This month, I’m interviewing Barbara Benson of Barbara Benson Designs. I found her work while seeking out good patterns to go with my recent Twelve Days of Christmas gradient mini set, and I just kept coming back to her patterns again and again. Her website can be found at www.tumpedduck.com, and she has a youtube channel called Watch Barbara Knit.

My questions and comments will be in black, and Barbara’s responses will be in purple. Barbara, how did you first learn to knit?

When I first joined Ravelry it was as a crocheter at a fairly beginner level and I honestly had never considered learning how to knit. But then I saw all of the amazing things that other Ravelers were knitting, and I just couldn’t resist. A good friend taught me the basics and everything else I just sort of learned on the fly from the internet.

What led you from there to designing your own patterns?

The question “What if?”. I would start to knit a pattern and then wonder what would happen if I did X thing. So I would stop working on whatever I was knitting and make a swatch to experiment with the idea that I had. I also started checking out stitch dictionaries from my local library and they were gateways into a whole world of possibilities. My brain just started to fill up with questions and the only way to answer them was on the needle because that is how I learn.

Where did the name Tumped Duck come from?

Initially my business was going to be focused on crafting and selling things on etsy with my mother. I wanted to come up with a name that I could easily get all of the usernames and urls, etc. for any new websites or social media outlets. I did a lot of reading of articles on how to come up with a business name and one article I read suggested to use a word that people associate with you.

I have long been made fun of for my use of the word “tump(ed)” because it is a colloquialism that is apparently not particularly common except for in the region I grew up. My mother didn’t like the idea of just using the word tumped and insisted that it needed something with it. We eventually settled on duck because both words have the same vowel sound and the two words together just sounded funny! Also, it lent itself to a logo.

We spent a couple years living on a lake in Michigan, and there were swans on the lake. Until then, I always thought of swans as these beautiful, elegant creatures, but the swans were “tumped” more often than not, and it always made me laugh.

That is precisely the perfect context for the word. One can also tump over the salt shaker reaching to pass something at the dinner table LOL.

You mentioned on your website that you have been interested in photography your whole life. How has that played into your work as a designer?

It has been very helpful because the photographs of my designs are pretty much the only way a knitter has to evaluate whether or not they want to make the pattern. There has been a fairly steep learning curve though. Until I started trying to photograph my knitting, my primary focus in photography was more artistic and less representational. I love playing with macro photography and forced depth of field. Learning to work with a model and to make sure that I show all of the details that a knitter might want to see is a very different thing than what I am naturally inclined to do.

Which comes first? The yarn or the pattern? Do you find some yarn and come up with the perfect pattern to go with it, or do you have a pattern idea in mind and go in search of yarn that would complement it?

Most of the time the yarn comes first. I have what I call “conversations” with yarn through swatching. I knit some texture, some lace, some cables … all kinds of stuff to get to know what the yarn likes. Once I have a feel for what it wants I can move forward from there. Another frequent starting point for me is a stitch in a stitch dictionary, but I rarely knit it precisely as shown. I start out with good intentions but then I tweak a little something here and change a little something there, and wouldn’t this look awesome if I added some colorwork? In the end I have a swatch about 25 stitches wide and 2 feet long with a progression of ideas.

How neat! I tend to take a similar approach to weaving. What’s your favorite weight of yarn?

You know it is easier to say what I don’t like, which is lace-weight. I have tried and tried but I just don’t get along with it. I knit a lot of fingering because knitters love fingering-weight shawls (so do I) but I would say I like the sport/DK range better than fingering. Recently I have been all about bulky yarns and their near-instant gratification. I know it’s a dodge, but I cannot pick a favorite. Each has its application, and I love them all (except lace-weight).

I completely understand your answer. Honestly, I too love the near-instant gratification of heavier weights. As a yarn dyer, I wish there was more of a market for them right now. Maybe you will create the market!

Now, I just watched your video on different fiber types and their qualities of memory, drape, and strength. I thought you did a tremendous job of explaining them. That said, what’s your favorite fiber to work with for different types of projects?

