Tips for Knitting Garments from a Professional Knitwear Designer | Podcast Episode #51

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“Effortless Design. Modern Style.”

This is the goal of Olive Knits Wonder Woman, Marie. Garment making doesn’t have to be an intimidating thing My goal for this episode is to empower you with the confidence to try your first garment and equip you with the know-how to be successful. Understanding Marie’s focus on effortless design can allow you to see that although a pattern may look complex, it might in fact, be easy to do.

Special Guest

I’m joined by, Marie Greene, entrepreneur and accomplished knitwear designer from Olive Knits and recent TED talk speaker. She shares some amazing tips with you today!

Episode Transcript

Brittany:
Hey there friends, welcome back to episode number 51 of the BHooked Podcast! We’re back into our regular rhythm here with another guest show, and we’re talking about garment making still here in the month of February on the BHooked Podcast.

Now I have recruited somebody who I have admired for a very, very long time, and that’s because the caliber of work that she creates just blows my mind. As a crochet designer and a knit designer, I know a lot of what goes into creating a pattern and making it easy for somebody to follow. And it is not easy by any stretch of the imagination to do what she’s doing. And she was so generous to come on the show and share some of her tips with us today.

Now before we get into my chat with Marie, I want to take a moment to thank our sponsor, Yarnspirations, once again for sponsoring this podcast. Yarnspirations is your online destination for the yarns you love. Go ahead and chant them with me. You know what they are: Peyton’s, Bernat, Caron, and Lily Sugar’n Cream.

Well, as a listener of the B Hooked Podcast, you’re able to get a special offer of 20% off your order of $40 or more at Yarnspirations.com. They’ve extended that offer to us once again. So what you’re going to do is head over to Yarnspirations.com, put all of the Yarny goodness in your cart, and before you hit checkout, enter the coupon code B.HOOKED — that’s the letter B, period, H-O-O-K-E-D.

So today I’m joined by Marie Green of Olive Knits, and if you haven’t checked out her Instagram page, you should definitely give that a try. Her handle is @OliveKnits, and you’ll see what I mean when you take a look at her beautiful creations. I know she’s excited about this chat, and she’s excited to share some of her tips with you. So Marie, welcome to the B Hooked Podcast.

Marie: 2:31
Thank you so much for having me, Brittany. I’m really excited to be here.

Brittany: 2:33
Oh, you’re so welcome. Well, first of all, I’m so grateful to have you here. I’ve been admiring your work for so long now, and honestly, it’s times like this where I really wish that this were a video podcast so that I can actually show the listeners what you make and not just tell them how beautiful the pieces are.

I know you’re a huge wealth of knowledge and I can’t wait to tap into that a little bit. But before we do, can you tell me how your journey began and what drew you to being a knitwear—

Marie: 3:05
Yeah, I feel like it was a really natural progression for me because my grandmother taught me to knit when I was about 10 or 11 years old. And so it was kind of something I did my whole life.

I started knitting at a point in time — this is going to make me sound 100, and I swear I’m not — but we didn’t have the internet. And so I didn’t know that there were other knitters in the world or that there were really cool patterns out there. I only had these pamphlets and books from the 1940s, and the styles were obviously not what I wanted to wear when I was a young person.

So I kind of always modified and made up my own things because I never saw patterns that reflected what I wanted to knit. It was kind of normal for me to make things up over the years.

It wasn’t until about four or five years ago, I was working in a yarn shop and wearing sweaters that I had designed for myself. And customers kept asking me, “Well, where can I get that pattern?” I was like, well, I guess I can write it down. So I sort of dove in and gave myself this crash course in design.

I wrongly thought, “Oh, I’ve been knitting my whole life, so I can totally do this. I could be a great designer. It’ll be easy, right?” It’ll be so easy because, of course, I know how to knit. But it’s so different to design something in one size for yourself that you never have to follow instructions for — you just make it. That’s different from writing something that’s coherent, that other people can follow, and sizing it correctly. So it was, you know, there was a little bit of a learning curve there, but that’s really how I got started.

Brittany: 4:51
That’s such a cool story. Isn’t it crazy how much the internet has changed — not just our little industry here, but like, the whole world?

I mean, you said that you didn’t know that there were other people who were knitting, and you kind of just improvised with the resources that you had. I’m sure you loved the craft and wanted to keep going, so it’s really cool that you took that initiative to just dive into something face first almost, to keep doing what you wanted to do.

Marie: 5:22
Well, and I was really scared that I was going to be the last knitter in the world — which is ridiculous now. But I really didn’t know anyone else my age who knit at that point in time. I was living in the Midwest — Kansas — that’s where I grew up. And I didn’t… there weren’t yarn shops or like… I just had no idea.

I had to go buy my yarn at True Value Hardware, which is ridiculous, but they had this — just Bernat or, you know, something like Red Heart — in these pastel colors, like four colors. And that was it. But that was where I had access to yarn. I mean, I was a little kid and it was fine.

But yeah, the internet has made such a huge difference. When I first, you know, when Ravelry came on the scene, I was like, “This is amazing. There’s tons of us. This is so great.”

Brittany: 6:07
Yeah. So I’m curious then, how did you learn about—well, you said your grandma taught you. Was that kind of like your first and only experience with it?

Marie: 6:18
It really is. She taught me just enough to get me going. And then from there on, I just read books and I experimented.

And actually, I kind of love that I did it that way because now when I teach classes, I have these techniques that I made up — that I didn’t know were really unusual until I started being more involved in the knitting industry. So I feel like it kind of was a good experience for me because it taught me to be sort of resourceful and think creatively and try different things that maybe—excuse me—that I maybe wouldn’t have come up with had I learned all the how-to’s in the way that, you know, maybe is the more traditional style.

