This month, I have the privilege of interviewing Lena Mathisson of Softyarn Designs. Lena’s designs truly embody the idea that necessity is the mother of invention.

Q: Lena, how did you first learn to knit? Who taught you?

A: A friend taught me when I was 16.  We spent a lot of time sitting in her basement, talking and knitting.

Q: You mentioned on your Etsy site that your first project was quite, ahem, memorable. Can you tell us about it?

A: I wish I could forget it!  It was this blah mouse-gray color.   It had a King Charles Brocade knit/purl pattern which might have been appropriate for an 80-year-old man’s golf vest, but I was a teenage girl.  And it was too long in the arms and too short in the body with no waist-shaping at all.  I had no idea then how to make a knitted sweater fit, much less flatter, my body.  I have learned a lot since then.

Q: I’m glad you persevered! What made you decide to make hats your focus? How did you come up with the idea of creating your wonderful adjustable ponytail hats?

A: I like to wear my hair in a ponytail, but I’m fickle. Sometimes I wear a high ponytail, sometimes a low ponytail, sometimes in the middle, and I wanted to be able to wear my ponytail AND a cozy winter hat.   So I started making hats with button bands just to suit myself.  When I discovered Ravelry, I wondered if other people were doing the same; but the only ponytail hat patterns I saw had just one opening for the ponytail. The hat determined where the ponytail could be, which I thought was pretty bossy on the part of the hat.  I would check from time to time to see if anyone had come out with a pattern like mine, but still – nope.   After a few of years of this, my daughter finally said, “Why don’t you post your own pattern?”  So I did.   And people liked them!  It was so exciting.

Q: I love that so much! Now, you and I definitely have something in common. As I have said so many times, soft is my thing, and the very name of your design company says the same. What is your favorite fiber blend to use?

A: I just really adore nice smooth merino wool.  Add in a little cashmere and I really melt!   

Q: Where do you find inspiration for your new designs?

A: I love paging through books of stitch patterns.  I put little sticky notes on way too many pages. My knitting books are just bristling with them.

Q: When you’re working on a new design, does the yarn inspire the pattern or more the other way around?

A: I begin to work on the pattern, and as I am developing it, my idea of the right colors develops too.  Then I spend hours online looking at beautiful yarn to find the colors I am envisioning.  It’s pretty fun, really.

Q: I notice that a majority of your patterns use fingering-weight or sock-weight yarn. Is that by preference or because it tends to be the most popular and easiest to find these days?

A: For many years, I stuck to worsted-weight yarn and avoided fingering-weight yarn like the plague, thinking, “Why would anyone want to have so many extra stitches on the needle to get the same garment?”  Then I went to Rhinebeck and discovered hand-dyed yarn.  There was way more fingering/ sock yarn than any other weight, and it was so beautiful.  I had to change my way of thinking!  Now, not only do I adore the colorways that indie dyers like you make, but I also love the lightness of the fabric you can create with lighter-weight yarn. 

Q: That’s really interesting. Like every other indie dyer I know, I make and sell more sock-weight yarn than all the other weights put together, but my personal favorite if I had to choose just one (and I’m glad I don’t) is DK weight. Based on what you said, I wonder whether designers are using so much sock-weight because dyers are making it and dyers are making it because designers are using it.

Do you dye your own yarn as well?

A: No, I am very happy to buy yarn from other people.  I can spend endless hours yarn-gazing!

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

A: Although ponytail hats were my first knitting love and are the items I wear the most myself, I have most enjoyed designing the “Catching a Mermaid” and “Gift of the Mermaid” shawls.  I love playing with the arrangements of different stitch patterns.   And this is kind of geeky, but I actually enjoy doing the math to make the stitch patterns work with the shawl shaping.

Q: Your Gift of the Mermaid design looks stunning, and I think it’s fabulous that you enjoy doing the math so the rest of us can just happily knit without having to worry about it!

Now, you are doing a collaboration with indie dyers on Instagram. Can you tell us about that?

A: I had yarn collaborators for my mystery knit-alongs and found that I really enjoyed featuring their yarn in social media posts.  My Instagram and Facebook followers loved seeing the yarn pictures too, so I decided to find a way to showcase more yarn from more dyers.  The Yarn Pairings feature will match yarn from indie dyers with patterns that would work well with the yarn. It’s going to let us ogle lots more beautiful yarn!

Q: That sounds great! What’s next for your work as a designer?

A: I have another mermaid-themed knit-along in development and am having fun with it already.   It will be timed just right for this year’s beach knitting.  And I am working on a hoodie pattern with a simple silhouette and a beachy, modern vibe.  I hope to make it size-inclusive, so I’ll be looking for test knitters of various sizes.  If any of your followers would consider testing, especially plus-sized knitters, I hope they will drop by the Softyarn Designs group page on Ravelry and sign up to be notified about the test knit.  

Q: Where can we buy your patterns?

A: Thanks for asking!  My patterns are available on Ravelry, loveknitting.com, and Etsy.  I also have a couple of patterns on the Knit Picks website and in one of their books, Cute and Cozy Stashbusters.

Thank you so much, Lena! This has been delightful.

As Lena mentioned above, she’s looking for test knitters for her hoodie pattern. If you are interested, please let her know.

One more thing–I’ve been dyeing up lots of new colorways on all my different bases and carding up some old favorite art batts too. You can see what’s new in the shop this month here.

Happy fiber artistry!