Guest Author - Kate Pullen

Annie Modesitt is a Knitting and Crochet designer, with designs published in a variety of magazines and publications. Annie has also been behind the "Crochet Pattern a Day" calendar. Annie works in both Knitting and Crochet - however in this interview we are focusing on Crochet. The interview is split over two pages - click at the bottom to go to the second page.

Kate Pullen: “Annie Modesitt approaches crochet with a whimsical exuberance that pushes the medium” Interweave Crochet 2005. Annie, what a quote! How would you say you approach crochet?

Annie Modesitt: Yes, I had to pay Interweave a pretty penny to get that nice quote. Just kidding. I would say that I work hard on approaching ALL of my design projects with a fresh mind. Of course I draw on lessons I’ve learned about yarn weights, hook sizes and the best way to create a dense or flimsy fabric - but when approaching each project I ask myself, “What is the problem here that needs to be solved...?” and then I set my mind to solving it. This helps me find a new and interesting way to approach the elements in a new design.

KP: You have been behind the Crochet Pattern a Day calendars. This must have been a huge challenge to gather all of this together. Have there been any highs or lows from doing this – do you get feedback from your contributors? What are the successes?

AM: The Crochet Calendars were a wonderful experience - and an exhausting one! I was asked to step into the 2006 calendar just a few months before it went to press, and I threw myself into it - finding wonderful patterns from so many new designers!

At that time there was a controversy brewing over why anyone would “give away” their designs, that it was senseless to design an item without being paid. My response was that the “pay” for placing a piece in the calendar - aside from the free calendar each contributor received - was a chance to bring traffic to a designer or yarn shop website, a chance to develop pieces for a professional portfolio, and the opportunity to create a relationship with a yarn company.

It’s been very gratifying to see that many of the designers who contributed to the calendar - designers who had very little or nothing published before then - have gone on to create nascent design careers in the past 2 years.

The 2007 calendar deadlines came at a time I’d been diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pullmonary Disease - a breathing condition usually affecting smokers, although I’ve never smoked a day in my life. For several months sitting, walking - doing anything besides just worrying about breathing was very difficult, and other folks were brought in to help me edit the calendar.

Unfortunately, there were a number of discrepancies between editing styles, and although most of the patterns are fine, in a group of 200 patterns there are enough with small mistakes to make some folks very annoyed (and I can entirely understand it!)

I realized it was just too big of a job for me, and it’s been taken over by Desiree Scales who will do an exceptional job on the 2008 calendar!

KP: Many of your crochet designs have appeared in top publications, how does it feel when you see one of your projects come to fruition?

AM: It feels pretty much the same as watching your 7 year old in a play at school. You love it, you see all of the beauty - but you also see the mistakes (the shirt not tucked in, the hair uncombed) and know that others are seeing that, too.

No design is ever perfect, and folks have a tendency to either praise or damn a design in very strong terms. The truth is, some of my more controversial designs have been my best loved, and some of the designs which some folks just adore are also pilloried mercilessly on a few websites.

I just try to make sure my designs have brushed their teeth and combed their hair before they head off to school, and hope that when I see them later in the school play - the magazine or book - others are able to see the beauty and fun in them, too.

KP: How do you approach your designing? Do you come up with the idea and then decide whether knit or crochet will work best – or do you start with the medium and start formulating a design?

AM: Yes.

I design all kinds of different ways. Sometimes I have a yarn I’m dying to use, so I play with it until something comes to mind. Sometimes I have a silhouette I really MUST get out of my system, and I struggle with a few different yarns until I find the one to create the fabric I’m looking for. Sometimes I don’t know WHAT I’m looking for - I just play with shapes until something comes to me. I’m reaching the point where I don’t really need to design something unless I have something to say, and that’s a good place to be in. I just need to make sure that what I have to say isn’t idle chatter - or that if it is, it’s at least amusing! Continued - click HERE for next page