So pardon me. But anyway, so yeah, I pretty much was mostly self-taught after that. I remember calling my grandmother on the phone because I didn’t understand the directions for making a cable stitch. And it was just—I was making it too hard. So I had to call her and say, “Can you explain this to me?” So she explained it to me over the phone and I was like, “Oh, all right. I’ve got it.” So yeah, it was… and then since then, now, I mean, you can look up anything you want to learn. So anytime I want to learn a new thing, I just dig in.

Brittany: 7:34
Yeah, that’s so true — how you said that you feel like it sort of molded you as a knitter, because you didn’t learn all the how-to’s first. I think when you just kind of dive into something like that, you learn at a different level almost. It’s like you learn through your own mistakes — like why or why something doesn’t work.

And for me, I can totally relate to that. That is 100% my learning style.

Marie: 8:02
Yeah, I think it’s great because you’re so much braver when someone’s not telling you you’re doing it wrong and that’s not how you’re supposed to do it. And I didn’t grow up with that mindset because my grandmother, when she taught me, she holds her working yarn in her right hand. And that didn’t feel comfortable to me.

So I just said, “I want to hold it in my left hand,” which incidentally also makes crochet easier for me — because that’s where you need it if you’re going to crochet. And she was totally supportive of me doing it my own way as long as the stitches came out right. That was all that mattered.

And I feel like that freedom allowed me to be more brave and try new things. Just realizing that there’s no harm in giving it a shot. And if it doesn’t work, just keep trying until you figure it out. I think it can be really limiting if you only know this set of rules and you feel like you have to abide by them and you can’t waver — then what if you get it wrong? I think that can be intimidating sometimes.

Brittany: 9:01
I remember the first time somebody told me—through YouTube, honestly, it was like one of the first videos I ever created—and I was still really new around that time. Somebody in the comments section said that I was doing something wrong. And it was at that point that I realized — is there really a right or wrong way?

And I kind of formed this almost… I don’t want to say stubborn opinion, but I guess I kind of will — that I really don’t think there is a right or wrong way. I mean, in terms of little details like that, like holding yarn a certain way or holding the hook a certain way or your knitting needles — whatever it is — I think whatever is comfortable for you is… that’s the right way.

Marie: 9:44
Absolutely. I just wrote a blog post about that yesterday, in fact, because it comes up so often. And I absolutely think there’s freedom in realizing that there’s a difference between wrong and different.

So much of it is just doing something differently. I’ve had people look at the way I knit — which is kind of an unusual style — and say, “What are you doing? That’s not right.” But my gauge is great, my stitches are beautiful — like everything comes out great. I feel like it’s sort of like handwriting: you’re taught a certain way, but then you sort of modify it — everyone’s is different.

And I think it’s the same with how we hold our hooks and our needles and our yarn. And if the results are good, then hey — how you—

Brittany: 10:26
Get there is fine. So yeah, I want to get that link from you too. I want to let people have the opportunity to read that because it’s going to be applicable to so many people. I know it. So I’m going to get the name of that blog post and I’ll link to it in the show notes for people.

Great. So I’m curious — your tagline is Effortless Design, Modern Style — and I’m really, really interested in that “effortless” part. But can you tell me a little bit about how this evolved for Olive Knits?

I know coming up with a tagline — it was one of the harder things that I’ve ever done. It’s really difficult to pinpoint exactly what you do — like capture what you do in just a few words. It is. How did this evolve for you?

Marie: 11:12
You know, that’s a great question. And actually, you’re right. The tagline’s really hard. And I started with—I don’t even remember my early taglines—but it sort of morphed over the years.

And you know, effortless is… You know, it’s interesting, because I feel like if something is designed really well, then it is going to appear to be effortless by the time it reaches its intended audience.

So for me, my goal is to write patterns in such a way that they are so clear, so easy to follow, so explanatory — that if there’s something unusual I’m asking them to do, I show them how. Or I provide a video link. Or I walk them through it.

And the end result is something they just had a really great time making because it seems simple. My goal as a designer — by the time it becomes a pattern and it gets in the hands of someone who wants to make it — I want it to feel easy to them. I want them to be able to create something that is really fun to make. And then in the end, it’s really easy to wear.

So that effortless word really is about creating something that’s just a good experience from start to finish. It’s really kind of a smooth process. And then in the end, you have something that you can just really easily wear with the things you already have in your closet — that it’s really versatile.

And the idea of modern — so I kind of have this twofold approach. One is that the effortless is really about the process and about the wearing. The modern part is… you know, maybe it’s a little different than what someone might think.

But I think there’s a difference between trendy and modern. Trends come and go. And we put so much time and energy and expense and love into our projects that we don’t want it to be out of style in a year or two — where people look at it and go, “Oh, that’s so the style that was two years ago.”

Instead, I want something that’s really clean and sort of minimalist so that it can kind of transcend time. And I kind of have this love affair with minimalism. So a lot of what I do is probably on the less… I don’t know, like on the side of just having fewer colors, not quite as many bits and bobbles and things — because I just, I kind of like that cleaner look.

But I have found that because I do that, I have to be so strategic about everything I put in a pattern. Because the simpler it looks, the more strategic every single little component has to be to make it perfect.

And so it’s kind of crazy, because I think my goal is for it to look effortless — but definitely on my end of things, it takes a lot of work to make it look easy, if that makes sense.

Brittany: 14:14
Yeah, it totally does. I mean, what you said there is really counterintuitive, though. It seems like, or one would think, that the simpler something is, the simpler it looks, right? then the easier it should be for that person to make.

Marie: 14:30
So in some cases, yes. Certainly, if I have a sweater that’s all stuck in it, it’s not necessarily that that’s hard. It shouldn’t be hard to make. But the idea is when I’m talking about things being challenging, it’s more getting every little detail just right so that it just looks completely easy. But it has just these little details these little, I don’t know, features that make it just right without being too much or too little.

