?

(Anne) oh, don't ask me that; it's tough! for a long time, hypoteneuse was my all-time favorite for its simple, formal elegance. then i knit pear and trellis and it is now the scarf of my heart (again, so elegant, so roman) . . . . but *please* don't tell the other scarves i said that!

Thanks Anne!

thank YOU heather!


To learn more about Anne, to enjoy her blog, and to purchase her work, please visit her site at Knitspot.