Thank you! I might spend too much time thinking about these kinds of things LOL. If I am knitting a shawl, I love to have silk in it. Silk just has amazing drape and blocks beautifully, but 100% silk can be tough on the hands so I prefer it blended with something with a little bounce to give that squoosh factor. For anything that is going to be worn close to the body, like a cowl or a fingerless mitt, I like yarns with alpaca up to and including 100% alpaca. It is just so very soft. But the fuzz factor in alpaca can get in the way when I am doing detailed colorwork, so that is where the wool comes in, but that has as much to do with the structure of the yarn as the fiber content. I guess my answer is similar to the yarn-weight question. I love all the fibers because they each bring something cool to the table in the right application.

What was your favorite youtube video to do, and what was the one that got the most feedback?

These are going to be two different answers! Easiest answer first. The video that has received the most feedback is my How to Knit an Easy Crescent Shaped Shawl video.

It is far and away my most viewed video. At the end of last summer I had the idea that it would be fun to make a tiny shawl to show people the basics of crescent shaping – because I assume that everyone is as curious as I am and wants to know how things work. I made the tiny shawl and then made a video that walks the viewer through a six row repeat that will produce a basic textured shawl in the crescent shape. It went over so well I followed it up with several other tiny shawl shaping videos and when I get another idea I will definitely be making more.

My favorite video to do? I don’t know that I can pick a specific one, but I really loved my Secret Shopper ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEqIFerB_Bf-f79uTW8zVvm0UKGdmjbJc ) series. The idea was that I asked another knitter to go shopping for me, buy knitting/fiber related stuff, and then have it shipped to me in a surprise package that I then open up on camera. It was like my birthday every single month! I had to take a break from the series because it was getting a little expensive to keep buying myself stuff, LOL. But I might bring it back. Really, all of the unboxing videos are super fun, who doesn’t love a surprise?

You obviously have the heart of a teacher. You’re great at explaining things well. In addition to your youtube channel, do you have the opportunity to use that wonderful ability much?

Thank you so much. I do love teaching, and it is even better when I can do it in person because being able to really get hands-on with students is the best thing ever. I have taught at local yarn stores, local knitting guilds, and at knitting events such as the Interweave YarnFest in Colorado. When my son gets a bit older and more independent I would love to be able to travel more to teach at events and local stores.

What is your own personal favorite design that you have made so far?

Totally unfair question, LOL. Typically it is whatever one I am working on. Of course there are some that I like better than others, but I don’t know that I can say that any one of them is my favorite. I can say that Golden Lion Throne (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/golden-lion-throne) was probably the most important pattern that I have written because it was the design where I had the idea to combine slip stitch colorwork (Mosaic style) with lace. It was one of the rare times where I actually had a sketch and a distinct vision for what I wanted to do – but it required having both lace and colorwork in the same part of the shawl. When I poked around to find patterns where I could learn how to do colorwork lace I was disappointed to discover that as far as I could find, such a technique did not exist.

When people think of colorwork they immediately think of stranded knitting, which doesn’t really play well with lace because the carried strands of yarn are visible through the holes, it messes up the visual appeal of the lace. But I rarely take no for an answer and I bullied my knitting into doing what I wanted it to do. That first step turned into a long journey that is still going on because there is just so much that can be done by combining slip stitch colorwork with lace. Along the way it even produced a book: Mosaic & Lace Knits: 20 Innovative Patterns Combining Slip-Stitch Colorwork and Lace Techniques.

What upcoming plans do you have for your business as a designer?

I have quite a few patterns in the planning stages, but things were thrown into a bit of chaos with my family’s recent move. My main plan is to get back into some semblance of a schedule.

I haven’t really made it public yet, but in the late summer I have another book coming out! Over the last year or so I have become completely obsessed with bulky yarns, and that is the focus of the new book. Specifically, how bulky yarn interacts with lace patterns. So it is an entire book of lace projects worked in bulky (and super bulky) weight yarns. The title of the book is Big Yarn, Beautiful Lace Knits and I will definitely be talking about it more in the coming months. In fact, it’s available for preorder on Amazon now here!

How exciting! Thank you for letting us know!

Where can we find your patterns?

The easiest way is to visit my Ravelry store: https://www.ravelry.com/designers/barbara-benson and get a digital pattern. For stores that like to carry paper patterns Stitch Sprouts (https://stitchsprouts.com/) is my wholesale distributer.

Thank you so much, Barbara. It has been a pleasure!