So some of it’s not so much about the complexity of the pattern itself, but the actual thought that goes into the shape and the thought that goes into where those little features go. Some of those, it’s weird, but some of my simplest patterns gave me the most headaches to design. And I don’t know why that is. It does not make any sense, but yeah.

But ideally, I want to create something that once it gets to the user, it does feel really simple and really fun to make. And it’s not a stressful experience. Hopefully, that’s my goal.

Brittany: 15:35
Yeah, no, that’s definitely a good goal to have in mind. That’s the last thing anybody wants to experience. I mean, a lot of us are doing this because it’s a hobby. It’s something that we do as part of our healing process sometimes. And the last thing we need is that causing us more stress.

Marie: 15:54
Absolutely. You know, ideally, you know, it’s funny because I think when we knit and we crochet, we can become very goal oriented and want to finish something or we want something to turn out just right. And when it doesn’t, and we have to—you know, maybe pull it out. We use this term in knitting called frogging. Is that a crochet term as well?

It is. It is. I’ve heard tinking for knitting too. We do. Tinking is right. It’s sort of stitch, taking something out stitch by stitch where frogging is you just literally pull the needles out and just grab the yarn and go, you know, just pull it out. And so, um, they say frogging because you rip it, rip it.

But I think that what’s funny is we do have to remember, we do this because we love it. We love to crochet. We love to knit. So of course, if we have to back up or we have to start over, it doesn’t have to be discouraging because, you know, ideally we do love the process. I mean, sure. We want to get to that result, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have to work more stitches because it’s—you know, that’s what we like to do, right?

Brittany: 17:02
Yeah, definitely. I agree 100%. There have been so many times where I have had to just completely frog either a huge section or the entire project. I mean, it happens to all of us. So I totally understand.

Marie: 17:17
Yeah. It’s a part of fiber life.

Brittany: 17:21
It is. So you’ve designed quite a few patterns. I was looking through all of them on your website, and there are so many of them that I’m going to geek out for a minute because I can’t physically show people how wonderful they are. But the pieces that you make are things that I would buy in a store.

It’s not like you’re… It’s not like your traditional knitting. I mean, there are lots of patterns, lots of free patterns that you’ll find on the internet. And I feel like when somebody goes that route, they’re trying to—or I’m not saying trying as in always, but usually people like quick projects, quick wins, something that’s not going to take too many months to create.

And so you’ll see a lot of garments that are with like a worsted or a heavier weight yarn. And those are great. Don’t get me wrong. I love those. But I love the practicality of a sweater that uses much thinner yarn. Yes. And I noticed that was a trend for pretty much all of your patterns.

Marie: 18:38
Right.

Brittany: 18:38
So not only do they look great, but I’m sure they have a really great drape too. And that is going to, I think, make that person want to wear it that much more.

Marie: 18:48
It is. And I love that you brought that up because I always forget that that’s not really how all the patterns are in the world because I mostly am knitting my own things all the time.

And I started with… I have sort of thin fingers and I’ve always loved the feeling of the small needles and the small hooks in my hands. I just, I prefer that. And I love the—I feel like I can actually knit faster. This is ridiculous probably, but I feel like I can knit faster when it’s small needles and small yarn. Like I can make each stitch more quickly.

Brittany: 19:22
I can totally relate. I have to interrupt for a second because that is so true. I finished a project where I was working on—my brain works in metrics—so I was using a four millimeter needle and I’m like knitting up this baby sweater and just flying along.

And then I think my next project I was using like a six and a half millimeter, sort of like on the verge of a bulky weight yarn, knitting a scarf. And it took me so much longer to work basically the same stitches with the bigger needles.

Marie: 19:56
And it was harder on my hands. I know, it’s so hard. Exactly. I think that’s it. I feel like it does not feel as good in my hands and then my hands get tired faster or it’s just like more labor to make each stitch because you’re fiddling with this bigger yarn and—yeah, it’s funny. I’m glad I’m not the only person that does that though because I thought I’m probably really weird.

But I feel like it goes faster and I love the drape. And I think to be honest, I think a fingering weight or lightweight sport weight—in terms of, you know, if for people who are, you know, looking at yarn in terms of numbers, like a one or two—those weights are really easy to wear. They’re really easy to layer over other things.

And you’ll find, or at least I’ve found, I guess I can’t speak for everyone else, but I find that those are the ones I can wear the most often. So my fingering weight pieces get so much more wear. I live in the Pacific Northwest and it really doesn’t get super cold here. So, I mean, not very often.

So those lighter pieces, I can just wear them year round and I don’t feel like it’s too bulky. And, you know, even—you know, I design for sizes 32 up to 52 bust size—and everybody’s body feels bigger. Yeah, I get reports back, you know, that they’re just like, this feels so good on my body to have this lightweight sweater. It’s just not too much.

And so I think we—you know, you have to sort of bite the bullet, though, because it is daunting if you’ve only ever used the heavier weights and the larger needles or hooks. It can feel heavy. Like these are the smallest stitches in the world and they’ll never end. I know.

Brittany: 21:36
Yes. Especially when you’re knitting up those like back panels and you’re like, okay, I’ve been doing this for like four hours now and it’s only like an inch bigger. Exactly. Yeah. Very slow growth. Definitely. But definitely worth it.

And I think it’s important to note too that it’s easy for us to always feel like a sweater—a knit sweater or a crocheted sweater, I mean, whatever it be—needs to be like big and cozy and warm. But that is so far from the truth. I mean, there are a lot of patterns that you have available that are tops or like short sleeved. And you can knit and wear those probably more often than you could like a big cozy sweater.

Marie: 22:20
Yeah, absolutely. And then because I want the variety, I really do try and create projects that anybody could knit no matter where they live. So I have knitters in Florida that are really grateful that I have short sleeve little tees that are lightweight because it’s something they could actually wear.

And I love that you said—I meant to comment on this—that they almost seem like something you’d buy at a store. And that is 100% my approach. I want to knit things that are not just fun to make, but that I would actually buy. That, like, I could see myself buying that from a store to wear it.

