Your Yarn Story: Rosee Woodland
We're really excited to be hosting the multi-craftual and multi-talented Rosee Woodland in the shop for a few workshops and I thought it would be great to have her share her Yarn Story with us.
Rosee is a knitting designer and writer but she also sews, crochets, makes and works as a technical editor and stylist too. Read on to learn more about Rosee's passion and inspiration.
Q: What is currently on your needles?
A: Some rainbow socks for commuting knitting, a new cable mitten design, a design in Socks Yeah yarn that I really must finish, and, most importantly, the swatches for my new book.
Q: When did you start knitting/crocheting? Who taught you?
A: My nana taught me to knit when I was about seven and my mum taught me to sew around the same time. There are textile people going back generations in my family; my great grandfather was a tailor, his wife was seamstress to Lady Winston Churchill (!) and my aunt had a small fashion label before she retired, so it’s in the blood! Having said that, although I’ve always sewed, knitting didn’t really ‘take’ until I was in my late 20s, but from then on I was addicted. I taught myself to crochet a while later from Debbie Stoller’s Happy Hooker book.
Q: What do you enjoy most about knitting? What keeps you coming back to the craft?
A: I love how versatile knitting can be. I’m a big fan of strong colour, which you don’t find much of in high street shops, so I enjoy how freeing it is to make my own clothes in whatever hue I choose. I’m tall with long arms, so I also appreciate being able to adapt patterns to fit me perfectly. I usually have to add 10cm to ‘normal’ length sleeves!
Q: Do you have a favourite thing to knit?
A: Socks were my first knitting passion and you can get such great yarns for them these days (hello La Bien Aimee!) but yoked sweaters are my absolute favourite. I have designed a few (more coming soon...) and it’s so satisfying working out how to adjust the yoke patterning as the stitch count decreases. You can make them super colourful too and I just find them really fun to design.
Q: You're a multi-craftual person and also crochet and sew too. Do you have a favourite craft? How do you balance your time between all your interests and makes?
A: I don’t really have a favourite craft. Knitting is probably what I’m most skilled at, and I love its portability, but please don’t make me choose! I am also pretty obsessed with quilting, but I’ve decided to keep that for myself, rather than doing anything professional with it. To be honest, I’m not great at balancing my crafts as I have so many unfinished projects. If I didn’t have to work I’d quite happily just make things all day long!
Q: You're also a knitting designer and are teaching our Design Your Own Jumper class. Where do you get inspiration from?
A: I take a lot of inspiration from the natural world - my use of colour is bold, but it usually comes from something natural to start with. I am a keen wild swimmer and freediver so I get to see beautiful marine animals up close and they really inspire me.The wildlife, plants and flowers on my allotment give me lots of ideas too. I’m also really interested in the history of textile crafts and have a lot of books about traditional knitting that help me with starting points for designs.
Q: If you could only knit with one yarn for the next year, what would it be? In other words, what is your current yarn crush?
A: I’m probably most smitten by traditional style ‘workshorse’ yarns, like Jamieson and Smith Jumper Weight or Frangipani Gansey yarn. At the other end of the scale, I also adore the speckled yarns that are so on trend and have bought quite a few hanks of La Bien Aimee from A Yarn Story - the colours are absolutely incredible. But if I have to choose, I would go with Cascade 220 - a worsted weight pure wool that comes in a zillion colours. It’s an incredibly versatile yarn - I’ve used it on 3mm and 6.5mm needles and everything in between to great effect. The shade range is the widest I’ve found and really frees me up to be completely creative and express my love of colour.
Q: How has knitting affected your life? Or, what role does knitting play in your life?
A: Well, without knitting I’d probably still be a news journalist, which is how I began my career. I worked on a big local daily paper and it was a very fast-paced, high pressure environment with six editions to get out every day. After years on the paper I ended up as deputy news editor. It was a job I loved, but it was an absolute grind, so I started knitting again to bring some calm to the rare free moments I had during a long newsdesk shift. My editor was totally bemused, but knitting reawakened my love of all crafts, and I eventually side-stepped into magazines, editing The Knitter and Knit Today, before going freelance a couple of years ago. I don’t miss the newsroom at all and love my work these days, as a writer, designer, technical editor and tutor. It gives me creative freedom and I don’t have all that crazy stress any more!
Rosee will be teaching Design Your Own Jumper over two days this April and a Learn to Knit Socks class this February. Update: The socks class is now sold out but we'll be scheduling it again so send us an email and we'll put you on the list to be notified when it's running again.
- Carmen