And I think one of the things that’s a challenge when we’re fiber artists is that we can sometimes get so caught up in the, like, the fun of, oh, those stitches look really fun. Oh, this color looks really fun. And so we’ll get really wrapped up in that and we’ll dive into a project only to get to the end and realize, wait, I’m never going to wear this. This is ridiculous.

And I’ve had my share of those projects where I knit this super cabley, bobbly sweater one time years ago from someone else’s pattern. And I loved making it. But then when I was finished, I did not want to wear it. It was not my style at all.

So I really adopted this mindset of I want to choose designs that I would buy off the shelf, but then also make them fun to knit, if that makes sense.

Brittany: 23:45
Yeah, it totally does. What you’re doing is really cool.

Marie: 35:06
I don’t even remember my early taglines, but it sort of morphed over the years. And, you know, Effortless is a—you know, it’s interesting because I feel like if something is designed really well, then it is going to appear to be effortless by the time it reaches its intended audience.

So for me, my goal is to write patterns in such a way that they are so clear, so easy to follow, so explanatory that if there’s something unusual that I’m asking them to do, that I show them how or I provide a video link or I, you know, walk them through it.

And that the end result is something that they just had a really great time making because it seems simple by the time it gets—like, my goal is, as a designer, by the time it becomes a pattern and it gets in the hands of someone who wants to make it, I want it to feel easy to them. I want them to be able to create something that is really fun to make. And then in the end, it’s really easy to wear.

So that effortless word really is about creating something that’s just a good experience from start to finish. And it’s really kind of a smooth process. And then in the end, you have something that you can just really easily wear with the things you already have in your closet, that it’s really versatile.

And the idea of modern—so I kind of have this twofold approach. One is that the effortless is really about the process and about the wearing. The modern part is, you know, maybe it’s a little different than what someone might think. But I think there’s a difference between trendy and modern.

And I think trends come and go. And we put so much time and energy and expense and love into our projects that we don’t want it to be out of style in a year or two, where people look at it and go, oh, that’s so the style that was two years ago.

Instead, I want something that’s really clean and sort of minimalist so that it can kind of transcend time. And I kind of have this love affair with minimalism. So a lot of what I do is probably on the less—I don’t know—like on the side of just having fewer colors, not quite as many bits and bobbles and things, because I just—I kind of like that cleaner look.

But I have found that because I do that, I have to be so strategic about everything I put in a pattern because the simpler it looks, the more strategic every single little component has to be to make it perfect.

And so it’s kind of crazy because I think my goal is for it to look effortless, but definitely on my end of things, it takes a lot of work to make it look easy, if that makes sense.

Brittany: 38:10
Yeah, it totally does. I mean, what you said there is really counterintuitive, though. It seems like, or one would think, that the simpler something is, the simpler it looks, right? Then the easier it should be for that person to make.

Marie: 38:25
So it’s in some cases, yes. I, you know, certainly I, if I have a sweater that’s all stockinette, it’s not necessarily that that’s hard. It shouldn’t be hard to make, but the idea is when I’m talking about things being challenging, it’s more getting every little detail just right so that it just looks completely easy, but it has just these little, these little details. I don’t know, features that make it just right without being too much or too little.

So some of it’s not so much about the complexity of the pattern itself, but the actual thought that goes into the shape and the thought that goes into where those little features go. Some of those, it’s weird, but some of my simplest patterns gave me the most headaches to design. And I don’t know why that is. It does not make any sense, but yeah.

But ideally, I want to create something that once it gets to the user, it does feel really simple and really fun to make. And it’s not a stressful experience. Hopefully, that’s my goal.

Brittany: 39:30
Yeah, no, that’s definitely a good goal to have in mind. That’s the last thing anybody wants to experience. I mean, a lot of us are doing this because it’s a hobby. It’s something that we do as part of our healing process sometimes. And the last thing we need is that causing us more stress.

Marie: 39:50
Absolutely. You know, ideally, you know, it’s funny because I think when we knit and we crochet, we can become very goal oriented and want to finish something or we want something to turn out just right. And when it doesn’t, and we have to, you know, maybe pull it out. We use this term in knitting called frogging. Is that a crochet term as well?

It is. It is. I’ve heard tinking for knitting too. We do. Tinking is right. It’s sort of taking something out stitch by stitch where frogging is you just literally pull the needles out and just grab the yarn and go, you know, just pull it out and sew.

They say frogging because you rip it, rip it. So, but I, I think that what’s funny is we do have to remember we do this because we love it. We love to crochet. We love to knit. So of course, if we have to back up or we have to start over, it doesn’t have to be discouraging because, you know, ideally we do love the process.

I mean, sure. We want to get to that result, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have to work more stitches because it’s… You know, that’s what we like to do, right?

Brittany: 40:57
Yeah, definitely. I agree 100%. There have been so many times where I have had to just completely frog either a huge section or the entire project. I mean, it happens to all of us. So I totally understand.

It is. So you’ve designed quite a few patterns. I was looking through all of them on your website, and there are so many of them that I’m going to geek out for a minute because I can’t physically show people how wonderful they are. But the pieces that you make are things that I would buy in a store.

It’s not like you’re– It’s not like your traditional knitting. I mean, there are lots of patterns, lots of free patterns that you’ll find on the internet. And I feel like when somebody goes that route, they’re trying to, or I’m not saying trying as in always, but usually people like quick projects, quick wins, something that’s not going to take…

Yes. Right. So not only do they look great, but I’m sure they have a really great drape too. And that is going to, I think, make that person want to wear it that much more.

Marie: 42:44
It is. And I love that you brought that up because I always forget that that’s not really how all the patterns are in the world because I mostly am knitting my own things all the time.

And I started with… I have sort of thin fingers and I’ve always loved the feeling of the small needles and the small hooks in my hands. I just, I prefer that. And I love the… I feel like I can actually knit faster. This is ridiculous probably, but I feel like I can knit faster when it’s small needles and small yarn. Like I can make each stitch more quickly.

Brittany: 43:17
I can totally relate. I have to interrupt for a second because that is so true. I finished a project where I was working on, my brain works in metrics. So I was using a four millimeter needle and I’m like knitting up this baby sweater and just flying along.

And then I think my next project I was using like a six and a half millimeter, sort of like on the verge of a bulky weight yarn, knitting a scarf. And it took me so much longer to work basically the same stitches with the bigger needles. And it was harder on my hands. I know, it’s so hard.

Marie: 43:53
Exactly! I think that’s it. I feel like it does not feel as good in my hands and then my hands get tired faster or it’s just like more labor to make each stitch because you’re fiddling with this bigger yarn and… Yeah, it’s funny.

I’m glad I’m not the only person that does that though because I thought I’m probably really weird. But I feel like it goes faster and I love the drape.

And I think to be honest, I think a fingering weight or lightweight sport weight — in terms of, you know, if for people who are, you know, looking at yarn in terms of numbers, like a one or two — those weights are really easy to wear. They’re really easy to layer over other things.

And you’ll find, or at least I’ve found — I guess I can’t speak for everyone else — but I find that those are the ones I can wear the most often. So my fingering weight pieces get so much more wear.

I live in the Pacific Northwest and it really doesn’t get super cold here. So, I mean, not very often. So those lighter pieces, I can just wear them year round and I don’t feel like it’s too bulky.

And, you know, even, you know, I designed for sizes 32 up to 52 bust size and everybody’s body feels like… Yeah, I get reports back, you know, that they’re just like, this feels so good on my body to have this lightweight sweater. It’s just not too much.

And so I think we, you know, you have to sort of bite the bullet, though, because it is daunting if you’ve only ever used the heavier weights and the larger needles or hooks. It can feel heavy. Like these are the smallest stitches in the world and they’ll never end. I know.

Brittany: 45:31
Yes. Especially when you’re knitting up those like back panels and you’re like, okay, I’ve been doing this for like four hours now and it’s only like an inch bigger.

Exactly. Yeah. Very slow growth. Definitely. But definitely worth it.

And I think it’s important to note too that it’s easy for us to always feel like a sweater, a knit sweater or a crocheted sweater, I mean, whatever it be, needs to be like big and cozy and warm. But that is so far from the truth.

I mean, there are a lot of patterns that you have available that are tops or like short sleeved. And you can knit and wear those probably more often than you could like a big cozy sweater.

Marie: 46:15
Yeah, absolutely. And then because I want the variety, I really do try and create projects that anybody could knit no matter where they live.

So I have knitters in Florida that are really grateful that I have short sleeve little tees that are lightweight because it’s something they could actually wear.

And I love that you said, I meant to comment on this, that they almost seem like something you’d buy at a store. And that is 100% my approach. I wanna knit things that are not just fun to make, but that I would actually buy — that I could see myself buying that from a store to wear it.

And I think one of the things that’s a challenge when we’re fiber artists is that we can sometimes get so caught up in the fun of, “Oh, those stitches look really fun,” “Oh, this color looks really fun,” and so we’ll get really wrapped up in that and we’ll dive into a project — only to get to the end and realize, wait, I’m never going to wear this. This is ridiculous.

And I’ve had my share of those projects where I knit this super cabley, bobbly sweater one time years ago from someone else’s pattern. And I loved making it. But then when I was finished, I did not want to wear it. It was not my style at all.

So I really adopted this mindset of I want to choose designs that I would buy off the shelf, but then also make them fun to knit, if that makes sense.

Brittany: 47:40
Yeah, it totally does. What you’re doing is really cool. It’s a breath of fresh air because there just aren’t a lot of people out there with that kind of frame of mind.

I mean, if I had been going through just seeing your photos at random and not knowing where they were coming from, I really would think that they were from a store, like a catalog in a store, and I would buy them.

Oh, thank you so much. So I do want to touch a little bit more on yarn too. One of the biggest questions I get is about substitutions.

I know it’s one of the most difficult questions for a designer to answer because in a perfect world, they would go with the yarn that the pattern was intended for because it’s been completely tested and everything with that yarn.

But there are cases where people can’t make those substitutions. Are there some things that people need to keep in mind if they don’t have access to the yarn that’s in the pattern? Absolutely. What are some things that you would recommend?

Marie: 48:48
That’s such a great question. Oh, my gosh. I get that question a lot as well.

And one of the things that I do to try and sort of prepare for that with every design is I let my test knitters use any yarn that they want. As long as they’re getting gauge, they can substitute with anything that they have access to, and then that provides a better range of experience for future people to knit the pattern because they can see how it came out in these other yarns.

So that’s the first thing I do because I do know that not every knitter or crocheter can use the yarn required in the pattern.

Second, I think, you know, here’s my rule of thumb. I think it’s really important to stay as close as you can, not just to the weight of the yarn. I think that’s where we go wrong because people focus on the weight of the yarn and then they leave it there and they just go with that.

They’re like, the pattern says worsted. I’m going to get worsted. I would take it a step further, and I would recommend that they stay within the same fiber family and the same washability.

So if the pattern calls for a superwash merino, when you’re looking — let’s say worsted weight — when you’re looking for a substitution, look for something superwash. If you can find something that has an animal fiber that’s a merino or wool blend, go with something like that versus trying to substitute with maybe a silk blend or a bamboo blend or alpaca because the fibers all behave so differently.

And I have seen some garments that knit in the yarn I knitted in — I tend to like these kind of crunchy, earthy wools that I know aren’t everybody’s thing because they’re not like the super soft ones — but they just hold the stitches so beautifully.

So I’ll write the pattern for that. And then someone will substitute this really slick, gorgeous hand-dyed superwash yarn, but theirs will grow like six inches longer than mine.

And so sometimes I think people are surprised when the results are different.

And so I would just offer, you know, do the best you can to kind of steer with the same type of yarn and the same type of fiber content, not just the weight.

And then, you know, if you do have to modify — some people have allergies and they can’t use certain fibers or just because of their location can’t access them — you know, just be prepared that maybe things will be a little bit… You know, that it could affect things.

It might change how much yarn you use. Sometimes switching out with a different yarn can affect the row gauge and the yarn consumption. Sometimes it makes it grow more or not grow as much.

So I don’t think that it’s impossible. And I mean, I substitute all the time and I encourage people to be brave with that. But I think just having a strategy behind it is really smart.

And I recommend making a little swatch of the yarn you want to use. And I don’t know if that’s something that is really common in… crochet as well. Do you make swatches and gauge squares and things in crochet?

Brittany: 52:04
I always encourage people to gauge with crochet. I would say we’re not as diligent about it as knitters because it’s not quite… I don’t want to say it’s not quite as important because it really is and I do preach that all the time, but I feel like it’s easier to make up for some of the mistakes in crochet than in knitting.

It’s so much easier to rip out crochet stitches than it is knitting stitches. So I find even myself, I have the tendency to be a little bit dangerous and skip that step, but I do always advocate that people do it.

Marie: 52:44
Right. I would say with knitting, it’s probably a little bit more necessary, especially with garments.

I will be the first to admit if I’m knitting a hat or a scarf and I’m not writing a pattern, I won’t check my gauge because I know about what my gauge is. I’ve been knitting forever.

So I, you know, I’m comfortable with what results I’m going to get. And if I get way off, I know it’s on me.

But when I knit a sweater and when, you know, especially for anybody who’s, you know, even the pros, I really just feel like everybody who wants to knit a sweater that fits them well should do this gauge swatch.

And I, like you said, I don’t know if it’s as important to… When you’re crocheting a piece, especially probably if you’re crocheting in a garment that’s in pieces and you’re going to stitch them together and you’re working to a certain number of centimeters or inches, then you probably have a little more leeway there.

But I really recommend it. And I recommend that people block their swatch, which is soaking it in some sort of mild cool water with a little bit of wool wash or even just by itself and then pressing that water out and pinning it down and letting it dry so you can sort of see how it behaves.

And that can also sort of help you predict if something’s going to really grow or if the colors are going to bleed or things like that.

Brittany: 54:07
Yeah. Well, another interesting thing too, especially for people who are newer to knitting, with crochet, you make your foundation chain and it doesn’t grow. That is your width right there. And so you can just take that and run with it. But with knitting, you can sit there and cast on a certain number of stitches. And when you stretch it out over your needles, you might say, okay, it’s going to be about this wide if you’re not gauge swatching. But then after you knit a few rows, it grows even more. It’s like this really weird knitting math that happens there that your cast on is never going to be just that length. It always grows a little bit.

Marie: 54:50
It always does.

Brittany: 54:50
The other really interesting point I wanted to highlight that you said, because I don’t think anybody has ever covered it or talked about it here on the show, is when somebody makes that transition from a more grabby kind of yarn, like those rougher wools, to a really slick superwash, that it grows in length. That’s, I’m really glad that you said that because that’s not an outcome that a lot of people would expect unless they have learned the hard way that those yarns hold onto the stitches differently.

Marie: 55:27
Yes, they absolutely do. And when, when yarn becomes superwash, like part of that process of making it superwash is removing and stripping those hairs. And so it doesn’t have as much to hold onto. So growth and length is a really common, um, experience when knitting with superwash. And I like to say the eyelet giveth and the cable taketh away. So the more eyelets and, you know, lace and holes that are in it, the more it will grow. And the more cables it has, that kind of helps it hold its shape a little bit. So those are some little, you know, features that can help one way or the other or make it even worse. But Yeah, it really does make a difference.

Brittany: 56:11
That’s funny. I definitely learned the hard way how the cable taketh away on a pair of circular knitting needles.

Marie: 56:19
Yes, absolutely.

Brittany: 56:21
So we know that you’ve designed tons of patterns. We know that you make it effortless for the people who are following them, but by no means of the imagination is it easy for you. But I’m thinking that over time you’ve probably come up with– a rhythm to your designing process. Are you able to share just any of that with us?

Marie: 56:44
Absolutely. I, I think, um, so I will start by telling you that I am, I don’t consider myself artistic. I think I’m creative, but I am not one of those designers that sits down and sketches or watercolors this beautiful thing and then makes it. Unfortunately, I do not have that skill.

So I, the way that I design is really, I don’t know if this is how anyone else does it, but I, it starts usually with, um, I’ll, I’ll be out and about somewhere and I’ll see a building or a window or a bridge or a texture pattern on the, you know, the ground at the train station, or, you know, I’ll be traveling and I’ll see someone wearing something and I’ll just, I’ll get this little like germ of an idea. And yeah, I’ll start sort of roughly drawing out really crudely, like nothing anyone would ever want to see sort of like some kind of idea of where I would put that on a garment.

And then I go from there to the yarn. And in some cases I work with companies and I have the yarn already that they want me to use. And then it’s a matter of dancing with that yarn until we figure out something that works for both of us, that the yarn likes and that meets, you know, my design style.

But other times, you know, if I’m, if I’m able to have the freedom to just pick something off my, you know, yarn shelves and go with that, I will start swatching and I’ll knit up a little section of what I envision that, that overall fabric of the over four inches in over the stitches and the rows so I can get those numbers. And then once I have the numbers I will go to spreadsheets. I go to Excel and I’m a numbers person. I think that’s probably what makes me a major nerd because instead of being this like super, you know, artistic person who designs for the art of it, I love the spreadsheets. I love the numbers. And I design everything in numbers.

So it’s all spreadsheets before it’s ever anything. And then I knit it straight from the spreadsheet. And I make notes for myself as I go. And when I get usually, you know, about halfway, that’s when I know if it’s solid, if I like where it’s at, and then I’ll usually start writing out the pattern and then touching base with my test knitters to figure out who might be interested in working on it.

Because it’s, for me, I’m really prolific and so I put out a lot of work. So everything is always, the wheels are always turning. So I always have things in various stages of progress and different things being test knit and edited. And so I kind of have this quick, relatively quick turnaround process.

But yeah, so, and a lot of times, honestly, I sometimes surprise myself. I’ll be knitting along and realize the sweater wants to be something a little different than I first thought, or I want to try something a little different in one area. So sometimes at the end, it’s not necessarily exactly what I thought I was going to do when I started, but I just kind of like to, to go with the flow and, and see.

But the numbers are always the same. So when I figure out the numbers, that’s how I decide what the fit is going to be like, if it’s going to be a loose fit or, you know, a little bit more fitted or if it’s, you know, cardigan or pullover, obviously I get all that sorted out. But it’s, yeah, it’s probably like the least glamorous thing ever, but it’s spreadsheets. It’s me and a computer and spreadsheets. And that’s where a lot of that time goes.

And once I get the first sample finished and obviously before it goes to test knitters, I grade the pattern for all the sizes. So I do all the math to make sure that it fits nicely for all the other sizes that I’m going to have in the pattern. And then I write it out. And I really, over the years, have really tried to perfect my pattern writing process so that it’s just really user-friendly. So I get that all written out and then people start testing it so that they can make sure there’s nothing that I overlooked or that, you know, everything makes sense and that everything works on paper the way that I intended it to.

So that’s a pretty good, I guess, snapshot of what that process looks like. It can be time-wise… The knitting itself, I’m a pretty fast knitter. So one of my sweaters called Stillwater, I knit that in four days. And I did this sort of Instagram challenge thing with it where I was showing everybody my work because I was on a deadline. And so I just thought, let’s see if I can do this. So most sweaters don’t happen in four days, to be honest. But usually it’s anywhere from 50 to 80 hours of knitting time, give or take.

And so the knitting, I feel like is one of the more time intensive parts of the process. Sometimes I have to hire sample knitters just because I’m just running too close on deadlines and I have to, you know, I knit part of it myself, figure out that it works and then I give the pattern to someone else and have them finish it for me. I try not to do that very often because I do want the control over changing as I go if I decide I want to do something different. But sometimes it’s just not an option. So I don’t know. Does that answer your question?

Brittany: 1:02:17
Yeah. It totally does. And I was going to ask about the timeframe too. And you definitely, you kind of read my mind on that one.

The other thing that I noticed that I know probably piqued people’s interest is that you said that, well, it’s not glamorous. It almost never is. And I think that’s the case for all of us. We always look at ourselves and our situation or our current state of creativity, and it feels super messy. But to the outside, it looks like we have it all together.

Would you have any tips for somebody who is trying to juggle a lot? I know that’s one question I hear over and over is how do you do so many projects? How do you fit it all in together? And honestly, my answer to that is my job is my life. I love it. So I do it all the time. And I know not everybody can do that. I’m curious to see how it looks like for you, though.

Marie: 1:03:20
You know, I’m going to disappoint your listeners because I’m exactly like you. I don’t know if I have anything different to offer, but I’m like you. I love what I do. My work is my life. I work constantly. I do this full time and I have for the last couple of years.

And between the knitting and the writing of the patterns and the blogging and the newsletters and, you know, all the things. And then I travel and I teach. So, um, it is really busy. I’m not going to lie. I feel like I’m just constantly going, but I’m a really high energy person. I seem like someone who’s always had too much caffeine, even though, like, even if I haven’t had coffee, I’m just, you know, I’ve… Ideas are always churning and I’m always excited for the next thing.

And I think that’s certainly one of the benefits to doing what you love is every day you’re excited to wake up and tackle it. But I wake up really early. So that’s one thing. I am like a ridiculously early person, like 3:30 or 4. I’m up and I’m working. And I don’t mean to, though. I don’t set an alarm. It’s just that’s when my brain wakes me up.

And I’m, you know, I’m maybe a little bit of a hermit because if I’m on deadlines, I just, I hunker down and I just plow through. And I think it really helps too that I can knit on the go. So, um, that’s one of sort of my own requirements for my patterns is it needs to be something I can knit while I’m out and about. So that really helps because I can kind of be working all the time thanks to the portability of our art.

But I think for, you know, for people who, I would say most people aren’t able to do it full time and this isn’t their whole life. And so in that case, you know, be gentle with yourselves. You know, if you’re feeling like I can’t get it all done or it’s taking me six months to knit this sweater, you know, that’s okay. There have been sweaters that took me six months because my life was different at that point in time and I didn’t have time to knit all the time.

So, it’s definitely a challenge to fit it all in. I’m not going to lie, but I just hustle. That’s, that’s my method.

Brittany: 1:12:15
Now, that’s a great tip. Do you have any resources available on this, like anywhere on your website where people can learn a little bit more?

Marie: 1:12:21
You know, I have—I don’t think I’ve posted anything about, um, the actual like body sizing, but I do have some posts about, you know, choosing the right size when you’re about ready to make a pattern and figuring out how much ease you want, like when you’re knitting an existing pattern.

So I can leave you with those links because it’s really informative for anyone who’s about to embark on making a sweater—or knitting one. And then it certainly could give you a little bit of foundation if you do want to eventually branch into design. You know, starting out that way so that you really understand first how to knit someone else’s pattern and get the right results. That’s a good starting point, you know, before you get into, you know, creating your own.

Brittany: 1:13:12
Yeah, I would love that. I’ll get those links from you and put them in the show notes so people can check that out, too. It’s been so much fun. I feel like we’ve really just scratched the surface on this topic. And I feel like you have so much more knowledge to give.

So maybe we’re going to have to arrange to have you come back and talk some more because I do want to give you a chance to talk about your TED Talk that’s coming up—that is super exciting. And I want you to share some of your information so people can connect with you and see what you have going on and tap into those resources. So first, let’s talk about the TED Talk.

Marie: 1:13:52
That was just about a month ago. And… you know, definitely one of my bucket list items. This year is turning out to be so amazing because I’m crossing off a couple of my biggest goals ever, and that was one of them.

I was really fortunate because I got to give a talk about makers. The title of my talk is Think Like a Maker, and it’s not available yet online. It will be, but they go through this whole editing of the entire event before the footage is uploaded.

Essentially, you know, my point was that I think makers have sort of a different mindset. We tend to do things a little differently than the general population in terms of collaboration. We have this real sense of community and the way that we are so willing and generous with teaching the things that we know to others.

I mean, sure, there are proprietary secrets in the industry, but I feel like we have an unusually charitable group of people within the community that really assist each other and help each other and share information so that we can all be successful.

And so I kind of talk about the general mentality of makers and how that mindset could really benefit people from any walk of life—even if they’re not makers—because I feel like we tend to be very resourceful and have this desire for lifelong learning, and, um, you know, kind of picking ourselves up and continuing to go on.

So yeah, I’m really looking forward to sharing it when it comes out. But it was a total thrill. I mean, terrifying also. Yeah. I can’t—I can’t tell you—but, um, but yeah, thank you for asking. It was really neat.

Brittany: 1:15:51
Yeah. That’s so cool. So I know you probably don’t have the details yet of when that comes out. Will you post it somewhere, like on your Instagram or on your website? So that way if people do—I mean, that sounds like a great talk. It’s something I definitely am going to listen to when it’s available. So you will let us know, right?

Marie: 1:16:26
Absolutely. I will let you know. I can’t wait to see it myself.

Brittany: 1:16:26
Okay, awesome. Well, tell us about those outlets for people to connect with you. I know you’re big on Instagram, so I definitely want you to share your handle there. But is there any other place that you would direct people to?

Marie: 1:16:26
Yeah. So yeah, Instagram, I’m just @OliveKnits, all one word. And my website is oliveknits.com. And that is a great resource—not just for my patterns—but I write a lot of tutorials and blog posts with information. I feel like teaching is a really strong second component to my work.

And so I provide a lot of free content that’s just really helpful and educational. And so there’s a lot of that there.

I’m also on Ravelry. For those of you that use Ravelry, my name is Marie Green, and it’s on there all smushed together—Green with an E on the end. Usually, if you look through the designers, you can find me that way. But my Ravelry shop is called Olive Knits. They don’t make it easy to find you, but the link is in my Instagram links as well, so you can find it from there.

And yeah, so I mean, those are some great places to start to find me. And I definitely make my rounds. I travel around the country and even outside of the country sometimes to teach. So, you know, sometimes I get to meet people in person, which is really cool, too.

Brittany: 1:17:37
Yeah, yeah, that’s neat. And I noticed that you have those outlined on your website, too. So people who are in the area where you might be holding a class—it sounds like it would definitely be something worth going to, if not to learn, just to hang out with you in person.

Marie: 1:17:54
Yeah.

Brittany: 1:17:54
Thank you. Yeah, have people check out the website. And the other thing I wanted to mention too—it sounds like a lot of the resources, that free content you were mentioning—is both relatable for knitters and crocheters, too.

A lot of the concepts you talk about aren’t just knitting. So I want to let the crocheters in the audience know that I’m sure there’s something for you there too.

Marie: 1:18:19
Absolutely, yes. I really try and keep a mindset that it’s for fiber artists in general. I mean, obviously knitting is the thing I know, but I try and make sure a lot of it is relevant to everybody in the fiber industry.

Brittany: 1:18:33
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Marie. It’s been such a pleasure.

Marie: 1:18:38
Thank you. I really appreciate you having me. This has just been so much fun.

Brittany: 1:18:41
Once again, I will link to some of those resources we talked about in the show. Check out those blog posts that she talked about—they’re a wealth of information, whether you knit or crochet. I think you’ll find them useful, and I will link to them in the show notes page.

Once again, that address is bhookedcrochet.com/session051. And if you have a minute and you like to use Instagram, go check out Marie’s page at @OliveKnits. She has a beautiful page of inspiration. And even if you don’t like to knit necessarily, it’s still really nice to look at some of the things that she creates.

Also, I don’t know if you’re as excited as I am about listening to this TED Talk, but Marie told me she would keep me updated as to when that’s going to be published. That’s another reason to follow her on her Instagram page—she’ll make an announcement there.

I will also update the show notes once I know the link to that TED Talk. So if it’s not available right now on the show notes page as you’re listening to this episode, maybe check back in the very near future and I’ll have that link there as well because I think we can all benefit from this topic. It sounds like it’s going to be a really great discussion.

Thank you so much for tuning in once again to the BHooked podcast. I really appreciate you and your time. I know you could be spending your time doing other things, but you’ve decided to reserve a little bit of your week just for me, and I’m so grateful that you decided to do that.

Once again, I’d like to thank Yarnspirations for sponsoring this podcast. Whether you knit or crochet, Yarnspirations.com is the online destination for your inspiration, free patterns—they have tons of them, guys. If you need free patterns, you definitely want to check out their database.

And of course, to buy the yarn you love, like Patons, Bernat, Caron, and Lily Sugar’n Cream.

Well, in case you missed it at the beginning of today’s episode… You guys, listeners of the Be Hooked podcast, can get 20% off your order of $40 or more when you order at Yarnspirations.com and use the coupon code B.HOOKED.

Thank you so much for tuning in. Once again, I will see you next week with another great episode. I’ll see you then, guys. Bye-bye.